My smartphone, my smart friend

I will spend almost the whole next month in Japan. To let me stay connected with the world (I'll stay isolated at my in parents in law's house), Hiro bought me this smartphone: HTC X01HT



A palm size phone with lots of features:

Network	GSM 900 / GSM 1800 / GSM 1900 / WCDMA
Dimensions	58 × 112.5 × 21.95 mm
Weight in g	176
SAR in W/kg
Display Type	TFT
Display Size	240 × 320
Touchscreen	Yes
Memory in MB	64MB SDRAM ;128MB ROM
Card Slot	mini SD Slot
Connectivity	Bluetooth IrDA USB WLAN
Flight Mode	No
inbuilt Handsfree	No
Messaging	SMS MMS Mail
Videocall	No
Camera	2MP
Audio	poly Ringtone
Applications	Sync Java Games
others	Windows Mobile 5.0
Standby/ Talktime	250/3h
Office Applications	Calendar Pocket Office(Word, Excel, Outlook)

How much? For 2 years contract, we have to pay 0 Yen. Yes, true. "0" = zero = free!!
It was locked only for Japanese softbank's SIM CARD, but Hiro successfully unlocked it. So Now I can use it as a phone anywhere in the world, except Korea.

I can use this device as a phone (of course!) and organizer. And also most important that I can use the internet for 2 months for free. We had to buy Agile Messenger software so that I can chat with my friends for 15 euro, but it worthed.
And most of all... it uses windows mobile so I can install skype there and make a mobile phone call to anywhere in the world for a very cheap price. Nice, huh?

I'm sorry, my boy......

Last monday I took Iki to hospital for final check up before operation. This time I travelled to Japan without Hiro so I drove whole my in laws family worried. They were afraid if I couldn't reach the hospital. If Iki was crying, If I couldn't get seat in the train because it was Japan's rush hour, if I couldn't get taxi and so on and so on. I assured them that I would be OK, that I'd travelled all the way from Korea to Japan only with Iki, so they shouldn't be worried that much.

And indeed they shouldn't. The journey to the hospital was surprisingly smooth. I got seat in the train, I got taxi soon after I went off the station, and so as the journey back. God really blessed me (^__^).
Iki was also such a good boy. More than a half way in the train to the hospital he was really a quiet boy. A beautiful young woman was standing in front of us and he just sat nicely while watching her :p. And on the way back home, he slept well the whole journey.

But as we arrived at the hospital, he became very naughty. Taking out all the stuffs from my big bag and throwing them away to the floor, pulling people's hair sitting behind us, screaming and crying if he couldn't get what he want. We still had to wait for 1 hour there so I felt so fed up trying to calm him down.

But then as we entered the doctor's room and Iki had to start his examinations and health tests there, I felt so helpless watching. Iki cried cried and cried. I could feel that he felt so painful from his cries. He cried until he became very weak and had no power. Just stared at me, squeaking helplessly. His eyes were asking me to help him.
During his 3.5 hours examinations. I didn't see him smiling at all. All were tears.

When we're home. He didn't want anyone taking him from me at all. He was just there inside my arm, hugging me tightly. I knew he was trauma. Whenever someone took him from me in the hospital, he would be in pain.

My heart broke. I wanted to but I couldn't cry. In front of him I must smile and be strong. For they were the only supports I could give him.

I felt guilty that he had to get through all of that pains. It was not even the operations yet. And was not the post-operations pain that according to doctor would make him suffering.

I felt guilty.
Guilty.
Guilty.
It was all because of me. It was because I didn't take much care of myself during my pregnancy that I had to give birth to him prematurely.
If only I let him stayed inside me until all of him perfectly developed.
If only....if only.....

And now as I'm watching him sleeping, I want to tell him that if possible I want to take all the pains from him. That I want to lay on the operation table for him.
That I am so sorry.......

Sudden cold

Last couple of weeks the weather was still really really friendly here. Let's say it was still about 20-23 degree at the highest. Korean news said that it was the warmest October since 1973. I still enjoyed lots of outdoor activities with Iki.

But yesterday, the temperature suddenly dropped. It was 5 degree celcius at the highest, and this morning it was -1 degree celcius. Eastern part of Korean peninsula even had heavy snowfall yesterday.

What an extreme weather (>_<).

So....I guess we have to welcome this sudden winter. Time to wear my new coat then :p

Refreshing

Following up some comments on my previous post about being too tired, I planned to have 2 hours refreshing this weekend.
Going to nail salon was on my top list. So after shopping and finishing some houseworks, I was thinking to go out alone.
But then after all the works done, and Hiro brought Iki out to the park, I can't resist not to lay on the bed. Especially when suddenly total silence came into the house and I found myself alone. All alone in my house.
So I did have my resfreshing. 2 hours nap instead of going out alone =)).
At first I thought that my "refreshing" means going out alone and have some time away from all the works at home. It's not true, huh? :p. Sleeping can be a great refresher as well. Nap is something I can't do on weekdays anyway :p.

I feel good now. Ready for another "challenging" week with Iki (^_-)!

Custom made shoes

I have small feet that it's very difficult for me to find shoes at the right size. When I was in Indonesia, though not easy, the possibility to find one was not as difficult as trying to find one in Japan. Especially women's shoes. Last year I had to buy shoes at the children corner -with children's style (@_@).

I was in a need of new pair of shoes. As guessed, it was difficult to find simple shoes of my size. We almost gave up that I was thinking to buy any low first heels shoes with my size we could find, until I found this pair of shoes. Simple yet elegant. Suitable for various occasions. But again....the smallest size was too big for me.

Surprisingly the shopkeeper said that I could order my size's shoes, and would be ready in a week. At first we just thought that the smaller size stocks will come in a week, but he asked me to open my shoes and measured my feet. OH!!! I was surprised and happy. Shoes of my size!!!



One English speaking customer then explained to us, that in all Korean's Department Stores we can find these order made shoes shops' counters. Really good for people whose feet are too small or too big, right *wink*

That pair of simple order made shoes costs us 138,600 won after 30% discounts (about 140 USD). Hmmmm I hope the quality won't be dissapointing :p

A day out

Next week I will go to Japan. This time Hiro won't go with us, so there will only be Iki and me. To train myself going on a trip hugging Iki by a cuddler while bringing a big heavy bag, we went to Seoul last Saturday.
Whoops...it was not easy :p. Somewhat Iki and the bag were getting heavier. As we arrived Seoul, I gave up and put Iki on his baby car, and handed Hiro the big bag (@_@). God will help me next week :p

Iki likes to see aquarium. Whenever I took him to his doctor, he doesn't want to go back home quickly because of the small aquarium in the waiting room. Therefore in Seoul we went to an aquarium, seaworld in 63 building.
As predicted Iki was very very very happy. He got really excited and screamed a lot to express his happiness :p


In front of penguins

Then we went to Gyeong Bok Gung, one historical palace in Seoul. We just walked along the park surrounding the palace because Iki was sleeping (the palace's floor was too rocky for the baby car). The leaves are turning red and yellow. For a girl from a tropical country, well, this is a very beautiful view!



