Happy Birthday, Papa-chan!!

It was Hiro's birthday last Wednesday. He surely had an unforgettable morning since we were awoken by earthquakes, three in a row at 3:30 am - and he had his first birthday wishes from us right after the earthquake :p

I prepared Sekihan, traditional Japanese food for celebrating something, and apparently his family's traditional food for birthday too. I say "his family" here because ALL my Japanese friends are surprised to know that I have to cook Sekihan for birthday too!!!

Anyway this year's sekihan would be unforgettable for him too. I used Indonesian "beras ketan" instead of Japanese mochi rice. Where the hell could I find mochi rice here, right?! Better than nothing, I still have to celebrate papa-chan's birthday in Japanese way.

He could hardly eat it (>.<). Thanks God, Iki loved it. He has Indonesian blood hahaha

I didn't prepare any birthday dinner for him. Usually every Wednesday, the expatriate community in Sorowako has dinner together at the TAB. The food SUCKS, but it is an important time for socializing so people still come anyway. I sent message to Hiro that we're going to TAB that night too. He might be dissapointed. TAB dinner for his birthday.......?

Once he came back home, Iki sang happy birthday (again) and gave him his handmade present. A big basket of junks hahaha. Hiro looked dissapointed to find I didn't seem to make any cake or give him any present too. Feel sorry for him :p

Then we went to TAB. After Hiro finished his dinner, I gave sign to all my friends there. I took the cake I baked before from the bar (Thank you so much for bringing it to TAB and helping me preparing it, Mariko!!!). People stood up behind Hiro and started to sing Happy Birthday song.

There was my lovely husband. Surprised but gave me his biggest smile.

Happy Birthday, papa-chan. Boy, I really don't want to remember your age hahhahahaha

PS: Huge thanks to all my friends for this successful birthday surprise (^____^)

Iki's Japanese

Iki was the only Japanese boy a year ago when we moved here, in Sorowako. He is still an introvert, shy and sensitive boy, but he is doing alright. He spoke Japanese for 70%, English for 25% and Indonesian for 5% when the first time he went to school. Since he goes to the International school, English then has become his first language. And his Indonesian is increasing too because he lives in Indonesian neighborhood. He talks in Indonesian with my parents and family, maid, and the neighborhood kids. Even I can say that his English AND Indonesian are much better than Hiro's :p. He refused to speak Indonesian to me though. If Iki, my maid and I (for instance) have a conversation, I talk to him in Indonesian so that my maid could also understand what I say. Iki replies me in English, but the explains his answer in Indonesian to my maid!!

On the other hand, his Japanese ability was decreasing. Hiro is working long hours here. He goes to work at 6 o'clock in the morning and comes back at least at 8 o'clock at night, which is Iki's bed time. So if Iki is lucky, papa-chan can read him a story before he goes to bed. His day off is only Sunday and (supposed to be) 6 days holiday every 3 months -(but sometimes after 5 mths!!), so Iki doesn't have that much chance to spend time with his father, the only one he could talk Japanese with. He got difficulty in expressing himself in Japanese, and uses english grammar in Japanese sentences. He refused to learn Hiragana (Japanese characters) meanwhile he is excellent with alphabets. He starts to spell every word. Anytime, anywhere!, but showed no interest at all with hiragana or katakana. He even doesn't want to watch Japanese TV programme and anime.

But then about two months ago a Japanese family with two children moved in. They are bigger kids but play with Iki sometimes. Iki talks mostly with them in English at first, but then started to use easy Japanese. Eventhough I don't see much progress on his Japanese, it was a good start :)

Then last week a new Japanese family came in town. With three children, one of which is a 4 years old boy, goes to Iki's class. Iki likes playing with them and yesterday I heard surprising things from him.

"Mom, I want to play with Japanese children only. I'm a Japanese, remember??"

I was like "what?!"

Since then he watches Japanese TV and anime. Listens to Japanese songs in my car. Talks to me in Japanese whenever he's upset, and is interested on hiragana and katakana. The japanese things in his brain was locked in a box until two months ago, and now suddenly burst out of that box after this new family coming.

