Friday, April 28, 2006

Falling hair



It's my hair's picture. Lots are falling down recently. I mean, really a LOT.

At first I was wondering....am I stressed? Back in high school I got the same experience when i got stressed of exam. But am not. I life my life to the fullest here. So why the hell are they falling down?! Some parts of my skin head are now uncovered. And am pretty sure the possibility of being bald is BIG enough. Ughhhhh

Hiro, who was so much influenced by ER (Emergency Room) once freaked me out. Cancer!! It's sign of cancer!! You got cancer!! Cancer!! Cancer!! (He just watched the scene when Dr. Green died of cancer hahaha)

Then we googled for information just to find out that this thing always happens to a woman, 6 months - 1 year after delivering a baby. Yeah Right!!!! so this postpartum delivery stuffs haven't finished yet?!?! huuu huuuu huuuuu *sigh*

Meanwhile.....
Iki is also losing his hair now. Some information said that it is because of hormon. During his 6 months old until 1 year old, a baby's hair will fall down. Thus new hair will grow, sometimes are completely different with the first one.

In Indonesia, parents shave the baby's head bald on his first month old. They believe that by shaving bald a baby's hair, beautiful dark and thick hair will grow.

Relating the new information I got about baby's hair and Indonesian's belief; now I assume that every baby will have new hair. Either shaved or not. Because eventually the first hair will fall down anyway, replaced later on by the new one. Indonesian's belief just make the process faster!! Kind of shortcut gitu lohhhhh.

About beautiful black and thick hair that comes after shaving.....I think it's just a belief. Hair is genetically inherited. So if a baby's genetical line doesn't have the DNA, just forget about black and thick hair!

Am I right? (^__-)

*Iki and mama will be bald together....?*

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Homesick

Don't get me wrong!
It's not that I terribly miss my home that I wanna go there. Nope. Not at all.
I just miss the food in my house. Somewhat after I read several recipe websites about Indonesian food. [drooling mode: ON]
Hmmmm so perhaps this blog's title should be "home-made food-sick"?! (^__^)

Because today Hiro is drinking with his colleages, I found that tonight is the best time to cook dinner that reminds me of my home. And anyway, Manadonese food is famous with its hot and spicy taste. Hiro won't even think to try it hehehehe.

I found my mom's Babi rica-rica recipe in my inbox. Babi means pork, and rica-rica means chilli sauce. My favourite. My mom always makes it everytime I go back home.

Got headache at the beginning since the there were no complete ingredients available in my house. But I didn't give up coz I drooled too much already. So I checked my refrigerator and decided to try to cook it anyhow.

I substituted tomato with bottled lime juice for sour taste. I substituted kemangi leaves with laurel leaves. I substituted Indonesian chilli with bottled Thailand chilli and Korean big chilli. Daun bawang with negi, and bawang merah with bawang bombay (big onion). And no lemongrass-alike thing here so I just skipped it. I wondered what kind of food would it turn out, but.....IT WORKED!!! click here for the recipe.

Not perfect! thanks God I'm not a freak perfectionist person. But the taste is strong enough to bring me back home. Soooo damn hot. And paired with a can of cold beer, I did feel at home (^____^)



Satisfied? yes....but now I'm in danger of stomachache!!!! well....9 chillies!!

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Spring has come

Spring has come!! Spring has come!!! [happy mode: ON]
Bye bye cold weather, bye bye strong wind, bye bye thick heavy jacket!!!. Hello sunshine!! hello colorful flowers!! and hello sakura!!!!



Yep! Finally I can see Sakura. Not in Japan, where it originally comes from. But here, in Incheon. Just a short walk away from my apartment building. Really really are beautiful. Those brownish branches-only trees along my apartment street suddenly became one amazing view I've ever seen here.


APT building

Those white-pinkies flowers are as beautiful as they're seen at night. I feel so damn happy to be able to see them, after what happened last year hahaha. I have this unexplainable feeling everytime I see them.


Sakura at night

Well....since I went with Iki this afternoon to watch Sakura, I can't have a good shot of myself. I hope this weekend they would still be as pretty as they're now!

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Japanese children song

Iki is getting bigger now. His consiousness towards his surroundings is increasing. He begins to explore and understand things. Watching his development is such an amazing experience.

As the parents, we are now thinking more about the best way to educate him.
Iki is a product of international marriage who is raised in a multilingual environment. A father who speaks Japanese, a mother who speaks Indonesian, both communicating in English, and lives in Korea. We decided that his first bilingual languages would be Japanese and English due to some reasons (he could learn Indonesian later on). Research shown that three languages at a time can cause a stress to baby.

Iki likes to listen to music, so playing songs is one way to introduce him to his first languages. So our iTunes is now playing English and Japanese children songs. Even we install an ipod with speaker in the bathroom because Iki likes to bath with music. From the sources I've read and the knowledge I'd learnt, I knew that a baby could understand languages quickly and pick one that he thinks is the easiest for him to be his first language.

Well, it doesn't matter for me if his first language is japanese since he is a Japanese. But I do want him to master his second language (in this matter, English) as well as his first one. Therefore lately pronunciation matter disturbs my mind.

You know that Japanese has limited ability to pronounce some English alphabets, therefore they have this "katakana" system to make them easier in importing foreign words. Shortly, they adjust foreign words so that they can read them easily based on their reading system. And for me this sytem caused them having this pronunciation problem.
Let's see these examples:
Hamburger ==> ham ba- ga-
Mc Donald ==> maku donarudo
sprite ==> supuraito
speaker ==> supi- ka
lunch ==> ranchi

It's scary if my son was so much influenced with this pronunciation tendency!! yet the children songs played in my house start introducing him to such error. Imagine!!! this error is introduced to Japanese since they're kids! Some song lyrics disturb my ears now hahahaha!! watch some few examples:
mixed juice ==> mikusu ju-su
pocket ==> poketo


and you guys know the song: do re mi?
In english the lyrics is like this:

do a deer, a female deer
ray, a drop of golden sun...
etc etc


in Japanese they make it like this:
do wa DOnuts no do
re wa REmon no re......
etc etc


REMON!!! it took me a while to understand that it should be "LEMON" hahahaha

well well well....

I do not hope Iki will say: "I'm starving mama. Please buy me HAMBA-GA"
or
"I love Spongebob Squarepants. I watch it every morning on TEREBI"

[pusing mode: ON]