With only 3 months away until my big move from this GINORMOUS house to a more reasonable apartment, I have been slowly prepping myself by developing color schemes for each room and flexible decorating ideas. Today I made a big dent in the decoration department and focused predominantly on furniture shopping.
We did a few errands on the way until reaching Pasa Raya, our first leg of the journey. With my enthusiastic spending habits there, I had to put a leash on myself and show some constraint. That is definitely harder to do than it might sound. There are so many unique and beautiful things there, that any buy could be justifiable. I do not see myself as a materialist person, but when I see beauty in art and crafts, it's as if a siren is calling out to a ship in hopes of a most excellent disaster.
I perused every square inch, determined to only buy something if absolutely necessary. For nearly an hour, I walked around with my brain ticking and my teeth grinding, trying to find an excuse. I came up with nothing until a moment before leaving. I am collecting fake flowers for some of my pottery back home and I found some handmade ones that were absolutely gorgeous. Cha-ching! 18,000 ($1.80) rupiah later, I found myself impressed with ample self control.
This long trip around Pasa Raya was due for a reward - an amazing lunch at Dallas Steakhouse. It was definitely probably one of the best meals I've had here since my arrival: smoked hickory bbq ribs! Pork is anything but a commodity here, and so I took full advantage of the fact that it was served at this restaurant. My stomach thanked me graciously after I devoured the delicious meal.
With a short side trip before our biggest leg of the shopping trip, I took a post-dinner nap in the back seat of the car. Not but an hour later, we ventured into Central Jakarta to the Rattan strip. For those of you wondering what rattan is, I will clear that up for you right now. Rattan is a mix between wicker and scrapped wood that has been created into fine woven designs (mainly furniture).
I walked up and down the Rattan Strip, bargaining hard bargains and getting away with some steals! I found two matching end tables, sofabed lounge chair, bathroom shelving unit, and a storage trunk. Each expat bought numerous furniture pieces before renting a small truck to deliver it to our homes.
There were about 7 men loading this tiny truck up. Although I was convinced that only half of our finds were going to fit in the bed, they strategically placed it (towering it well over the top of the truck) so to make sure that only one truck had to be brought back to Sentul. I wish I had brought my camera to show how crazy it looked. Definitely looked like an episode of the Beverly Hillbillies - Jakarta Style.
Surprisingly we hit minimal traffic and were home in an hour, record timing for rush hour. It took about that same amount of time to divvy up the furniture and get it to each house. Most of my furniture has not moved from it's clustered location in the upstairs landing since coming home hours ago. Tomorrow will be another day - procrastination at it's finest.
I look forward to my big move and setting up my house exactly how I want it. Right now, there's just a bunch of jumbled stuff in obscure nooks, collecting dust until moving day. I would gladly situate it if I wasn't such a perfectionist. It would take nearly a month to get every little thing the precise way I want it, and by then, it will be just short of two months before moving it again and getting re-situated. Why bother?
Can't wait till June. Hopefully I'll be able to take some amazing photos of the new homestead so you can enjoy! Until then, much love sent your way!
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