The life of an expat wife Pt I

Way-hey! I'm practising real hard at being a spoilt, pampered expat wife! According to my friend ST, a good expat wife knows how to spend and spend without guilt. I'm working on it.

Last Wednesday, I decided that a haircut was in order and jumped into a cab to go to the nearest mall to me, which is Pondok Indah Mall. But first, my more important mission of finding a book of baby names! I picked one up in the Kinokuniya and then went all the way to the top floor for my next mission.

Lunch! I had a very nice lunch at the mall's food court which is so not very Mak Datin hor? Never mind, my spending is coming up soon. It was noodles with chicken on a hot plate, all drowning in sauce. I hate that. I hate my food drowning in sauce or gravy. But vart to do? I didn't know it would come drowning in sauce, as usual the menu showed something that looked different. That plus a chrysanthemum tea cost me about Rp16,000 (approx RM5). Wasn't too bad but a tad on the light side and I knew I would be hungry again come 3pm or so.

Now to find a hairdresser. I walked round and round the mall looking for one. The first one was full of ladies of leisure getting their hair done and I couldn't be bothered to wait, so I left. The 2nd was awfully expensive. The cost of a hair cut alone was something like Rp300,000 (Approx RM90) and a wash and blow-dry were add-ons. Eek. Next

Finally I found this shop that looked all right and the cost of a wash, cut and blow dry was in the region of Rp220,000 (RM66+). I took a look inside. Okay, no big-big hair aunties in sight. I'm very particular on that bit, I didn't want to end up looking like Imelda Marcos. I decided to give it a try.

The staff were very friendly and once they realised I wasn't Indonesian, they spoke slower (Indonesians seem to speak much faster than we do) and we got on fine. My stylist turned out to be this macho, sexy, heterosexual (I think) guy. WOW. He wasn't the foppish type which I hate. This guy looked like he smoked Malboros and could rip apart a barrel with his bare hands. His shirt sat just right on his shoulders and his jeans sat just right on his hips. And wow, what a sexy, husky voice he had! What a credit he is to Indonesian men everywhere! Drool, drool!

And boy, can he cut hair too! Dear Hubby didn't buy it at all when I told him excitedly about him, saying that all male stylists are either gay or ladyboys like his barber. I defended my Mr Indonesia, saying "Nono, he's quite clearly straight and very sexy!" Wah. I'm definitely going back there again for another cut. Dear Hubby is quite curious and may just tag along the next time just to have a look-see.

I then spent the next few hours wandering through the various shops. My baby bump is starting to show a little bit more now and my jeans won't fit me anymore when I sit. So I'm on the hunt for some maternity pants that I can wear right up till my delivery date.
I stumbled upon a store that had a sale.. wooh, a sale! Magic four-letter word! They had some nice tops on that I knew I could wear even when my bump gets a whole lot bigger than it is now, so I happily bought a few.

Finally at 4pm, tired from my shopping, I hailed a cab and went home. In the cab, I started tallying up my spend from the day and panicked when I realised I'd spent about Rp1.4 million. Oh gosh! Rp1.4 million! That sounds like a heck of a lot of money! I've never spent a million of anything before! What am I going to tell Dear Hubby? Oh god.. that is like.. erm, erm... *thinks hard and calculates*... RM420? Oh. Okay. Phew. What a relief.

I'm going to have practise harder at this guilt-free spending. I'm really not good at it.