Hinamatsuri-kai

March 3 is Hinamatsuri in Japan. Iki's school entrance was beautifully decorated by hinamatsuri decoration made by the children

Then on the following Friday my friend invited me for a hinamatsuri lunch

We ordered the gorgeous lunch box. I don't have a daughter but I feel lucky to be able to celebrate this beautiful tradition with them

Especially when surprisingly the dessert baked was a late celebration for my birthday!

Thank you, girls! I enjoy my life in Japan so much because of all of you too!!

Girls night out

Boy it was fun! We went out last Saturday night and the fathers took care of the kids. We had a lot of parties in the afternoon, but drinking outside at night is definitely different.

We ate Kushiage at Nezu. One of my friend is moving to Jakarta and she really wanted to eat it. In that specific restaurant. It was my first time to eat it, and it was really good!!

Then we went back to our station, and drank at the bar in front of it until 1.30 am. Nearby our house so that we could crawl back home if we were too drunk haha!

It was a good fun.....Hope we could do it again :p

Yakiniku Party

I like having friends coming to my place. We do it a lot now. Either just waiting for the kids to play, for doing some crafts together, for a beer, or some parties.

We had Yakiniku party last week. Had a very good time, but sadly two of them are moving out pretty soon.....

But well....again I have to remind myself. That life is about Hello and Goodbye...

Memories...

I am listening to Indonesian songs compiled by my dear friend Enyo.

Sometimes I smile, sometimes I'm in tears.

These songs remind me of sooo much memories of Indonesia.

Of those times in Surabaya. In Enyo's car, during crazy karaoke times, working period in Altoers, and to ex-boyfriend(s) too.

Of those old old school days in Banjarmasin. of my first love. of the lovable highschool time.

Of Sorowako. Annisah's car, and karaoke in Lusiana Hotel.

Of Indonesia. Where my heart belongs.

No no, this is not homesick, I just got back from Indonesia.

Thank you Enyo, for this CD full of memories!!

A visit to Shin Misato

It's the nearest station to Nova's house. I was surprised to see how things changed within 2 years!! It has IKEA now, also some other shopping a.nd entertainment centers! Life must be much more exciting there for Nova's family! (ya gak, Nov? hehe)

We (me, Iki, mbak'e, Rui and Rei) went to Nova's house first. She prepared very yummy soto ayam kumplit with her special chilli sauce as well. I can't remember how many portions did I eat (>.<). Too bad I remembered to take picture after everyone finished eating :(

After getting stuffed, off we went to IKEA. Iki and Rui can play at the playcenter because they are more than 4 years old, but Kiyo can't. So poor Nova was stucked with Kiyo playing at the smaller kids area upstairs. So sorry for her, I love going around with friends. Too bad this time can't enjoy looking around with Nova too. Well, next year, when Kiyo is 4, we can do it again (^__^).

Thank you Nova, for preparing such a big lunch for us. It was sad to see Kiyo crying when we left. We'll see each other again during the next school holiday!

Welcome, cute little boy!

My goodfriend Tomomi gave birth to this handsome little boy last Monday. Iki loves him and whenever we went to visit them he just can't get his eyes off him. He kept calling him Haya-chan (he's been wanting a baby girl and decided to name her Haya :p - too bad I'm afraid that it won't happen!)

Welcome unnamed baby (they haven't decided the name yet!!), we sure will spend a lot lot of times with you (^____^)

Visiting Mbak'e (^_-)

Iki is having spring holiday now. It's time to bring him around to visit friends then! So today we went to visit mbak Maria and her two children Rui & Rei. Nova and Kiyo also joined, so we were just perfect!!

As usual a visit to mbak Maria's house is a special treat. She always prepare yummy Indonesian food, that I don't cook much now. First because stupid me forgot to bring here the most important ingredients: CHILLI!, and also you know, cooking Indonesian require so many spices and preparation that backed me off sometimes. In other words: Lazy hehehe

So today I forgot my weight watching. I forgot my calorie intake. I forgot anything about reducing my weight. Pokok'e makan terus!!

I've been craving for tempe, and look what she prepared. Oseng oseng tempe. OMG, yummy!! Nambah'e sampe gak terhitung lagi hihihi

And I know that this Babi Tinoransak has my whole week calorie, but it was soooo delicious I can't stop eating it again and again and again.

Even Nova brought this best Risoles ever!

Mbak Maria has two kids, which for me is quite an impossible thing to do in Japan :p, but still she baked this yummy orange cheese cake

Thanks a lot mbak'e. Bisa makan makan enak juga bisa ngobrol ngalor ngidul pake boso jowo. Yuk main lagi mumpung anak-anak masih liburan (^_^)

The BOO Party

Was held last on the Halloween, 31st October in Sorowako. It was originally to say goodbye to our friends Sarah-Dwayne and Janice-Terry.

