Ikura

One of my favorite food, is IKURA (salmon roe). I just never get enough of them though Ikura contain very high cholesterol. One reason why I was getting fatter in Japan.
They go well with white rice, so sushi and ikura gohan are two best examples. Ikura are salty, tasty, and melt in my mouth at once. Really really delicious. You definitely should try these if you come to Japan by any chance!

Sushi



Ikura gohan



I couldn't find Ikura at supermarket here, not sure about sushi restaurant though. Everytime I go to Japan I always request this food to my mother in law. It was kind of dream to bring Ikura to Korea, so I was really really happy when I found Ikura in package at Asahikawa airport (when we went to Hokkaido).



So at last I could eat Ikura in Korea. It was as delicious as always, even little Iki also loves it. Look what he bought in Hokkaido. Ikura shape mini car :))



And Hiro just told me about the story of Ikura.....
Ikura are salmons' eggs. Salmons are born in clear water river and then go to the sea to grow up. They will only lay their eggs on the river where they are from, so they have to swim all the way from the sea back to that river. It's really hard to swim back there. River where they can lay eggs is only clean and clear river, which is not deep river. Can you imagine big long salmon, swimming back from the sea into very narrow river. They have to swim against the stream, got wounds and bruises all over their body. And when they finally arrive at that river, ready to lay their eggs, fishermen catch them and take the eggs......which some are inside my refrigerator now!!!

(>.<)

Himitsu so-su

Means secret sauce.

It is actually my precious chilly sauce, that usually are sent or brought from Indonesia. Whenever I took the chilly bin from refrigerator to add flavor to my food, Hiro always "whispers" to Iki "mama no himitsu so-su" (read: mama's secret sauce).

I was running out of stock so yesterday I tried to make it myself. Got simple recipe from my mom but modified based on ingredients availability here.

Sambal goreng ala Imoet



Yum yum yummy :p
(though Hiro gave me this "ewwww" face when he saw it)

Aki

It's autumn now in Incheon. Look at the view from my kitchen's window



Autumn's specialties are also sold everywhere. Like mushrooms (many kinds), sanma (mackerel pike), kaki fruit (Japanese persimmon), pear (huge ones!), grapes and chestnut.
Kuri gohan (chestnut rice) is a common Japanese meal to feel aki (autumn), so I also have to serve it on our dinner table. This year we bought peeled chestnut, much more expensive, but worthed (last year we spent hours peeling chestnuts' hard skin, was really a pain in the ass!)



So here's the photo of our dinner tonight



Kuri gohan (chestnut rice)
Mebaru no ni tsuke (boiled mebaru fish)
Hourensou no ohitashi (boiled spinach seasoned with Japanese soy sauce)
Age nasu (deep fried eggplant seasoned with soy sauce and grated ginger)
Wakame miso soup (seaweed miso soup)

Welcome to "Aki", my favourite season of the year. With its beautiful brown-red-orange-yellow tree leaves. And with its nice cool weather, yet enough sunshine to dry my laundry.

"It's your fault!!"

It was warm today so I brought Iki to the big park this morning. As usual there were no other children there at such time so Iki enjoyed playing by himself. It's like that he owned the whole park.

Then a woman came. Out of sudden she approached Iki and greeted him. Iki, who doesn't like stranger, went away. She kept following him so at last Iki's mood was ruined and just stood behind the slide quietly. I felt pity for him so I took him to the airplane model toy and let him play there by himself. She couldn't disturb him at such a small and high place :p

Then she talked to me. She understood English a little, and my Korean is not that bad anymore so we could communicate pretty well. She asked why Iki was so afraid of stranger. I told her that Iki is a shy and sensitive boy. She told me that Iki is a boy that he shouldn't act like that. And as a mother, it's definitely my fault. She said that it's because I didn't bring him out enough and stayed at home all the time instead.

I was like...WTF!! Everyday we go out. Everyday we play at the park and go shopping. Iki plays with some people he is familiar with, like our apartment security guard, yakult seller, supermarket staffs and cashier, and the postman. It's just that he needs some time to get used with new people.

Again she insisted that still a boy MUST not be as shy as Iki. I must join mothers club and Iki must go to nearby preschool so that he could interact with other children of his age.
Well, I met some mothers at the park regularly. But we have language barrier, and some just looked down on me once they know I'm Indonesian. So our occasional meetings never continued any further.
I also brought Iki to department store's playground, local children library, and to the parks. Lots of children there, but Iki still avoided them and prefer to play by himself. I couldn't force him to play if he doesn't want to. It would make him even scared of other people.

