Take me to your weirless rooter

Over this first full weekend back in Jak-town, honey pie and I have been searching for three things; a wireless router for un-tethered Internet access, an oven thermometer, and several clocks. This sounds like an odd coupling of things, but let me explain.

At the apartment, we have been using a Ethernet cable to plug in to a phone jack to access the Internet. This works well and isn't a problem unless both of us want to use the Internet at the same time and/or don't mind always having to be positioned close to a phone jack. Therefore, we decided to buy a wireless Internet router to fulfil the dream of freedom. So, asking Akil to drive us around from place to place on Saturday, we found "living the dream" wasn't as easy as we thought it would be. The first place we went, Glodock Electronics, seemed like the most likely place to start. Glodock is a bit like entering a three story cornucopia. It is crammed full of all kinds of things. Phones, cameras, bullhorns, tiny drink umbrellas, craft making items, transformers, cooking utensils, cooking appliances, refrigerators, air conditioning units, cables, plugs, adaptors, USB thumb drives, notepads, etc. All of this delight is packed in a store with aisles barely one bule wide and it is un-air conditioned. Well, that is not totally accurate. On the third floor, they sell AC units. They have one unit on display blasting out cold air. It is nice to go up there and stand in front of it until you get cooled off and then you come back down and continue your explorations.

Before we left the apartment Saturday morning, I went to Google Translator and found out how to ask for said wireless router in Bahasa Indonesia. The audio application told me it is pronounced "weirless rooter." I am spelling this phonetically so you can join in the fun. This wouldn't be nearly as amusing if it weren't for the fact that we had a dog who's nickname was Rooter. Sometimes Rooter Tooter on more fragrant occasions. With that correlation, it made it easy to remember the pronunciation.

Once in Glodock, we asked the young man at the front for weirless rooters. He looked at me as if I had just landed from another planet. Hmmmm. Guess I am kind of from another world so it wasn't too undeserved. I say it again, and he still looks at me. I then say wireless router. He says "Oh, wireless router!", and directs me to a stack of boxes containing wireless routers. So much for the translation preparations. They carried only one type of router and they were not the brand I wanted. Rats! Defeat number one for the day. With all the abundance of Glodock around us, we decided to look for an oven thermometer and the much needed clock.

The meager assortment of clocks available were an odd lot. Mostly analog varieties with surprisingly large price tags. These were Target or drugstore level clocks. No aspersions here, just not high end time pieces to warrant the 800,000.00 rupiah they wanted for them. To help you with the monetary conversion, that is a little less than $80.00 US. The cheapest thing we found was a very small clock for about 450,000 rupiah. We thought about it and decided to leave it and see if we could find one somewhere else. Rats again. Defeat number two.

We wander around the store still in search of an oven thermometer. We finally ask if they sold thermometers. Foreign planet looks again. We start saying things like temperature, oven, hot, cold, cooking. Anything to find a word to give the young woman a clue. I finally said therm-O-meter. She seemed to get it and lead us to a section with cooking utensils and sure enough there were meat thermometers, refrigerator thermometers, outdoor thermometers but no oven thermometers.

The reason we are looking for an oven thermometer is that the dial on the oven in the apartment and at the house, we are still trying to move in to, have little pictures but no numbers to indicate the temperature. Perhaps if I were a better cook, I could tell by sticking my hand in the oven if it is the correct temperature to roast, bake or braise whatever I want. I am not that good. I need numbers.

Defeated for the third time, we decided the three strike rule was in effect and we left Glodock for greener pastures. Once again in the car with Akil, we head for the big Ace Hardware located on the second floor of Pondok Indah Mall I (there is a Pondok Indah Mall II right across the street). The locals call it PIM 1 or PIM 2 since it is kind of a mouth full and it also helps you know which side of the street to park.

Once in the Ace Hardware, we asked a shy young woman about wireless routers. Not working. We tried weirless rooter. Not working. Here we go again throwing out clues. Internet, computer, blah, blah, blah. She confers with someone and leads us past a display of at least 50 ironing boards to an aisle where there are cables and jacks to plug in to the phone jack. This was not at all going to help with our Internet needs. Since ironing is an obsession here, along with plastic bags and zeros, we would have had a much easier time getting help with that kind of purchase than high tech Internet stuff. We left Ace and went to several other electronic oriented stores and totally struck out. At this point we decided to call it a day and try again on Sunday.

10AM Sunday morning.... Akil picks us up and we head for a different mall in search of the same three items that we looked for on Saturday. We go to the store from which I purchased my much beloved cell phones that I spoke of in one of my first posts. We find the computer area and ask a techno-savvy looking young man for wireless routers. Hmmmm. OK, weirless rooters. BINGO! He understands and repeats, "rooter." He leads us to a display and unfortunately, they are the same exact brand as the ones at Glodock. After much discussion with my honey pie, we decide to buy one and give it a go.

Feeling more confident, we decided to pursue a clock and an oven thermometer. We go to a high end kitchen store. No luck. I decided to go to a store called Debenham's. It is kind of like a British Macy's. We head for the cookware section, and happen to pass by a clock display. Holy Toledo. Still seeing really high prices on really cheap merchandise. I am now discovering why it is standard operating procedure for Indonesians to always be late by at least 30 minutes to an hour for any appointment you make with them. The bloody clocks are so expensive here no one will buy them or can afford them! Therefore, the majority of the population is using the call to prayer (which happens five times a day)to set their schedule it would seem.

Blast! No clock purchase again today. Will have to confer with other expats to see where to find something reasonably priced. I guess I haven't mentioned that there are no clocks in the apartment. No clock on the stove in the kitchen. No clock on the wall in the living or dining area. Therefore, unless you are wearing a watch, have your cell phone in your pocket, or go look at one of the two land line phones in the apartment you don't know what time it is.

Disappointed, we move on to the cooking section of Debenham's. We rummage around a bit and there, shining in the artificial light are three oven thermometers. S-U-C-C-E-S-S! I almost bought two of them because they were so difficult to find. Hubby convinced me one was enough and I happily slapped my 100,000 rupiah note, and some change, on the check-out counter and walked away a satisfied customer.

This whole episode is a reminder of how much more I have to learn about being an expat and adjust accordingly. How much I took for grated familiar things like a light on my oven to tell me it is hot enough to put a cake pan inside, or that cheap clocks are actually priced accordingly in most stores where I am from, and a rooter is a fond memory of a dog who enriched our lives many years ago.