WTH: Winter Woolies

The upside of being stuck in bed for a month with gastrointestinal affliction is weight loss.  I may have been too weak to walk the equivalent of 2 blocks to my office, but I suddenly looked awesome in a bikini.  The downside is that suddenly none of my pants fit.  Happily, even once I started feeling healthy again, a good bit of weight stayed off, which meant I needed to go shopping. It's hot here. Hot as in 80s or 90s every day, so I wanted some new lightweight pants, possibly capris, you know, pants that you wear in summer.

Unfortunately, all of the fancy globalized shopping malls that surround me in this upscale commercial corner of Jakarta happen to think it is winter.  Every store is filled with winter items.  Heavy, insufferable fabrics for this climate.  Long sleeves. Long legs. Layers. Thick denim. Wool. Down.  Whatever is on display at Banana Republic in blustery cold NY or London right now is on display here as well.  I don't understand it.  Who the hell buys this?

Obviously some Jakartans.  They must have an entirely different system of body temperature regulation. I actually see people walking around outside with winter clothes on.  It's the rainy season, people.  It's not going to snow. I still need air conditioning. It's like, maybe 5 degrees cooler than the rest of the sweltering year.  It is impossible (at least for me) to wear any of this in this environment.  Yet every single store has out their winter displays.

Every.single.store.

Break out your puffies! It's only 87 today!