Still she didn't want to accept my explanation. At last, still pointing out that it's my fault, she said that it might be because I don't teach Korean to Iki. It made Iki unfamiliar with people speaking in Korean that he got scared of them.
She might be true in this case. Iki didn't have any problem with new people in Indonesia and Japan. Language matter could be the reason. But it's already hard enough for Iki to cope with 3 languages at a time so he got speaking delayed. In addition, how am I supposed to teach him Korean if I myself don't master it?!
And still she said that it's my fault. I didn't learn Korean well (@_@)
At the end she wanted to bring Iki to Korean preschool. So that Iki could socialize with other children and learn Korean language and culture.

Ha?!?! I mean, WHO THE HELL IS SHE?! blaming me over my son's character and wanting to take over my son's education??!!! I grumbled to Iki as we walked home.
Papa-chan was a shy boy as well. And until Junior high school I used to be a scared shy girl too. At the end both of us became one of the world's narcist people :p

But then....when I enjoyed my hot tub alone and thought about this matter, I started questioning myself....what if she's correct?! What if it's my fault.......?!



Tell me...Is it really my fault?!

Sunset

Sunset view from our apartment's living room yesterday evening. I'll certainly miss this..... :)



Now that we're almost at the end of our stay in Korea, I helplessly become melancholy about everything around me.
This sunset is Iki's favorite. Every evening he sits by the big window watching the sun goes down. Everyday I tell him that the sun's going to sleep by that time, and he starts giving his favorite toys to the sun. The toys he usually brings to bed. And then waves goodbye and gives the sun good night kiss. All using his body language. So cute :p

Happy birthday, papa-chan

Happy birthday, papa...
Happy birthday, papa...
Happy birthday, papa-chan....
Happy birthday, papa....!!!!

The song I taught Iki these few days, though he couldn't sing yet. Last SUnday was Hiro's birthday. What else could I give him as present than food and food and food? :p

Breakfast was Japanese birthday meal. Sekihan, served with sake no shioyaki and wakame miso soup



Steak for dinner. With potato salad, fries and boiled veggies



And closed with Imoet's cheese cake. Don't judge a book from its cover, don't judge a cake from its appearance :p. It looks awful, but it did taste good. Hiro, who adores simplicity, wouldn't be pleased to see his birthday cake covered with 'beautiful' icing. So I just put same amount of candles as his age. But it shows that I REALLY made it, right? :p



Again, happy birthday, papa-chan....

Our dinner tonight...

One of our simple favorite dinner.



Gomoku gohan: steamed rice with 5 ingredients seasoned with Japanese soy sauce
Toriniku no karaage with negi sauce: fried chicken with leek (spring onion) sauce
Kyuri no ume ae
Tofu and wakame Miso soup

Our family is a big fan of fried food. This tori niku no karaage with negi sauce is one meal served regularly for our dinner. Gomoku gohan used to be Iki's favorite, but somewhat tonight he wasn't as excited as usual (_ _o). It is a very healthy meal indeed, with chicken, shiitake, carrot, bamboo shoots, and gobo inside. A good balance for the oily fried chicken.
Today's side dish is kyuri no ume ae, cucumber with chopped umeboshi (Japanese super salty plum pickles). It's easy to make and I love the combination of cucumber and salty taste of umeboshi. Miso soup is like a must in Japanese meal, and this time I put tofu and wakame as the main ingredients. Tofu and Miso paste are high protein sources, and wakame (seaweed) is rich of fibers.

Oh My God..

I just woke up from my nap with Iki
Did some house chores and turned my PC on to see recipe.

While cleaning the floor I remembered the dream I just had.
I read a short sad poem at Vanie's baby's blog
Her baby passed away.
I was shocked that I woke up.

And I am trembling as I wrote this
As I turned my PC on, I got message from Mariza....
Vanie's baby passed away. At 1:30 pm today

Vanie, vanie....
I'm so sorry....
Hope you'll be strong....

Postpartum Recovery

Look what I found as a draft during labeling my old posts. Written on 19 January 2006, at 22:06. I think it's worth to share:

I thought giving birth was the hardest task.

It is definitely NOT.

What come after were even harder and more painful hahahaha [cegek mode: ON]

1. I must have total rest while taking care of my sleeping-angel-yet-crying-monster baby. Trust me, they're two impossible tasks at the same time without any help! We hired a baby sitter for the first three weeks (only from 9 a.m to 6 p.m, Mon - Sat), but the total damage was 1000 USD a.k.a hampir 10 juta rupiah.
   
