Certainly, that will change but wow.Overload.
After a fairly ho-hum start to another weekend, it perked up
on my way back from the grocery store, when I ran into a group of
colleagues/spouses who’d headed out to dinner. I was smack in their path and
got caught up, bag of groceries and all.
 |
| Just what my apartment needs. |
We went to some restaurant in the same building where the
grocery store is (can get there from the apartment by going outside for about
10 feet, back in the department store that on the six floors of our building,
heading down two escalators, out the door to the underground paths and down a
set of stairs). The restaurant was on the fifth floor.
The dinner was good, of course, not that I know what it was.
I tend to go with the rice because I can never get too much rice, but the other
stuff was good, too, although I still stay away from tofu.
The way it works at Chinese restaurants is, everyone orders
something, but one person places the order and everyone shares. So the more
people who dine, the more stuff you have to sample.
Yesterday, I ate the about three dumplings but didn’t pick
up on the technique of how to do it right. The first one I ate was OK and made it into my mouth more or less intact. The second
one dribbled a bit on my jeans (despite the napkin in my lap and the fact I was
trying to eat it over a bowl) and the third one just exploded. Oops. At least
by No. 3 they had cooled off and no one was injured.
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| I'll take three. Not. |
After dinner, we went to one of the people’s apartments,
where I got to see the view from the other apartment tower, which faces a
completely different direction than mine. That side has a view of a little
sparkling water show. Or it looked little from the 14th floor,
anyway.We guesstimated it was the size of a hockey rink.
And it was reiterated to me that I have perhaps the worst
kitchen of all my colleagues. The couple whom I visited also has a
three-bedroom apartment in the same complex, but the layout is totally
different, and I am jealous!
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| Life sized bedazzled mare. Who needs it? |
Now, I do love my apartment – I’m wearing the fuzzy slippers
right now – but my kitchen is just so tiny.
Theirs, OTOH, was about *three times* the size of mine, and completely
open to the living area. Mine’s in what is a small bedroom/overgrown closet.
Theirs had a pantry! I was just so jealous. I’d swap a spare bedroom for some
counter and storage space.
Inspired, perhaps, by the social hour last night, I decided
to utilize my metro card and explore this afternoon. For whatever deranged
reason, I opted for OneLink, which, I thought, was a giant store with
“everything made in China.”
That’s what my colleagues have told me about it. So I was thinking it was a
Walmarty store of some sort. (I do believe we have a Walmart, as well as a
Sam’s, but heck if I know where they are.)
But I got there, and it was just like one of the cheap Jakarta malls I’d been
to. Seven floors of little stores that sold everything under the sun, with the
exception of clothing. (I am grateful for the exception.)
There were sticker stores, earring stores, phone skull
stores, bead stores, bracelet stores, pillow stores, cushion stores, flower
stores … you get the picture.
As you moved up the escalators, the size of the stuff grew:
rug stores, big-ass vase stores, footlocker stores, chair stores, bed stores …
Truly, I was horrified. I knew there was that much junk in
the world, but who knew it could be collected all under one roof?
Once in a while, I saw something that might be useful, like
a silicone ice tray shaped like Lego blocks. (Any silicone ice tray would be
better than the non-functioning plastic thing I have right now.) However, not a
single item in any of the seven floors had a price tag and I hate bargaining,
plus I don’t speak the language.
So I just walked up and down and wondered who on earth
bought that crap.
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