Long last update from this house

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

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





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



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



And visited Aquarium at Sunshine city with Tomomi



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





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





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



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



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



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



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



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





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



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





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




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

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

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

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



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

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

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

My first hand-made bag

This is the other reason why I'm so busy lately :).


This is my very first sewing machine. And this is my very first hand made totte bag (NOTE: I NEVER touched a sewing machine before in my life!)



It could be extended





And could be shortened



Tell me what do you think? :p

I gave it to Aki-chan this afternoon (^_^)

HUGE suprise

We were supposed to have dinner with Aki, Nayon, and Yukiko (with the kids, of course) last Tuesday. But I got my jaw dropped when I entered the reserved room at the restaurant. There were almost all my friends from the swimming club sitting around the long table with wide smiles. And two of our swimming instructors were also there. What a HUGE surprise!! I was so touched and couldn't help not to cry.

There were 11 mothers, 1 father (Hiro), 2 sensei, and 10 children coming over: Nao-kun, Rio-kun, Genki-kun, Kenta-kun, Fuuka-chan, Mari-chan, Takahiro-kun, Mitsuki-kun, Hanon-chan, Amin-chan, Kano-chan, Mori Sensei and Enomoto Sensei. Too bad Kenshin-kun (Nayon's son) got fever that he couldn't join us....I've never been eating in such a CROWDED restaurant hahaha



It was an Okonomiyaki restaurant, so here are some of the food we enjoyed. I couldn't take photo of the complete set because I was too busy chatting around, drinking, and laughing :p



Not all the mothers could join the dinner until the end. Some kids were too tired, and some were sleepy already. These were the leftover drunk mommies!!! It was my first time drinking with a lot of mothers. It was really fun, trust me. The topic went smoothly from kids matter, to job matter, until vulgar stuffs hahahaha. Amazingly those drunk mothers still could ride bicycles home!!



Aki-chan and Nayon-chan arranged everything........my two bestfriends. Thank you sooo much. This really meant a lot to me. I definitely will not forget this friendship forever.

I found this note, written by Nayon as I got home and opened the gifts they gave me. Touching.....Thank you!!!!!!!!!!

Farewell at Surabaya

Last Sunday we had farewell lunch with Nova, Kiyo, Benny, and Mbak Maria (no Rui this time...). As Nova's request, I searched for a good Indonesian restaurant and got this "Surabaya Restaurant" recommended by a Japanese friend. There are some of its branches in Tokyo, but I chose the one at Urawa area so that Nova and Benny won't travel too far from their place.

The restaurant was surprisingly big, located inside PARCO department store, and decorated in Indonesian traditional style. It was full of people too, which made us amazed hahaha. We never thought that Indonesian food is popular here :p

As the name of restaurant is "SURABAYA", we expected some Surabaya's food on the menu list and quite dissapointed to see none. Or perhaps Sop Kikil, Nasi Bebek, Pecel Lele, Tahu Tek Tek, Rujak Cingur and Lontong Balap are not representative enough?! :(

This Martabak tasted really good! Too bad one portion only consisted of 4 pieces of martabak (>.<)



We ordered Sate Kambing as requested by Mbak Maria. To my surprise, Iki loved it too and ate two (@_@). I didn't eat any, so I couldn't say anything about it. But looking at Iki eating it greedily, and how Mbak Maria loved it; it must be really good. We should have ordered more!!!



Tumis Kangkung there was specifically recommended menu from my Japanese friend, so I ordered it too. And it satisfied us. The kangkung was crunchy and tasty. Hmmm I can't wait to have full access of Kangkung in Indonesia soon hahaha. I love it, and will definitely cook my favourite Kangkung Rica-rica a.s.a.p ;-)



This pepes Ikan was quite dissapointing. Nobody knew that it was pepes from it's appearance. No banana leaves. I think they should rename it to "Ikan bumbu kuning" instead!!! The taste was not bad though....really....we just missed the banana leaf smell :)



We love this Ayam Goreng Serundeng. The chicken's meat was soft with crunchy skin. It came with enormous amount of Serundeng topping. Iki loved it too :p



We ordered this Mie ayam for the kids actually, but they couldn't finish it because the portion was huge. I only ate a little and for me the taste was standard. I prefer Pak SALAM's mie ayam hahaha



And this is the blast for me. Sambal goreng tongkol. It was really spicy as I requested, but it was really really delicious. I was glad I ordered it at the last minute!!!! It reminded me of Ikan Cakalang Rica from Manado. God, my mouth is watering now (@_@)



I ordered juice Jambu (guava juice) for my drink and glad with the taste. It was not too sweet but not too sour too. Perfect.