2. I must have good nutritous food for the sake of producing good milk, while breastfeeding caused a lot more painful contractions and vomitting to me. How can I give good milk if the food I ate were all always thrown out? It was really frustrating for me and Hiro. He was so worried that he kept asking me to stop breastfeeding. Which was not a solution for me!
   
3. The stitches are painful and must be taken care really well. And once they're almost recovered, they became very itchy. Itchy but couldn't be scratched. Really suffering.
4. The bleeding is
   

I believed it was not finished yet so I kept it in my draft folder. 20 months has passed now, and I'm trying to think of the rest of the list to complete the post, but I couldn't think of any. I thought that time was the hardest moment after we got Iki. Well, I couldn't even get enough time to complete that story, for instance.
But still I couldn't think of any now. Too many things happened afterwards. I think there's no more "hardest" moment while raising a kid. It was nothing comparing to what I had to deal with 6 months ago, and what I had 6 months ago is nothing compared to what I have to deal with today. And all of them are nothing compared to what I have to deal with next year, or next 5 years or next 10 years.

Being a parent is a 24 hours job, 7 days a week, for a lifetime (^__^)

Parking

Bicycle parking is a common sight in Tokyo, though the biggest one I've ever seen was at Amsterdam Central Station (Gosh, it was like TP's parking lot and full of bicycles!! - TP? berlebihan ya? :p). Guess I would end up having one bike and riding Iki everyday for grocery shopping if we moved back to Tokyo. Well, I couldn't drive a car, and even if I could, would Hiro ever let me driving his car?! :p



But I've never seen any baby stroller parking before in my life until I we went to Disneyland Tokyo last month! People just leave their strollers there unattended, no parking cards or whatsoever, and free of charge. Unbelievably safe country!!!!
The photo below was taken just before we rode a train-like attraction, and after we finished, the strollers parked were already twice than before. I almost cried trying to find Iki's stroller considering the fact that it's a Japanese branded one, and almost all the strollers parked there had the same brand, the same type and the same color (@_@). Thanks God it still had airline sticker label on it!

Counting Down

The company has decided Hiro's last working date in Korea, which is just a few days before Christmas this year. We thought we would go back to Japan afterwards. We did apartment hunting already, put in mind important stuffs to be bought -like bed, refrigerator, washing machine, etc etc. We also didn't buy a lot of food supply from Japan last month since we thought we would stay in Korea only for 2.5 months. I even bought Japanese pocket language book that I thought this time I would really need it. Iki's grandparents would be those who are waiting forward of our coming back to Japan the most. We were almost mentally ready to move back there. But few days ago Hiro got news again from the company that he MAY be sent directly to other country. No idea where will it be yet. We might know it by the end of November.

Now I'm counting down. Till the time we know exactly where Hiro will be placed next. It could be in Africa, Middle east, or anywhere in Asia. Wherever it is, I don't mind. As long as we could be together. My worry raised when Hiro told me that there are several countries where family could not be brought along due to security reasons, mostly are countries with unstable political condition.

I am fully aware that until Hiro's retirement day we would be moving around from one country to another. Nobody knows where and when would we be sent until about a month before the departure. Our life is full of surprises, huh? :p. We might live separately due to company's policy, or Iki's education later on, but I actually do not expect it this time. Not this time. Iki is still in his first stage of development. He hasn't even acquire his first languages yet. He surely will forget the father figure if living without Hiro even for a month only, and Hiro will surely miss a lot of his development. I don't want it, I don't expect it.....
Our life based on company's policy. I know it, understand it well. But please, please postpone "the tough" policy for us. Until Iki is big enough. Until he could remember his father perfectly and understand the concept of living separately for working reason.

I am counting down now. We are counting down......

Cute Pudding

Look at these cute puddings I bought at Asahikawa airport last month....



Balloon shape pudding, cute :p



I Put it inside a bowl and stabbed it with a toothpick



The thin plastic cover was removed automatically



Look what was left! Isn't it like condom? hihihi



Served with caramel syrup. Hmmmm it was sooo creamy. Yummy!!!



One of the long-fatty-food-list that spoilt my tummy last month (^__^)

If only...

I'm very busy lately. Gosh I wished I could have more than 24 hours a day. I barely have free time during day time. Iki still doesn't want to "release" me from playing all the time with him. Guess he's lonely after spending 2 weeks with always-ready-to-play grandparents in Tokyo.

