I survive the first one month :)

this is the first time I can write again... after delivering baby ramy. so far I survive the first month, although I'm kinda stuck at home the whole month. I didn't go anywhere at all, only went the the hospital twice! went to dr. staa and dr. aswin for check up. that's it!

I remember I went back to school two weeks after delivering kaka nina in 1999, and went back to work and school (for final presentation) after delivering nina in 2004. I brought nina with me to drop kaka nina at school in the morning, and s.b.h. kumon in the afternoon. I went groceries, I went to friends houses. Sounds crazy, but it was a lot more fun than staying at home.

Eventually, I went to carrefour lebak bulus with baby ramy yesterday! I couldn't stand it anymore, staying at home makes me tired.

38th week

this is the 38th week of my pregnancy. so I have prepared everything - from baby stuff to clothes to bring to the hospital. I went to the ob/gyn yesterday - off course by myself. the doctor was smiling and asking me whether papa nina accompanied me this time. I didn't know whether I had to be embarrassed or proud that I can still go everywhere on my own till this time of my pregnancy. I think I am proud that I don't have to bother papa nina... All I am asking papa nina is just stay in jakarta, don't go anywhere :) that's it. and papa nina must be by my side on the delivery room :)

there were 4 other ladies who were ready to deliver the baby too. off course they were accompanied by their husbands. what I saw.. the husbands were so impatient. those guys just kept asking the nurse how long should they wait, or kept asking when was their turn. ggrrrrmmpphhh... I hate that kind of questions from husbands. that's why I better go to the doctor by myself. I am happy, and papa nina is happy too. nobody gets hurts, or grumpy :)

september... I'm coming

I went for a check-up to dr. aswin -the ob/gyn- yesterday. according to him the baby is ready to see the world anytime soon. the head is already low. the size and the weight is fine. so... wish me luck! and I guess it's time for me to pack my bag and keep it in the trunk just in case :)

one thing that's not ready yet.
the name of the baby...
well, let it be a surprise...

sincere devotion...

last week I watched a program about a sincere and very devoted midwife named ros rosita. she lives in kabupaten lebak, banten. she helps people in baduy community (who isolate themselves from modern life) to deliver the babies. her father also helps this community as a medical aide.

to reach the outer baduy kampong (village) midwife ros, her father and a helper have to walk for hours because cars and motorcycles are not allowed to enter the baduy community. at the first years of course they were not welcomed by the baduy community. they have their own traditional midwife. but in the end, the outer baduy community can accept their sincere help and even the man is willingly learn how to measure weight, write, and read.

I am so touched that there are people like midwife ros and her father. they are not rich in term of money, but they are rich in heart, sincere, and devotion. they do not think about money (she only gets ten to twenty thousand rupiahs per delivery), but they think about other people.

searching for a maid has made me crazy

preparing for the third baby is very time consuming especially searching for a maid that is reliable. I have one maid already and I am satisfied with her. plus, she is not a live-in maid. she comes at 7 am and go home at 5 pm. and she has a day off every Sunday.

but the closer to the due date, papa nina and grandparents of course push me to find another maid to help me take care of the kids. that stays in the house! yaiks! so wish me luck I can find one that is reliable.

bagel with cream cheese

it's another 6 weeks before I deliver the baby. the funny thing is I want to have bagel with cream cheese and a bowl of cereal with cold fresh milk after the labor. isn't it crazy?!? yes... kinda... I remember I had bagel with cream cheese, and a bowl of corn flake with cold fresh milk after I deliver kaka nina 9 years ago and nina 4 years ago.

so now I have to find info where to find bagel in jakarta :)

'changcuters' and 'cinta laura'

it's been a couple of weeks nina and kaka nina are 'poisoned' (keracunan) by 'the changcuters' - the new group who sing popular songs 'racun dunia' and 'I love you Bibeh'. plus, nina is crazy about 'cinta laura'. I don't know why...

but may be...

for my kids, the name 'changcuters' sounds funny and strange to their ears. especially after my mom said that 'changcut' in sundanese means 'underwear'. so kaka nina cannot stop laughing everytime he remember what 'changcut' means. meanwhile, nina pronounce 'changcuters' with her own accent which is almost sounds like 'cinta laura's' accent.

other reason they like 'changcuters' because the beat of the songs are cheerful. plus on 'I love you Bibeh' song it has rhyme (rima). kaka nina loves rhyme since he was preschool.

why nina is crazy about 'cinta laura'? I guess because nina saw an ad of a cellphone product which is performed by cinta laura. she is pretty cute though... although many people make fun of her accent:)

proud mama

yesterday, as a student at yamaha nuansa musik school, kaka nina joined the yamaha big fair concert at pim2. he played 'ode to joy' on the piano. I'm proud of him because he could play really well without reading the paper, he could manage his nervousness, and he could play with no mistake. that's a good start since he just join this school for only 3 months.

Eventually the kids go back to school... yes!!

It's been a long time since I last wrote my blog. I'd been busy taking care of kaka-nina who got chickenpox disease during school holiday; papa-nina's nephews came for a sleepover so I brought them and kaka-nina to kidzania (I met my old friend - une); with nema, I brought the kids and my nephews to fun-world; finger painting at home just the three of us - nina, kaka-nina and me (this becoming our annual agenda to make a mess of our house) but none of the paintings have frames.

Now the kids are back to school. What a relief!!! School holiday is just wasting money and time I guess. Plus, I have no 'me time' on school holiday. 4 weeks holiday is just too much :)

wash our hands!

In my opinion washing hands is super duper important thing to do after you do things, especially after go to toilet. Can you imagine how many millions or billions of germs stick to our hands when we touch the door, the door handle, the spout, the flush button...

I see Indonesian people do not care about their own health. After they get out of the toilet, off they go... just get out of the restroom without washing their hands! Yuck! This is happening even at the middle upper class mall restrooms.

umra - umroh 3

after 3 days and 2 night in medina, we continued our journey to mekkah. since we were going for umra, we had to go to a miqot place - a fixed place beyond which it is not permissible for a pilgrim (of hajj or umrah) to proceed towards Makkah without making ihrom (putting on the fabrics and making the intention) - known as 'bir ali'. so, again, it means women wear clean white clothes, and men wrap around 2 fabrics with no underwear. so, ladies, how lucky we are :).

we began our trip from bir ali (only a couple of mile from medina) at about 4pm and arrived in mekkah at about 10pm. my feet were swollen again. too much seating down. but the baby was fine. moving a lot. after check in to our rooms, we all gathered outside the hotel to go to masjidil haram to begin umra at about midnight. (since the saudi kingdom is doing an expansion on masjidil haram, therefore thousands of hotels had been demolished. dust everywhere. construction workers are working 24 hours except prayer hours. but this condition do not keep people away from going to masjidil haram to pray 5 times a day.)

again, I cried when I saw the ka'bah - the house of God. I thank God that I could come back and I want to come back one day. there were so many people there. since it's really hot in the day time, people wait until night time to perform thawaf - which consists of circling the ka'bah 7 times in a counter-clockwise direction. then we pray behind makam ibrahim. after that we went to perform sa'i - which means walking 7 times back and forth between the hills of safa and marwah (the distance between hills is about 400 meters). at that night it was so crowded. but I was relieved that I could perform the whole thing. it was so tiring.

