First day in Japan

We're in Japan now. What a long exhausting day. We got stuck in a traffic jam for hours (_ _o).

We stay at my parents in law's house in Tokyo. They pampered us with delicious Japanese dinner. Sashimi (raw fish), Ikura (raw salmon eggs), Shirasu (boiled soft anchovy), Hijiki (kind of seaweed, black), best Tofu I've ever had, ham, tarako (fresh Tara fish' egg), yakitori, boiled edamame (Japanese green bean), mozuku (kind of seaweed seasoned with vinegar and soy sauce), avocado with wasabi, fresh sliced octopus, and yakana shouga (kind of ginger) with miso paste.

Loooots of food that we're confused where to start hahaha. Tooo bad I was too tired and hungry that I didn't take any photo (_ _;).

If we're going to be pampered with these kind of food during our two weeks stay here, my body shaping program is sooo going to be ruined!! I'm afraid by the time I have to go naked in onsen with my mother in law, fats will be all over my body again. Huaaaaa!!!

(@_@)

Is he NOT happy spending time with me? He's crying all the time no matter how I'm trying to calm him down. Really is driving me into the edge!

I just can cry silently at the kitchen. So frustrating (@_@)

Broken heart

Iki was too tired and didn't have enough nap today that he kept shrieking and was so irritating after bath time. We were fighting during teeth brushing time, though at the end he was sorry and I could finish brushing his teeth.

But then on the bed he started shrieking again. I knew he was too tired but at last I couldn't stand it and talked to him *a bit* strongly. "Stop it, Iki!"

He looked at me angrily with his almost-crying-shape-lips, wave "bye bye" (means go away, mama!), turned his back to me, and fell asleep in a minute.

My heart was broken into pieces. I couldn't let his angry eyes and waving goodbye hand out of my mind afterwards. So sad.....(_ _o)

My BIG Little Sister

I miss her though it's only been 1.5 months since we last met. Especially when she texted me telling that she's going to be sent to Marampit Island to complete her training program (PTT).

Marampit island? where the hell is that? She just said that it's located at Talaud in North Sulawesi. I googled right away to find information that it is one of the 12 Indonesia's outer small islands which are potentially lead to conflict with the neighboring countries. It is located nearby the border line with Philippine, even closer to Philippine than to our mainland. Transportation depends on weather condition, and only small boat can reach that island once in 3 weeks (or more if the sea's not friendly). During bad weather time people can only eat Keladi (kind of potato?) since it's the only edible plant they can grow (can't even catch fish then). That island is surrounded by deep dangerous sea, and one big earthquake underwater could possibly "wash" it away. Electricity is only from 17:30 - 01:30 and no phone line available. Fresh water is also one luxurious thing. How can I not worry about her?!?!?!

Agnes: Don't worry. I'll bring a lot of food. Mama prepared abon cakalang pedas (dried fried spicy tuna) for 6 months.
Me: Hee? you won't have refrigerator there. It won't last long
Agnes: It's packed separately for each month. And I'll bring also lots of canned food, if you're still worried
Me: What about during bad weather time? you could only eat keladi as the main food
Agnes: I'll bring 20 kgs of rice and rice cooker!
Me: Hahaha RICE?!
Agnes: :p yeah
Me: Water? clean water is difficult to find there
Agnes: I'll bring water filter as well. Don't worry. I'm well prepared
Me: How would you manage to bring all those stuffs?! It would be only YOU
Agnes: I'm a doctor. There will always be someone around to help me. I can't wait to go there. I have lots of plans for that place. Would be tiring yet exciting. I want the people there to trust me and let me help them too. Please wish me luck!

Hmmmmm.....She is not my "little" spoilt sister anymore. She is my BIG little sister (^___^)

OMG!!!!!

I just finished my midnight bath and started to do my midnight routine: "dating" my PC. Accidentally I watched one of Hirai Ken's video clips during blog browsing. My eyes wide opened in a second as I remembered that hot singer.

I fell in love with his voice directly when I heard "Grandfather's clock -Ookina furu tokei" about four years ago during my rafting trip to Probollinggo with Hiro. That song, came out to be "our" song, kept running inside my head for days. I listened to it for so many times, sang it out loud, also used the melody for my cell phone's ringtone. Tick tack tick tack, I remember I made lots of friends frustrated listening to that song again and again :p. Too bad I couldn't find the clip at YouTube (_ _o).

But then I found this video clip. A new one. A rumor that he's a gay once broke my heart, but watching this clip......OMG!!! I don't believe that stupid rumor anymore. OMG OMG OMG. He's sooooo damn hot!!!! (duh sesek napas liatnya, sampe "semriwing semriwing" :p)



And I like this song as well. Hitomi wo Tojite...



Hirai Ken....I'm still in love with you (^________^)

Trying mobile blogging

It's 2:18 a.m now. I'm lying on my bed, in my dark room, typing from
my cell. Just finished watching downloaded Spiderman 3.

It's chilling tonight. The temperature has dropped these past three
days. Still wishing a little more summer sun would come again next
coming week. Though I'm afraid global weather changing has forced
autumn to visit early....

Saturday at Gangnam

"I'm bored. Let's go somewhere else..."

Was my greeting to Hiro when he woke up almost 11 a.m last Saturday. Thus we ended up waiting for the bus to Gangnam at 12.30 a.m; sweating after walking in a hurry in a humid summer day.

It took 1.5 hours to Gangnam. More than half an hour longer due to traffic jam. We were really hungry so we just chose the nearest restaurant we could find (of course after Hiro went in first to check the menu offered there). We stuffed ourselves at a bakery not far from the bus stop. I was too hungry that I didn't take any photo of the bakery or the large amount of tempting bread and pastries displayed. Something we would never find in Incheon, at least for now. The food was really nice, but pity we couldn't spend a little more time there since Iki wanted to get out of that place asap :(.

It was really a hot afternoon, and apparently Gangnam is not a place for relaxing with a baby around. It's a shopping area with lots of shops and cafes and bars, and hawkers along the streets. I used to enjoy Gangnam when I was still pregnant, but somehow I felt different now. Blame it to the heat? :p. At the end of the street we found a big book store, Kyobo. A perfect place to cool down and find something to read.

The foreign books section is not too large and I couldn't really find interesting novels there. But I found a pocket Korean phrase book by LonelyPlanet. Yeah right.....buying Korean language book just few months before we leave Korea?! HAHA!. But still, for me the book is worthed to buy.

We strolled the street once more, so that little Iki could enjoy walking here and there. But again it was too hot (how many times did I mention "HOT" already?! :p), and look what we could only "enjoy" in Gangnam:



People, people and people.
Yes. Lots of people that we could hardly walk. This phenomenon is just sooooo common everywhere we go, either in Incheon or Seoul. That's why we don't dare to go to the zoo or big amusement park. Once experience at an aquarium in Seoul is more than enough actually.

So we decided to go back to Incheon. Again Iki was a really good boy. Didn't sleep but didn't cry during the bus trip. I was dead tired when Hiro said: "At the end people would realize that home is the best place. Did you enjoy the trip, Shierly?"