Almost every wife in the community took part to make the party success. It was a small yet very nice party :)

Psssst!! We were nominated as one of the best costumes that night!! (^_____^)

Pumpkin carving

Yesterday I had my first pumpkin carving ever here. It was sooooo much fun

Look at my first carved pumpkin ever (^__^)

AS cute as Iki haha!

(Another) fun holiday in Bali

We stayed at the Mara River Lodge, a hotel inside the Safari Park on our first three nights in Bali. Iki loved that place. Not only that he could see zebras, and a big rhino and some other African animals from our bedroom, but because there were lots of activities there for him.



He excitedly watched the lions -though they were sleeping most of the time- from the big window glass surrounding the restaurant. Too bad the food there was not good at all, and expensive. We don't mind paying expensive food as long as they are good :)). We definitely won't consider any dinner at Tsavo Lion restaurant anymore in the future

He enjoyed feeding the elephants eventhough he was scared at the first time.



He laughed out loud and was really interested watching the elephants' show.



He rode the camel, with papa-chan.



He loved riding the ponies too. In fact, he rode them for three times, basically every day during our stay there.



And he enjoyed riding the elephants, meanwhile I was scared to death. He kept chattering while the huge elephant brought us around the Safari Park, meanwhile I could barely move because I was afraid that I would fall down (>.<). 

We could take photos with the animals too. I love the picture with the tiger the most!, and Papa-chan loved this baby Orang Utan named Roni.


He screamed excitedly when he found the fun zone and the water park too!! Mara River Lodge is a heaven for Iki except for the food!

   

We also went to the monkey forest in Ubud. Iki was really excited seeing those cute monkeys. Too bad I don't have the pictures. I was too afraid if those monkeys stole my camera :p

We thought that we want to shop till we drop on the last three days. But we met some friends instead. Which was a great thing. We live in this far away Sorowako so that meeting friends, had a good quality time eating, drinking, and laughing together were such a valuable refreshing time.

We met Sheila, Martin, Mariza, Carla, Vincent, and little Michelle for a fun dinner at Jimbaran. I was really glad to be able to meet them all, especially Sheila. Glad that at last I could meet Martin and Vincent. It was really funny to see how Martin and Vincent got along 'pretty well' hahaha!



We went fishing with Tim and Yully's family too. They are our friends from Sorowako, and their kids -Angela an Matthew- are Iki's good friends. They moved out from Sorowako already last month, so that we were really happy to spend some time with them again.


And the next day we met Annerie and Ricardo. The last time I met them was like 4 years ago, when I visited them in Schagen, the Netherlands. Carla, Vincent, Mariza, and Anton joined the lunch too. At last I met Anton!! He was really really quiet for A MARIZA!!! Happy to hear about the plan next year ;-)

Hiro was really sick then, so that we decided not to meet anyone on our last holiday. I was sad that I couldn't meet Luky, my friend from Sorowako too, but indeed we had had a busy holiday already. We just had FEW (really few....) shopping, a quick haircut for me (which is not bad but quite dissapointing...huaaaa!!), and then a great dinner at our favorite Italian restaurant, Tratorria, in Seminyak area. It was definitely the best meal I've ever had in Bali hehehe.
Interestingly then after dinner Hiro suddenly felt better and wanted to join Tim's farewell dinner! So we went to Tim and Yully's house in Denpasar at 9.30 pm!! Iki enjoyed his last playing time with Matthew and Angela -last because that family is moving to Madagascar and we don't know when would we meet them again. We went home at 11 p.m. Drunk and tired and sleepy (especially Iki) yet we had to pack our luggage because we had to check out early in the morning on the next day.



It was an exhausting holiday. Now I realize that a romantic-honeymoon style holiday with a lot of shopping time has been ended. As Iki is getting bigger now, our holiday -all the plans- must be based on his schedules and wishes! But we had a great time. We enjoyed watching Iki enjoying his holiday, laughing out loud, eventhough we were mad at him a lot of time too haha!

Looking forward for our next holiday ALREADY hahaha!

Beauty and the beast ;-)

Leftover piece from our trip to Bali last October.

Imoet, the beauty. And Carla, the beast (^_-)v



Thanks for the great time, baby!

Japanese Dinner Party

Last Saturday we invited some friends to come for a Japanese dinner at our place. At first I only planned a small party, but at the end we invited 10 people!! We don't have enough plates so Hiro had to borrow some from his company, and I had to buy some more fork just in case some of them couldn't use chopsticks haha.