I did the second umra a couple days after the first one. this time I did it during daytime. sounds crazy but it took shorter time, and not so many people did umra during daytime. doing thawaf under the sun was super duper hot. I walked fast, accompanied by papa nina and oom id. since papa nina had already umra the other day, so I did sa'i with oom id. it took only about 40 minutes since not many people there in the sa'i area.

just one day before we left mekkah, we -ladies- decided to go to multazam to pray and to try to kiss hajar aswad (the black stone) at one corner of ka'bah. so 9 am in the morning we went there. off course papa nina came with us to accompany me. there were so many people there. so papa nina and I decided to perform thawaf while waiting until the people get away. well ka'bah will never empty. so after take a couple of minute rest and drank a cup of zamzam water, I walked to multazam - a wall between hajar aswad and ka'bah door, only about 2 meters wide. I saw my tour leader - lenny- was already there. I didn't know what happened - I believe God gave me the way - suddenly the spot next to lenny was empty and I could easily move to multazam and I prayed. after that, I had to struggle in order to be able to kiss the black stone. it was super duper tough. I saw a lady almost got pressed to the ka'bah wall because she was pushed by men. again, I believe God gave me strength to push forward toward the black stone. suddenly I felt so light (like I don't have baby in my tummy) and strong. and as I got in front line, suddenly all men move away and I could kiss the black stone. and God gave me way to get away from the crowds.

the next day, we were super duper ready to go home. so we went to jeddah airport, had lunch at the airport, and got a snap shot along with the ladies with bunda hetty koes endang :)

by the way, this time papa nina and I got in to transit hotel in abu dhabi. it's so nice that we could lay down properly on the bed even only for a couple of hours.

thank you for this nice trip, honey!

-t h e e n d-

umra - umroh 2

our muthowif (umra tour guide) was cak nur. his assignment was to explain what umra means, what to do, what not to do, where to go, why we had to do things. he is very knowledgeable and informative.

anyways, continuing my story from jeddah to medina... the scenery is very much similar to the one from l.a. to las vegas. nothing to see, only rocky hills and mountains. the weather was super duper hot, about 40 to 45 degree celcius (104 - 115F). like in las vegas. we passed through some ruins - some unused gas stations and buildings, looks like a death valley.

at last at about noon we arrived in medina. we stayed at dallah taibah hotel just across the street from gate 25 (ladies entrance) of nabawi mosque (mosque of prophet). as always, I could not hold my tears whenever I come to nabawi mosque in medina and masjidil haram in mekkah. (this was my 3rd trip to those 2 beautiful and peaceful places). this nabawi mosque is so beautiful and always gives peace to my heart and soul. the moslems believes whenever we pray in nabawi mosque, we will receive 1000 rewards from God. and whenever we pray in masjidil haram we will receive 100,000 rewards from God.

since I went there for a serious-focus-undistracted pray, I always go to the mosque by myself not with other indonesian ladies. otherwise ladies would just chit chat while waiting for pray time. so funny sometimes old ladies (mostly from turky) came to me just to kiss me and smile and then go away. I don't know why... but it happened everytime, not only during this trip. do I look like a turkish girl? rhahaha my nose is not as long as turkish girls, and turkish girls are so pretty actually. may be... those old ladies... 'kelilipan sendal jepit'?

to enter nabawi mosque, we must pass the so called 'mosque security guards'. these ladies guards are so strict. if I may compare with masjidil haram ladies guards... nabawi guards are more strict. no cellphone with camera allowed (although many people still pass), no red lipstics (luckily I never put on my make up during the trip).

beside prayers, we went for a city tour around medina. we went to quba mosque (see picture) and continuing our trip to dates plantation (see top picture). although I'd been to those places before, I would always love to go back there. especially to the dates plantation. in the store, all customers may try all the chocolates, dates, peanuts, macadamia... yup!whatever being displayed... for free! drink tea... as much as you like for free!

one thing I didn't want to miss in this trip was pray in 'ar-rawdah place' - a part of nabawi mosque. it is a very special but small area which extends from the tomb of the prophet to his pulpit. there is a believe that supplications and prayers uttered here are never rejected. to be able to pray in 'ar-rawdah place' was an interesting experience this time. there's a new rule that ladies who want to pray in this place must wait in groups according to 'languages'. so, like us, the indonesians must go to the bahasa melayu group. the indians must go to their hindi group. it took 1 hour to get to pray in 'ar-rawdah place'. ladies only got the chance to pray there during morning time or between 1 to 2 pm.

how about experience in mekkah?

-t o b e c o n t i n u e d-

umra - umroh

mama and papa nina, and oom id began our journey on monday (05.19.08). it was a 24-hour trip from jakarta to madinah. the route was jakarta - abu dhabi - jeddah - madinah. kind of tiring but fun since we were in a group of 68 people, mostly sundanese.

we flew by etihad airways, owned by the UAE. it took about 8 hours to get to abu dhabi. luckily I had no problem in the airplane except my feet were swollen a little bit. we arrived at abu dhabi international airport at 8pm. it's a small crowded airport with an interesting design - like a giant mushroom I may say, not really clean. we transit for about 5 hours. luckily we got this middle-east style dinner (one of my favorite menu since I lived in l.a.).

at about midnight we were so ready for boarding. but I guess it's typical arab countries airports, it took a long-long time to get to the airplane. we had to ride the bus, instead of going inside boarding bridge. the airport employees screaming around to get the people to the buses. one bus would go to the plane to jeddah, the other to beirut, karachi... gosh! it feels like in a lebak bulus bus station in jakarta.

it seemed like a never ending journey. we arrived in jeddah about 4am. once again, we had to face these crazy customs (like customs in indonesia, they're so slow and speak no english off course). but, I tried to be patient. so many people, not only from indonesia, come that morning for umra. many people from the surrounding arab area had already wore their ihram clothes. meaning, the men had already wore their two pieces of fabrics (wrapped around their bodies) with no underwears! I imagine they must be feeling very uncomfortable.

we got in the bus to medina at around 7am. it took 4-5 hours to get there (about 400 kilometers from jeddah). we had our indonesian style breakfast on the way to medina. rice with yummy grilled chicken, salad, and chilli sauce. hmmm so yummy. I finished all the food as always :)

what happened to the rest of our journey?

- t o b e c o n t i n u e d -

jahe merah (red ginger)

Since I am expecting a baby, I reduce the consumption of medicine. When I feel tired, I'd rather drink hot tea mixed with milk and 1 teaspoon of jahe merah (red ginger). Drinking jahe merah (red ginger also makes me sleep better at night.

