Jakarta: Amazing and wild!

We are settled into our apartment now and have internet secured. Yahoo! Our apartment is very nice and fairly roomy. The pool is wonderful and we spend at least an hour a day down there. This is the view of the pool from our patio. We live in a neighborhood called Senayan. Right across the street is a big mall with designer stores, Prada, Gucci, Jimmy Choo. (I confess, it is a bit rich for my taste. ) We also have 3 fairly good grocery stores close by too. Just found the best one today with a great bakery! OINK! We have been trying new fruits, you would not beleive the variety, fruits that you have never even heard of. We have enjoyed many of them but not the national fruit- durian. Durian is a large spiky fruit that stinks like rotting garbage. People love the soft creamy fruit inside. We tried it, we didn't agree. The smell of durian greets you as you enter every super market, THAT takes getting used to!
Obviously we live in a very comfortable part of Jakarta. It has many neighborhoods like this but in between you see a lot of poverty too. The cab takes us through crowed streets teaming with ojeks which are small motorcycles that are really the fastest way to travel through the city. We explored Blok M, a shopping district teaming with everything you could imagine. Little closet like stores where tailors sew and work.
Yesterday we went out to a club where Derek played rugby with guys from Australia, England, Scotland, Japan, etc. He held his own and looked pretty good doing it. Joel even joined in and tried his best. Claire and I played in the pool, ruggers we're not. It is a country club that sponsors a big rugby team/program. We have a month's free membership to decide if we will join.
So far we are pleased with Jakarta. Some of the things that people had warned us about have not proven to be true. We obviously have lots to more to learn and explore.
Salamat jalan (goodbye!)