Sunday Funday

Across Indonesia Sundays are called Car Free Days. From 6-9am some of the main thoroughfares are blocked off and the streets are only open to pedestrians. Lots of vendors (more than usual is probably a better way to explain it) are along the road selling food, toys and many other things. I didn't get outside until just a few minutes before the road opened. I still walked around for a bit and it was fun to see all that was going on.

This picture is a view from my hotel room of the road blocked off for Car Free Day. The train passes by a few times a day and is mostly used for commuting.

While we were out walking around Donnacha, Chandra and I went to McDonald's to get a Coke and visit. Sitting across from us was a family with a five year old girl. We hadn't noticed them as the three of us were talking about a variety of things. However, the father spoke to Candra and complimented her on her English saying that he would like his daughter to learn English as well. That turned into an interesting conversation as we learned about where the parents work, where they live and came from and other small things about their lives. They appeared to be fairly well off. McDonald's is actually a luxury for eating out. When I did the conversion the prices seemed pretty close to what you would pay in America - which is quite a bit of money for the average Indonesian. I really enjoy it when we go out in smaller groups and get to be a part of the Solo City community.

Later in the morning we did some Batik shopping and went to a convenience store to stock up on some things for the hotel room. Our PA, Chandra, was with us through all of this and was such a big help to us. I was really surprised at how long the checkout lines were at the convenience store. We probably waited in line over 30 minutes. No one seemed to mind and I thought about how frustrated we become in American if we have to wait in line more than 5-10 minutes to check out. Perspective is always interesting.

The rest of Sunday was really a relaxing day for most of us. Monday we hit the ground running and will have a busy week in the office.

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