I get jahe merah (red ginger) powder at Bandung Farm Shop located at Warung Buncit, Jakarta.

bekatul (rice bran)

Drinking hot tea mix with 1 tablespoon of bekatul (rice bran) in the morning has becoming my new habit since a month ago. The result is I feel much better, and since I am expecting a baby... it means I add more fiber to my body, so I suffer less constipations.

It is interesting enough that bekatul (rice bran):

1. Good for heart disease, diabetic, asthma, thyroid and many other diseases.
2. Rice bran is a source of fiber, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.

batik mania

I love batik since I was in high school... about 18 years ago. the love began when my family and I went for a trip accompanying my Dutch pen-friend, Tessa, to Yogyakarta. we went to many places there, and one of the most fun thing is to go to Beringharjo market. we hunt for old batik. I got a couple of batik long pants, batik shorts, and batik shirts. at that time there were no young ladies wearing batik. batik was considered 'old fashion'. only mbok and old grandmas wearing batik.

now, in year 2008, jakarta is flooded not only with water but also batik. you will find someone's wearing batik wherever you go. every store sells batik. on many occasions, the dress code will be batik. last week oma nina and I went to an exhibition at senayan. there were so many things to see from batik, embroidery, kids clothes, to comforter. but amazingly enough, the most packed kiosks were the antique batik ones. there were 3 kiosks packed with ladies hunting for batik. the sellers came from Beringharjo market. it was so smelly not because of the ladies, but the smell came from the antique batik:) I sneezed so many times. I got 2 throws and 1 king size comforter for only 400 thousand rupiahs. cool!

an angel at home

One day a baby was ready to be delivered to this world...

He asked his God: "All angels here told me that tomorrow You will send me to the world. But how could I survive? I am so weak and tiny..."
God replied: "I had chosen an angel for you. She will always love you forever, and take good care of you."
"But here in Heaven I sing and laugh all the time. I am happy."
"Well, your angel will sing and smile for you every single day so you will be a happy baby."
"How could I know what people say if I don't understand their language?"
"Your angel will talk to you with all her patience and kind attention. She will teach you how to talk."
"What should I do if I want to communicate with You?
"Your angel will teach you how to pray."
"I heard that there are so many bad guys on Earth. Who will protect me?"
"Your angel will protect you even it will harm her."
"But I am very sad because I wouldn't see You again."
"Your angel will tell you about Me. She will teach you how to get back to Me, although I will always be at your side."

It was very quiet in Heaven so the baby could hear voices from Earth. He asked: "God, if I have to go now, could You tell me what's the angel's name?"
God replied: "You will call her.... mama."

Always remember your mom's unconditional love. Pray for her. And... love her forever.....

malaikat di rumahmu

oma mawly sent me this message. it touches my heart. thank you so much, oma... I hope this message will remind me not to nag around too much :)


MALAIKAT DI RUMAHMU .....
Suatu hari seorang bayi siap untuk dilahirkan ke dunia. Dia bertanya kepada Tuhan :

"Para malaikat disini mengatakan bahwa besok Engkau akan mengirimku ke dunia, tetapi bagaimana cara saya hidup disana, saya begitu kecil dan lemah ?”
Dan Tuhan menjawab, "Saya telah memilih satu malaikat untukmu. Ia akan menjaga dan mengasihimu".
"Tapi disini, di dalam surga, apa yang pernah saya lakukan hanyalah bernyanyi dan tertawa. Ini sudah cukup bagi saya untuk berbahagia".
"Malaikatmu akan bernyanyi dan tersenyum untukmu setiap hari. Dan kamu akan merasakan kehangatan cintanya dan menjadi lebih berbahagia".
"Dan bagaimana saya bisa mengerti saat orang-orang berbicara kepadaku jika saya tidak mengerti bahasa mereka ?"
"Malaikatmu akan berbicara kepadamu dengan bahasa yang paling indah yang pernah kamu dengar; dan dengan penuh kesabaran dan perhatian, dia akan mengajarkan bagaimana cara kamu berbicara".
"Dan apa yang akan saya lakukan saat saya ingin berbicara kepadaMu ?"
"Malaikatmu akan mengajarkan bagaimana cara kamu berdoa".
"Saya mendengar bahwa di Bumi banyak orang jahat. Siapa yang akan melindungi saya ?"
"Malaikatmu akan melindungimu, walaupun hal tersebut mungkin dapat mengancam jiwanya".
"Tapi, saya pasti akan merasa sedih karena tidak melihatMu lagi".
"Malaikatmu akan menceritakan padamu tentang Saya, dan akan mengajarkan bagaimana agar kamu bisa kembali kepadaKu, walaupun sesungguhnya Aku akan selalu berada di sisimu".

Saat itu Surga begitu tenangnya sehingga suara dari Bumi dapat terdengar, dan sang anak bertanya perlahan, "Tuhan, jika saya harus pergi sekarang, bisakah Engkau memberitahuku nama malaikat tersebut ?"
"Kamu akan memanggil malaikatmu, ....... Ibu."

Ingatlah selalu kasih sayang ibu, berdoalah untuknya dan cintailah dia sepanjang masa.

back to garden

last week I was super duper busy cleaning up the house. the main point was I had to prepare kaka nina's room. he was moving to his own room! and he had a play date with with close friends by the end of last week. he has his own 'mario club' which made nina sad because she's not a part of the club.

now I am going back to my garden. I usually spend 3 hours there from 8 to 11am. so I guess my garden looks neat again. and... I picked plenty of 'daun ginseng' and stir-fried it with a lot of chillis. sooo yummy! when I ran out of food and I'm too lazy to do groceries I have this 'daun ginseng' menu.

'daun ginseng' is very easy to grow. I started plant it from buying the 'daun ginseng' from groceries store. instead of cooking it, I just planted it to the ground. within a couple of days the roots growing and in a couple of weeks I harvested this 'daun ginseng'.

school

lately, I involve in conversations about sending kids to good school. everyone off course has his or her opinion about definition of 'good school'. for not ambitious parent like me (meaning, I don't care about rank and grades), I like montessori or high/scope learning methode which I said they both use the same methode (but high/scope claim it has different methode from montessori). learning things need process. and each kid has his or her own pace. therefore, montessori and high/scope learning methode are considered slow to many ambitious parents.

we sent kaka nina to montessori school (for 4 years from toddler through kindergarten level) while we lived in los angeles, and since we moved to jakarta in 2005 we send nina and kaka nina to high/scope indonesia. so far I have no academic problem with kaka nina. he is in 3 grade now. and nina do well in preschool.

if I may compare montessori (M) and high/scope (HS)methode school with traditional (TR) school, some example such as:

1. M and HS students learn less subjects than TR students.
2. M and HS students do their assessment at school without any notice. While TR students has to learn days before assessment day come.
3. M and HS students don't have to do tons of homework. TR students have to do tons of homework everyday.
4. Parents of TR students are very stressful of their kids assessments. (I saw a lady write a summary for her son's social studies assessment... ehm... who's going to school? and who's suppose to learn how to summarize? it's your kid).

above of all, we have to send our kids to a school which is fit for our kids ability, and for our budget :)

telkom flexi memang 'bukan telpon biasa'

telkom flexi memang bukan telpon biasa = telkom flexi is an unusual phone (not in a positive way).

pusiiiing tujuh keliling... I cannot translate this term to english... but if I can say in english term... telkom flexi makes me crazy!!!! I don't know why the biggest telecom company in indonesia serves its customer with all this problem.

this is the second time I get into this stupid problem. makes me suffer... arrrggghhhhh!!!! anyways, papa nina, oma nina, travel agent, even our gardener cannot reach me because my line keep busy. hey... I'm not a chit-chatty person. I'd rather make a phone call from my home line, not through my cellphone (indonesian baca: h.p.). I wasted my time (2 hours) last month only to change the sim-card at telkom plasa, luckily it was free of charge, but it only last for a month! and, I called the 147 number just now to file a complaint, and the guy said it will take TWO DAYS to process. WHAT!?!?!?

day-4 hong kong trip

time to go home...

I stopped by at a bookstore, I couldn't resist to buy a book. I don't like clothes shopping, but I love book shopping:) I found this interesting book, 'sights and secrets of hong kong' sketched by lorette e.roberts. this book is a collection of beautiful sketches about hong kong and chinese culture.

next time I want to go back to hong kong and do a serious travelling. meaning... learning the chinese arts, culture, and going to museums.

I'll be back!

day-3 hong kong trip

we went to 'mickey house'. nina was super duper excited to meet donald and daisy. it was a little bit drizzling when we arrived at mickey house but later it's just cloudy. compare to the original disneyland in california off course hong kong disneyland is super duper tiny. the layout of the park is exactly the same, but no churros snack in hong kong:) instead it's corn on a cob. and the pop corn was so sweet, no buttered one.

kaka nina had been to disneyland in california for sooo many times, and been to walt disney world in florida, so he's not that excited. but he loved it when he got the chance to learn drawing at disney animation class. he was so excited about it and the result wasn't bad.

went back to the hotel early because papa nina had a business dinner. so we went by mtr. it's a great experience for kaka nina because he loves train. 7.30pm papa nina went for dinner with his colleague and we just went downstairs to have pizza at pizza hut.

day-2 hong kong trip

the weather was great, although it's rather cold. it's no problem. I miss cold weather sooo much. we went for a city tour, started from the peak and madame tussaud's wax museum. we thought that hong kong is almost similar like san francisco. the weather, the crowd at time square is almost as crowded as union square in san francisco, the tram, the bridge. no wonder Chinese people love to stay in san francisco area. may be they feel like at home :)

we went to jumbo kingdom floating restaurant for lunch. it was interesting because we had to ride a boat to get there. the portions are huge. however, since I love chinese food we almost finish everything and only brought the fried tofu for snacking at the hotel.

kaka nina got mario t-shirt (he's mario bros. big fan) so he's super duper happy. since I'm not a big fan of doing shopping so I don't go shopping for souvenir. I guess only tante nina and papa nina's nephews got the shirt. instead, I enjoyed seeing the painting and sculpture exhibition - never ending story by a taiwanese cartoonist, jimmy liao. I love his works. he is very detailed oriented. all his painting done by watercolor and ink. it's too bad that his books are written in chinese, no english. (but I saw in barnes&noble website he mad some children book illustration - too bad I'm not in the states anymore). but I got the postcards and the chinese version book even I don't understand:)

day-1 hong kong trip

sunday morning we all were ready for our hong kong trip. kids were soooo ready and excited to go to 'mickey house' especially nina. I had warned the kids to be good during our trip this time. so off we went to the airport to catch our 9.15 am flight. everything went well, and I felt great too. no more morning sickness, no more cranky, no more asking papa nina to massage my back. hahaha... hmm may be I supposed to travel a lot so I don't think about my pregnancy that much. (hey just realized that all my kids has travelled by airplane by the time they're 3mos. old in my tummy).

anyways this time we stayed at the budget hotel, express by holiday inn. the size of the room is rather small but I don't care as long as I can save money.. what a stingy wife :) but I like it because it's clean, we can just walk around time square to find food, free internet access (so papa nina can still work), free kids meal, breakfast included, no need to spend money for taxi.

6 hours from jakarta to bandung

we started our trip from jakarta at 2pm and eventually arrived in bandung at 8pm!!! a two hour trip becoming a 6 hour terrible trip. the traffic was as crazy during lebaran days. this was only a regular 4 days government holiday but... I don't know what to say. everybody just puff!!! disappeared from jakarta and turned up in bandung.

gardening-2

I like gardening although I'm still young. yes, gardening sounds old fashion, but it makes me sweaty so I don't have to go to a sauna place. it makes me move the whole body so I don't have to go to the gym. it gives me a satisfaction feeling when the plants are growing well - no rotten roots, no bugs eating the leaves, flowers blooming.

to do gardening I don't have to have a big backyard like my mom's. I plant almost all the plants in the pots so I can move them around whenever I want. only 10% are planted on the ground. I even plant the herbs and spices such as daun jeruk, jeruk purut, jeruk nipis, kemangi leaves, daun salam, jahe, kencur, kunyit, sereh, sirih, sirih merah, and daun ginseng. I know those things are available in the supermarket. you can just grab and pay. however, the prices are increases and the most important is I want to have those things fresh and available instantly when I need them.

I cook the instant noodle mix with daun ginseng, thin cut of sereh, or daun jeruk... hmmm... smells good. or I cook the meatball pasta - to get rid of the smell from the ground beef I put daun jeruk, daun salam, and thin cut of sereh. it's so yummy and smells good.

to get rid of acne I crush 2 daun sirih and put it on. it really works well. and, since kaka nina and I get a lot of mimisan (nose bleeding) we have to have daun sirih ready whenever we need it.

let's go green guys!
I guess gardening is including... :)

learning english from tv

yesterday we -nina, kaka nina, and mama nina- went to kezia's birthday party. kezia is nina's classmate who is very sweet cute 'very girly' little girl. while the kids were enjoying the party, miss dora (nina's grey room teacher), mbak rika (agas mom) and I had the discussion why the kids don't want to speak english in the class. the teachers have to remind them to speak english or they just speak bahasa all the time. actually there are kids who speaks english at home with their parents including nina, nea, sean and a couple more. the rest of the kids don't speak english at home because their parents are working or busy outside the house. so they just stay in the house with their babysitters. unfortunately, these babysitters don't speak english, and the chance to speak english at school is only 3 hours a day.

in my case, because I realize my english is not perfect, I subscribe to a cable tv so my kids could expose to channels (such as playhouse disney, disney channel, discovery channel, etc) besides indonesian national tv. so every day, nina and kaka nina watch those channels. I think it works well. nina's english has improved significantly, and kaka nina's has stayed in his brain up until now. and I speak english with them almost all the time - except when I'm upset.

so tv is not always bad. it can be the source to learn something useful as long as we parents accompany and check what they watch...

disk man vs. cd player

although i-pod has dominated the market, I'm still looking for a cd player for kaka nina. so I went to carrefour - off course this is a french company so I guess the management do not teach the staff english terms :). I asked one of the staff where I could find a cd player. he got confused. he asked his colleagues, and those guys got confused too. luckily, one guy came up and understand what I mean by cd player. he said, people here called it diskman instead of cd player. well well... whatever...