Then we ate samgaetang, and rushed to Yongsan st. where I could change Iki's diaper and feed him.
Bringing Iki on a trip, the 6 hours trip planned turned into 10 hours :p. Exhausting yet exciting.
That trip was such a refreshing for me, eventhough I had Iki with us. Going away from a routine was what I needed.

Poor time management

These days I feel so tired.
As Iki grows up, he begins to have such a big curiosity towards many things. And as he has this high demands on my presence beside him (read: almost all of his wake up moments), I lost my time management. Once I stand up quietly (even only for taking a drink), he will yell "MA!!!!!", and that means I have to go back playing with him in a second.

Sometimes I feel like I got my patience tested. You know, I WAS one of the most unpatient persons. I could blow up for a small matter that doesn't fit my expectation. But now.....I can't blow up just like that. I must struggle controlling my emotion, and put a smile on my face instead.
When Iki doesn't want to eat, when he throws away food on my face, when he can't stop crying for no reason, when he doesn't want to let me go even for having lunch, when he doesn't want to sleep, etc etc, and the list will go on and on...

Besides taking care of my small boy, I have to take care of our house. I also want to have some time and "needs" for myself that I can't fullfil. I don't want to list them here, but in short, I feel so tired. Physically and mentally.

I want to be able to manage my time. I want to be able to manage my self. I want to be able to control my emotion.

These three days Hiro's helping me out with the dirty dishes, I'm happy yet guilty for having him in my kitchen after working for a whole day. If it's one of the solutions, then may I know other possibilities?

Hello mothers all over the world. How would you manage your time.....?

Supposed-to-be Midnight surprise

Tomorrow is Hiro's birthday.
I'd been thinking for weeks what kind of surprise I could give him.
Then I came up with a plan to bake a small heart shape cake and a simple greeting card to be given to him on the birthday eve. Hiro only knows that I will bake him a cake (he chose the cake from the recipe book) for birthday present tomorrow afternoon so that he could help watching Iki for me.
I planned to manage baking the surprise cake this afternoon during Iki's sleeping time and hide it until midnight.
So then I browsed here and there for the cake, until then Yunita gave me the Banana chocolate cake recipe. We still have some bananas here so it would be a perfect choice :p. I already imagined his smile on his birthday eve getting that surprise cake.

But then....
Yesterday I GOT the surprise for him!!
"Shierly, tomorrow I'll drink with my colleague"
I was like: WHAT?!?!?!?!
OK....So he'll not be home on his birthday eve!!! Huaaaaaaaa
I felt like my knees lost power. Bye bye midnight surprise plan (T_T)

Yet the plan must go on. I don't want to waste my "weeks thinking time" hehehe
So I baked the cake, put it on his desk with a greeting card. Plus a note written that he MUST eat the cake tonight, even only a bite while saying a birthday wish.
I'll sms him at 00:00 wishing him birthday and asking him to take a look at his desk before sleeping.



Phew.....
Happy birthday, dear Hiro.
Hope you like my supposed-to-be midnight surprise :p

Tahu Tek Tek

Because of reading about "telur petis" (omellete with shrimp paste chilli sauce) posted by yun, I missed Tahu tek tek (beancurd with shrimp paste chilli sauce).
Tahu tek tek is one of hawker food from Surabaya. One of the cheapest food with thick incredible taste I've ever known. One of my fave food that reminds me of Surabaya.

Remembering that I still have shrimp paste brought by Pei last time she came here, I browsed here and there for the recipe. I had to use peanut butter instead of roasted peanut, silk tofu instead of fried indonesian "hard" tofu, and Indonesian shrimp crackers (kerupuk getoo) instead of garlic crackers. But the taste was sooooooooooo incredible (hehehe at least for me), that it could kick me out of reality. That I was in Surabaya, ordering a plate of Tahu Tek Tek at a hawker beside my former office CDU. What a food orgasm :p


Tahu tek tek ala imoet


Indonesian traditional way of making chilli sauce

Which one?

Ever since Iki was born, this "which one" question is often raised in our home.
Like last night, when I forgot to prepare Hiro's night wear after he's bathing Iki.

Hiro: It's OK. I know you ONLY love Iki
Me: Soorrryyyy. I love you both. It's just you've finished bathing him when I was about to take your cloth from the closet.
Hiro: Hahaha what an excuse :p. If both Iki and me got drown, which one will you save?
Me: Of course both of you! I can't choose one
Hiro: Really?
Me: YES. Hmm what if Iki and me got drown? which one will you save?
Hiro: Of course Iki hahahahaha

[My mind was: WHAT?!?!]

What a blunt answer! (_ _o)
But eventhough he saved me, I'll definitely ask him to save Iki instead

I will give my life for him, if needed.

Electric Fryer

We both like to eat fried food, but unfortunately there're always "little" accidents happened whenever I cook fried meal. One fatal example was when I broke the oil temperature meter. Since then our fried meal were so messy. Therefore to minimize unexpected errors, we bought this electric fryer.



Today for the first trial, we tried to make koloke. I can say...W.O.W.
The result was far beyond expectation. The oil temperature was so stable, no oil dirt anywhere in my kitchen, time saving, the koloke were not oily at all and were oh-sooo-crispy!!



Lots of fried food are on my menu list now hehehe. I give two thumbs to this fryer. Really recommended for a busy housewife who wants to serve delicious, not oily, and crispy fried food in just a few minutes.