We prepared Takoyaki, Tenpura, Temakizushi, Inarizushi, Kinpira, Umekyuri, Chikuwa and cheese, Soft Tofu, and Chawan Mushi. Everyone enjoyed the meal, thank God. I cooked the tenpura almost all the time with some help from Nira so that I could have dinner too. It was our first time to invite such amount of people coming over to our place so I was really panic. Japanese food must be served fresh and hot so it was kind of hectic. Luckily Iki was busy playing with some guests that he didn't disturb me. I was really glad that finally I could made it. Hopefully we could do better for the next dinner(s) ;-)



Iki and I wore Yukata at that night. Which impressed the guests LOL



I was exhausted at the end of the day. I couldn't remember how many hours did I stand to prepare and cook all the food. But I was really satisfied (^___^)

Long last update from this house

Hiro packed my computer already (>.<)!!!!! And tonight is my last chance to write some leftover memories here because tomorrow he would pack the server, that I wouldn't be able to access our photos folder anymore..... :( This month is the busiest month ever since I moved here in Japan. I must organize and pack our stuffs meanwhile I also wanted to enjoy as much time as possible with my friends. Which made me either too tired or too drunk by the end of the day. That's why the update here is very slow too :p.

I went to Tokyo Dome with my friends Keiko, Nayon, and Aki (with the children too), to bring the kids playing at the Toy Kingdom.





As described by its name, the place offers a wide range of toys for the kids to enjoy, for only 1000 Yen. We spent the whole afternoon there, yet still had to fight with the kids when it's time to go home (read: CLOSING time!!)



We also had small surprise birthday party for Nayon at my place



And visited Aquarium at Sunshine city with Tomomi



Continued with a great lunch at an Omurice restaurant with them (Tomomi and Aki-kun)





I also had a single day out with Tomomi only. We had buffet lunch at Skyview restaurant, on the 18th floor of Sunshine city building, Ikebukuro.





Had a small farewell dinner with my in-laws in Yokohama.



We ate dango (Japanese rice cake) together to celebrate Tsukimi, a day in Japan when the moon is believed is the most beautiful over the year.



Also gave some presents for the grandparents to celebrate 'day for old people' in Japan. This is what Iki "gave" them :p



I also already ate my favourite Tonkotsu Ramen!! (^__^). My dear friend, Tomomi and her family brought us to a delicious Ramen restaurant at Ikebukuro.



We also had a very long walk that afternoon to have this unforgetable chocolate cake



We also visited the zoo again with Nayon (and Kenshin), and Yukiko (with Mitsuki and Takahiro). The kids really enjoyed going to the zoo together.





We also had this very last shot with of Iki and some of his friends at the swimming school



We went to Thomas Land again with Papa-chan and Bobo. Would definitely our last trip there this year :D. Iki of course was really excited and enjoyed playing (also shopping!) there :).





But he cried when we rode a small boat attraction with small slide hahaha. He said that it was scary :p




We had our last dinner together with Tomomi and family at a famous unagi restaurant nearby our house. Famous because the unagi there is really delicious and Soichiro Honda (the founder of Honda) often ate there when he was alive :p. Too bad I couldn't transfer the photos here. Hiro packed my computer and his laptop has no card reader (@_@).

And yesterday I went to Iruma with Nayon and her son, to make the first and last visit to Aki's new house. They just moved in the day before so it was still a beautiful house full of boxes (just exactly likes our home now :p). We went to Mitsui Outlet to have lunch and brought the kids playing at the playing ground there for 30 minutes (for 500 Yen). The kids enjoyed their very last time playing together before we move....

Felt really sad when Aki-chan sent us to the station. I promised her to stay over at her place when I visit Japan again in the future.

Today I met Keiko and her daughter, Sakurako. She is my first friend in Japan, the very first one who invited me to come to her house. A very nice and fun friend to talk to. I helplessly cried when she handed me this card:



And now I only have 1 day left to finish our packing and CLEANING (>.<), also if possible to spend some last time with few friends too. I guess this would be my last post from a computer, from our apartment here in Tokyo.... :(1

This has been a great 9 months living here. I really enjoy my life here. I have great friends to keep me 'alive'. I definitely will miss them all, but I promised someday I will meet them all again (^____^).

We will fly to Bali on October 3rd, and then to Makassar on the 6th. Hmmm guess we are ready now to start our new life at SOROWAKO. Updates would be from mobile phone from now on, until I could get internet connection (if possible) in our new house. Which means I couldn't leave any comments to my dear friends' blogs :(. I'm sooo sooo sorry......... (_ _o). Please don't leave my blogs :p.