'setor uang vs. deposit money' term also made me confused. I went to citibank - this is a big american financial institution so I assume the staff understand english terms but apparently they don't :) I went to the teller and I said I would like to deposit some money. the teller replied I should go to the customer service to make deposito. we both confused. so I show the slip that show 'setor uang' word. then she smiled. well, mam, you mean you would like to 'setor uang'. OMG... I don't know what will happen if one day she has to deal with a real blond lady, or a handsome guy foreigner.

so what do you learn mama nina?
I learn that the jakartans speak different kind of english. so I should be prepared :)

do I need to do senam hamil ?

I watched the news this morning about senam hamil - exercise during pregnancy. it sounds important but I never did it during my pregnancy with my 2 kids. luckily, and grateful to God, nothing happened to me during the pregnancy and during the delivery. it took me 2 hours for delivery kaka nina, and only about 15 minutes 'pushing' for delivery nina.

but I don't know what will happen with this baby. I hope everything goes well. I'm pretty nervous this time. I get used to have a good care at a private women health care in st. monica. I had to meet - believe it or not - 5 doctors during the 9 months pregnancy, and I do tons of check up every time I went to the clinic - urine test, blood test, blood pressure and weight measurement, and many more test. I felt secure and comfortable. and at about the 6th month of my pregnancy I went to St. Monica-UCLA hospital - The BirthPlace for admission so anytime I was ready for the delivery, I just went to the hospital and one of the 5 doctors I'd met would help me delivery the baby. luckily, I always got help from my favorite doctors - dr. sharon pushkin for kaka nina, and dr. charles hamrell for nina.

here in jakarta, I go to Pondok Indah hospital just 5 minutes away from our house (or 30 minutes during traffic jam!!). luckily , thanks to tante mia, I meet a good and very kind doctor - dr. Aswin Sastrowardoyo. but of course the additional treatment is different here. there's no urine test, no blood test, only basic blood pressure and weight measurement. so what I'm hoping now dr. Aswin will be available to help delivery the baby ;)

are you smarter than a 5th grader?

are you?!?

really?!?

are you sure?!?

well, we better watch the show before we can answer 'yes' or 'no'. this show is becoming one of my 'must watch' show. it's fun to watch and also becoming the time to learn things. one thing to remember... we -as adults- do not under estimate kids! many times they are smarter than us! really... I mean it. even my nina - she's 3 - has good critical thinking and good answers. so don't miss this show. we can watch it at star world asia.

are you smarter than a 5th grader?

gardening

my pregnancy is full of morning sickness this time. not like the first and the second kids. I feel tired all the time. and I don't eat properly.

today, at my 11th week, I felt great and strong so I could do gardening! my backyard look awful after so many weeks I didn't have desire to go out to my backyard. off course mang emon - the gardener - came about 2 weeks ago. but usually, I go check up and water my backyard almost everyday. and during my tour I found out a cute small - a little bit bigger than a golf ball size - beehive hidden in the puring tree; trimming the unwanted leaves; and get rid off some unwanted plants which I don't even remember the name. so I had a great exercise today!

do you have a driver, mam?

today I had the super duper funniest question ever. I picked up nina from school by myself - off course. I was a little bit late so I couldn't get the ladies driver spot. I ended up parking my car at the opposite side. it's no problem for me.

when I returned to the car with nina, these two drivers sitting at the back of a car asked me politely: "mam, do you drive the car by yourself? do you have a driver, mam?" my my my... I was super duper surprised by the question. so I smiled and replied: "well, I'm the driver... any problems?" it's their turn to be surprised by my answer.

so I laughed out loud in the car... I understand why those driver asked me... because... my car was dirty...

nagging

nag·ging /ˈnægɪŋ/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[nag-ing]

–adjective

1.	continually faultfinding, complaining, or petulant: a nagging parent.

2.	persistently recurring; unrelenting: a nagging backache.

---

source: dictionary.com

says who

over the years, tante nina and I have a discussion about a term: 'says who'. people usually say: "who says ...".

before we studied in the u.s., she always told me that the term 'says who' was not an english term. it's just a translation I made from bahasa: 'siapa bilang' or 'kata siapa'. well, honestly I translate a lot of things from bahasa so my english sounds awkward:) however, 7 years in the u.s. I never had problems during school years even during work years. never had miscommunication with my classmates, friends, and co-workers. may be because I work for an Italian architect who also says: 'says who' believe it or not. hahaha... I was not only super duper surprised when I heard him said that term, but also very happy because at least one more person in this world says that. so I never felt guilty. and... I got another surprise because I heard that term in one sitcom (I don't remember the title). well, the actor is an american.

so... may be the term 'says who' is really out there... not just my crazy translation ;)

3

This year IS a busy year for our family. Preparing for our 3rd baby of course. Not only preparing our mental, but also our house. We have to enlarge the kid's bedrooms; and remodel our bathroom into just a shower (get rid of the bath tub). This idea is of course coming out of my dearest hubby - papa nina. He becomes very worried that I may fall down when I jump out of the bath tub. So for now I take a shower at Nina's bathroom :)

Preparing nina and kaka-nina that they will have a baby brother/sister is kind of difficult. Kaka-nina felt a little bit sad. He said that my chance to stay alive is 50-50 during the labor of the baby. This statement of course surprised me. So I tried to calm him down by telling him that he better pray mommy and the baby will be safe.

Meanwhile, nina as a three-year-old girl, keeps changing her mind. One day she told me to have a baby sister. The next day she told me to have a baby boy.

sukun / breadfruit

anyone knows where to find sukun goreng in jakarta?

what a relief...

I just realize I need my cellphone after it didn't work for almost 48 hours. I called the cell provider (Telkom Flexi) for 5 times! Those guys were just clueless of what's wrong with my cell. And as usual, they just gave me unreliable promises. Hey you guys! Do your job don't just talk-talk-talk...

So today I went to their customer service center - Telkom Plaza. After more than 1 hour waiting - played the cell games, and luckily I brought French fries left over so I had something to chew - it's my turn #097.... Luckily, the lady who assisted me was very helpful, cooperative, and kind. What a lucky day for me today. And I consider it was a super duper rare experience. She did her job with a smile (see... it's rare... never happened before) and within 30 minutes she successfully fixed the problem! Two tumbs up for the lady.

bullying

What is bullying?