Home sweet home

Am back from Japan yesterday night.
And so the holiday finished, back to real life again.
Home sweet home.
No matter how much fun did I have during holiday, it's always good to be home ;-)

Chusok Holiday

Long holiday is coming in Korea. The whole next week will be holiday.
The supermarkets already display the holiday greeting packages, all wrapped beautifully. Reminds me the Lebaran dan Christmas greeting packages in Indonesia. Han Boks (Korean traditional cloth) are also everywhere. It seems that during that long holiday, lots of people will wear Han Bok during family visit and reunion.
We bought one for Iki. For a memory of staying in Korea. Still a lot too big for him tough :p



How do the Koreans spend their long vacation? Well, I'm not sure. They probably will visit family and friends. I thought the overseas tickets would be sold out, but we could get ticket to Japan pretty easy. Till then Hiro told me that he read in Korean newspaper that all the plastic surgery clinics are fully booked in holiday season. Hahahaha....so is that how many of them spend their long vacation? Shaping their nose, eyes, or any other parts of their bodies? :p *interesting*

And how would we spend our holiday?
We're off to Japan this Saturday. Already make a long to-do and shopping list. Will make our holiday busy shopping, eating delicious food, and meeting some friends. Ah....going away from routine. How I'm waiting forward to it (^_^)

One day trip, one day lessons

Last Saturday, for the first time he went to Seoul for a one day trip. Hiro wanted to buy some computer's spare parts, and I wanted to meet one of my Indonesian friend from JS mailing list.
We started just after Iki finished his lunch by subway. It took about one and half hour to reach Yongsan station, the electronic centre in Seoul. Hiro got memory card, hard disk and SD card for himself, and I got a pair of Women's Secret's lingerie. Both of us only needed about 20 minutes to finish our business there. But we had to stay in Yongsan St. for about 3 hours!!! - waited for Iki to wake up, changed his diaper and feed him-. Gosh...

Lesson number 1: Always spare extra (at least 1 hour) time if you're travelling with a baby!

Then we went to meet Pak Noviar at Anguk station. Hiro decided to take subway instead of taxi to avoid traffic jam. But indeed....travelling by subway there also took perhaps even more time. Walking in a crowded bringing a baby during transfer time was killing our feet, breath and time. Some stations have no elevator. Anyway we could manage to meet Pak Noviar and had dinner together (and sadly we had dinner at the wrong samgaetang restaurant (T_T)).

Lesson number 2: I'd prefer taking taxi than subway in Seoul

We separated with Pak Noviar after dinner since I thought it would be better to go back to Incheon early. We decided to take taxi to Seoul station, and Pak Noviar took subway home. Unfortunately we got no taxi! so we had to take subway instead to Seoul station. That night we thought it would be better to take bus to Incheon. We would definitely get a seat (in subway, we sometimes had so stand up). We said goodbye to Pak Noviar at about 7 pm, but leave Seoul at 9 pm. Why?? hahaha of course Mr. Iki needed a change and milk. So we had to look for a department store to find diaper change room and feed Iki there. (well, it's because the toilet in Seoul station was not dirty. It was VERY VERY dirty!)

Indeed we got a seat in the bus. But Iki suddenly became very active and made a lot of noise and movement. The bus driver drove badly too. I was struggling not to vomit there. Then half way to Incheon Iki cried very loudly. The unstoppable one. It was about 11 pm and almost all the passangers were asleep. Argghh...So we had to get out of the bus with some "irritated" eyes following. Finally we took taxi home. Double price than the bus' ticket hahaha.
When we were in a bus, we were wondering. Why there was no parents bringing a baby in a bus? And then we got the answer right away hahahaha.

Lesson number 3: Avoid bus during long journey trip with a baby!!

What an exhausted day (_ _o)

No social life

I just realised, I don't have any social life now.

My life here is about Iki, Hiro, and never ending households.
I tried to make friends with some people here, but mostly ended up with their pushy attitude asking me going to their churchs (and they are pretty aggresive!!). I did had a quite intense relationship with my neighbour (we did hang out for several times), but then both felt tired because of this language problem. Then she stopped coming by, and so did I. We still met by accident for few times, but the conversation goes no further than a short small talk.

It also happens to my virtual worlds. Since my free time is different with my friends', I lost the chance to chat with them. Say Yunita, Ella, Valens, Mariza, Pei. Finding 5 minutes chatting time is so hard now. I did miss the time to share and laugh with them, though virtually, through yahoo messenger.

At first I thought that I am OK. It's hard to spare my busy time for making friends, for sometimes I felt that I need more that 24 hours to finish all my work. But now I realised, am not OK. I'm a social person.

I remember when I was still single, my life was sooo surrounded by lots of friends. I spent 90% my time with my friends. In the office, boarding house, shopping mall, cafe, pub. I rarely went anywhere alone (except during my travelling time).

Hey it doesn't mean that I regret my moving here hahaha, I just miss my friends. Where are you, guys? Am I forgotten already? :p

Now my bestfriends, my sharing partners, my laughing partners, and my crying partners are only Iki and Hiro. I am now living in this tiny circled world in this Woosung APT.

And what do you think would help me?
So far only 1 thing came to my mind, and for that I got my phone bill raised this month :p
Any other idea?

Indonesian food supply :p

I got package from Indonesia yesterday. Millions thanks to Uti .
My food supply!!!!!!

Look look look!!



From abon, dendeng, fave instant noodles, shrimp snack, chilly, sambal terasi, Indonesian soy sauce, rendang spices, fave black tea, to minyak telon and antangin (hehehe my body is still Indonesian body that I need them esp. for facing winter).

Yummmm....which one to eat first?! *drooling*

Blackout

Yesterday evening, when I was preparing dinner, i got my finger cut.
I was panic seeing blood flowing out of the wound. I felt all my fingers trembling, felt like vomitting, and started to lose my consiousness.
How to stop this blood??!!
I put my finger under running water but it hurted like hell. Grabbed tissue, towel, whatever I could find, still it did't work.
Hiro!! I thought I must call Hiro and ask him. So I went to the living room to make a phone call. (At that time I realised how far it was the telephone table from my kitchen!!).

me: Hiro...busy?
Hiro: no...what's up?
me: I got my finger cut. How to stop this blood?
Hiro: ee? ee? are you allright?
me: am OK, just how to stop this? i feel like i'm going to blackout
Hiro: ee? blackout?? ashtma??
me: no!! finger cut 3 mm. how to stop blood?
Hiro: ee? finger cut?? emergency car??
me: no!!! just 3 mm...how to stop blood? quick i felt like going to blackout
Hiro: 3 mm finger left?? i'm going home now
me: no need....stop blood only...just got cut...

-the phone line was cut-

Oh man...was it a mistake to call him? now he's panic? didn't he get what i mean?!
But as I looked down on my finger and saw the blood, I felt even worse. I felt like I lost my power. Slowly I crawled to take the safety box trying to find something to stop the blood there. Oh...band aid. This would help. So I put it around the wound and just then the phone rang.
Again I crawled to the phone and answered it.

Hiro: shierly, are you ok?
me: ya ok
Hiro: now I'm on the way. wait for me
me: hmmm
Hiro: shierly??
me: hmm ok
Hiro: shierly!! wait a minute ok?
me: hmmm ok

And then...BLACK....

