Mie Ayam Sorowako

Different to mie ayam in Java that has clear chicken soup as the base, Sorowako's one has ginger and sweet soy sauce based soup. I love it, I went to Warung Pak Untung in Sorowako for lunch a lot with friends and had quality chat time there.

Last Tuesday suddenly I wanted to eat it badly. I tried to imagine the taste. Instead of making separate chilly sauce, I put the chilly inside the soup directly.

Hehehe it didn't look like Mie Ayam Pak Untung, but it did taste similar.

I missed the frestea bottle, but luckily I have teh kotak. Was a simple and super yummy lunch.

But I missed the hot sun and the great companies!!!

Goodbye

It was exactly a month now.

This is how Sorowako said goodbye to us

This was when Hiro just heard that we're leaving. He called Mat and told him that he wanted to drink that night. We had a good drink and dance with our friends. Thanks for the supports!

Crafting/Sewing group.

Thanks for the super yummy seafood lunch in Lampia, and the beautiful kebaya :)

I should have been packing when Juno came with a bottle of African alcohol (hey, can't remember the name!). Hiro ended up having dinner in Karebbe again that night haha.

It was supposed to be a surprised farewell party. Too bad Jeff sent me an email that he wouldn't come hahaha. Thanks for arranging this, Mariko & Miwa!

And this was really a surprise! - with SWL ladies

With Hiro's colleagues and staffs in Karebbe

Our last HASH - and circle

How the school said goodbye to Iki

Thanks for sending us at the airport

Salonsa area - where we lived- from INCO's airplane :p. Thanks God we got flight!!!

There were even my lovely friends saying goodbye to us in Manado

And I think this would be my last post about Sorowako...... Goodbye...... :)

Things I'm glad I did in Sorowako

We moved out of Sorowako for almost a month already. How time fled away!

Sometimes I wished that I am still dreaming. That when I'm awake later, we would still be

in our green house in Melati 40. Would still see our maid Maria first thing in the morning cleaning up my kitchen. Boy, she is one thing I miss the most about Sorowako!!!

I didn't write much about our lifein Sorowako when I still lived there. too bad!!! I always used "too busy" as

an excuse, but now I regretted. I want to be able to read our memory living there in the next ten years just simply by reading this blog again ;p

This would be a long post, I bet. Because within 1.3 years our life in Sorowako, there were sooo much things happened, unwritten :(

Partying. They all were lots of fun, eventhough most of the parties are actually farewell parties. Seriously, I didn't expect such party in the middle of jungle like sorowako!!!!

I miss the monday morning coffee, when the ladies gather to share some stories or planning of the week. The wives Gin and Tonic o'clock, when usually Hiro had to have dinner in Karebbe because I was too drunk to cook for him. The unique Baby shower. Canasta cards game, though I just came for coffee because I don't play cards. Also the house crawl, when wives 'crawl' from one house to another for afternoon cocktails. Boy, it was soooo much fun.

Not to mention the kids' party, usually birthday parties. Iki had his birthday twice in Sorowako. I had birthday surprise for Hiro last october at TAB (where the community have dinner together every wednesday). Where else in the world two toddlers could sit on the bar drinking soda, eating peanuts, while talking to the bartender?!

The SWL (Sorowako Women League), a community where all women - expatriates and locals- gather to party haha! Living in the jungle can make women very creative!!

The mining tour, with the SWL ladies. I am really glad I joined them to visit the INCO mine!! It was really once in a lifetime experience!!! Breathtaking view, and amazing experience. Eventhough then our bus got stuck in the mud and we had to wait for about 1 hour under Indonesia"s midday sun for help.

Sewing/Crafting club, which is held every Tuesday. At first I only came for coffee and chit chat, but then i started bringing my jewelry making kits and enjoyed making beautiful pieces there!!

I learnt to make a pretty handbag too from Mariko, and yes I did finished it in a month!!

Sorowako Volunteer Community (SVC). We did a lot together, ladies! Milk run, school visit, garage sale, and all the meetings. I won't forget waiting for the always-late-for-one-hour bus for the milk run. I won't forget when our bus got stuck in the mud during school visit in Malili. I won't forget the meetings (eventhough boring sometimes :p). I won't forget little Abrar and Sisfriani.....

Golfing

I started golfing in Sorowako. It was damn 10,000 IDR for 9 holes game. Where in the world you could play golf with such price?!?!?!

I miss mariko and juno now, and our morning golfing together. Also the super talkative Christina Andersen who always brought camera during golfing. Too bad I didn't get the pictures from her before she left....

I am not a good player but I miss golfing...

The food.

