Day 84: So this is Christmas

I've mentioned the mall culture before. So much weekly routine takes place in a mall -- meeting friends for dinner, buying groceries, getting my hair cut... This weekend were my first visits to the mall during Christmas season - and Jakarta's glitziest malls did not disappoint, even if they did make me feel a bit displaced and bewildered in this religiously plural country (a predominate majority of whom are Muslims). I guess it is because I did not expect eggnog lattes, santas, trees, and carols blaring from every crevice here that it caught me so off guard.

On Friday, I met a colleague for dinner at a fancy mall and got lost amidst the Versace, Louis Vuitton, Christmas wreaths, shiny packages, chipper store attendants in stocking hats, and holiday marketing, and busy shoppers. I suddenly felt sucked through a vortex of space and time untied to place. I guess I feel like that in malls anyway, but the decor amplified my desperate lack of context.

On a Saturday mall excursion I witnessed an interpretive dance of the nutcracker to pop music with a backdrop of teddy-bear themed trees and a gigantic snow-covered cottage for Santa (really sorry I did not snap a photo). Today, I wandered upon a Christmas themed Elvis singing "The First Noel" with a back up choir in red santa hats. Indonesia seems to know how to dig in and amplify the whimsy and joy of a holiday -- 'Tis the season!

A rather "muted" tree in the lobby of my apartment complex

Said Elvis and his back up group cater to the crowds.