I smiled and said, "Yes, I did. I could eat that very delicious bread and most of all could spend this saturday afternoon with you and Iki. And oh yes, I also got refreshed :p"

Hiro: "good answer otherwise I would punch you"

Hahahahahahahahaha hey....I did enjoy the trip!! (^__^)

Favourite author(s)

I like reading since I was very young. As far as I could remember, Bobo and Donald Duck were my weekly magazines when I was in early years of elementary schools. Then when I moved back to Banjarmasin from Manado, I started to attach to novels. I spent lots of times at the school libraries, and re-newed the cards often because I borrowed too many novels. My mom was always angry at that time because once I started to open a new novel, I would forget to eat, to nap and to study :p. At Junior high school I was introduced to Japanese comics by my friend and since then I became a big fan of them. Anyway I love reading. It could be novels, or comics, or magazines, or newspapers, or blogs, or even supermarket brochures (esp. SALE page ha ha!)

Now that I don't have much time anymore to read a lot, I become selected to some particular authors. I love Clara NG for Indonesian novels. I read all of her novels by now (not the children books she wrote), and always ask someone to send me one if there's new novel published. Her novels are a good balance of imagination, life values and great humors. All of her novels could make me laugh out loud, especially "The (Un)reality Show". I just couldn't stop laugh and read the book again and again :p

I am also a big fan of Dan Brown. Yeah yeah, because of the famous Da Vinci Code. But actually from all his novels, I love Angels and Demons the most. Dan Brown's novels' are rich of interesting scientific pieces, religion's facts and phenomenons (usually kind of testing my belief hehehe), as well as adventures. I'm waiting forward for his next novel, waiting forward to be drown into his next adventure (^___^)

And other one is OF COURSE Rowling and the best seller Harry Potter series. I believe you all know why I collect all the Harry potter books and intend to bring them whenever I go. I want Iki to read these books also later in the future!! (and perhaps his kids? hahahha)

But it doesn't mean that I don't read other novels. Now I'm reading The Alchemist, a birthday gift from Uti. Some people I know said that this book is a magnificent piece, and I'm going to prove it myself pretty soon (^_-)v

Do you like reading novels? Who is your favorite author(s)?

It's finished.....

It's 2:27 AM, and I just finished reading it. The last book of Harry Potter. Can't believe that the whole series have been finished. Feel relieved that now I know the ending yet feel empty that I won't be able wait (curiously) or read Harry's next adventures.

Anyway I've been enjoying these last four days with Harry. Thanks Ibu Rowling!! For the awesome imagination you shared us. And thanks Hiro for buying me that book and for being so understanding to take care of Iki whenever I felt like reading :p

PS: Anyone wants to know the story? I'd be more than glad to share hehehe

My treasure

This is only one box of treasure I brought from Manado. From instant noodles, canned food, Indonesian tea, beng-beng, kacang hijau to gula merah. From antangin (my only powerful medicine!) to beras kencur. From dried chillies to kemiri.



There's still another box with jars of dried home made food, sambal khas Bu Rudi (I looooveeeeee ENYO!!!!), spiku cake (from Enyo again), and some novels from Valens. Plus additional package sent from my mother with sexy clothes and accessories from Mariza and lots of clothes for Iki. I'm really satisfied though I couldn't bring more boxes here.

And look what I found in my mailbox this afternoon. My Harry Potter. At last I received it after waiting like ages from 21st of July. Pre-ordered means that they sent it on the 21st July and I had to wait like half month to have it delivered. Meanwhile lots other people have finished reading it (including Sheila!). Amazon delivered it in a special Harry Potter edition package. Too bad it will go to my trash bin :p but anyway YAY!!! I'm happy!!!!!!

It means, dear friends....I will take holiday from blogging or chatting for a while since my reading time would only be at night. Same time with my routine blogging or chatting time :p



See you again with the ending of Harry Potter's story ;))

Billy's Bootcamp

Hiro said something alarming 2 days ago:

Hiro: hmmm kamu look fat ne....esp. cheek area
Me: WHAT?! (shocked)
Hiro: fat dan hitam sekali :p
Me: hitam no problem. Fat?! Really??????????

It's really a sensitive matter for me. Well OK, I still have lots of Indonesian food and especially sambal Bu Rudi from Enyo. I know they're responsible to the uncontrollable raised of my weight. Plus the midnight snack I have lately. Deep in my heart I actually realize that I gain some kilos in this past few weeks. But still.....when someone finally really mentioned that I looked fat, oh well I'm freaking out :p

So at 12:30 a.m I grabbed my hula hoop and did some weight lifting as well. It was when Hiro said again that the hula hoop might not help much for my body shaping. He said that he read somewhere about a popular aerobic method in Japan nowadays. We looked for information right away and turned out that the popular method is tae bo workouts.

It's Billy's bootcamp and the reviews said that the DVD series are really effective for body shaping. Almost bought the DVD from Amazon when Hiro realized that it could be downloaded from BitTorrent. Well, his motto is: "Why should I pay for something I can free downloaded?" :p

Anyway then I tried the exercise. Gosh, I only did 20 minutes exercise but it could already sweat me out. Much more than what I had from Yoga practice (what a comparison hahaha). I felt so healthy and great afterwards. When Iki's asleep I tried the full 1 hour exercise. Have been doing it for two days now, can hardly move because of muscle pain all over my body. The result could be seen in about 3 weeks. So let's see how sexy I would be later hahahahaha

Mother tongue

Yesterday I read an email from the foreign wife mailing list in Japan. About a Russian mother who speaks English to her daughter as a mother tongue instead of Russian. It's because of the parents want the girl to speak English and Japanese as the main languages. She said she will teach Russian later after the daughter speaks the first languages well.

This idea got confronted by a British woman. She said that the Russian mother should not teach English to her daughter because it is not her mother tongue. Because the daughter later on would speak "weird" English in term of pronunciation, intonation, and grammar (jahat amat!!)

Anyway those emails made me thinking this whole day. I also speak English to Iki as the main language meanwhile Hiro speaks Japanese to him. Of course he is familiar also with Indonesian because Hiro and I speak "GOOD" mixture of English, Japanese and Indonesian. Now I'm worried if my English is not good enough that Iki will speak "weird" English later on (quoted from that British woman statement). I had a chat with hiro about this mother tongue thing and he insisted that I keep English as the main language to communicate with Iki. No matter how "weird" the English would be. There are lots of English versions in this world. British, American, Australian, Singaporean, and many more. People from different countries speak "different" English. Maybe for that British woman, British English is the only correct English form in the world?! :p

It passed my mind to speak Indonesian to Iki. But even if I want to teach Iki Indonesian as a mother tongue, which "Indonesian" would it be?! The formal Indonesian "EYD"? (Well, I don't even master it :p), Banjarese dialect(I thought it's my mother tongue but in fact I don't use it at all lately), Manadonese dialect? (When I went back there I couldn't speak Manadonese dialect well, and didn't understand LOTS of words), Suroboyoan (I think it's my "language" now but Hiro doesn't understand at all) or The Kondo's Indonesian?! ("very" simplified Indonesian used in this house).
Oh well most likely he will master the Kondo's Indonesian since it's the Indonesian language we use at home. Then Iki's Indonesian will be "really weird", right?!

Look at our conversation few minutes ago:
Me: tadi Iki bangun then kamu ganti pampers dia?
Hiro: ya, sudah yo. tapi after change langsung dia tidur, tidak minum.
Me: oh sudah yo minum
Hiro: minum water? tadi baru dia bangun?
Me: ya, sudah minum banyak

THAT kind of Indonesian. Not to mention the intonation!!!

