Hysteria

"Psykbryt på Carrefour"

- Breakdown at Carrefour – Ataque en el Carrefour -

Carrefour in Jakarta. My closest-to-home food mecka. My nemesis.

On my fourth day in Jakarta, this is where I had my first breakdown. Luckily that Sunday afternoon I was in the company of my dear friend and savior Johanna. I am not anymore. But I still have to do my groceries.

I have now learned not to do my groceries on a Sunday afternoon in order to avoid the hordes of people with the same food shopping afternoon plan. Still there is so much left for me to learn. 

It is honestly hard for me to put down in words what it feels like (in my soul haha) walking through this supermarket (or really any big supermarket or mall in this city). The experience is obviously the result of a mixture of different factors: crowds, a completely different pace of walking/moving/working, endless queuing, annoyingly expensive cheeses, super fishy smell next to my longed for baguettes... And the noise.

There is just so much noise. And it is so loud. Everywhere.

Everywhere there are promotions (all too often including songs and children singing (loudly)), with each and everyone of the loudspeakers set on volume level “super loud”. Then there is the supermarket “background” music. Needless to say, this music is not really in the background. Also, this music is (more than) often interrupted by the Carrefour announcements (ding ding dong kill me...), which in their turn are complemented with the contribution of random Carrefour fruit section workers offering you pieces of mango fruit. Through a megaphone. Of course.

Patience.

Also... interesting fact on Indo everyday life. Out of this whole aisle of “female products”, cero space is dedicated to tampons. So. If you ever think of moving here, stash up on those tampons (and bring me some!).

Carrefour. Pasillos llenos de sueños culinarios. Y de otras cosas.  Mi nemesis.

Nueve meses en esta ciudad, y sigo aborreciendo la visita seminal al Carrefour (y realmente todas las visitas a centros comerciales en fin de semana). Es dificil explicar con palabras la sensacion que produce dicha visita en mi.

La experiencia en si esta obviamente marcada por varios factores: las aglomeraciones de gente (nunca volvere a un Carrefour un domingo por la tarde), la velocidad de movimiento que caracteriza a este pais, las colas interminables (a consecuencia de dicha velocidad), el olor a pescado en la zona de mis queridos baguettes... y el volumen.

Promociones en cada pasillo (con una sorprendente mayoria de ellas incluyendo canciones y/o niños cantando), altavoces puestos al volumen “nolohaymasalto”, la musica de “fondo” (que obviamente de fondo no es), los constantes anuncios por altavoz del Carrefour (ding ding dong SeñoritaLidiaMariaGuijarroGarcia DirijaseACajaNumero5PorFavor...), y por supuesto, los compis de la seccion de frutas y su megafono (foto 1). Oh si.

Y encima no venden tampones (foto 2).

 

(Hysteria – MUSE)