Bullying is any intentional, repeated hurtful act – including inflicting physical pain, name-calling, exclusion, defacing property, hurtful pranks and public humiliation.
Bullying is the act of intentionally causing harm to others through verbal harassment, physical assault, or other more subtle methods of coercion such as manipulation.

I attended a seminar about bullying at high/scope tb simatupang presented by ms. diena from sejiwa. It was a very interesting subject because it happens everyday, anywhere, anytime. It can happen at school, in the workplace, in the cyber world, or even at home!

At school, it can happen among students, among teachers, or even teachers bully students! At home, it can happen between husband and wife, parents to kids, or kids to parents. But I think the most bullying cases happen among women :P Why? Women envy each other, gossiping around a lot, and many more.

kaka nina bengong

keluar dari kelas extended islamic, mama nina mengajak nina dan kaka nina jajan ke juice corner. kita pesan orange juice dan pop corn to go. di area duduk juice corner duduklah kami bertiga menunggu pesanan selesai dibuat.

tanpa sadar kaka nina menganga sambil mengerenyitkan dahinya melihat kakak kelasnya (elementary grade-4!!!!) sedang disuapi makan sore oleh sang mbak. sang kakak kelas - yang satu kelompok berenang hari jumat - padahal suka so' gede sama adik-adik kelasnya pada saat latihan berenang. mama nina sendiri juga geli banget melihat sang kakak kelas disuapi. aduuuuh iya sih body-mu gede nak... tapi kelakuanmu masih manja kayak balita...

di mobil, kaka nina bilang ,'kok nggak malu ya?' nina pun bilang,'kan yang disuapin only babies ya mom?' lalu mama nina menerangkan bahwa anak-anak harus belajar makan sendiri. dan mama selalu wanti-wanti sama anak-anak bahwa walaupun nanti suatu hari kita ada mbak yang membantu kita, tetap anak-anak tidak boleh malas untuk clean-up after play, tidak boleh seenaknya suruh-suruh mbak, dan... kaka nina juga tidak boleh disuapi karena sudah grade-3.

10 years

today is our 10th wedding anniversary,
we enjoy the good times,
and survive the bad times so far...

thank you

thank-you /ˈθæŋkˌyu/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[thangk-yoo]

1.	adjective. expressing one's gratitude or thanks

2.	noun. an expression of thanks, as by saying “thank you”

terima kasih | hatur nuhun | matur suwun | xièxie | merci | mahalo | gracias | grazie | arigato

dimana hati nurani-mu?

waktu tunggu giliran di dokter anak, mama nina sedang memangku nina yang lemas karena sakit panas. di opposite side duduk dua orang bapak asyik celingukan sambil sesekali nonton sinetron di tivi ruang tunggu. kemudian seorang ibu berkerudung berjalan melewati kami. tidak disengaja karet ikat rambut beliau lepas sehingga tergeletak di lantai. saya panggil-panggil tetapi ibu itu tidak dengar. sementara kedua bapak di seberang saya itu pun jelas-jelas melihat kejadian jatuhnya ikat rambut itu. eee ternyata kedua bapak itu malah ngeliatin saya... dasar laki-laki! saya lagi kerepotan urus nina. mereka kok yo nggak berinisiatif tho yo nolongin ibu itu. malahan mereka ngeliatin saya. dasaaaaarrrr.... nggak gentlemen!

saya kasihan sama ibu itu. walaupun cuma ikat rambut tapi kan tetap saja kayaknya I feel bad kalo sampai tidak mengembalikan barang itu pada yang punya. lain soal kalau saya tidak melihat siapa yang kehilangan barang itu. iya nggak?!? untungnya saya ketemu dengan ibu itu di bagian farmasi, dan mengembalikan ikat rambutnya. setelah kembali ke ruang tunggu, kedua bapak tersebut masih duduk manis tapi malu tidak berani lagi menatap mata saya. malu nggak sih anda, pak? saya yang sibuk urus anak masih mau nolong orang. anda berdua yang asyik-asyik nganggur malah diam saja...

C.149

sabtu kemarin, mama nina kumpul dengan teman-teman c.149 di sushi tei. mereka adalah teman-teman seperjuangan, senasib sepenanggungan selama dulu kuliah 5 tahun. walaupun kita dari berbeda-beda angkatan dan berbeda-beda jurusan, tetapi kita bersama-sama melalui masa-masa suka dan duka di tempat kost c.149 waktu sekolah dulu. senangnya bertemu lagi dengan teman-teman lama...

memang yang bisa kumpul hanya berlima saja, tapi tidak mengurangi suasana ceria. kalau dulu kita-kita curhat soal cowok atau soal tugas kuliah dan ujian, sekarang curhatnya tentang anak-anak, suami, pembantu... lucu juga. malahan kita saling tukar tips dan tricks. dari tips gimana supaya anak nggak takut ke dokter, menghadapi pembantu yang ceriwis, sampai gimana cara praktis menggambar pakai sketchup... maklum kita kan sudah tua jadi belajar gambar yang gampang-gampang aja.

so, kapan kita ketemuan lagi?

happy mouse year!

kemarin merupakan hari pertama tahun baru tikus. happy mouse year! di semua stasiun tivi dari pagi sampai malam meliput segala sesuatu yang berkenaan dengan chinese new year ini. dari peruntungan bisnis di tahun tikus, cara pembuatan dodol, pembuatan lampion, sampai mengundang pakar-pakar feng shui indonesia.

di pondok indah mal-2 pun ada atraksi barongsai. padahal waktu lunch di rumah mama nina wondering ke mana ya bisa kasih lihat barongsai ke anak-anak. jadi, tanpa sengaja, sore harinya mama dan papa nina mengajak anak-anak ke pondok indah mal. tadinya sih untuk naik merry go around saja di pim-1. waduh suasana di kedua bagian mal pondok indah penuh banget seperti pasar. super duper full. tapi hari itu merupakan hari keberuntungan kita karena bisa dapat parking spot dengan mudah tanpa harus mengeluarkan uang tip ke security rhihihi...

nah setelah nina naik merry go around dan kaka nina main game mario kart di fun world pim-1, kita had an early dinner karena mama nina kelaparan. seperti biasa anak-anak makan unhealthy food kalau pergi ke mal. suasana food court super duper full seperti saat buka puasa on the weekend. jadi strategy-nya mama nina antri beli makan, sementara itu papa nina dan anak-anak pergi searching for table. untungnya lagi mereka bisa dapat meja dalam waktu singkat. jadi pas banget deh. moga-moga di tahun tikus ini memang keluarga kami bisa dapet untung terus ya.... amiiiin....