OK....Make up my mind now!!
I'll stick to English as the main language then hahaha

Additional note based on Sheila's comment (^_^):
Since I'm not an English native, I always switch to Indonesian whenever I don't know how to express something :p. And listening to his parents conversation in "our" Indonesian, Iki understands some Indonesian words pretty well though I don't talk in Indonesian that much to him. That's why he was able to "communicate" with my family back in Manado.
And living in Korea, environment puts some Korean words inside his (quoting Sheila) spongy brain as well. So whenever we go out, he can do greetings in Korean (like bowing when someone said "annyonghasseo") for example. Also can give response to simple Korean questions. I'm really amazed of a baby's brain capability in absorbing new things, including languages! Though he needs longer time to be able to make up his mind of which language to speak first.
Hence Hiro and I are not worried if his speaking ability is a bit late comparing to other children of his age. He's living in 4 languages now though his main languages are English and Japanese.

Why oh why?!

I got my period this morning. Half of me felt relieved. The thought of having another baby with a super-attention-demanding Iki scared me. I was not sure if I could manage to be a good mother of both (and a good wife as well). One baby is already capable to take away almost all the patience I could possibly have.

But "one and half" of me somewhat felt sad. I felt like losing a baby. Somewhat it hurt me to see "it". Perhaps its because we've been talking about it. The consequences we might face if it happened. Hiro said it's OK. We would have to save at least another some hundreds thousand of USD ONLY for his/her education. Especially because having another child at his age is kind of critical. He would get retired before that child graduates from university. But if it really happened, it's really OK. No more traveling or gorgeous dinner or expensive shopping. But he'd feel really happy and blessed (in spite of waking up every two or three hours at the early months :p). Mostly because Iki looks very lonely after our holiday trip. The idea of having one more sibling would probably make him happy, and make our home more cheerful.

Anyway, again, I got my period. Half of him also felt relieved. I tried to forget this the whole day. The result? I bought a small cute wooden cupboard to put my accessories (dasar cewek :p). I almost forgot that I was so obsessed of miniatures of wooden furnitures when I was in university. I also got a haircut. Finally I found a good hair saloon in this city. It's recommended by Hiro's Japanese friend living here (he believes that something recommended by a Japanese must be good haha). Well, it is really good. The hairdresser could speak English and she cut my hair just the way I wanted it. At last I got a haircut again after 5 months :p



But as I finished my day with hot shower few minutes ago, it's coming back again. The feeling of losing.

Why should I feel so sad of losing something I've never had?

How addicted to blogging are you?

Found this quiz at Intan's blog:

72%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

Are you addicted too? Try this quiz (^__^)

The family

Iki was really a good boy. I'm so proud of him. He made everybody happy. He enjoyed playing with everyone. My family spent really a quality time with him. They got really excited to come along way from Manado early in the morning and spend the whole day with him. We went home also for sure, and visited my grandfather at my father's hometown, Woloan. A village I spent 2 years of my childhood.

On the last day my busy brother and the last two of my uncles joined us at the hotel. It was really nice to meet them and we had last big dinner together at the hotel restaurant. The food was not satisfying yet the togetherness mattered.

As we got back here Iki looks very lonely and bored at home. Spending a full week with a lot of people surrounding made him really happy. I believe my famly in Manado are also missing him as much as he is. I promise myself to bring Iki to meet my family again later when he's bigger :)

Going to Bunaken

We booked a boat from the resort and went to Bunaken with my family (except my brother). It was Iki's first time on the boat as well so he enjoyed it so much. I enjoyed it even more since there were my parents and sister taking care of him almost the whole journey. Hiro and I had snorkeling too. It was my first time and for me the sea garden there was one of the miracle I've ever seen. The fishes were sooo colorful (oh, I saw nemo!!!), the corals were beautiful, pity bit dirty with some potato chips empty packages among the corals! I couldn't remember how many times I screamed of excitement through my snorkel. I felt lucky to wear life vest because the wave was really strong I couldn't swim to the boat by myself. Hiro also got difficulty pulling me so at last we gave sign to the boat and asked them to pick us up nearby. I was really satisfied though Hiro said that Maldive is more beautiful (yeah yeah yeah...!).

We had Ikan bakar by the beach at Bunaken. It was really cheap and 3 times more delicious than hotel meals. The dabu dabu accompanied the fish was perfect too. Everyone enjoyed the food including Iki. He played a lot at the beach and on the boat. Really happy to see him enjoying the trip. It was really satisfying. (and thanks for my sister for NOT taking my pictures snorkeling (@_@))

Indonesian food, the best food in the world :p

My mom prepared most of the food I love to eat. It's just that my eating wish-list was too long that I still couldn't eat many food.
My mom cooked more chinese food like I used to eat during my childhood, and my aunt prepared the manado food when we visited my grandfather. My uncle gave us a huge koi fish from his pond, and Hiro ate his first bat ever there. He was so excited though then when he told his colleague here, he started to worry about the disease a bat could have :p
There were still lots of food I couldn't eat, especially those I could only eat in "warung". Lucky at the airport I found delicious bakso (which was for Hiro tasted like it was full of chemical stuffs :p). That bakso with warung style avocado juice was like a perfect ending for my holiday.

Kima Bajo

We stayed at a resort named Kima Bajo. It's about 40 minutes north of Manado city. It's a resort on a hill with a private volcanic sand beach. Really a place that offers nature. It has a large garden with lots of coconut trees, and banana tress, and many other kind of trees and flowers I couldn't name. I love this place since we could introduce natures to Iki. One thing that is missing in Incheon ( esp. the butterflies, the sea, the stars, the frogs, and many more). We booked a villa there, and even inside the room Iki can still find excitement to see young cockroach, cricket, some other insects, and frog inside the bathtub!!! Thanks God there was no snake during his bath at the outdoor Balinese style bathtub :))

The spa was really nice too. I had traditional massage just after we arrived there and it really satisfied me.

The staffs are really nice and friendly, and sometimes could be good baby sitter for Iki while we're having our meal. It's just that the food was really standard, and Indonesian food on the menu (except ikan rica-rica and grilled squid) were much below our expectation. I ate the yuckiest gado-gado in my whole life there :p.

Anyway we enjoyed our stay there though I'm not sure we would go back there. We even talked about the possibility of naming an-accidentally-could-be Iki's "adek": Kima-chan hahahahahaha

We're back (^_____^)

The holiday has finished. Back to real life again.
It was a really nice getaway. Tiring yet satisfying. Our skin are all well tanned now, including Iki's. Thanks God he has my skin DNA. So it just got dark without suffering from sunburn like Hiro. Everybody was happy. It was not just a holiday. It was family time, and....eating time (especially for me :p). I was the one with camera so back home in Incheon I realized I don't have many pictures of myself (T_T), but here are some that captured our happy moments there.

For all my friends in Surabaya, so sorry I didn't make lots of phone calls and sms. I couldn't find myself alone to grab my cell phone. I didn't expect pulang kampung would be that busy. But hey.....I promise to come to Surabaya one day to show my little boy (^__^)

Transit

8 July 2007, 23 pm

I'm typing this at Changi airport transit hotel. Iki is sleeping
beside me and Hiro is crazily running around the airport, shopping! I
can't imagine what will that shopping freak buy. For him this airport
is heaven hahaha.

Iki was a very good boy today. It really was a very easy and smooth
journey. People around us kept praising how good he is as a baby. He
didn't cry, played and ate well. 180 degree different from my last
journey with him last february. I was alone and he cried from take off
to landing :p.

And I'm also very happy today. Besides at last getting my Louis
Vuitton wallet at Incheon airport, I also got another gift from
singapore airlines: a swarovski neclace. Just because accidentaly the
fork they served me had a sharp broken edge that hurted my finger.
From the stewardess to the chief stewardess came to my seat to
apologize and make sure that my finger stopped bleeding and was
allright. At last the inflight chief also came to apologize and gave
that swarovski gift as a service from Singapore Airlines. Nice, huh?.
SIA is really a first class airlines with a first class service!