*As Hiro got home, he found me on the floor. The phone was hanging with one of my hand grabbing it. He turned my body and saw my eyes were only the white part (hiii....). He called my name loudly several times while shaked my body till finally I opened my eyes.*

I remember....
I heard Iki's crying. Oh he's hungry, it's dinner time, so i opened my eyes. I found Hiro hugging me with panic face, and told me that we're going to hopital right now.
I asked him to feed Iki instead. I told him that it's ok. I just cut my finger.

hiro: it's ok...i saw in ER drama, when someone got his finger's cut, the doctor there can repair the finger
me: nooo....not as u imagine. i just got it cut 3 mm (i remember because i set the cutter to 3 mm thickness)
hiro: did you use the big knife?
me: no!! i used cutter. i set 3 mm. that's it, hiro!
hiro: heeee??!?!?! cutter?!?! so it's only 3mm cut??
me: oh, FINALLY you understood! Look at this!! ( i showed him my finger)



hiro: WHAT?!?!?!?!??! This is it?!?!?!
me: speechless
hiro: shierrrllllyyyyy!!!! wahahahahahahahahahahahha

%&^@*&#B!!@NU@(!@*

Autumn has come

Not only that the temperature is getting cooler, the leaves are getting red and yellow. Strong heat from the sun is replaced by dark cloudy day, and strong winds start blowing for some typhoons are approaching.

So here autumn is coming. In spite of those temperature's changing, autumn's food and fruit are now can be seen. Here I tried my first peach (which will disssapear from the market soon) and the latest is marron. Actually I've tried this marron or chestnut last year in Japan, but truthfully this time I can really understand that it's one of the sign of autumn.

Yesterday we bought marron at the supermarket, we also found the famous autumn fish sanma (sword fish) . Thus we had Japanese autumn dinner menu with kuri gohan, roasted sanma, kimpira gobo and asari miso soup. TOO BAD I didn't take photo of the whole dinner set (T_T).

Wedding

By accident I watched this video at YouTube



HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA

Maid look?!

This afternoon, in the elevator.
Conversation between an around-50-y/o-korean-woman and me
*that woman of course talked in korean. I didn't understand perfectly but generally i knew what she said*

she: azuma? (maid?) *looked at me with raised eyebrows*
me: no
she: how much is ur salary a month?
me: i am not azuma *Damn*
she: how much....salary...a month *tried to explain slowly*
me: hangulmal mollayo (i don't understand korean) *i also raised my eyebrow*
she: why?!? how much...one month...*started yelling at me*
me: mollayo...mollayo (dunno!!) *with raised eyebrow and ignorant face*
she: hey!!! where are you come from?! *loosing her patience*
me: mollayo *didn't even bother to look at her arrogant face*
she: blah...blah...blah...*i wasn't listening to her shit anymore*

*then i talked with Iki in Japanese*

she: ooooo ilbon saram?!?! (oooo Japanese?!?!) *with wide friendly smile*
she: ur baby is sooooo cute *trying to reach Iki*
me: hangulmal molla. mian yo (sorry, don't understand korean) *with arrogant face while pulling Iki away from her*

Cih.....I was not interested making any conversation with such woman.
Sucker!!!

I got this kind of discrimination here for like hundreds of times. People here are so unbelivably fussy. Always staring at me from top to toe, trying to judge how much salary does this "ajuma (maid)" earn a month working in their country. WTF!! well, even if i were a maid, they didn't have any right to ask my salary at the first place.

I don't give a damn to their judgements. indeed i look down at them, on how a sucker they can be once they THOUGHT i'm a japanese. Yet.....they would see me as low as dust on their shoes by looking at my skin color and appearance.

Hmmmm just a sudden thought now: do i look or have any potential look of a MAID?!?!?!?! hahahaha *bitter laugh*

Homesick

I miss home huu huu huuuuu

May you rest in peace....

This evening I got an email from my brother
My uncle, Om Ventje, died this afternoon
Lung cancer took away his life
May you rest in peace, Om Ventje....
All things about you are safely kept in my childhood memories

Hopefully your family would be strong without you

All my prayer is for you tonight

(_ _o)

Culture or habit?!

I don't know if this story is about culture or simply someone's habit.
There's a park nearby our apartment. Usually every late afternoon I bring Iki for a walk there. We can see many children playing, old people sitting on the bench, or couples having romantic chit chat. Around 4.30 pm, the big fountain is usually started. Then many children will play under it. Seems that in this hot summer weather, that fountain becomes one of the children in the neighborhood's favourite.

2 days ago I brought Iki to the park again. As usual, when the fountain was started, lots of children start to run under it. At that time there was an old woman as well. That granny was playing happily with the children. Quite a nice view actually.
But then, perhaps tired, she left the fountain to the bench beside me. Opened her wet clothes JUST LIKE THAT, and changed it into the clean one. I gasped. She really was naked in front of me. Though the view was not good for my eyes, I can't help not to watch :p

The other day, I sat together with some mothers at the same bench. I was just watching Iki talking in baby language with some other babies (we, mothers, just kept silent while our babies were chatting while holding hands hahaha). Suddenly 1 baby cried because of hungry. The mother soothed her and asked her to wait a second. I thought that mother would take a bottled milk for the baby, BUT she just sat down on the bench, pull out her left fully breast and fed the baby instead. I also gasped. This time the view was pretty good for my eyes so I can't help not to watch :p

Is it culture? or simply someone's habit?
I remember in Indonesia I also saw similar views several times, though I think I don't see much of them in higher level society.
That park, where I saw such views, is located at the highest society level in this city. Therefore I was wondering if it's about culture or habit....

Our summer holiday

Just finished. Now back in Incheon again.
It was an exciting yet exhausting holiday. Long trip with a baby was not an easy journey after all hahaha

We went to Fukuoka first by plane from Incheon. From that city then we went to Hagi by renting a car. There's a baby seat available there, but was not a comfortable one. Poor Iki must sit there for 2.5 hours journey. It's so understandable that he was squeaking almost the whole trip.

Hagi, an old city located almost at the corner of Japan's main island (in Yamaguchi perfecture), is an old city with castles and histories. This small city is facing Japan sea with greenish hills at the surrounding. Really was a refreshment for my eyes after having tall apartments view in Korea for months.


Hagi from the hill

We visited a Hagi Yaki shop, feeding fishes near Mt. Kasayama, Interesting Yukawa Family Resident, a splendid stalagtit-stalagmit cave Akiyoshi-do, Tsunoshima island with its beautiful scenery, and joining the thousand lantern festival of Mukaebi Okuribi in Tokoji Temple.

Overall, I enjoyed our holiday. We had a great fun with Miyamoto's family. I learnt many new things as well. We shared great food, bottles of beers, and tons of laugh. It was just so nice to be welcomed in that family.

Another good thing, I got this HERMES watch as a present during this holiday. For sure it did complete my holiday hehehehehehehehe



Thanks for the wonderful holiday.
I enjoyed it TOO much that I gained 3 kgs (>_<)!!!!!

