Friday, January 18, 2008

No mobile, can't mobile

I have no mobile phone for the first week in Indonesia. I though I can use my Australia mobile number in Indonesia, but I can’t. I don’t know what exactly happen. I must’ve missed some information when I read all terms and conditions from my provider, back in Sydney before we went. And I couldn’t get the signal from their Indonesia counterpart, which annoyed me.

So, I bought Indonesia mobile starter pack which doesn’t work for my handset – and I just realized after I bought it-. Somehow, my mobile handset only compatible for Australia card.

After breaking Ayu’s book of record for not having mobile phone for one week, I surrender. The trigger was the moment when I lost in Shopping Mall.

On that day, we went for walk on one of the new shopping mall I haven’t visited before, Senayan City. Can’t believe how busy it was. And my husband kept saying we can’t go separate way as usual because I have no mobile phone. Once we separated, will be hard. So we in and out together, every single shop. Until I got stranded in Charles & Keith. I can’t clearly remember how it started; I just didn’t see him or the kids around when I finished this shop in another 15 minutes with two pairs of sandals. The sale got me blind. I was thinking he must wait for me at Starbuck across, but he wasn’t. I frantically looked around, peeking into every shop around, he was disappear into thin air. No mobile phone, remember?

My quick brain guides me to Information Desk. There must be some way to find him, and they must have PA to help me.

When I found the Info Desk, two girls was sitting there, doing nothing but chat. I politely explained what was happening –that I’m lost- and asked for help. I need her to paging my husband through PA.
She gave me the look, that saying –ok, it’s my translation on how she look at me- ‘this is 21st century, how come you don’t have mobile phone when people had 3 or 4’.

I had no time for further explanation –why I don’t have mobile phone-, I better use my time to beg her to announce couples of time, and chance being heard is better.

She reluctantly repeated the announcement –that a woman lost in Senayan City and she had no mobile phone, hello- and another person came to Info Desk started to give me the look –the same look that the girls gave it before.

At the end, not the announcement that made me meets my family, but the kindness of stranger. She lends me her mobile phone so I can contact my husband. Even this less than 5 minutes process was painful. I can’t remember my husband Indonesia mobile number, it was stored on my handset which has flat battery and impossible to turn it on even for five second just to get the number. So, I rang home, asked my in-law to give me the number, and rang my husband. Can anything go worst than this?

Moral of the story:
First, don’t go to shopping mall with your family if you don’t have mobile phone.
Second, my husband bought himself new handset so I can use his old for my Indonesia starter card (and right after he bought it, my Australia mobile phone somehow work together with Indosat.Great!)

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