　

Satisfying day. Tomorrrow morning we will continue to fly to Manado.
Hope it would be at least as smooth as today.

Damn cough (>.<)

It's been more than a week!!!

I'm tired of taking a rest the whole day yet I must to stop this damn cough getting worse.
This afternoon I went to hospital (again), and there the doctor found out that my old asthma has a role to make this cough getting worse these few days (sigh).
We're leaving to Indonesia in three days and I hate to go on board with this condition. Most of all, I'm afraid I couldn't eat all the food in my "must-be-eaten-list" (which mostly are spicy and hot) to save my throat.
I regularly take the medicine, I have good rest almost the whole day, I keep my neck warm, I drank lemon juice + Indonesian sweet soy sauce (no lime here!), I drank hot ginger drink, even I drank 1/2 cup of tumeric liquid (suggested by my mum this afternoon). Still no sign that this cough will go away soon *desperate*.

Arrgghhhh any other super good idea to cure a sore throat + cough in three days??

Argghhhhhhh

Have a terrible sore throat, my head hammered, and painful muscle all over my body. I believe so does Iki as he also got flu since yesterday. But why did he just want to play (with ME!) the whole day instead of sleeping?!?!

I took some medicine so I also need to have some sleep, but this little boy seemed so healthy playing around with his nose running. I felt to tired and sleepy that I tried to put him into sleep. 1 hour, 2 hour, failed. I took him out on his baby car (usually it worked!), but also failed. He got more excited to play outside. So I brought him back here, let him playing on the living room, and laid down trying to give rest to myself. But he kept coming and pulling me out of bed to play with him.

I put him again on his bed and ignored him, he cried. I thought then he would asleep if I stayed on his bed too. But he didn't. Once I came to his bed, he grinned and started playing again. I left and ignored him again, and he cried again, and grinned back at the second I sit on his bed. It happened again and again that I lost my patience.

So at last I shouted at him, pointing him to sleep on his bed. He was surprised, scared, but laid down. Now it's 3:20 PM. He just felt asleep, but me?

I was too angry that I couldn't close my eyes anymore now. Arghhhhhhhhhh

Seoul one day trip

Well, I did't have a hot date (_ _o). Being too tired drown my mood. Too bad that I blew the only chance we could have to enjoy a personal moment without Iki in Korea. Hiro was a bit mad last night, but then we managad to make it up. Anyway seems that it was the best choice since we had a tiring journey the next day.

Today we went to Seoul. We started in the morning by renting a Jumbo taxi so that everyone could have a big space in the car, and enjoy the journey with a skilled driver. It was much more expensive than using normal taxi, but oh, trust me, I vomitted several times after taking taxi in Korea. They drive like a bemo driver in Surabaya :p

We had lunch soon after we arrived in Seoul. The famous Samgaetang (chicken ginseng soup) at a famous big restaurant nearby Gyengbokgung (one of Seoul's historical tourist attraction). Surprisingly there was a pretty long queue in front of the restaurant. Hiro was a bit complaining already, but I insisted to go in line since we don't have any more lunch option, and it was a very hot afternoon, and I was terribly hungry, and most important was I really wanted to eat that Samgaetang hihihi. The food wes superb as usual, and my parents in law enjoyed it as well. I was even more satisfied when we saw a very very very long queue in front of that restaurant after we finished eating. How lucky we were!



Then we went to Lotte Department. My parents in law wanted to buy some Korean food as souvenirs for their friends. And I used that chance to go to the DFS upstair. There I got my new baby, LOUIS VUITTON WALLET beibehhh!!!! From my parents in law and Hiro as my birthday present this year :p. How I can't wait for our next journey to Indonesia next month, since I could really get that "baby" at Duty Free counter at the airport right before departure!!



After finishing our business there we went to Nandaemun. It's a market selling many kinds of Korean souvenirs and fake branded goods. I bought some Korean souvenirs to bring to Indonesia, and I was really really satisfied with the price I got. I told Hiro not to talk in Japanese and sent my parents in law waiting for me pretty far. There as an Indonesian, and by speaking some Korean words, I could get much cheaper price :p. An Asian woman bought the same thing 1.5 times more expensive no matter how hard she tried to negotiate, and when I gave the seller "confusing" look, she said that I spoke really good Korean. Even better, she put some more free gifts into my plastic bag (might be to shut my mouth up hehehe). I almost forgot the satisfaction of getting a desired price when negotiating during shopping. Oh yeah, shopping orgasm beibehh hahaha



Again it was too hot and too crowded so everybody got tired easily. We decided to go home afterwards. It was only a 6 hours journey but all of us were almost out of battery. Anyway everyone seems enjoyed the journey. Especially ME hehehe (^____^)

A visit

I'd been very busy lately, cleaning up my house. Why? We got a visit. An important visit from the almighty parents in law hahaha.
Yeah, they're here now, sleeping soundlessly in the guest room.
Iki is very happy today to meet his grandparents. He totally forgot me. Spent the whole time playing with An-chan and Jin-chan. He even didn't want to sleep. He cried when I took him from his An-chan and brought him to bed. He finally fell asleep at 11 p.m. The latest ever haha

Since Iki is very happy to play with his grandparents, perhaps tomorrow I could have a date with papa-chan? watching movie would be great, but an hour drinking at a bar is more than OK (^__^)

Nightmare

I woke up in horror with Iki's voice spinning in my head this morning. Mamaaa...mamaaa.
I sat on my bed, and saw Iki standing on his bed. Oh how I felt relieved.

I got a nightmare.
I saw Iki on a bed. A white bed.
He's crying. Loudly. Sadly
Calling mama. Mamaaaa Mamaaa
Calling papa. Papaaa Papaaa
Screaming "itaiiiii, itaiiii*" with his swollen eyes
Trying to reach me. Asking for a hug.
He's crying, crying and crying
He's tied there, on that white bed. Couldn't move.

It's exactly the same view when he just got his operation done last december.

Argggghhhhh I can't see him in that condition anymore
I don't want to
I don't want him to go through it once more time

Yesterday evening Hiro told me: "I made a phone call to Iki's doctor, trying to change the check up time into late september instead of early one. And the doctor said that he wanted to talk a bit more to us since Iki's condition needs to be operated as soon as possible after September check up"

That statement freaked me out. Leading me into that nightmare.



I don't want to see him in that condition again....please, not again...

My first friend

At last, after about 1.5 years living in Korea, I got my first friend.

We met at the park about a month ago. She wanted to practice her English, and I was more than happy to get a friend, so we get along pretty well. Last week she invited me to come to her house, introduced me to Korean households, Korean food, Korean tea, Korea's must be visited places, and I surprisingly enjoyed our conversations (with a help of calculator translator hehehe).

Yesterday I invited her to come to my house. It was the first invitation I made ever since I live in Korea. I mean, my OWN invitation. Because previously there're always Hiro's boss or colleagues coming to our place for dinner (and little drink :p).
I made tiramisu for us, and "baby" tiramisu for the kids (no alcohol); and we enjoyed it with a cup of coffee and some fruits she brought. They loved my tiramisu, and I promised myself to bake them chocolate cake for their next visit :p.