setelah dinner kami cari tempat strategis untuk nonton barongsai. akhirnya kami dapat tempat strategis di lantai-1 dekat escalator. di bagian lain manusia sudah penuh sesak, sampai-sampai bagian bridge pun dipenuhi manusia-manusia mungil. aduuuh sampai takut ambruk deh. nah akhirnya sekitar jam 7 malam atraksi pun dimulai. nina seemed to enjoy the atraction, dia ikutan dancing around mengikuti lagu...

free country - indonesia or u.s.a.?

semenjak pulang ke indonesia 2 tahun lalu, mama nina sering tidak habis pikir. ternyata indonesia is more 'free country' daripada amerika. selama ini orang amerika selalu menggembar-gemborkan ke-free-country-an-nya kalau mereka sedang bebas bicara, atau sedang telanjang di pantai, atau sedang demo. tapi jangan salah... ternyata mereka tidak se-free yang mereka sangka dan orang indonesia sangka. mama nina pun sampai sekarang masih nggak tahan melihat ke-free-country-an-nya orang indonesia.

mama nina paling kesal kalau ada orang yang bilang - "aduuuh enaknya kamu tinggal di amerika. pasti seneng deh". mama nina sih cengar-cengir aja kalau dibilangin seperti itu. dalam hati tertawa dan mbathin - eyalaaaaah lu pasti belum pernah hidup di negeri orang deh. atau... lu emang siiih pernah pergi ke amerika tapi cuma seminggu dua minggu untuk liburan doang. yang disananya kemana-mana ikutan tour travel agent-nya. enak-enak hidup di hotel. deu... emangnya hidup di amerika hidup enak-enak seperti yang lu tonton di film-film itu? yang rumahnya gede dan punya pesawat pribadi kayak kimora lee? punya asisten yang pake seragam item putih kayak di komik richie rich? cobain deh lu hidup di negeri orang, dan jangan hidup seperti orang-orang kaya indonesia yang ada di sana. jalani kehidupan seperti the americans. dijamin pasti orang yang bilang mama nina enak-enak tinggal di amerika tujuh tahun langsung cabut balik ke indonesia tanpa tunggu sampai satu bulan.

beberapa contoh bahwa di indonesia lebih free dari amerika

di amerika untuk punya sim harus tertib mengikuti prosedur yang telah ditetapkan oleh dmv (dept. of motor vehicles). untuk ujian tertulisnya mama nina nggak lulus dua kali. baru ketiga kalinya dilulusin. untuk test drive-nya sih off course langsung lulus walaupun deg-degan separo mati karena yang nge-test-nya orang item gede banget. kalau sampai mama nina nggak lulus test drive di amerika itu namanya super duper keterlaluan. lha wong jalannya lebar-lebar dan sepi. nggak usah fighting sama sepeda motor, bus dan angkot. di jakarta mama nina dengan bebas merdeka nggak perlu test tertulis dan boro-boro test drive. pokoknya datang ke samsat, ketemu sama agen, terus tinggal foto dan 5 menit kemudian jadi sim mama nina. itu pun mama nina baru urus sim setelah setahun tinggal di jakarta. suka-suka deh... can you imagine semua pengendara mobil, truk, bus, metro, angkot dan motor melakukan semua itu? dan mereka semua asal dapet sim? tanpa ikut prosedur? no wonder lalu-lintas di jakarta amburadul tanpa aturan. indonesia tea atuh... free country....

keadaan lainnya, di amerika untuk naik bus kita harus jalan kaki ke halte bus terdekat yang boro-boro jaraknya beneran dekat. turun pun harus di halte lagi. kalau di jakarta... walaaaah good service lah pokoknya. lu mau turun di mulut gang haji ba'un pun si supir angkot pasti bakal berhenti paaaas di mulut gang nggak peduli diklakson sama kendaraan di belakangnya, dan nggak peduli si penumpang yang turun bakal keserempet motor yang nggak sabaran. lu mau naik dimana dan kapan saja pun pasti ada saja angkot yang menghampiri. bukannya itu menggambarkan indonesia lebih free daripada amerika?

contoh yang terakhir yaitu, kebudayaan antri. dari kecil mama nina memang sudah dididik untuk tertib oleh oma nina. jadi budaya tertib sudah mendarah daging dalam diri mama nina. sehingga hidup tujuh tahun di amerika merupakan salah satu berkah yang diberikan tuhan kepada mama nina. suatu kesempatan dari tuhan untuk mama nina untuk menjalani hidup yang tenang dan tertib. alhamdulillah. naaah di jakarta tiada budaya antri. tiada manners. dan tiada courtesy. yang diterapkan disini adalah budaya suka-suka gue. buat orang jakarta - tidak peduli dia berpendidikan rendah atau tinggi - pokoknya budayanya ya suka-suka gue itu. beberapa minggu lalu mama nina dan anak-anak antri ke toilet umum di senayan city. mama nina pikir, orang yang ke senayan city harusnya sudah harus berbudaya antri. ternyata tidak. ckckck... pas giliran mama nina dan anak-anak mau masuk ke ruang kloset di depan kami, eeee tiba-tiba ada seorang ibu datang dan mau nyelonong masuk. padahal orang-orang lain di belakang mama nina juga antri. akhirnya tanpa basa basi pun mama nina terpaksa menyeret ibu tersebut untuk ke pinggir dan kami bisa masuk. herannya, yang mama nina tidak habis-habisnya pikir, kok yo bisa ibu tersebut tanpa merasa dosa dan tanpa merasa bersalah nyelonong mau masuk mendahului kita-kita yang sudah antri. malahan mama nina diomelin, katanya - 'elu-elu aje yang antri'. aduh jangan gila deeeh... bu... bu... udah masuk senayan city kok otaknya masih 'suka-suka gue' sih bu... well, it only happens in indonesia. namanya juga indonesia... free country...

minggu pagi

kegiatan mama nina minggu pagi selalu diawali dengan membuat teh jahe merah hangat untuk sendiri. setelah itu baru menyiapkan breakfast untuk papa nina dan anak-anak. selain itu yang mama nina tunggu adalah koran kompas karena hobby mama nina mengisi teka-teki silang ;) dan membaca artikel gaya hidup tulisan samuel mulia. saat ini tulisan beliau merupakan tulisan favorite mama nina. mudah dicerna, lucu, dan kadang mengharukan. untungnya saat ini mama nina bisa juga membaca-nya melalui kompas online community

uang yang kerja

mama nina baru saja pulang belanja dari carrefour. as usual pasti ada aja ketemu sama teman atau parents dari sekolah anak-anak. hari ini mama nina ketemu dengan pasangan suami istri yang sangat kompak. kemana-mana berdua. antar anak-anak ke sekolah, jemput juga berdua. sampai-sampai mama nina suka mbathin... aduuuh enaknya kalau papa nina juga bisa jemput. rhihihi... nggak usah berdua lah, paling tidak dia bisa ikutan jemput kalau mama nina pas lagi 'sibuk'. tapi, mama nina tetap bersyukur karena papa nina masih mau antar anak-anak ke sekolah. daripada nggak ikutan care sama sekali.... rhihihi...