Tsunoshima

On the way home we went to Tsunoshima island. Connected to Japan mainland by a bridge. The scenery there was really breathtaking.



It was Iki's first time visiting a beach. Too bad he's too sleepy and it was too hot for him to enjoy :p

Akiyoshido

The other day the whole Miyamoto family guided us to Akiyoshi-do. It's a splendid stalagtit-stalagmit cave, known as the biggest in Japan. It's really really really big (covers almost all underground of one hill). Another God's amazing creation.

Mt. Kasayama

We visited a dormant volcano of Mt. Kasayama, called Kazaana. The area surrounding it was surprisingly cool. Only the surrounding of the kazaana. 10 steps out of it, back to hot humid weather. It's so mysterious how nature can arrange such a phenomenon.



Nearby, along the way to the kazaana, we can feed fishes and birds with bread at a beautiful seawater pond. Those fishes were so fat of bread hahaha. The view here was also amazing. Mt. Kasayama on my left hand and seawater pond on my right.


feeding fish

Yukawa Family Resident

During our visit in Hagi, we also spent some minutes at Yukawa Family Resident, now it's kind of museum. It's a samurai-mansion style architecture.


Garden

It has an old style yet high technique utility to take river water into the mansion, called Hatoba. This type of water utilization is typical in the households along Aiba river.


hatoba

The Aiba river itself, in front of the house, has very clear water. There many Koi fishes can be seen swimming around freely. It's public place, but no one take it. Hmmm I can't imagine what happened to those fish if they're swimming in Indonesian's river? =))


Koi fishes along Aiba river

Hagi Yaki

Hagi is very famous for its pottery, known as Hagi Yaki. There're several famous artist (maker) known widely throughout Japan, and we were so lucky to meet one of them, Hamanaka Gesson, and had a visit to his splendid house and shop. A teacup made by his hands costs about 150 USD (and we got 2 for free!! Thanks to Miyamoto's mother-she works there). The pottery from this city is different from those of other parts of japan. More about Hagi Yaki can be read here. We brought back some pieces of this Hagi yaki. Two long fish plates, 2 small unique plate, 6 small round plates, and 2 tea cup made by Hamanaka Gesson. All for free hehehee. Thanks for Miyamoto family.


hagi yaki we got

I know....

Last night I saw it by accident
Argggh....you did promise me,
can't believe you're still doing it.
No need to say anything though,
I just want you to know that I know :(

F.R.I.E.N.D.S

Out of sudden I wanted to watch this drama series again. FRIENDS.
It can be said an old series, but I never can get enough of it. No idea how many times have I watched it already and how well I know every episode by heart, I just can't stop laughing at every scene of its every episode.

Last time I watched the episode when everyone just knew that Rachel's pregnant. It really made me laugh out loud. Any of you like this series and remember the story? ;-)



I heard a rumor that there will be a special episodes of FRIENDS?!
If so, really waiting forward for it then!

I miss the self centered Ross; the unique and sometimes-innnocent phoebe; sloppy but pretty Rachel; empty-headed Joey; cleaning-freak and perfectionist Monica; and one-who-claims-that-he's-the-funniest Chandler.

Today I found about this game
Want it badly huks huks huks. Anyone from Indonesia wanna send me a copied PS2 one? (^_-).
Original CD is so expensive hiks hiks....or...anyone kind enough to give me one? hihihi

Samgaetang

Welcoming summer in Korea, besides facing hot sunny day with high humidity, you'd also find long queeing at restaurants serving Samgaetang. Samgaetang, or in other words, Ginseng Chicken Soup, is known as the food for welcoming Summer in Korea. Korean believe that this soup can give cool effect to your body, and give energy to prepare body's stamina along the whole hot summer. It was what I read in Korean newspaper.
At first I was confused. Eh? eating hot soup in hot weather? giving cool feeling? All I could imagine was sweating all over my body :p

But anyway, being in Korea, I'd like to experience it. Besides samgaetang is a delicious food, I also wanted to prove if I really get this cooling effect.

So 2 days ago we decided to have dinner at samgaetang restaurant. It's not early summer anymore (in fact its rainy season!), so I guessed I won't find long queeing at restaurant.

5 minutes after we ordered 2 portions of samgaetang and a bottle of beer, small plates of kimchi came. There were normal kimchi, radish kimchi (can't remember the name), sweetened peanut, a plate of fresh vegetables, white kimchi (not hot one), mashed garlic and kochujang (Korean chilli sauce)

The kimchi was hot, so Hiro didn't even think to try. But it was delicious. Inspite of the hot taste, I can feel the combination of sour and salty taste, mixed with fresh vegetable. The radish kimchi even richer in taste. I can feel sweet among hot, sour and salty taste.
The peanut was not special. It's just a usual sweetened peanut. I passed mashed garlic for sure, and thought of mixing the kochujang with the samgaetang later on.



After waiting for about 15 minutes, finally what we're waiting for was coming. Two bowls of very hot soup. I can see whole chicken drowning inside the soup, decorated with a lot of leek. The aroma instantly went into my nose, produced a lot of water inside my mouth :p.

Samgaetang is a whole chicken stuffed with korean sweet rice (chap sal), that was already mixed with spices. It was then boiled until all the ingredients are well cooked and the chicken's soft.

I poured salt and black pepper into the bowl, a big spoon of kochujang, then tasted it. Hmmm perfect. Then I tore the chicken's breast with my chopsticks. Strong ginseng smell came out. I found the rice with big ginseng inside. First spoon, awwwww HOT!!! But then....it was sooooo delicious. I can feel thick taste of ginseng mixed with garlic. There besides ginseng and garlic, I found ginger, chestnut and jujuba. Mixed with the soup, really....it was a perfect korean dinner!!

Total damage of 2 portions of Samgaetang and a bottle of beer was 23.000 Won (about IDR 230.000). Not expensive for such a delicious food in this expensive country (^__^)

Monday

Monday is the busiest day of the week.
Somehow I feel that I need more than 24 hours, only for this day :p
Every monday I prepare Iki's food for one week. For one week, so that I cook them all and put them in small containers and ice trays to be frozen. So everyday I only need few minutes preparing. Just TINGGG, and ready :p. (except for some food like egg yolk and tofu -fresh one is better, means no freezer). But because he eats different menu everyday, I have to prepare quite a lot for him.

So everyweek I have to cook okayu (porridge), dashi jiru and vegetable soup for basic meal. All other food will be mixed with these basics. Other vegetables are boiled one by one and then mashed. I just realise that this week is the last week I will cook this type of food. Next week, Iki will be 7 months, his menu will be different again!