He plays as usual with his other friends (thanks God), and just switch language from one to another easily. Eventhough at times I felt down to see how introvert he is compared to other kids, now I realize that every kid is just different. He is what he is. He needs time, but he surely will be fine :)

A YEAR IN SOROWAKO TODAY!!!!

Babu?

Last week I went to the market with my Japanese friend, Suzuko, and a guy from one veggies stall thought I was Suzuko's maid. He said,"Hey!! tell your boss that I have a very good pumpkin. She doesn't understand me!!".

Yes, he gave me order! :))

I was so speechless I just looked at him for few seconds. And he repeated again. 'Hey, tell your boss!!". At that moment I put back all the veggies I was about to buy from him while saying,"I'm not her maid!". He said sorry though.....but still..!!!!!! I am not buying anything from him anymore. ever! :))

I almost forgot it until this morning, when I went to the hospital with Lynley to visit Abrar, a sick boy from Wasuponda we brought to the hospital last week.

As usual, a foreigner attracts so much attention. So when we waited patiently at the cashier, lots of people stood around Lynley, watching her every movement :)). Poor Lynley felt so uncomfortable :p. Then a guy asked me (while the other people cheering him), "where does your boss live?".

AGAIN?!

When I translated that to Lynley she asked me to tell him that she is my maid instead :))

Oh well, now that my skin is SO tanned, I think even in my own country people would think that I'm a maid or Iki's babysitter. Or is it because I actually look like a maid? Muka babu kah?! The trauma from living in South Korea still goes on hahaha

From now on I won't leave the house before dressing up. And let's see what will they say. Hmmmmmm tapi jangan2 kalo kelihatan keren ntar malah dikira "ayam" :))

(@_@)

Oh yeah...this would be still about me wanting to go for a shopping holiday (#_#)

Which I think won't work now. Regarding my previous post that I couldn't leave Iki in Sorowako or bring him on a short tiring trip, Hiro at last offered to go with us. Isn't it great?!?! What a lovely husband :D :D. But instead of Surabaya we planned to go to Kuala Lumpur so that Hiro can shop at the Duty Free too. Oh I was so excited and started to browse here and there for information.

It was when I thought that we would go on a 6 days trip (he has 6 days holiday every 3 months). But no :(, Hiro said that he is so busy that he could only take 4 days holiday. He would disturb the office work if he takes more than that (>o<). Oh No...!!!!! I almost forgot that for most Japanese, work is almost everything :))

I can't go then. I'll be so egoist pushing my busy husband going on a 4 days shopping getaway! First, at least 24 hours would be spent for the return trip Sorowako-Makassar. And then there would be no "calming down" time at all for the whole trip because we would only stay (and shop) for two nights in KL. Iki would be too tired. And by the time we got back to Sorowako, my husband and my son will be exhausted! Just because "I" wanted to go.

No, no, no....I can't let them do that.

Jangankan ke KL, Surabaya. Mau ke Makassar aja gak bisa, harus nunggu Hiro dapat libur. Kalo masih gak ada Iki sih aku gak masalah bolak balik naik bis sendirian. Sekarang kagak bisa. Iki mabuk daratnya parah banget, bapaknya juga gak rela anaknya dinaikin bis. Padahal bis eksekutif!! huh!! Sekarang baru sadar rasanya, kalo kita sekarang tinggal bener-bener di pedalaman. Sudah gak mengharapkan lagi dapat seat pesawat, lah emang gak pernah dapat lagi.

So, forget about going away now, Imoet!!!! just wait until January. I could manage living in Korea for two years, I should be able to wait for couple of months in Sorowako!

yah....

Called the bus, checked the flight schedule, but my son doesn't want me to go....