Though I thought that I enjoyed my small circle of life with Hiro and Iki, it's in fact really really nice to have someone else to talk to (though with a help of an electric dictionary). She's Janice, my first ever friend in Korea. The first person who doesn't care about my nationality. The first person who keeps talking to me at the park under the curiosity eyes of other mothers. (But damn, I couldn't remember her Korean name (@_@)!!)

I hope someday.....someday, I would be able to invite my dear friends in Surabaya and made tiramisu for them. Dare to try my food, pals? :p

Thank you

Actually I kno w you'd say that I'm too dru nk to write this.
But I really want tothnk you
NOT ONly for the woderfuyl dinner you prepared
also for the another great year I COUld spend witrh you

Thank you.

For the laugh. love and life that we shar e

What should I do?

Both my brother and sister are doctors now. My brother just got partial scholarship for master education as a thorax surgeon, meanwhile my sister will go to Papua to dedicate her knowledge there. I'm proud of them, and most of all, of my parents. After 1998 economic crisis, we lost almost everything. We're not a rich family. My father is a bemo driver now yet he works really really hard to complete his dream for his children. It was almost impossible. I told my father to stop his ambition. But when he told me that education was the only thing he could give to his children. If he stopped before they're graduated, he would feel that he failed. Failed as a father. I tried to understand and worked 12 hours everyday in Surabaya to support them.

Now they've graduated. Isn't it time for my father to relax now? I thought so, but then my brother told me about that partial scholarship. Well, eventhough "partial", he still needs A LOT of money. Let's say 7000 USD for the first payment with total tuition fee about USD 28,000. Impossible. For Indonesian it's a lot of money. Especially for not a rich family like mine. I told them it would be very difficult.

He's a doctor already. I think it's already a big modal to start earning his future. It's time for my father to take a rest. It's time for my brother to make his own life. If he wanted to study he could work first to collect the money. I talked to him, to my parents, even to my sister. To my surprise they also wanted him to continue his study. No matter how difficult it would be, they will try their best. Even my sister said she would support him as well from what she would earn in Papua. They just need to sell the land in Jakarta, and all the financial problem would be solved.

The thing is, it's not easy to sell a land. How long have they been trying to?! And at the end now they expect me to lend the money.....
I want them to see reality. I want my brother to earn his own life now, not just expecting for helps and miracles to come. So I decided to refuse. Besides Hiro has helped them a lot. I don't have any heart to ask that amount of money from him. He also works hard and wants to enjoy his life. My family problem is not his responsibility. I may sound like a cruel sister, but I believe its for my brother's own sake.

I thought it would stop him. Nope. He's going to go to Papua for a few with my sister to work. He wants to collect as much money as he could to be able to join the class in December. But he hasn't got any news from the hospital in Papua, so what he could do is waiting. Waiting for the news from the hospital and miracle that the land could be sold really fast. My mother will also go to Jakarta next week, to work at a relative's restaurant. Meanwhile my father stays in Manado, working days and nights. So does my sister. They work hard, save money, eat the cheapest food. To collect that impossible amount of money before December. While keep praying and hoping that someone would buy our land in Jakarta.

It breaks my heart.
I live a good life here and I eat the best food. Thinking of my family makes me sad.

Beforehand I planned to go home this summer. I miss them. Terribly. I want to show my little boy to them. But in this kind of situation, I look like a big sister who can spend thousands dollars to come to Manado but doesn't want to help her brother.

What should I do.............??? I can't let this matter out of my mind. I feel like my head is going to explode.

What am I doing?

Life runs so smoothly now. I just have usual exciting routine, taking care of Iki and households, plus some more relaxing time for myself: reading books, watching drama, or simply chatting with my midnight friends: enyo and valens. That's it. Everyday.

Boring? nope. There's little Iki with his new surprises everyday. At least for now I'm enjoying my life.

For short updates of my daily life, I'm using Twitter now. Add me if you're using it too :). It's on my sidebar as well, so follow me at my twitter (^__^)

follow shiefralo at http://twitter.com

What's wrong with my stomach?!?!?!

I couldn't eat Indonesian food recently. Everytime I eat Indonesian food, I would always throw up the whole day. Nasi uduk, sambal terasi, petis, telur dadar, nasi goreng, kerupuk, ayam kalasan, opor ayam, even pisang goreng! Unbelievable!!!!!! The more I tried, the more I felt like there's war inside my stomach, and ended up vomitting. It drives me crazy, and drives Hiro mad.

Why?!?!!??! I love Indonesian food.......(T___________T).

What if I kept vomitting when I go to Indonesia for holiday?! Hiiii thinking of this scared me to death. Going home = eating Indonesian food as much as possible.

What's wrong with my stomach.............? hiks...

PS: Before this story leads into wrong conclusion, FYI, I'm NOT pregnant!

Lovely spring

Spring has come. Sakura has shown its once-a-year beauty. We're lucky that we could see those beautiful trees nearby our apartment, along the main street. A real beauty.



We also have started our small garden at the veranda already. Not much since the temperature is still pretty cold for other plants. I have morning glory flowers in one pot, which have just shown its tiny green leaves yesterday. Two strawberry trees with small flowers blooming already, and one unknown flower that hasn't shown any blooming sign since February *sigh*.



I love this season, andI love this gardening thing, another refreshing from my routine. Give me new little surprise to see every morning :p. Even little Iki also enjoying this new activity.

Damn Expensive Tooth

I got a hole on my left most behind upper tooth. I terribly big one. Actually I knew I had it since I was pregnant. But then the dentist in Surabaya couldn't do anything due to my pregnancy. She asked me to come back after giving birth for that tooth treatment. But then I moved to Korea, and my new busy life here made that tooth forgotten.

Until last week......
When that forgotten unseen tooth started to disturb my life. Yeah, toothache sucks. I'm sure you guys know how it feels that there's no need to describe it :D.

So yesterday afternoon I went to a dentist with Hiro and Iki. I went to this dentist last year to fix a 1 mm diameter hole on my tooth. It costed me 100 USD for that tiny hole so we're pretty worried on how much would it cost this time!

He examined my tooth and explained that I will need root canal treatment. I will have to visit him like 8 times to have my tooth done. One the first treatment he gave damn injection, made me produced a loud long painful scream. Which was felt even more painful as I heard long loud laugh from the waiting room "HUAHAHAHAHAA Iki...Iki...listen to mama. She's screaming like a baby ne......huuhhaahuahahahaha" (@_@). GRRRRRRR

But then he was not laughing anymore as the doctor explained how much the total cost would be. And I was as shocked as him as well. Total cost would be around 600,000 won. Or 600 USD. For a damn single broken tooth. Insurance from Hiro's company would probably cover only 140 USD of treatment fee since the cheapest crown for covering the tooth available in that clinic is not one of those covered by Japanese national insurance. Bah.

As we walked home Hiro announced: "You had better stop snacking chocolate and ice cream!". Eeeeee??? I must live without chocolate....?! (T_T)
And he did prove what he said by eating ice cream BESIDE me while watching drama last night (T_T).....*drooling*

................Damn expensive tooth!!!!!!!!!! !!!

14 Sai no Haha

English translation: 14 Years Old Mother.

Is a Japanese drama I just finished watching last night. Was Japanese drama with highest rating throughout year 2006's drama. I watched the latest episode when I was in Japan last February, got really interested, and asked Hiro to download the full story. Of course no English subtitle, but I can understand!!!