This cooking thing takes more than 3 hours every monday. With Iki's higher demands of my presence lately, and a must to clean the whole house (well, he starts exploring things on the floor - so it be clean all the time!); I feel time just flies away. Suddenly it's almost 6 pm, haven't finished all the housework yet must start cooking dinner for Hiro's coming any minute. *sigh*

Summer holiday

Summer holiday is coming.
We spent this few days discussing the best way to spend it.
We want to go out of town for sure. Some places came into consideration:

Jeju Island, located at southern part of Korean peninsula. Well, some of you must have heard it from the famous "Winter Sonata". It is about 1 hour by air from here and I heard it's one of korea's must be visited tourist attraction. But the famous food there is sashimi!! Well, for me might be OK, but for the perfectionist Hiro, nothing can be more delicious than Japanese sashimi hahaha. As we gathered information about the island, then we found out that it would be very very crowded there during summer holiday. Beach, our main destination, will be full of people. It won't be a relaxing place anymore, right? :(

Resort at Hainan, China. Never heard about this though, what I know about Hainan is only "Hainan chicken rice" (slurrrp). Recommended by Hiro's friend. Kind of tempting, BUTTT...I need VISA. And there's no way to go to Seoul during working days with Iki. So.....we just have to forget it this time :(

Taipei. This idea was objected at once. Again, the visa problem. uuuh uuhhhh

Hokkaido. Hiro's family will spend summer holiday there. And as Hiro's mother dream is going on a trip for the whole family, we were thinking of realising it. But.....it's high season in Japan, and there's no direct flight to Sapporo from here. Guess what? the air ticket only will cost us about 1700 USD. Bah...!

Then out of sudden Hiro got the idea to go to Wakayama, his friend's house. There's beautiful white sand beach nearby, and we can meet his friend's family and have fun. We just have to fly to Osaka and go there by train.
But apparently his friend won't be in town!! He's going diving at his hometown, a city called Hagi. Didn't ring a bell for me hehehe. It came out that he invited us to join them, and.......then it's decided that we're going to spend our summer holiday there!!
We'll fly to Fukuoka from here, and rent car to Hagi. It will take 3 hours by car, but we can stop and take a rest anytime.

Waiting forward for it \(^_^)/.
Hagi....here we come!!


What's ur plan for summer holiday, friends?

To you, my dearest friend.

Last night I couldn't sleep
The news I just heard disturbed my mind
I can't believe what happened to my friend
Sorry I can't keep it for myself,
I need to release my feeling so I'm writing something here.

I'm so sorry to hear that,
But I didn't dare to say that.
I pity you of what happened,
But also don't want to say that for it doesn't make you stronger.
I wanted so say comforted words,
But I don't know any that can heal your pain.
I'm so speechless yet I have lots to ask.

I don't want to remind you of that,
Yet I can't help not to write anything here.
For this what I feel I want you to know.

Be strong, I know you are.
Whatever had happened, it must be for a reason.
For a better "you", it must be.
For a stronger "you", it must be.

Happy birthday

Today is the birthday of my father and my brother, Yosis.
Again, as already happened for like 9 years, I can only send my love by phone call.

But somewhat I feel different this year.
My dad cried on the phone.
Life is not easy anymore for him, he's been struggling hard for his two last children. To finish my brother and sister's education. To make his two last children doctors as he has always dreamed of.
And this year my brother will be. What a best birthday present he got.

I know he cried because he's full of proud.
Yet I know he cried because he feels so tired,
somewhat he felt that he failed being a good father.
In fact, he's not.
He's done his best.
And he's the best father!

Yosis, my little brother.
One egois creature that is now getting matured.
Well, life gave him a lot of lessons, and continously will.
Congratulations for your graduation.
Hope you'll be a good doctor after all.

Papa, Yosis,
I love you and terribly miss you (something I can't say on the phone :p)
Happy birthday....

Our small garden

Living in an apartment almost lost our dream of having our own garden and growing our own plants. But again, if there's a will, then there's a way.
So we bought some pots and vegetable seed, and arranged them at our veranda.
It may not a perfect garden that we've imagined, yet it satisfies us.

Look what we have in our small garden:

Mini tomato. Now we can already enjoy our first "harvest" hehehe. Looks yummy, right?! They're not "very sweet" indeed, but they tasted sooo good. Perhaps because we've been waiting for so long, watering and wondering?!



And then we have edamame (japanese green soy bean), asparagus, and kabu (turnip).
Look at those asparagus (i think u can guess which one!). I've never imagined that young asparagus would be like that. Just like the asparagus I've usually seen in supermarket, just in short and very thin form hahaha.



And last we have mitsuba (one of japanese leaf spices), stringbean (buncis), parsley, italian herb, and of course chilli.
Our chilli trees are like stop growing . They're not dead anyhow, but they don't get any bigger *sob sob*



My rose is dying (that's why I don't put the photo here :p), but I hope there'll be miracle to save it hahaha. And we plan to expand our garden by buying one more pot for morning glory flower ;-)

Iki's menu planning

Providing Iki good and balance food is likely my main job recently. Especially after he started having meal twice a day.
I have to manage so that in a day he could have meal contained enough carbohydrate (Category I), protein (Category II), fat (Category III), vitamin and mineral (Category IV). Or at least 3 categories out of four per day.

That's why now I'm working on excel sheet for better plan :p



Iki likes to eat all food I introduced him so far. Only one kind caused allergic on him, but basically he likes, hmmm LOVES to eat all kinds of food. It really encourages me to prepare delicious meal for him. It satisfies me to see him opening his small mouth widely and eating the food enthusiastically.

Yet too bad that he doesn't like milk now. He prefers solid. The delicious meal his mom plans and prepares everyday ;-)

Typhoon

One thing I used to see on TV only for years. Yet now I experience it here.
I had no idea that today typhoon would hit Korea, so I planned to go to hospital for Iki's immunization after lunch time.
But then around 10 a.m I got sms from Hiro about this typhoon. That probably the wind will get stronger in the afternoon.
So I got ready, woke Iki up (sorry :p), called taxi, and off to hospital.

Downstair it was raining a little, but I didn't think that the wind was strong. So I spoke to myself "bah....exagerrating. It's only little shower here"

So did when I left the hospital.
But then when I opened my taxi door in front of my apartment, I was shocked.
It was not little shower anymore so I MUST use umbrella to protect Iki.
Man....the wind was sooooo strong. The strongest I've ever experienced in my whole life.
I just needed to walk about 10 metres from the taxi to the apartment building but it was like walking 100 metres. I felt like I'd be blown up by the wind. And with Iki and umbrella in my hands I felt so hopeless. So while struggling to reach the apartment door, all came from my mouth was this long and loud "TOLOOOOOOOOONG" scream. Of course no one understood and helped me hahahaha.
Apparantly native language will come automatically in panic situation :p
Iki was so scared, clearly seen from his face.