Can't possibly bring him on a bus too, he has car sick problem. And 4 nights trip (two of which are inside the bus) would be too much for him. So all the plan is ruined now, I can't have my short holiday :(

Oh well, he is still too small for this. Even though I feel like stressing out here, I just have to be patient. I guess I have to learn more about my role :(

Emotional day

I spent the whole morning at the milk run, Sorowako Community Volunteer's program to give milk to underweight children in Sorowako and surroundings (in this case, Wasuponda and Wawondula). Last month we found out about this deaf boy named Abrar. He is 18 months old but weighed only 3.5 kgs!!! He surely is dying of malnutrition, so we wanted to bring him to Sorowako's hospital to get checked. But the father didn't allow the mother to bring the baby to the hospital, for no reason. We couldn't believe it. The boy was really thin and small and dying, and obviously needs help. How could a father just watch his only son dying? because he is deaf? because he has developmental problem? why...?!

I think then the nurse from Wasuponda local clinic (puskesmas) talked with them intensely until then the father agreed to let us bring the son to the hospital. So this morning he signed the paper, agreed clearly that his son will be brought to the hospital in Sorowako for treatment. He looked happy too when we told him that we will pay all the hospital bill. We stated clearly that we're just trying to help Abrar, eventhough everything is again back in God's hand.

So then we brought Abrar and his mom to the hospital. Poor Abrar....he only has bone and skin!!! I could barely feel any other thing in between. They put tube from his nose to his stomach to feed him, and he cried. It was like a little squeak only. It was really heartbreaking to see him suffering. I was actually trembling, and my mind was on my 3.5 years old FAT boy......

I felt better to see color on his lips an hour after they gave him liquid. I hope he would be fine....I do really really hope.

I couldn't let him out of my mind the whole day, and talked about him with Iki too. Too bad when I wanted to talk with Hiro on how I felt about him today he felt disturbed. He was too busy playing pinball on his computer :(

I am so emotional now. I know. I need a break. I think I will go to Surabaya tomorrow night. I planned to go last Wednesday (I wanted to go this week because Iki will start school again next week) actually but Hiro said that I was invited to his ex boss' farewell party tomorrow night. I wanted to respect that old man so I cancelled my plan. But tonight Hiro told me that he doesn't want me to go tomorrow, so....Surabaya, here I come!!!! ;-)

I will eat as much as possible there :))

Unforgetable Tana Toraja - unforgetable food!!

Food was really good in Tana Toraja, well, at least for me (^___^). I knew that I gained at least 2 kgs during our 3 days trip there :))

The pork was sooo good and fresh. No smell, and really soft. Different to the frozen one we could buy here at Toko Baru: as hard as sandals!!. On our first night Hiro had pork picatta, and I had roasted pork ribs. Boy!!! they were sooo good! I decided that I would eat pork on every possible meal I have in Tana Toraja at that time :p

The next day we went to Bolu Market. It is a big big traditional market compared to what we have in Sorowako, and guess what we found were sold there too?!

God!!! that's why the pork was fresh! That poor pig looked sleeping but I thought he actually was praying, because once some people put him on a motorbike, he started to cry and cry......as if he knew that he would come to the end. I felt so sick when I saw it....I thought I wouldn't be able to eat any pork that day...... :(

Then we went to Batutumorang, and planned to have Torajan traditional food at the only restaurant there. But what a shock we got to find out that there were no other food available but noodle because of the Idul Fitri holiday!!!! So after a long scary offroad journey, what we got was mie goreng and mihun goreng (>.<) My mood was really ruined there, also because the waitress was so unpolite. But I ate my food anyway. What can I do, I was so hungry :p. Iki loved his mihun goreng, and my mie goreng was surprisingly good. Really good. Until I found a moving light green object beside the green veggies on my plate. WORM. ALIVE!!!!! huuuu huuuu huuuu (T_T) I think I found the worm right after Hiro took this picture!