I started my Tae Bo again yesterday. Having no exercise for more than two weeks, eating high calorie food, and daily beer consumption made me lost my flat stomach. So quick, huh?! Hiro said that my tummy looks like Jabalaba's tummy (you will know if you watch star wars!). I got pain all over my body only after 35 minutes exercise. Now that I have new "hobby", I could only have 35 minutes exercise a day during Iki's nap time.

I'm making my very first jewelry now. My own design, my own taste. Most of all, no one in this world would ever wear the same design hohoho. I only have less than an hour a day to do this hobby. I must also take a nap at least half an hour to keep my good mood when Iki's awake.

Then the playing time starts again, continued with cooking time, cleaning time, etc etc. Got free time only after Iki's asleep, which sometimes I use for watching drama or movie with Hiro. At last now I can sit and write something here. Wished I have more time for chatting with friends or reading news and playing more with my jewelry tools. It's now almost 3 a.m. Not sleepy yet must go to bed. If only I could have more than 24 hours a day....

The beauty of Hokkaido

Something I would never see either in Tokyo or Incheon.

And this is the beauty of one of the farms in Furano, Hokkaido:

Hope to be able to come back sometimes in the future....Perhaps to see it in white snowy winter? :p

Sushi

What do I love the most about Japan?

Sushi, sushi and sushi!!!!! I couldn't remember how many times I ate sushi during our two weeks stay in Japan.

My first onsen

Beforehand I already looked for information about getting into Japanese public hot spring bath: onsen. I joined Japanese foreign wives mailing list where mostly I got some important tips. So in spite of my embarrassment, basically I'm quite prepared.

The most embarrassing moment would be when I opened the yukata covered my naked body. The mailing list said that there're lockers to put all my stuffs so I could hide behind the door and then grab the towel to cover my front body part. It relieved me to know that so I was so shocked and panicked when I saw there were no lockers in that changing room. Only shelf with numbered baskets to put our stuffs into!! Nowhere to hide and there's nothing to cover me while opening my cloth. I was stunned for some minutes before my mother in law asking me till when would I stand there with opened mouth. Yeah well I had no choice than opening my cloth as fast as possible and covered my front important part with little brown towel from the hotel.

I felt so awkward, but I couldn't help not to look around my surrounding :p. The room was filled with naked women. Those women might have been to onsen since they were babies so being naked around was not something unusual. I was the only woman standing nervous next to the wall (to hide my butt:p) with towel covering my front body part. I've never seen such a lot naked women in my life, and truthfully my eyes couldn't just stop scanning. There were young skinny women, old women, mother with a toddler, and 2 little girls, but proudly I can say that none has better body shape then mine hehehehe (at least I think that none could beat my boobs hahaha) -oh narcist me!!

I started to get back my confidence then. Smiling naughtily, I took off the towel covering me and walked confidently beside my mother in law. Though basically I knew what to do inside the onsen from the information I gathered before, my mother in law was a big help.

So after we got naked, we went to the shower room. There I must clean my body well before entering the pool. Shampoo, rinse, and body soaps were available. There were two kinds of onsen in that hotel. The indoor and the outdoor one. I tried the outdoor one at that time. The pool was small but for me it was really beautiful. I could see the starry sky above me, the trees around me, with night animal sounds as the music. The water was really really hot, so I had to get into the pool really slowly and sometimes got out for some fresh cool air. I did enjoy my first onsen there and got relaxed. I wanted to take photo and share you the pictures, but those naked women would kick me out if I dared :p. Click here for photos from the hotel's homepage (^_^)



We stayed at Shirogane Onsen hotel at the first night and then moved to Asahikawa Paco hotel (inside Asahikawa city) at the second night. In total I went into onsen for three times during that journey. I would love to do that again sometime in the future.