Well dear Iki...
So this is our first typhoon ;-)
Next time I'm not stepping myself out during typhoon!!!!!!!!!!!

Bet

Both Hiro and me are not so fond of football.
So when the worldcup hit, we didn't waste our time in front of TV till midnight like what others did (except of course on Japan games for nationality reason hahaha).
This early morning (3 a.m Korean time) was the final between France and Italy. Just to feel the tension, then I raised a bet.
Hiro was on Italy side while I was on France.
At first Hiro said the bet would be 1000 USD!!!
Well, nothing to lose for me. If I won, I'd get the money. If I lost, I'd just pay by cashing my CC (in which the bill will go to Hiro) hihihihihi.
Of course he OBJECTED the idea =))
So then we came up with this bet:
The one who lose must give a one hour massage.

Well, I guess the whole world knows who must give a one-hour massage now (>_<)

Meteor Garden

When I was washing dishes in the kitchen, suddenly I heard a song from TV. Sounded so familiar that I stopped my work and ran to watch TV right away.

Meteor garden!!!!
It's played by Mplex (korean TV station) now. With Korean subtitle of course, but watching this drama again, brought me back lots of memories in Surabaya.

In 2002 this taiwanese drama was a hit in Indonesia. Like many other people, I also watched this together with my friends. We were so in love with it that we bought the whole VCD series at Pasar Atum, watched it together. Forgot to eat, forgot to sleep. We stayed awake some whole nights in front of TV. Laughing together, crying together, excited together.

Popular drama brought the OST on top hit as well. Of course I also bought the CD, and can sing all the songs well. Not satisfied enough, everytime we went karaoke we brought the VCD and sang the songs hahahaha.

Seriously now I think that I was a stupid young girl.
But because of watching again this Meteor Garden....
I remember Pei's yellow fence boarding house where we watched this drama together.
I remember those laughes and cries we shared.
I remember starting to learn Chinese because of watching this drama.
I remember hunting the CDs at pasar atum together.
I remember my mobile phone ringtone right away.
I remember my karaoke buddies in Surabaya.



I remember my memories.
I remember my friends......

Pei, Nyo, Ayik....If you happened to read this post:
I miss you guys. So much.
Meteor garden is only ONE of our memories I treasure :)
*Imoet is singing meteor garden OST now*

Indonesia oh Indonesia....

Earthquake in Jogjakarta,
Eruption of Mount Merapi,
Flood at South Sulawesi,
Hot mud at Sidoarjo,
and now another flood at South Borneo!!

Left people homeless, family loss, and rupiahless. Count on nothing than others' help.

One disaster comes after another in a row. It's like an every morning news recently. Is nature punishing my country? (_ _o)..... or what? any explanation?

I'm so sad

World cup fever

Hell yes, this has been a world wide fever.
I can imagine in Indonesia, my male friends would sit in front of TV every night, have bets, and some even will be bankrupt because of losing too much hahahaha. Eventhough Indonesia is not there in Germany, people are so excited to support their favourite countries (of course excited, it's about money also :p)
Fathers stay in front of TV the whole nights. I read from Kompas.com (indonesian newspaper) that some mothers are now complaining a lot because they don't know where their husbands are. Apparantly husbands prefer to watch the game together with their friends and don't want to be disturbed (most of them said that they forgot to bring their mobile phones hhahahaha).
It is the phenomenon I am familiar with everytime worldcup hits the highest level of people's excitement in my country.

In 2004 I went to India and watched one of the pre-qualifications game there, between Japan and India. There I got the experience being in the middle of football supporters (beforehand, the supporters' image in my hand was only Surabaya's BONEK). There I also assumed that Japanese supporters are like BONEK, with no destructive spirit and much more money. Well,...they flied to Calcutta and stayed at Hyatt or Shangrilla just for watching the game! They even managed to build a new special toilet in the stadium for them hahaha. Anyway, my point is the spirit. They have the same spirit.

I experience another spirit here.
The people here are not only the audience.
They have their team fighting in world cup arena in Germany. One of the only two Asian countries. It's a national issue, national pride, and national fight.
Everybody. Yes, EVERYBODY is supporting. All the TV commercials are now about Korea's football team, all TV shows are now red decorated. I can see people wearing red t-shirt written "Go Corea" or "Victory Corea" or "Go red devil" etc etc. Children and parents, love couples, taxi drivers. Everywhere people are proudly wearing the red t-shirt to support the country. Even in supermarket, all the staffs are wearing similar t-shirts to support their country. Not only in big supermarket. Also in small supermarket nearby my house. This makes me confuse...which one is the staff and which one is the customer? hahaha.
On the D-day, all people seemed watching. Everywhere I go, I can hear the song "VIVA COREA" played loudly on big stereo system. After one goal, I could hear people roaring in excitement (We stayed at the 23rd APT yet still can hear the crowd loudly!)

What about world cup fever in other countries?

Learning photography

Another reason why I hardly can spend my time in front of my PC recently (besides taking care of attention-demanding IKI, houseworks and playing nintendo hehe).
I can't resist not to touch this new camera. Well, let's say that this is the first time I can play with this kind of camera. Back in my childhood time, my dad would blow up if I touched his camera.



It's not easy. Especially for a REAL beginner like me, with no one tutoring, and has less art sense :p. But I guess I'm doing this for fun. IKI is my object, and perhaps it was not a right decision since he can't stop moving. Yet I enjoy catching his expressions and smiles with my lense. I still haven't got the result yet for it's a film camera and I have to wait until we finish the whole roll.

I hope not to get bored until at least I can take photo as good as Carla? ;-) ( Carla....it means that I adore your photography talent!)

Nintendo DS Lite

This is one of our new stuffs brought from Japan.
As usual, as a new toy in our house, every body wants to spend as much time as possible playing. Hiro bought 2 softwares along, new super mario bross and Oideyo Doubutsu no Mori.

Super mario bross brings me back to my childhood time in Banjarmasin. When I often played this game together with my brother, sister and cousins at home. The new version of this game is much more difficult yet interesting.

The other game is about surviving in a new place. My character, who just moved into the city must survive living there by working part time and building social relationship with the neighbors. Could be an interesting game. But it is in Japanese, all the instructions and conversations. Hiro persuaded me that I can choose hiragana mode so that i can read them easily, but indeed after 30 minutes playing I felt my head was so heavy. Yeah right....I can read, but I can't understand!!!! (@_@). So instead of having "relaxing" game, I've got to push my brain to work trying translate the language. Though sometime i got help from Hiro, I can't say this is a fun game anymore hahahaha



I suspect hidden agenda now [devil grin]. Am I persuaded to play this game so that I fall in love with the game and have no choice than seriously learning Japanese?!?!?!