Our dinner that day was unforgettable too. We went to this restaurant named MAMBO, recommended by a friend from Sorowako, and also was written in a Japanese guide book. Being unable to eat Torajan food at lunch, I called the restaurant first to order the food in advance. Torajan has this traditional food named PA'PIONG: meat with special spice and vegetables cooked in a bamboo. I wanted to know if it is the same with what we have in manado (well, almost the same! that's why I was so happy!).
I ordered pork pa'piong and bufallo pa'piong. Torajan eat bufallo so I thought that our trip wouldn't be completed before eating bufallo too.

The pa'piong came with the traditional red rice. I thought I wouldn't be able to eat any pork after the pig I saw in the morning so I ate the bufallo meat first. but it was hard, I didn't really like it, so at last I tried the pork one. God, they were soooo good (I'm sorry piggy :p). Besides pa'piong we also ordered some other food: deep fried fish, squid, and chinese pork noodle. All the food at that restaurant were VERY good. Lots of people coming, also foreigners; that I thought this restaurant must be the best in town.

We had a good time there. Drinking, talking, eating, and eating and eating. The best food for me was the pork pa'piong (well, I ordered special spicy chilli sauce too :p). Until the end we kept eating it, until then the nice guys gave me like the last spoon of it. YAY!!!!!

But then I found something black, looked crunchy with legs. COCKROACH!!!



I screamed, and asked the waitress right away: IS THIS PART OF THE TRADITIONAL FOOD?!?!
which of course was not, and they felt so sorry for the incident! Only sorry, for God's sake. We still had to pay!!!!!

But we were already drunk, so we just laughed and laughed about it. Even Hiro who usually is a big complainer just laughed and said: THIS IS INDONESIA, of course we have to pay!.
Well, I felt so gross when I woke up the next day, though :))

Anyway perhaps if by any chance you eat pa'piong, you should check if there's nothing accidentaly crawled inside when it was being cooked :))

This unforgetable food experience made our trip to Tana Toraja is definitely unforgetable (^_-)

Unforgetable Tana Toraja - second day, a long long day

Right after breakfast, we went to Pasar Bolu, big traditional market about 20 minutes drive from the hotel. We planned to buy some souvenirs and the famous Toraja coffee before we started our sightseeing. The market was surprisingly BUSY at that second day of Idul Fitri holiday. Lots lots of people that we could hardly walk. It was very hot too, really a huge contribution to people's mood :p. We left quickly after getting what we want, ready for our next adventure.

But there is this damn one car, parked behind our car. Hiro and Ikemura pushed and pushed and pushed but it didn't move. Grrrrhhhh!!!!! I was so pissed off that I kicked that car angrily too :p. We wasted our time waiting for almost half an hour, until then Ikemura had this brilliant idea. He pushed back some cars parked beside us, and then Hiro successfully drove the car out. I don't know how the did it, I wouldn't be able to drive the car out myself through such a small small space!

Our next destination is Batutumorang, mentioned as a very high area to see a spectacular panorama. There are some attractions around too, so I thought it worthed. Hiro drove following the map, and mostly his instinct. At last then we asked a boy how to go there and we trusted him. Hiro said that a boy won't lie :p

Well, he didn't lie. We just forgot to ask him if we could go there by car or not!!! The map said that the road we followed was a TREKKING ROUTE, but we were too far already and anyway there were no space we could turn the car around (>.<). Really was a scary offroad trip, dengan jurang dikanan kiri (apa sih jurang bahasa inggrisnya?? :p) Thanks God, we are using company's automatic 4WD's car, otherwise I was pretty sure I would get heart attack ;-p.

Because of the scary road then we missed the touristic attractions around too :(, and this was the spectacular panorama we found up there at Batutumorang

It was beautiful........!!

After having a dissapointing lunch at the only restaurant there, we drove back down (this time using the normal route :p). There were some traditional burial village along the way back, but we just passed them and stop a bit to take picture from distance. We were lucky then when we passed a big field with lots of crowds around. Bull Fighting. Pretty interesting :)

But then two of those huge bulls ran away, passed our car and scared people away. Boy they were huge!!! :))

Then we drove south to Londa, a traditional burial cave. It was almost 4 pm and a bit raining when we arrived there, but we went inside anyway. We hired two guides with lanterns with us this time. I insisted :))

Front view of the cave

This is the view inside the cave.

