Kid--what?! KidZANIA

Kidzania. Rhymes with mania. This was Monday.  I'm still recovering.  The first thing you need to know is that it is located in a mall that outdoes Tysons2.  It's on the top floor (probably is the entire top floor), so we walked by Louis Vuitton, Mont Blanc, Tiffany's, a Wedgewood store (since 1736 or whatever), oh my.   Guess, Levi's.. Gap London.

I had sold the kids on it saying that it was like the play places at home.  On steriods.  Lots of 'em.
Kidzania is it's own small town for kids. Can probably handle 500 kids. Outside, you "check-in" (read: empty your wallet) at an airline counter.  You get some starter Kidzania money, then you enter.. to an indoor world.  You have to work to get money, and there's a bank.  You can et an ATM card if you ever plan on coming back.  You can even get paid on your ATM card.  You can spend your money on cab rides, movies, food. A bit over our heads, frankly... and it's very LOUD.  Generally overwhelming.  But well worth the trip, expense and mommy-patience required just for 2 experiences: being a neonatal nurse at the hospital, and being a fireman (riding a firetruck to the fire, and spraying real water on the not-real burning house). 

There was a beauty salon, a construction site, a gas station, a race track, a police station, a modeling company, a cooking school, a chocolate car factory, a water bottling factory, a TV station, a radio station and about 3 dozen other things I can recall.  You can go work at these places to make money, or go buy stuff.  Jaf was a customer at the beauty salon first, then she was a stylist.  [Okay.. so funny cultural moment.  Really cute Indonesian girl was her 'stylist'.  First it was glitter on the face, then stickers on the nails, then--when it came to hair--I believe she said, "What the &$%#@ do I do with this curly stuff?!"  She was a trooper.  I had to cut out the elastics later, but Jaf felt very pretty for the rest of the afternoon.]

The whole place was mind-blowing.  And LOUD, did I mention LOUD? 


To open the day, the crew (young people with patience beyond what I could ever imagine having in my body) did a big choreographed welcome dance.  Every half hour, a very LOUD parade would go singing and banging through the whole town.
We decided to try the race track (shoulda checked it out first).  So, J&E went and got check-ups at the hospital, which were required to get drivers licenses.  We got the licenses (sponsored by Honda.  Hey Mom, check out the video of the new minivan while you wait for your kids!), which have their names and pictures and (fake fingerprint).  We waited in a very long line [get used to it, it's Jakarta] do try the small cars toodling around the gas station and thru the car wash first.  [btw Eben needs driving school before we try this again.  Probably because we never got him the motorized kid tractor to race up and down Columbia Heights streets with.  And also because the don't know what video games are.  Parent failure for sure.] We're finally ready for the race track, and Eben is not the required 110 cm tall.  I turn and look at the 12 year olds going 35mph around the track, and have a huge sigh of relief.  Holy crap.  Tears.  We were on overload anyway.

Consolation prize? Don't you want to go be window washers??  Yup!  Helmet, harness, squeegie, spray bottle.  10 minutes later, happiness.  And then we went running out the door.  It was noon.  Time for very high end sushi one floor down.  Phew! 

I still have a wad of Kidzania cash (and drivers licenses) in my bag.  We'll wait till Lorenzo comes to visit to try that again!



Food, part 1 - Chinese

So, most of this week is Eid ul Fitr, which means that for a very few days of the year, there is no one (and no traffic!!) in the city.  We've been exploring a little, and we thought (in Jewish Christmas fashion) that Chinatown would be rockin'.  No such luck.  BUT, we did find that the Imperial Chef was open.  Thanks to our neighbors and friends Emilie, Eric and Elena (the 3 Es), we were able to understand enough of the Chinese/Bahasa menu to get some yummy things onto the table.  My favorite was the fresh green apple juice.  There were some other great things I tried, but I have no idea what they were.


amuses gueles, nuttin' like sweet honey fish



close up on dumpling.. teeeeenie mushroom there

Jaffa's pic of someone else's dinner, peering down from the tank

We had another adventure last night with the 3 Es to an Indonesian restau that didn't work out as well.. suffice it to say that after beating away swarms of mosquitos, I was cleaning up the floor shortly after we got home.  Poor Jaf's belly.  Tho she woke up this morning declaring, "I'm feeling much better today!"

Hello Indonesia!

We made it to Jakarta! Even the dogs had a relatively easy trip across the world to almost as far from DC as we could get.  So far we have found this to be a beautiful place with gentle people, and lots of neighborhood friends!  The house is beautiful, spacious... and we have a spare bedroom :)

Our front door.. in the Kemang Club Villas compound.


 

our living room



kitchen



play room, with a boppin' Jaf and still-jetlagged Eben

  
Because of the Eid ul Fitr holiday, we've managed to do a little exploring in the city without traffic.  Mostly, we're trying to get over our jetlag..

and he wouldn't move.. for hours..