#fx mall

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 Not really much going on so some ramblings and things to write in general. I actually think the days of being approached to buy watches, perfume, girls or offers of illicit taxis and hotels at the airport are almost over. In the 8 times I have been there (yes 8 times already) this year I have only had to deal with some strange man calling me boss while waiting to meet a teacher and telling the Diamond Taxi man at T3 to go away as I would never take a Diamond anywhere and certainly not from the airport thats for sure. How on earth that company got a stand there I will never know. Still I could rant about crap taxis here all the time and all it will do me is make me more annoyed so I will stop there. I do like my trips to the airport but really only when I am flying away. Meeting people is ok as it involves sitting in a car and then getting back in a car and leaving again. The porters do irritate me, they want 50,000 rupiah just for lifting a bag into the car. Happily they settled for nothing as go away often works wonders. But the sheer cheek of them asking is unreal, but again I can imagine tired and jet lagged people just saying yes and paying it. I remember one guy told me the 5000 I offered him would not buy him a cigar. He left rather sullenly with nothing. Cigars..... I also got to the airport in under 20 minutes on Sunday. And yes we were going fast, far too fast to be honest and it not like we were in any hurry. Getting back was equally as fast although we went back through Kalideres and then Dann Magot to Puri Indah. The new toll from Puri is good and always empty. I need to get some photos of the part of the toll that just ends as if the constructors ran out of money. I would imagine they ran out of land ownership and could not go any further. However the toll way is great thats for sure. So thats the trips to the airport done for now and I hope the next there is so I can fly away somewhere. Anywhere really! The rest of the week was spent inducting a new teacher and I am doing the same this week which is fun, although there is so much to go through that I have to be careful not to over load them all. I finished my last contract on Friday and despite having the weekend off, did do the teacher pick up on Sunday. I started my new one today. Saturday was spent shopping and relaxing in FX mall not doing much, which is my kind of day off and fun as well. The city was fairly quiet and not too busy. Not sure what's going on with the weather as its just been cloudy through the week, very few blue skies and the only bad weather was on Thursday and then only for a few hours and then it went back to normal. In the papers there is comment that this will remain for a few more weeks maybe months yet and now dengue is become a problem because of the rain and puddles and damp. So have to be extra careful not be bitten. I have actually had my first normal week in Jakarta since leaving for England and it has taken awhile to get back into some of the old routines. It was my first weekend here since December as well which was nice and I think it is nice to get back to normal. I will be back working Saturdays again from this weekend as well and so that will be good as I like my Saturday mornings at the center as I can get lots done in relative quiet. I have been intending to start up a picture blog, taking different pictures of things I see every day but I seem to be very busy and forget too every day. I think it might be put on ice for a while until I become a little less busy and everything calms down again. Time for an adventure into the city and to do something different........

Its been rather a busy month all in all and there is no sign of it abaiting. I would like to that you all for your kinds words of congratulations and I will keep you updated on the wedding plans once I have some set in stone, but that is still a while off I am sure. 

Short blog really this week as still counting down to Christmas in England and all things cold and snowy. I have been advised to wear winter clothing when I get there. Well that advice is more than welcome, however thats all well and good but please dont forget that is normally around 30 degrees here on a daily basis and therefore I dont really need jumpers, sweaters, hats and gloves and other random  warm clothing. So I will put a jumper on when I get to my mums house and not really a minute before as I dont have any here to bring with me. For the rest of the week, really been the usual affair. However with the threat of rain in my part of the city and heavy rain in my gf's part of the city, created some difficulties and annoyances. Saturday we were supposed to meet at mine and then go into the city for dinner and a movie, however the rain decided to pour Saturday morning which meant all the taxis are used and traffic grinds to a standstill so our plans had to change. I was teaching until 2 and so after getting back to the apartment and then finding a taxi it was gone 3.30pm. We had already bought tickets for Harry Potters new adventure of standing around in forests being moody, wearing very little in what looked like mid winter and not exhaling visible breath when talking, for 8.30pm and so that meant we had a lot of time to kill. We were watching the movie at FX next to Ratu Plaza and despite the rain and traffic I got to the mall in under an hour and also by going a different way which was impressive as my Indonesian used actually got the result I needed. We ate in the Pizza Marzano and then tried to relax in Starbucks for a couple of hours, however the Starbucks there is just not that welcoming or relaxing so getting restless we wandered about the mall for an hour and FX that is a very hard thing to do as there was nothing in there to look at for a change. So the Deathly Hallows, great on effects and perhaps character development but I felt there was a lot left out of the film to allow for that and so lots of important things that happened were mentioned in passing. However saying that I was did not get bored and did enjoy it overall. I think that over time I will come to appreciate the movie, I actually think it  will look good on a small screen rather than a big one. There I have said it and discussed it. Lots of hype but like a cheap pie, lots of pastry and little meat! As I am sure some of you know, I have a BlackBerry, its useful, grown on me and now it seems Nokia was 100 years ago, however never being satisfied I must complain about the battery and the fact it goes flat after around 14 hours, whats that all about? But to end on a high note and a happy one, I have won a prize or rather a prize from a fellow blogger who was offering to send some Swedish goodies to one lucky person who entered the competition and well, I won!!! Top news and I am more than happy with that. The site deserves a huge mention and I urge you all to visit and read ropcorn.com and follow the stories of Alexandra, her dog and her life in Sweden. Thank you so very much and I look forward to opening it all when I arrive in England :) While I am here, I think I will mention a couple of other sites that are simply great fun, interesting, highly topical and worth a read, so please follow the links and enjoy. http://metromad.blogspot.com/ - fantastic, professional and satirical view on all things Indonesia http://smile4meonline2.blogspot.com/ - Life as a Call Centre Worker in the Philippines, well written and always a delight to read  http://multibrand.blogspot.com/  - A commentary on all things Legal, Political and Diverse as Indonesia can produce, which is stimulating and inspiring http://riatumimomor.blogspot.com/ - Great insights into the daily travels of a public transport user here in the city http://al-terity.blogspot.com/ - a different perspective on life in the archipelago So there are some other things to read after this and in all honesty you should. They are all worth it. Det var allt för nu och tackar för att du läser detta och har en bra vecka