The story about these two skulls is pretty sad. They were cousins who were in love but were not allowed to get married. Both hung themselves on a tree and sadly at the end they were actually together (they were put in the same cave because every cave belongs to one extended family).



One burial cave in one rocky mountain has different levels to place the coffins based on social strata. Commoners' are located on the lowest part, meanwhile the nobles' are on the higher part of the mountain, which could only be seen from far away..


Can you see the holes on the mountain?

I am glad to be able to visit Toraja, one of Indonesia's heritage. With its unique culture, people, and also breathtaking scenery. Come and visit Tana Toraja, you'll experience an unforgettable cultural trip! :)

Unforgetable Tana Toraja - day 1

So at last we decided to spend this year's Idul Fitri holiday at Tana Toraja instead of Makassar. It is "only" 6 hours drive from Soroako, meanwhile Makassar needs at least 12 hours drive.

First stop was a small city named Palopo. There was a KFC in the city for our lunch. Being in Sorowako for few months, KFC was really a luxurious treat! Later on we bought back to Sorowako a bucket full of fried chickens on the way home :p.

The road to Rantepao (the touristic city in Tana Toraja) from Palopo is SCARY. It was all winding road for two hours drive. The road was not wide, and I believed that I always gasped everytime there were cars coming from other direction. I didn't dare to look out of the window too. Jurang!!. Hiro stopped the car at one point for taking a break. Duh bener-bener deg deg-an waktu ngambil foto ini. Bayangkan kalo salah langkah terus aku jatuh dibawah sana!! hiiiiiiiii

winding road view on the way to Rantepao

We stayed at Heritage hotel, mentioned as the best hotel in Rantepao. It was quite beautiful though it looked old and unfortunately not well maintained too. Our friends from Sorowako even didn't get hot water in their rooms! The staffs were friendly, the food was really good eventhough it took FOREVER to get served. After more than an hour waiting for our food I was really pissed off and yelled to the waiters :p.

Toraja Heritage Hotel

We didn't hire any driver or guide there. My lovely husband said that he would love to take the challenge to explore Toraja by himself, only using a (not so clear) map we got from the internet. He even didn't want to stop to ask for direction. We literally got lost for many times (@_@).

Our first plan was visiting Kete Kesu, a famous traditional village burial site closest to our hotel. Well, we couldn't find it :p, and visited Pala' Tokke which has hanging graves instead. We almost got lost again, Hiro and Ikemura (his friend coming with us) already climbed a rocky hill to find the hanging graves haha! We almost gave up and Hiro drove back a bit, but then I insisted to open my window ask a pedestrian. Which was a good decision!!

It was not that easy to reach Pala' tokke. The road was not good, thanks God we are using 4WD company's car :p. Still then we had to walk and climb a rocky mountain for about 15 minutes.

rice paddy at Pala' Tokke

climbing a rocky mountain

I was the first one who arrived there, shocked, and screamed. Skulls! I saw skulls!!!

hanging graves

I couldn't sleep on our first night there. Everytime I closed my eyes, those skulls from Pala's Tokke haunted me...... :(

Perfectionist

I have a perfectionist husband. Literally in every aspect of life. He is SO picky about food, about hotel, about clothes, and about women? haha! about EVERYTHING!

I am not a good cook. Before we were married I've never cooked any single proper meal (as far as I remember I could only cook steamed rice, instant noodle, and one failed stir fry veggies). But once I got married and moved to Incheon, I had no choice than cooking (preferably JAPANESE FOOD!!!) for three times a day. No maid, no mama.

Poor Hiro had to translate the Japanese cooking book every night after tired working. Simply because he doesn't trust any recipe on the net (especially the English ones) or from any other recipe books except those are published by "ORANGE PAGE". He believes that Orange page's cooking books give the best Japanese recipe. See? what a picky guy. Even for a cooking book!