*drooling mode: ON*

Mie ayam and bakso Pak Untung, coto makassar in Pasar F, pisang ijo, kepiting saos padang n cumi black pepper saucenya Lampia, and KAPURUNG!!!!! I miss Rud and his best kapurung. I really love kapurung, so million thanks to Rud and Anisah to cook it for me just before I left Sorowako :)

Sports.

I did a lot of sports in Sorowako. Boxercise, jogging, hashing, golfing, belly dancing, touch rugby and basketball. I was in good shape there. There's always Maria or Marhana taking care of Iki so I had all the time for exercising!

Our vacation.

We were always nervous before vacation, because we always didn't know until the day before if we could get flight from sorowako-makassar or not. It's INCO's flight, and our company is only contractor so we could only get leftover seats. It was only 45 minutes flight to makassar, but if we dont get flight, it would be at least 12 hours drive!!! Iki always got car sick whenever we had to drive....!

Anyway we were glad we went to Bali, Moyo Island (Amanwana), and Kuala Lumpur for our vacation during our staying in Sorowako. Iki and I also had short holiday together with the ladies from Sorowako. It was my first time shopping after drinking wine. Boy....felt sooo good, though the next day I was pretty surprised to see how much I shopped hahaha

Rafting.

We really miss our green raft. We went to the lake like almost every weekend!!

We spent new year's eve on the raft. It was beautiful day, breathtaking sunset, and perfect full moon, but then thunderstorm came after dinner time. Scary. Really scary. I was thinking if we were really crazy. Floating on a steel boat in the middle of the lake during thunderstorm?!?!?!

we got sooo much mosquito bites. How stupid, we didn't bring insect repellant in the jungle!!! But then we had the most beautiful sunrise. Japanese has to see sunrise on New Year day, so it was definitely an unforgettable New Year for Hiro. Especially to be able to eat Japanese new year food like ozouni and osechi on the lake. Too bad I left the soba for New Year's eve at home!!! (I just brought the soup haha)

We did our last rafting, and I was really really glad to (at last) jump from our diving range. Well, I used floaties, but hey....Matano Lake is one of the world's deepest lake!!

And I miss our green house on Jalan Melati 40. I miss the flowers from our garden and the tree house too. Look at the picture, Hiro could even play golf in our garden LOL. And most of all, I miss having my pretty nails!!!!!!!

I miss sorowako. It was our home for 1.5 year only, but it has a very special place in our heart.

Packing (again!)

So...it's packing day now. Its been hectic so far, I didn't have time at all to write anything here @_@.

We are almost ready to leave Sorowako now, I can't believe I didn't write much about this place! There are definitely LOTS to tell, I will hopefully write things down once we settle down in Japan. Hopefully!!!

OK, must go back packing now. I thought I am used to it already after all these years, but mannnnn its tiring!!!

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Can he make it.....?

Every year Iki's school has Christmas Concert just before the long holiday. This year Iki's class (the preschooler) will open and close the concert by singing.

The first song would be 'Mary's Boy Child" and the other one is 'We wish u a Merry Christmas' also with the Indonesian version.

Iki learnt both songs in a day and he sings while playing. So cute, that I was pretty sure things will work out well during the concert. But I am fully awared that Iki is very shy and an introvert boy so I am pretty worried too actually.

And last Friday Iki's school teacher called me. She said that Iki always doesn't want to stand up and sing together during practice so he'd better only sing one song during the concert. She thinks that singing on the stage makes shy iki stress....and also if suddenly Iki doesn't want to sing at that day, he will disturb the performance!

I was so sad and dissapointed to hear that. This is the first time in Iki's life so I am sure its a huge thing for him, for shy Iki to sing in front of many people in a concert. But shouldn't he get the chance????
And if he really doesn't want to sing, what is so difficult to move the kids formation a bit?
And why the heck she told me about this just few days before the concert?? Shouldn't it better be told before so I could talk to Iki?

I talked to Iki. He said that he didn't sing because he didn't want to get the sticker. Apparently the teacher gives sticker to every kid who could sing during practice, and shy Iki just simply is. not interested on sticker! But when I told Iki that Santa Clause won't come if he doesn't sing, then he promised me to sing! See?!

There are still 3 days practice for Iki. I am crossing my fingers now. Teacher said that she will see on Iki's performance during practice, if he really can sing on the concert or not. So I am crossing my fingers now and hope, that my shy boy would really make it....

Ganbatte ne, Iki-chan!

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At last!!!

So at last today papa-chan and Iki agreed to have mie ayam at warung pak untung for lunch!

The first thing he did was cleaning the table! Great, his first impression of my fave warung was that the table's dirty. Then unluckily while waiting, he saw some chicken climbed the wagon where our food were being prepared and ate some noodle there (>.<). The good thing was that he didn't go out right away haha!