This drama is about a 14 years old junior high school girl, Ichinose Miki, who got pregnant with her boyfriend, Kirino Satoshi (who's 15 years old). Miki was shocked, and so was her family. In addition, Satoshi's mother said bad things about Miki and tried to bring Satoshi out of Japan. A mother who wants to save her son's future.
Miki's family wanted Miki to have abortion. Besides to save Miki's future, also being pregnant in 14 years old age has a pretty high risk. And did Miki have the abortion? No...she couldn't. That pure Miki thought that if she (Miki) is a very important thing for her parents, then the baby inside her body will also be a very important thing for her. She fought for the baby. She insisted to continue her pregnancy and give birth to the baby. She was so stubborn and confident, but her character really swept my tears away.
Miki had to face a lot of consequences for her BRAVE decision, especially after a magazine's reporter found out about this and made the story top news throughout Japan. She was expelled from her school, she lost her bestfriend, her little brother also lost his friends, her father lost his position at the office. Not to mention other people's look everywhere she walked. This pregnancy also gave effect to Satoshi's family. Satoshi's mother lost her job, became almost crazy and tried to kill herself, Satoshi also got mocked by his friends at school. That family at last had to leave their big house and stayed at a very small and dirty apartment.

Society was Miki's enemy, but then at the end society gave her what she needed the most. Support.

She was so young but she could decide such an important thing for her life. She gave chance to that little creature in her body to grow up, be born and alive.

Being a mother, this drama made me think. What if my son did the same? what if I had a daughter and got pregnant at such a young age? How would I face the world? Would I support her?

Miki gave me the answer......(^__^)

Coffee orgasm

All I need are:

• 1 coffee spoon Starbucks coffee powder
• Milk
• Latte cup set
• Shierly-made caramel
• Liquor (amaretto is the best!)
  

Drip the coffee powder with about 80 celcius degree boiled water.
Pour 60 ml milk into latte cup. Heat until about 40-50 celcius degree. Whip well.
Pour the coffee into the cup slowly, then the liquor and caramel. Done.



Best paired with watching downloaded Japanese drama. Hmmmmm.....

So easy to get orgasm. Coffee orgasm (^__^)

"sent with hugs and kisses from Amsterdam"

Hiro brought a small package from our mailbox yesterday afternoon.
"Hey....from Sheila!"

I left my houseworks in a second and jumped taking the box from him. Ella's handwriting brought me into big smile. Waaaa.....when was the last time I saw this?! felt like ages!!!
Looking at the two small packages there made my smile even bigger (^_____^)



Thank you Ella!!!!!!!! Sooooooooooo pretty, and I'm soooooo happy. "Sent with hugs and kisses from Amsterdam" is written behind the nice postcard, and I did feel like got kissed and hugged :).

I really love them. Holland's famous mini windmills, and they're moving when I softly touched them. Reminds me of Amsterdam and my precious memories with my ex-colleagues at CDU there, and now reminds me of my little lovely scatter-box friend, YOU (^_^)

Again, thank you.

Do I look good? heheheh

I'm frustrated

Hahahah... I know...I know....I know what's in your mind. Imoet is complaining again! But it's what a blog for, right? to write down whatever happened, which are accidentally not always happy things :p

I ALWAYS fall asleep whenever I put Iki into sleep every night recently, and wake up after 1 a.m. It drives me mad because I lost time for myself. I have a long personal to-do list, and wake up after 1 a.m makes it all impossible to do. If only I could wake up at 11 p.m, I could have all the time to have my favourite long bath time, I could read blogs and news from my computer, I could upload more stories in my blogs (not only the complaining ones :p), I could study Japanese again (after I found my old language books), I could read novel, I could have more recipes translated. And most important, I could have little talk with Hiro. Oh...I feel like it's been ages not having a real talk with him! Precisely, not talking with ANYONE :(

Well, it's good to have enough sleep on the other hand.....but I lost my personal moments. After the whole day taking care of Iki and households, I desperately need them now.

Why not turning on alarm clock at 11 p.m? I don't want to wake Iki up :p. He's sensitive to alarm clock.

Why not asking Hiro to wake me up? He did until about 1 month ago, and he was always complaining because it's too damn hard to wake me up. Once he got really really mad because I didn't want to wake up and said that he would NEVER wake me up anymore hahahah. Well, my mistake :p.

So now I feel so frustrated. I could have long sleep but I couldn't do my private things. Not even taking a bath before sleeping for I wouldn't be able to sleep anymore until 4.30 a.m if I do that. No refreshing at all for myself now, for really I have no time at all at daytime recently. Iki is very time consuming now hahah

I couldn't even get "good night cuddle" tonight....(_ _o). Hiro didn't want to touch me because for him I'm too dirty without taking a bath before bedtime! Oh, great..... :(

Well...guess I could continue my sleep now after writing all these trash here

Good night, my blog....you're the only one I can talk to now!

Duit

Ngopi dari postingannya Ella yang judulnya "Kenapa?":

Kenapa ya, kadang-kadang orang merasa udah dekeeeeeeet banget sama satu orang, terus berteman deket, merasa sehati sepikir dan saling ngerti satu sama lain, bahkan bisa baca pikiran mereka, udah kayak sodara sendiri... ehhh kalo nyangkut urusan duit, ternyata sama aja ngemplang, melarikan diri, ngilang, sambil ninggalin utang? (*harimau mati meninggalkan belang, manusia ngilang meninggalkan utang, halahhh*)

Kenapa ya, kadang-kadang orang merasa udah baiiikkk dan sayaaang banget sama satu orang, terus pas udah nggak baik dan nggak sayang lagi, ehhh buntut-buntutnya duit lagi yang jadi masalah, plus ungkat-ungkit masa lalu sampe ke sen-sen dan rincian terkecil? (*lha ya jelas aja, udah ngga baik, ngga sayang, masa masih mau dibelain juga soal duit?? Hahaha*)

Aku mau nambahin daftarnya:
Kenapa ya, kangen orang rumah, tapi saban telpon karena kangen buntut2nya mestiiiiiiii ada masalah duitnya. Duit ini, duit itu, duit begini, duit begitu. Pokoknya intinya minta duit hahahah

Bikin rencana masa depan, lagi-lagi buntutnya gimana ngatur duit
Bikin rencana liburan, lagi-lagi buntutnya gimana biar duitnya cukup
Bikin rencana makan mingguan juga lagi-lagi gimana biar duit jatahnya nyisa

Dari ella lagi:
Kenapa ya,

Ternyata manusia itu...

buntut-buntutnya

duit juga, duit lagi.

Bumi berputar mengelilingi matahari, yeah right.

Human beings revolve around ... duittttt

Karena duit orang bisa senang, bisa sedih, bisa ketawa, bisa kecewa, bisa tega.
Karena duit orang bisa dapat teman, kehilangan teman, disukai sodara, dibenci sodara, dapat jodoh, bisa dapat hidup layak tapi juga bisa kehilangan nyawa.
Karena duit orang bisa dihormati, bisa juga dilecehkan.

Haiyahhh duittttttt
*saking gemesnya barusan ngeremes duit 1000 won* (nominal uang kertas paling cilik di Korea soale hahahaha)

Iki's right ear

Lately Iki seems really uncomfortable with his right ear. He always points cotton buds and asks me to clean his ear. So I always do that to make him feel better. But indeed, he's not getting any better at all.
Once I brought him to the doctor and asked him to check his ear. I didn't dare to put the cotton bud too deep so I thought there must be lots of dirts inside his ear. But the doctor said it was okay. That there's nothing to be worried about his ear.

Day by day Iki is getting more uncomfortable with that ear. He kept rubbing it and pointing the cotton buds. So last 3 days, after bath I tried to clean the ear deeper. Indeed, i got a pretty big dirt. But Iki cried a lot. Since then he never let me clean his right ear yet he kept rubbing it for so many times in a day.