For dessert I ordered Tapioka in palm sugar and coconut juice with ice cream and cream as topping. It tasted really really good. Not too sweet that I could finish it till its last drop!



Iki enjoyed playing with Kiyo a lot. Too bad they couldn't meet and play again (_ _).



Poor Benny had to take care of the two naughty kids :p. Thanks a lot, Ben (^_-)



I still got the chance to walk around the department store with Mbak Maria after Nova, Benny and Kiyo went back home. Thanks a lot to accompany me, Mbak! (And thanks for the starbucks hehehe)

I felt so lonely and sad when we ride the train back home. Oh how I hate farewells and goodbyes (_ _o)



Thanks a lot for the gifts too!!!! We love them (^_^)

Papa-chan is here (^_^)

Papa-chan is back here today. We were all very happy to have him around, especially Iki. At first he was shy, surprisingly. Happy but shy, so he kept talking and showed his father some toys but refused to look at him in the eyes :p

His presence is a great help for me. I could have a nap this afternoon, alone, while he took Iki out for a walk. And tonight after two months, we have "complete" Japanese dinner again in our house (^_-)



From now on, we will always be together!

BAH!

My husband is coming in 30 minutes. Been missing him the whole two months....but just found out that I got my period (>.<).

Grrhhhh!

FAT (>.<)

I enjoyed myself a little bit too much lately. I meet my friends everyday, which means I eat good food with high calorie cakes as dessert everyday! I failed to meet my own target, how sad...... :(



I was so shock when I saw this photo this evening. Look at me. How would I meet Hiro TOMORROW MORNING with THOSE big fat hands!?!?!?!?!?!? huuuuuuuuuuu (T_T). So scared..........

Couldn't sleep tonight (@_@)

(and how would I wear bikini next week with all this blubbering stomach?!)

Surprisingly lonely

Iki-chan lately could sleep by himself. I just have to read him story and have little talking of what happened today. After that I just kissed him good night and he would fall asleep.

I should be happy, I thought I was. He's getting independent but he DOES NOT need me anymore!!

Usually after he's asleep, I lay down beside him and hug him. I scrub his stomach, like he always wanted me to since he was a baby. A month ago he still needed my hands on his stomach to put him into sleep!



Somewhat, I feel lonely. Surprisingly :p

Surprise from Aussie

One day our bell rang and we found this postman standing in front of our door hugging a big box. I was not expecting any package so I was a bit puzzled, mostly because there was no sender's information written on the box (it was an internet shopping-like box).

Anyway Iki is always excited to see any package coming, so he asked me to open it in a minute. I found cute small T-shirt (must be for Iki!), and mug. With a small card written that those nice goodies were from Intan and Ameera!!!!!!!! Intan once asked my address but I totally forgot about it so it was really really a nice surprise.

Iki loves the T-shirt. He wore it that night sleeping, and insisted to wear it also again the next day.



He also claimed the cute mug (@_@). He said: "Ameera gave Iki, this cup very very kakkoii!". He uses it every time during his meal time now. If I forgot, he would remind me: "mama, kakkoi cup, please" :p.



Thank you sooooo much. We just know each other from this blogging world, but I know that you are my best friend, Intan!!! We don't have to meet in person (yet), but we FREELY shared our life and thoughts.

Thank you :)

P-Wosh's cafe

P-Wosh is the sport center where we join the baby's swimming class. It has a small cafe downstair where we usually have lunch together with my friends after swimming.

This is my favourite menu there: Yakiniku Pilaf. Pilaf of roasted beef with chopped Kimchi. I fell in love at the first bite, and always order it whenever I have lunch there (been tried other menu too, but this Yakiniku Pilaf was the best!)



And these are my best buddies, Nayoun-chan and Aki-chan. Oh how I actually hate blurring my memory photos like this :(. But Japanese just do not like publicity (>.<)



Last Tuesday we had this big group of kids and mommies having lunch together there: Iki, Sakurako, Kenshin, Hanon, and Takahiro (with the mommies), but we were just too busy handling our wild kids that none of us remembered to take any photos :(

I know in the future it would be quite impossible to have all of us eating together at this cafe again (I'm moving to Indonesia, Aki to Saitama, and Nayoun to Hongkong). But this small cafe will always be a piece of my memory.