Iki loved it eventhough he kept asking me to turn on the AC haha. Hiro liked it too, he said that it tasted like kare udon. But he loved the bakso there. He wanted me to put bakso from that warung inside oden next time :p.

Good, next time I'll try to bring them eating coto makassar or kapurung hehehe

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Tree House

We got it from Maddie when she moved to Bali last August, but Paulus, our talented gardener just brought it to our house and built it last month :p

Iki was very busy "helping" him

When it was half done

And here it is. Exactly the same color as our green house. Beautiful, isn't it?

Setting a HASH

Last Monday was my first time setting a HASH. Actually I had to do it with Hiro but he can't possibly do HASH if Monday is not holiday so I asked Lynley and Mariko to help. It was Mariko's first time too to set it, but Lynley is an experienced HARES so I was pretty sure we won't get lost somewhere in the jungle hahaha

This was our point A. The pineapple monument in Wasuponda, a small city 20 minutes drive from Sorowako.

Some shots of us dropping papers for trail

With children following us

Some shots of the beautiful view

Surprisingly lots of people coming!

We walked for 1.5 hours for making this trail (for three times in total!), so we thought the trail would be long enough. How surprise we were to see the first runners coming within 30 minutes!!!!! We were pretty down at that time, but then my excuse was that my legs are half size of the first runners' legs :p. But I am happy that for many people this hash was really a nice hash. One woman even said that we should make trail every month! Whooo hooo!

Well we had to drink anyway. Hares had to drink, and someone found out that we took photos while setting the hash :p

Mie Ayam Pak Untung

It's a public secret that I am a HUGE fan of Bakso. I always try to find the best Warung Bakso wherever I live in Indonesia. So far nobody could beat Bakso Pak Salam yet, but life must go in here, I must move on with another warung :p

My blog friend Yuni was the one who introduced me to this Bakso Pak Untung when I was just a newbie in Sorowako. I had been trying lost of another warung bakso afterwards, but apparently Pak Untung has the best Bakso soup in Sorowako! Now I go like at least twice a week there, bringing some friends and introduce them to Indonesian cheapest yet the most delicious culinary treat!

The thing is, Warung Pak Untung doesn't only serve Bakso. It has this addictive Mie Ayam!!! It's boiled noodle in Chicken and Ginger broth soup.

The noodle is homemade, fat (yet not too fat) and chewy. The soup is thick and tasty yet not salty. It is based on braised chicken and ginger with sweet soy sauce, with sliced leek and fried onion on top.

Simple and cheap food but OH SO GOOD!!!

HASH

The Hash House Harriers (abbreviated to HHH, H3, or referred to simply as Hashing) is an international group of non-competitive running, social and drinking clubs. An event organized by a club is known as a Hash or Hash Run, with participants calling themselves Hashers. - Wikipedia. - Read Wikipedia if you are by any chance interested to know more about HASH ;-)

In Sorowako it is held every Monday afternoon, starting at 16:45 sharp. We run in the jungles, through the hills and paddie rice, cliffs, mud, river, even cemetery. Under the hot sun or very hard rain. Even during National holidays or Christmas. They said that nothing can beat the HASH's spirit, even demonstrators in Sorowako haha!

People start to run after someone blows a horn as a sign that it's 16:45 already. We have to find and follow the shreded or rice paper. Sometimes we are lost in a faulsie and have to find the "hidden" paper that bring us to the right trail.

Most hash events end with a group gathering known as the Circle, or less commonly as Religion. Led by kennel leadership, the Circle provides a time to socialize, sing drinking songs, recognize individuals, formally name members, or inform the group of pertinent news or upcoming events. Circles may be led by the Kennel Grandmaster, the group's Religious Adviser, or by a committee. - Wikipedia

At circle people get their HASH name too, since using a real name is discouraged during HASH. My HASH name is "Dua Wobbly Bits", Hiro's is "We don't need another Hiro", and Iki's is "Playboy". People earned their own names - means they get the named after they do something silly or stupid or extraordinary.

This was when I got named :d

After 25 times runs, someone will get a bip as a reward. After 50 times run, he will get a beer mug. After 100 runs, people will get a mug and a HASH T-shirt with HASH name written on it. Believe it or not, there is a guy had completed his 800th run!!

This is me after completing my 25th run (^__^)

Except a HASH Flash, everyone is not allowed to bring camera during HASH. If someone found out guilty bringing a camera during HASH, he/she then has to drink during circle as a punishment. I know...I know....I'm naughty sometimes :p - hopefully no Sorowako hashers reading this post or I'll get drunk next time :))

Most of the photos here were taken, Sorowako's HASH House Harriers website. Thanks to the HASH flash, MP :)

HASH is not only for running and getting some exercise for me, but also for socializing and refreshing. I saw lots of the world's most breathtaking sceneries during my runs :)