I started to get worried. And so did Hiro.
He looked for information at the internet and baby books about baby's ear treatment, and found one shocking fact.
"BABY'S EAR SHOULD NOT BE CLEANED USING COTTON BUD. IT WILL JUST PUSH THE DIRT DEEPER INTO THE EAR"

What??!?! God....I've been doing it for over a year!!!!! I felt like I lost my power. Can you imagine?! How much dirt would it be inside Iki's ear by now?!

Must go to ear specialist now to clean the dirt, and check Iki's hearing ability. It was saturday night (oh no, midnight!), and I must wait until Monday (T_T). Couldn't sleep the whole night.

What if....hmmmm I don't want to say it here, but I am so worried (_ _o)

Records.....?!

Dapat pe er dari mamanya Ameera nih!!!!
Aku sih gak fanatik musik. Suka ya karena sering dengar aja, dan banyakan gak tau judulnya ama yang nyanyi siapa hahaha. Makanya ini pe er lumayan bikin jidat mengernyit, jadi inget2 pas bikin pe er kimia waktu es em a dulu hihihi

Records that change your life.
Ya ilah......baca titlenya sampe mlongo hahah. Untuk sementara sih belum ada any records yang mengubah hidupku. Paling berubah karena hamil huehueheuhe

Records you've listened more than once.
Wah kalo ini definitely "Grandfather clock"nya Hirai Ken. Lagu kenangan sih. Sampe ribuan kali muter juga gak bosen-bosen. Bahkan dulu waktu diindonesia selama 2 tahun aku pake ring tone lagu ini. Temen2 sampe sumpek :p. Apalagi dibagian lirik lagu yang ada "tick tack..tick tack....". Katanya Jonathan ama enyo (duh kangen ama omelan mereka), sampe terngiang-ngiang di telinga "tick tack...tick tack..."

Records that you just don't understand.
Sama kayak ella, METAL!!!! mati deh kalo denger itu. Gedumbrangan gak jelas.

Records that made you laugh.
TTM-nya Ratu,. Huehehehehehe....enak'e pek :p

Records that made you cry.
Hmmmmmm.......Phantom of the opera. Dulu pas lagi boom di kantor suka dengerin lagu itu, pas kena masalah gede. Halah...biasalag cinta-cintaan. Jadi saban denger lagu itu langsung merinding, termenung, sampe akhirnya nangis :p

Records that creep the hell out of you.
Gyah!! opening songnya sinetron-sinetron horror di indonesia. Inget2 dulu mesti mbak Parti (pembantu kos) nyetel tipi nyuaringgg pas film horror. Bikin aku langsung kabur dari kamarku ke kamar Pei.

Records you wish had never been made.
Hahahaha....gak ada kayaknya. Sesebel2nya ama lagu, kalo gak suka tinggal dimatiin :p

Records that you've just listening.
Lagu anak-anaknya Iki di playlist itunes. Aduuuh tiap hariiiiii kudu denger, nyanyiin sambil joget entah untuk keberapa ratus kali.

Records that you've been meaning to buy or steal.
Banyakan records yang aku baca di cd dari Indonesia ya curian. Alisan hasil donlot ato ngopi dari cdnya temen (yang juga bajakan hihihi)

Makasih pe ernya, mamanya ameera =)). Jadi senyum2 sambil nulis.
Next homework, buat: Pre-chan, Mee, Enyo. and Vanie. Kudu dikerjain loh ya [ngancam mode: ON]

Am 27!

Monday afternoon, when I was doing some houseworks
Hiro: Let's go Seoul and stay at Park Hyatt Hotel. Now...!
Me: eee? now?
Hiro: Un. Aku reserve sekarang ya. How long do you need to get ready?
Me: eee? expensive yo disana!
Hiro: Gak apa-apa. Kita celebrate your birthday.

So last monday we had an early celebration for my birthday. We enjoyed the best hotel in Seoul and had the best food I've ever had in Korea *drooling thinking of those food*. Couldn't take any picture since Hiro said with alarming eyes: "Jangan take foto disini, malu yo!" hahaha, but the memory was carved in my mind. Best of all, I thank God that I could celebrate my birthday with the people I love. No words to describe my feeling that night. Especially when another surprise came. What a perfect dinner, can't help not to cry. Hahaha dasar cengeng :p.



Thanks, Hiro. For taking care of Iki and let me have a great rest and keep surprising me with your always-last-minute plans (^_-).

And yeah, I also got a surprise from Iki. He got diarrhea as we got back home from Seoul, and became very very very VERY clingy ever since (_ _o). Even during his nap and sleeping time (can't believe how sensitive his "mama radar" is!).

Had spaghetti carbonara as my birthday noodle and big bowl of tiramisu to close that day. Both are Shierly-made. Perfect.



I am 27. Already 27. Can't believe how fast time runs. I was still celebrating my 25th birthday in Surabaya with my friends, and then so many things happened. Changed my life upside down. Suddenly now here I am. 27 Years old, a mother, a wife, and still live my life to the fullest.

Thank you for all the birthday wishes. By emails, offline messages, chats, friendster testimonials and phone calls. Really really made my day. Completed my 27th birthday.
Mariza (you're the first one), Mee, Valens (waiting forward for the books), Enyo (for the diamond ring huehehe), Yendy, Shantee, Anita, Ekke-chan, Annerie, Cindy, Octa, Tina. Pei (thanks for waking me up, otherwise couldn't have my birthday tiramisu hihihi), Nina (for the happy birthday song, ur voice is still as wonderful as I could remember). Yunita, Ella, Martin (masih curious about u :p) ,Vanie (better late than never hihihi), and Carla (I am so touched, thanks yo!)
Sorry I haven't replied almost all emails and messages. Again, my boy is still having his diarrhea :p

Again, thank you (^______^) *nyengir sampe mulutnya lebaaarr*

Gōngxǐ fācái

Chinese New Year is one of important holidays in Korea since Korean calendar is following this lunar calendar. Gift package sets are now can be found in all supermarket and shopping mall, dominating almost 80% space there. People are going to their hometown to celebrate it. At some places I could see them bringing big luggage in one hand and Hanbok (Korean traditional cloth) in other hand. Hiro got 5 days holiday now, but this time we're not going anywhere.

Missing home, this chinese new year celebration brings me back to my childhood time. Born from a mother whose Indonesian-chinese blood line, I experienced this chinese-Indonesian tradition when I spent my childhood in Banjarmasin. A city where my mother comes from and has almost all her family there. I lived in a big long house where traditionally all the family members are all packed there. Almost 16 cousins were living together.

Chinese new year in my mind was a busy happy time to celebrate. Days before that, our mothers bought us new red clothes for welcoming it. Chinese believe that red is a symbol of happiness so especially during chinese New Year, red color is a must for our new clothes. Early in the morning we would all wake up, got dressed, and rushed to the main room of the big house. There was already a big dining table full of various food in the living room, right in front of the main door. There's "Engkong" (my grandfather)'s black and white picture in the middle, with burnt incents on the left and right side of it. In front of that, all the delicious food were beautifully decorated.

