People you'll meet at Circle K

I have two stories for you.

I was actually going to try to wait for a third story to add to these two, but seeming as I don't ordinarily hang out at Circle K, I would be going out to deliberately make something weird happen. I don't think that is the way I want my blog to be (my stories so far are just weird stuff that happened on its own). So, I have decided just to tell you the two stories. 

Both of these stories were set in Circle K (a small convenience store) on Sosrowijayan Street in Jogja. I should note that in Indonesia it's perfectly fine to drink beer outside a convenience store and you'll find many people enjoying a drink outside Circle K . Well, you would if you were in Indonesia in the past, mini-marts are now not allowed to sell alcohol :'(.

I'll also add that in Jogja there is a term called bule hunter (foreigner hunter?). I've never heard it used outside Jogja but perhaps it exists elsewhere too. Bule hunters are people who deliberately hang out in touristy places in order to hopefully meet foreigners. To be honest, I don't think it's really a thing, because people are just attracted to who they are attracted to and I think going to a strategic location to meet people who are attractive to you is actually quite smart. Perhaps, the two boys I'm going to tell you about could be considered bule hunters but I'm not sure. Whether they are or not, they're still weird stories. 

Without further ado, I'd like to introduce Luppa and Dimas.


Luppa

On evening, in early 2012 (just before my Summer romance story came about), Mel and I were sitting out the front of Circle K. We were enjoying a nice bottle of Mixmax (sugary pre-mixed vodka drink) and listening to the tunes from Bintang Café. We met some of the locals. One of which was a young guy named Luppa. Luppa was a travel agent in the area and seemed to spend a lot of time with young foreign ladies as he showed us many photos of his "friends".

Despite his many excursions with foreigners, Luppa claimed not to like foreigners at all. But apparently we weren't considered foreigners as we spoke Indonesian (side note: if only more people actually thought this, because I'm sick of being called a "tourist" in the city I live in). As the night went on and the music from Bintang Café ended, Luppa invited us to go clubbing. I’m not a huge fan of clubbing to be honest but we were on holiday and it seemed like fun.

We walked to Republik which is the closest club to where we were staying. Straight away, Luppa brought a tower of beer and poured Mel and I a glass each. We tried to refuse the beer, but Luppa insisted. I know he may have meant well, but as two girls alone in Indonesia, we decided to play it safe and throw the beer into the toilet.

“Wow, have you already finished your beer?” asked Luppa as we came out of the restrooms. “Are you already drunk?”

“No. Of course not. We have stuff to do tomorrow, so we can’t drink too much” I replied.

“Okay,” he said “If you really aren’t drunk then do you remember my name?”

“Luppa” I said. ("lupa" means forget in Indonesian)

“How could you forget it? I remember your name”.
I bet he has used that same joke 385495050434934 times.

After a bit of dancing and enjoying the sexy dancers at the (clearly extremely classy) club, Luppa seemed to get more confident. 

“Do you know Jack Johnson?” he asked Mel.

It seemed like the start of an ordinary conversation about music so she told him that she liked his music. 

“Do you know the song three is a magic number?”
He continued looking at Mel then over to me and smiling.

“Three is a good number yea?” he asked flirtatiously. Looking from Mel, to me and back to her again. He seemed to repeat his feelings on number three over and over and it seemed like he was hinting at something...

"Umm... I don't know the song," said Mel. 
(We still aren't really sure what song he was talking about but it seems like its a song called 'The 3 R's' which is about recycling, not what he was talking about).

Not long after that conversation Mel pulled me aside and told me what had happened.
“I think he just asked us for a threesome!” said Mel. “What do we do?”

“I think it’s time to leave now.” I said.

Mel agreed and we ran straight out of the club and all the way back to out guesthouse without ever saying goodbye to Luppa. 

Dimas 

I met Dimas (I'll use his real name because it's a super common name anyway) at the end of 2012. He was young, pretty cute and very artistically talented. He didn't seem to be super smart and his fashion choices were a bit weird (he was seriously wearing triple denim and a piece of rope as a belt when I met him) but he was nice enough to talk to.

Dimas- double denim version, outside Circle K.

I met Dimas a few times while I was staying in Jogja, I was travelling alone and my $6 a night hotel was 50 meters from Circle K. Dimas seemed to be there a lot so I chatted to him a few times as I was walking past. One afternoon, Dimas was there with his friends and he invited me to go to karaoke. I agreed as I had no other plans.

We drove there on Dimas's motorbike chatting along the way. Dimas had free vouchers to the karaoke place as he had painted a big mural on the walls surrounding the building. 
"You can pay for the food because I have no money." he told me rather directly when we arrived.
Of course, I didn't mind paying for some snacks but the way he asked was super rude. I decided not to make a big deal out of it and ordered a few snacks and drinks.
I thought Dimas's friends were coming but when we got there I realised it was just the two of us. The idea of two people singing karaoke for 2 hours seemed a bit grueling but I just went with it anyway.

Dimas requested the furthest karaoke room from the cashier and we went in. I started choosing all my favorite songs immediately and we sang a couple of songs. Then, Dimas kissed me. I was kind of taken aback by it and just ignored it and continued singing.
"Do you want to do it?" he asked.
"Huh? Here? What? This is Top 40 family karaoke. Family karaoke right? You can't do that!" 
"I've done it before, it's okay, I know the guys who work here." he said smugly.
"Uh...." I said completely stunned.
"The staff here know what we are doing, they won't come in" he assured me.
"We aren't doing any of that!" I said "Umm... let's just sing some NOAH..."
"I thought you knew that I was bringing you here for that" he explained.
"No... I would have never thought that...  I thought karaoke places were for singing?" I said, not really knowing what to do or say.
"Okay fine, let's just sing" he said looking disappointed.
We sang together for two uncomfortable hours. 

After that, we said goodbye. I returned to Surabaya soon after but we remained Facebook friends. I didn't talk to him because I was completely freaked out by the karaoke experience. But of course he didn't let it end like that. A few days later he uploaded a picture he had drawn of us together. The fact that I look ugly in the picture makes it all even worse. :(

Based on my studies, 100% of the people you will meet at Circle K are weird (but the sample size of 2 is a little small to be conclusive I guess). Overall, I'd recommend finding somewhere better to meet people, maybe I'll check out Alfamart next...