Thank you

Last year I felt so blessed.

This year I feel so fullfiled.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Today was such a sweet and perfect day.

And it's been a great first year.

Thank you.

Folding t-shirt

Wanna know how to fold t-shirt in split seconds?

Watch this interesting video!

It's in Japanese but can be understood by watching how they do it. Very helpful for a lazy type person like me heheheheh (^.^)v

Diet Hoop

Though now my body weight is already close to my before-pregnancy one (0.5 kgs left to reduce), I still have my stomach and some other parts of my body fatty. I mean, really a lousy fatty type. Perhaps if you pinched my stomach, you could grab 5 cms fatty skin easily. I really do not look good in my favourite XS size t-shirts anymore now! (_ _o)

That's why when accidently Hiro found this diet hoop, I got motivated to force myself having some exercise.

This hula hoop has magnetic button along its inside part. The package is in Korean so I don't understand, but I assumed this magnetic things have something to do with reducing tummy fat as well as waist shaping faster than the normal hula hoop.

Well, in fact, I found that it's not an easy sport after all. So wish me luck with this new toy! (though now I got lots bruises on my hips since the hoop keeps hitting my bone!)

Personality

Found this from Vanie's blog.



Uhmmmm......I'm still sangunist dominant hahahaha.

Try the test, and learn your personality (^__^)

The growing hope (^_^)

I love Indonesian spicy food, and Hiro loves Italian peperontini. We need chilli that can't be found in Korea. Trust me, though Korean food are almost all hot, the taste is somewhat different. As a chilli lover, I can feel the difference.

Last November I still had my Indonesian chilli left, and Hiro just got peperontini sent from Italy, so we planted them in our house. But none grew up. We watered them everyday, for nothing. Until then we got bored waiting. Thus there were two green pots we almost forgot in our house. As well as having chilli trees.

Last two weeks by accident we saw mini tomatoes trees sold in a supermarket. We remembered that we have two empty pots in our house so we bought two trees. Then we enjoy these new "toys". Watering them everyday, and checking their development.

But....
Look at what we found growing up together with our tomato trees!!



Small chilli trees are suddenly popping up!!!!!

The hope of having chilli trees is growing up again \(^o^)/


........but whose chilli trees are they? mine or Hiro's? [curious mode: ON]

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....?*

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!!

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!

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]

So long dear friend....

Pei went back to Indonesia already. 10 days flew by so quickly. I couldn't bear sending her to the bus stop to airport this morning, so Hiro did it instead. Her being here was more than just a visit from a friend to me. She is more than a friend, even more than a family. No one knows me better than her. Not even Hiro yet ;-)


with pei

I did really enjoy our time here. I was so happy to be able to show my son to her, after all the things she's done to us since I knew I was pregnant. I already missed talking with her, about all the gossips, what had happened to our lives, and wondering together how the future would be. Seeing her hugging Iki, playing and talking to Iki. Walking around. Taking photos. Not to mention her big help during her stay here. Also the cooking and eating together. Now I just realised how sucks it is eating alone here!!!

It really broke my heart to know that she couldn't manage to spent Iki's 100 days celebration with us, especially the family photo.
Pity also that we haven't done lots of things we have planned: eating solontang and fire chicken, go to Full house setting, trying Korean's colorful coffee house, cooking some delicious menu together (the ingredients are even still on the way here!!). But I am so happy that she got a good job with promising future. I really am. I do wish the best for her career and love life. I know that someday in the future we will be able to meet again. Because I know we want it.

Look how happy we were spending time last Sunday though we were wearing the wrong costume (though sunny, it was extremely cold with wind speed56 mph!)


dae jang geum

We went to Dae Jang Geum theme park. This Korean drama is now popular in Indonesia. I haven't watched it myself though. I saw it on TV, but no english subtitle here. I understand no words. Pei will send me the DVD instead hahaha.
At last after 4 months coming to Korea, I visited tourism place and acted as tourist (of course the photo part!)


bibimba

Hungry after discovering the theme park, we had lunch at a Korean instant food stall just outside the theme park area. The bibimba was nice, and the owner was also nice (and handsome according to Pei) ==> she bought 2 take out korean instant food because of that!


pei at seoul tower

Then we went to Dongdaemun, but the market there was so dirty and the cold wind was not friendly either. We left that place soon to Myeongdong, and then looked for some souvenirs at Nandaemun. Spent a moment at Seoul tower and then rushed back to Incheon because I heard Iki cried loudly on the phone hahaha

Well, I enjoyed her companion. I always did. Really thanks to Hiro for inviting her here. I can't describe the feeling with words.

Missing you already, Pei....wish the best for the job, and looking forward to meeting you again!

Surprise

He was bit late after work today. No wonder...he got some flower for me heheheh

Second flower for this year. Thanks dear!

Birthday gift

Yesterday afternoon I got a package from Japan. I sms-ed Hiro right away asking if it is ok for me to open it since I thought the content were child care book and kitchen utensils as written on top of it. But Hiro's answer stopped me. He said that there's my birthday present inside it so it's up to me when to open it.

Hohoho...I was happy. I talked to Iki that the day before papa said that he didn't prepare anything. Indeed he ordered something from Japan. We smiled together, waiting forward for him to go back home.

So look what I got as birthday present!




Pretty right....? But I misunderstood. It was not from Hiro hahahahaha (_ _!). It's from my parents' in law!!

Olala Hiro hiro...what a surprise hahahah!!! [cegek mode: ON]

I K I - chan

Dedicated for my boy:

I K I - chan

ha te te pe : iki-chan /dot/ blogspot /dot/ com

Injection

I hate injection. I always shivers imagining the long sharp scary needle stabbed into my skin. I am also scared to see other people got injected, including MY BABY!

And I must assist IKI for lots of immunizations (T_T)

Like this morning when IKI got hepatitis B injection.....
I tried to be strong when I left home.
I was still strong when I put him on the "operation" bed, undressed him and woke him up.
I was still trying to be strong when the nurse came with the needle, opened the cap and looked for the best spot on IKI' right thigh.
I even talked to IKI that he's going to be fine. That the injection will only last for 1 second. That it would feel like an ant bite only....(huuu huuu mother always has to whisper good supportive words, rite?)

And when the nurse stabbed the needle into his thigh, I heard a loud scream. Everybody was surprised, including IKI.

Then I realised, Shit....it was my voice!

Oooppsss [malu mode: ON]