At first my grandmother lit the first incents and prayed in front of the table. After that she put the incents inside that glass standing beside my engkong's picture. After that all her children would do the same ceremony one by one, starting from the eldest. Then we, all the grandchildren got our turn one by one. The table would remain there the whole day, giving chance for any guest who visited us to pray for our grandfather and to wish us a prosperous New Year. Usually at the end of the day, all the children would wait nearby the table until our grandmother cleaned it up. What for? of course for the delicious food and sweets hahahah

After the praying ceremony in the morning, usually the children got the red small envelopes with money inside called ANGPAU from the parents and elderly. As long as I can remember, this was the best part of New Year for us as a kid. We spent the whole day visiting relatives and friends to wish them New Year, and of course....to get more and more Angpau hahaha.

Can't really remember when, but maybe when I was in Junior High my grandmother didn't do the table praying tradition anymore because Catholic church said that it's forbidden. Of course we still did the Angpao hunting :p years after. But I then as I moved to Surabaya to study at a university there, I stopped following the tradition. Chinese New Year for me now is only a childhood memory. I even just knew the real story behind Chinese New Year celebration after reading Ceplas ceplos blog :p

And to all my friends who celebrate this Chinese New Year: May you have a prosperous and a very happy New Year. Gōngxǐ fācái Xīnián kuàilè.

Happy valentine

My small and very simple valentine surprise for my two men:



Our valentine was full of joy and love and hunger hahahaha. The cake was vanished within seconds.

Happy valentine, dear all my friends!!!!!!!!!!!
Whatever has happened in your life, may love be the reason

A break

Yes. A mother needs a break.
Last two weeks I had 2.5 hours manicure and pedicure at a nail salon nearby. I left Iki at home with Hiro. Really felt good. Both because I got my hands and feet done, and I felt relax going away alone. It was the first time, and I got Iki hated me because I left him hahahaha. He cried and didn't want me to hug and feed him, just wanted papa to hold him (>_<).

Then this weekend Hiro reserved a face massage for me at home. A 1.5 hours relaxation in my own living room meanwhile Hiro took care of Iki and brought him out to the park. That massage left my skin freshened, my muscle relaxed, and my brain calmed. I enjoyed it so much and thanks Hiro that I will have this massage twice a month.

And yes. A father also needs a break.
After working and taking care of Iki at home, Hiro definitely needs a break too.
So he also had his nail done, and face massage right after I got massaged hahaha.

This is how we enjoy living in Korea and give a break to ourselves.

New haircut

Oh yeah!! this definitely is one of a must in my to-do-list everytime I go to Japan. Hair dressers in Korea sucks. I got three times experience cutting my hair here and wanted to cry looking at the mirror and saw what they did to my precious hair. Well, maybe not in all over Korea, but three times experience scared me enough to try the forth one.

This time I cut my hair in Yokohama, since I stayed at Hiro's sister house in that city. Going there alone freed my from Hiro's domineering attitude in choosing my hair style hahahahah. Using my extremely broken Japanese, I explained the hair stylist what I expected and asked for her best recommendation.

So now I got my new hair cut, and I loveeeeeee this style so much. It's not as conservative as before (again, there was no Hiro there hehehe). Still short, but modern. Looks sporty and matured at the same time. First word from my mother in law: Kakkoiiii!!!! (KEREN!)

Happy (^__^)

Keluh kesah :p

Ah...lagi pingin nulis sesuatu pake bahasa Indonesia. Tepatnya lagi pengen berkeluh kesah, paling puas ngomel kan pake bahasa sendiriiiii :p

Baru pulang dari Jepang tadi malam. Bawa Iki cek lagi. Wah sedih deh denger hasilnya, tapi keputusan butuh operasi lagi apa enggak nanti awal September. Harus ke Jepang lagi. Rodok kesel seh...selain sekarang Iki di pesawat super nakal, awal September benerannya udah bikin rencana mo ke Indo. Haiyahh. Buyar kabeh rencanaku.

Akhir2 ini kesepian banget. Rasanya terisolir abis2an dari dunia luar. Tiap hari ya ngurusin Iki aja. Temen gak punya disini. Gak nyangka orang2 dilingkunganku tinggal segitu besarnya diskriminasi ke aku. Jadi yah...cuma Iki sama Hiro. Seakrang bahasaku ya jadi bahasa anak-anak kali yah. Abis ngomongnya cuma sama Iki tok. Kalo malam Hiro pulang ya harus fokus ke Iki. Kalo di meja makan, misalnya mama papa ngobrol sendiri, si Iki marah2. Pokoknya harus perhatian full ke Iki. Akhir2 ini kalo nidurin Iki juga aku ikut ketiduran. Bangun2 dah jam 1 malam harus mulai bersih2 dapur. Abis itu ngenet bentar trus tidur. Benerannya pengen ngobrol2 sama Hiro. Tapi Hiro juga sibuk ama hobi komputer sama handphone-nya. Abis dia kerja seharian, pulang masih ngurusin Iki. Kasihan kalo pas dia mau nyantai aku juga nuntut waktunya dia buat aku. Jadi yah....ngalah deh....Tau gak gimana aku sama Hiro komunikasi? banyakan lewat chatting ato sms singkat hahahah *ketawa getir*

Sekarang gak tau mo curhat-curhat sama siapa lagi. Chatting kalo siang juga impossible. Mana boleh ama mr. Iki?! Bisanya online malam, tapi temen2 gak ada yang online hahah. Kapan hari masih bisa nelpon2 murah pakai Skype. Tapi barusan tariffnya Skype berubah, jadi mahal. Jadi kalo nelpon2 diomelin :p. Jadi sekarang chatting gak bisa, nelpon ya cuma nelpon mama. Ngobrol juga gak bisa. Bener2 tinggal sama Iki lah bisa ngomong. Bener2 kesepian. Bener2 kerasa sendiri.

Akibatnya? jadi frustasi sendiri. Emosi susah di kontrol. Tapi ya itu tadi. Lagi2 gak tau mau disalurkan dimana. Jadi ditekan kuat2 didada. Kadang2 sampe rasanya sesak napas hahaha

Udah ah keluh kesahnya. Masih harus bongkar koper ama bersih-bersih. Abis ngomel gini aku kerasa enakan gak yaaaa :p

Eating with "eyes"

Hiro always says and STRESSES that Japanese people eat with their "eyes". That's why in Japan all the food I've ever seen were beautifully decorated (including home dining!). Besides the taste, appearance is one important thing to present a meal. This is especially a mother's job, to satisfy both the eyes and the stomaches of the whole family member.

Therefore I also have to do the same to Iki since a very young age. Ever since he started his first food, I already tried to present it as interesting as I could. Well, I can say that I am one of the most unartistic person in this world. I have to prepare beautiful meal yet I don't have "beautiful" eyes. So instead of preparing beautiful food, I give Iki "eye-catching" food. Oh trust me, it really takes time since I'm still not used to do this. Anyway it's decorated and he got interested on it, right? hahahaha

But I guess my "eyes" are getting better? :p

Mama's food

I am so happy that I want to cry!!!!
Got a package from my mom. A box full of my home-made (mom-made for exact!) Indonesian food and some important Indonesian spices.

From dried Indonesian chillies, fresh ones, lemon grasses, sambal goreng tempe, not-too-hot salted fish (my mom said so that Hiro can eat it as well....but for me it's HOT hahaha), super hot salted fish, dried Indonesian lime leaves, dried kemangi leaves and my grandma's recipe's pork sate sauce. She knew exactly what to send to make me got this food orgasm hahaha

I feel like eating at home now, as I never thought I would be able to eat all these food in Korea.

No matter how delicious the food I've eaten all these time (or even I've cooked myself), I always and will always miss my mom's food. It's the taste that I could never find anywhere but from my mom's kitchen.

Not only the food hehehe....I miss you also, mama....