dengan melihat pasangan tersebut mama nina mengambil kesimpulan bahwa pasangan ini sudah mencapai tingkatan kehidupan yang 'uang bekerja untuk mereka'. bukan mereka bekerja untuk mencari uang. sang suami dengan tenang tanpa merasa kikuk ada di sekolah pada jam antar atau jemput anak-anaknya. sedangkan sang istri juga dengan tenang tidak merasa kikuk kok suami dia saja yang ada di sekolah.

hujan = jakarta banjir + macet

dari tadi malam hujan turun tak henti-hentinya. walhasil jakarta banjir dan macet total. alhamdulillah rumah kami tidak kebanjiran karena terletak di dataran agak tinggi. tapi ada sedikit air menetes tepat di tengah-tengah foyer. yah nggak apa-apa deh... masih untung (dasar wong jowo walaupun kena apa-apa masih bilang untung) nggak kebanjiran tho.

kalau hujan semalaman, biasanya sudah bisa dipastikan jalanan depan rumah macet. rasanya stress banget... lha wong keluar gerbang kok yang terlihat deretan mobil-mobil yang berhenti. mana pagi ini mama nina harus antar anak-anak ke sekolah. karena mama nina nggak suka kalau anak-anak terlambat masuk kelas, maka jadi tambah tegang gara-gara jam 8:00a.m. baru berangkat dari rumah. padahal kaka nina masuk kelas jam 8:15a.m. sedangkan nina masuk kelas jam 8:45a.m.

untungnya untuk menuju sekolah anak-anak ada alternatif jalan belakang. jadilah mama nina memakai route jalan belakang sambil terus komat kamit berdoa supaya tidak kena macet. alhamdulillah doa mama nina terkabul. jalan belakang lancar sekali tanpa hambatan. jadi mama nina tiba di lobby sekolah tepat jam 8:15a.m. legaaaa banget rasanya. soalnya kalau telat kan keterlaluan. wong rumah dekat tapi kok masih telat juga. nah setelah dapat parking spot, barulah mama nina mengantar nina masuk kelasnya.

rupanya papa nina tidak seberuntung mama nina. dia harus pergi ke daerah thamrin untuk meeting. dan papa nina pun terjebak banjir dan macet. tadinya papa nina mau nekat parkir mobil dan jalan kaki ke gedung tempat meeting. tapi keadaan tidak memungkinkan. lha wong airnya tergenang setinggi paha orang dewasa. walhasil papa nina pulang lagi ke kantornya. untungnya hari ini dia ditemani supir. jadi nggak bengong sendirian ditengah banjir dan macet.

nostalgia kenmore family

setelah beberapa saat tidak buka inbox di fs, barusan mama nina baca kangen-kangenan dari saudara di los angeles saying happy new year (telat banget baru baca sekarang). jadi kangen deh... hik hik...

tadinya sih kita sekeluarga nggak saling kenal. tapi di tahun 1999 kita mulai kenalan. pasangan-pasangan muda yang baru dateng ke rantau saling tolong-menolong. lama-lama jadi deket kayak saudara. malahan mama nina merasa lebih dekat dengan -let's say- kenmore family (karena terdiri dari dua keluarga plus ibu mereka) daripada dengan sepupu-sepupu kandung sendiri. kalau ketemu sepupu sendiri pun sampai sekarang rasanya masih 'awkward' dan diem-dieman aja. sekedar salaman dan cipika cipiki. super duper formal dan lots of basa-basi boring banget. sedangkan dengan kenmore family sudah seperti sepupu sendiri dan dengan ibu mereka seperti tante sendiri. bisa ketawa ketiwi dan ngerasa deket banget.

kenmore family ini care banget sama mama nina sekeluarga (tapi mungkin lebih kasihan sama papa nina). mereka sering undang kita untuk makan bareng karena tau mama nina nggak bisa masak rhihihi... kalau ada acara kumpul pasti mama nina gak pe-de bawa makanan. mama nina cuma mau bawa minuman! kalau acara lebaranan pasti maunya mama nina bawa ketupat - karena ketupatnya tinggak ngerebus aja tanpa harus mikirin bumbu apa yang kurang. di kenmore family, semuanya pintar memasak. dari ibu, sampai anak-anaknya semua bisa memasak. tapi masakannya semua super duper pedes. mak nyus deh pokoknya.

waktu mama nina cuma berdua kaka nina di l.a. - sementara itu papa nina sedang pulang kandang ke jakarta - mereka lebih care lagi sama kita. saat-saat mama nina ada kelas malam, bryant dititipkan ke kenmore family. rasanya mama nina merasa tenang kalau bryant bersama mereka. pas jemput bryant kita kadang-kadang lanjut jajan ke warung thai food dekat apartment mereka.

masih banyak sekali kenangan-kenangan manis bersama kenmore family yang mama nina kenang selalu. kalau ditulis bisa sepanjang thesis. dua tahun sudah mama nina sekeluarga pulang kandang ke jakarta. tapi rasanya masih kangeeen aja. saking kangennya, kadang-kadang kalau sedang pergi suka tiba-tiba melihat orang yang wajahnya mirip dengan anggota kenmore family.

till we meet again....

tahu sumedang

gara-gara harga kedelai naik, sudah beberapa minggu ini mama nina dan bryant kehilangan tahu sumedang pak karna. rasanya nggak ada duanya. enak banget. dan harganya off course lebih murah ketimbang kalau belinya di carrefour atau tempat lainnya. di carrefour kalau kepepet beli pun itu juga karena mama nina lapar belum makan pagi... rasanya kalau tahu sumedang yang di carrefour tuh kurang asin dan kurang mak nyus (kalau kata pak bondan). kalau tahu sumedang ala pak karna itu super duper mak nyus... uenak tenan... nggak bisa dilukiskan dengan kata-kata deh pokoknya.

sedih juga ngebayangin pak karna dan keluarganya. warung tahu sumedangnya itu sekarang gelap gulita dan pintu gerbang warungnya hanya dipagari dengan karung-karung berisi pasir supaya kalau hujan turun tidak kebanjiran.

kapan kiranya pak karna bakal buka warung tahu sumedangnya? yah... tunggu harga kedelai turun deh. ayo dong pemerintah... mbok yo turunkan harga kedelai... emangnya nggak kangen apa sama tahu sumedang? kan enak tuh sore-sore jajan tahu sumedang sambil nggigit cengek ditemani teh anget. hmmm... yummy...

gawat

dua tahun setelah pulang ke jakarta....

mama nina
masih kangen overland,
masih beberes rumah on the weekends,
masih nggak bisa masak...

masih nonton playhouse disney channel,
masih nonton thomas the tank engine,
masih nonton nick-jr...