I tried my best. Again, I am not a good cook so it takes long long time for me to cook single meal. Hiro always says' "why do you need 1.5 hours to cook? other japanese wives only need 40 minutes!"

I am still in the process of learning, and I thought that I've done my best and now a much much better cook than I was ever before. But like almost every night I still get complaints about the food I cook. I always have to say a lot of "I am sorry...." on our dining table instead of "really? thanks".

I know that he works hard everyday. From 6am to at least 8pm that he really expects to eat something really yummy at home. I DO my best every night to cook good food to my tired husband. But well, as I said before, at least I have to say once "I'm sorry" to him.

Don't get me wrong. I am open to all critics and complaints. Its just....sometimes I feel like crying. It's been four years. I don't know if I could ever cook a perfect food for my perfectionist husband......

Under our house

I love the area under our house. 

It's not only for my car's parking area.

There is a sandbox and playing area where Iki can spend hours playing either alone or with his friends

 

There is a swing he loves to play

 

There is enough space for him to play with his bike.

It is big enough to host a party for 20 people.

 

A nice place for lunch on a relaxing Sunday.

 

Also great for candle light dinner.

 

I simply love the space under my house.

JUMP!!

The diving range on our new boat is a favourite for the guests we've been invited so far. It is interesting to watch them jumping in, and to see their reactions (and screaming) :D. I don't dare to do that, though. I even haven't got enough confidence to swim without arm floats in the deep water!!

Jumping from that diving range is one of my resolutions before leaving Sorowako ;-)

My First Golf

Golf is a cheap sport here in Sorowako. We only have to pay 10,000 IDR = 1 USD for a 9 holes game. Where in other earth people can play golf with that price?!?! I think that's why almost all houses in Sorowako have a golf club :p

So one Sunday in January, I went to play golf for the first time with Hiro. He said that it is a fun and easy sport, so I shouldn't be worried to much. Then off we went to the golf course, paid two caddies (one is for babysitting Iki :p).

But then I found out that Golf is not an easy sport after all. I couldn't hit the ball!!!! And Hiro, who was supposed to teach me how to do it correctly, lost his patience at the very first hole and kept shouting at me (>.<). Iki was not cooperative too, he didn't want to play with the caddie we hired. So at last after two holes I gave up. Was very angry to both Iki and Hiro.

Since then I've never played or even interested to play golf anymore :p

Whenever a friend ask me to play golf together, my answer would always be, "someday...!"

4 years...

Thanks for the marvellous four years, sweetheart.

Sorry for the few nights you had to sleep alone because of my stubborness ;-)

From kitchenku

I love you, and will always do :)

Mother's Day

I got Mother's Day Tea invitation from Iki's school. I got my very first mother's day gift from Iki.

I cried when I opened the wrap. Thanks, sweetie!!!!!

Mother's Day Tea at Singkole Int. School, Sorowako

Today opa passed away. He is 89 years old, and has been feeling really lonely since oma passed away 4 years ago. He is a very humorous person yet a very discipline one. I remember once I forgot to greet him 'good evening' after got back from the church, and he sent me back to the church!

I spent few years living with him when I was in elementary school. He always sent me to school walking. For about 12 km (return) everyday! I still can remember him clearly. I used to wait for him in front of the school, waiting for a tall figure wearing dark blue cap, with an umbrella on his right hand.

My father was with him when he was dying. He even said goodbye to him before he left.

I miss him now. God, I really miss him. I want to see him for the last time. But there is no flight to Makassar on Wednesday (even if there is, I couldn't get a seat, because being a contractor, we could only book a seat minimum a week before eventhough we get one day before notice if we get the seat or not!!). I don't dare to bring Iki on a bus trip to Makassar, and can't possibly leave him behind. Now there is WOC in Manado, so the seat to Manado from Makassar is 270 USD one way but ALL are fully booked. I just realised that eventhough we live in the same island, Manado IS a VERY far place!!!!!! 

The funeral would be tomorrow. I will miss it again, as I missed my oma's funeral 4 years ago :(..........