Now we're back in Korea. Dirty house welcomed us yesterday. Today I had a long tiring day, cleaning up the house with squeaking-lonely-Iki. Tomorrow some leftover works are waiting, so I guess I need longer time for sharing our Asahikawa zoo, dining out, and Disneyland stories (^_-)v

Kanno Farm

We're in Hokkaido now.Welcomed by fresh cool air, greeny hills, clear blue sky, and amazing flowers farm. i fell in love with this place at the first sight.
Our main purpose on this journey is the famous zoo all over Japan, Asahiyama Zoo. Iki hates baby seat so we stay in Asahikawa city area.
We went to Furano, beautiful hilly area covered with lavender especially in summer. It's september already so we actually didn't expect to see any flower, but look at the photo above. It was so beautiful!!!
The farm's name is Kanno farm and there we could also buy boiled sweet corn, boiled potato with sugar topping and butter, and fried potato. The corn was so sweet and buttery, and the potato was also very delicious. Iki loved the corn and finished 1.
We went to Furano cheese factory afterwards, bought some cheese products and fresh milk, and then headed to shiroganedai onsen hotel. Stay tuned for my debut onsen story hehehe

Offline meeting

Yesterday I met Nova and Benny and Kiyo. After following their lives through blogging world for months, at last I met them in person.

Kiyo's really a cute boy with his big round eyes. He's such an 'angel' that I can't imagine he could drive Nova crazy at home :p. Benny told us how Sheila turned his English from Zero to advanced, but I assured him that it's simply because he's such a smart person (no offense, La hihihi).

It was really a nice short meeting. I do hope to meet them again and again in the future. Someday I'll cook, and you can eat as much as you want, Nov! hehehe

Today I had a date with 'sleepy' Hiro. We went to Akihabara to help his ex-boss buying new laptop, having DELICIOUS unagi for lunch, and had some beads shopping at Tokyu Hands. There're lots of interesting goods there but Hiro was so sleepy that I had to finish my business in a hurry :(. I sure will come back to Tokyu Hands!

In the train I noticed that the woman standing in front of me was wearing EXACTLY the same shirt with mine, in different color. Hiro laughed out loud, and then even louder when I noticed that she was ALSO wearing the same socks with mine, also in different color (@_@)!!!
What can be worse for a woman than that kind of embarassing coincidence?!?!

Ah ya, I got tagged by Sheila and Ira! I'll do the homework 'later' hehehe. Just finished packing now. We're going to Hokkaido tomorrow morning...

Iki's health check

We started early to go to Iki's hospital in Kanagawa perfercture. Traffic jam slowed down the journey into 2.5 hours, and then we still have to wait at the hospital for 2 hours. Such a long waiting time made me nervous, though prepared, I was actually afraid to hear the result from the doctor. The image from the last operation is still haunting me.

He told Hiro first the check up result and when Hiro told me I was so speechless. I was prepared for the worst that I didn't expect it. After the doctor explaining me more, my brain started to work and I felt this huge rock lifted from my chest. Iki doesn't need to be operated!! He will check Iki next year again, but overall his condition now is good. There's a little curve on his penis, but it doesn't matter anymore. At least for now I feel so good. I also ensured that he won't get 'problem' after getting married. We just have to visit the doctor for check up until Iki's about 12 years old.

Oh how we feel relieved now!!!!

We visited Hiro's sister family afterwards and had dinner together. Iki had so much fun playing with his cousins and I had good rest and nice food.

Just arrived home now and close my day drinking beer with Hiro while waiting for turn to get into bath. What a nice day!!!!

Going to aquarium

After having a 'date' lunch, Hiro and I went back home to pick Iki up. We're going to an aquarium at Sunshine City building in Ikebukuro. Iki slept almost the whole trip so when we arrived he was in good mood already.

The aquarium's not big, but I really had a quality time enjoying it. It's not as crowded as both the aquariums we visited in Seoul. I always enjoy watching fishes, they are beautiful creatures and this time I met some fishes I've never seen before. I did talk to them, and I believe they understood :p.

Iki was very 'busy'. He was running here and there, jumped from one aquarium to another excitedly. I felt so good to see him happy and to hear him screaming excitedly.

And then tonight we had dinner at a yakiniku restaurant. The worst yakiniku I've ever had in Japan (#_#). The meat was hard, too oily and too salty. No wonder Iki didn't eat much. He is a picky eater :p

Ah ya! This morning there was a talkshow program at TV with Billy Bootcamp as the guest. My mother in law said that lots of women are doing it in Japan now and wondering if it really worked. I told her that I did the exercise in Korea and this is what she said: 'ohhh!! No wonder ur stomach is so flat now!!'

Oh I felt so good. My hardwork has a clear result. But then I realised....OMG she really paid a lot of attention to my naked body during the last ofuro!!!! (@_@)

Trash bin

I got the answer why Iki looked so frustrated and drove me crazy before we left Japan.

He's lonely!

He's such a lovely and happy boy here. He played a lot with his grandparents and gives no impression at all to them that he could be such a monster at home. And oh, he totally forgot me except during hungry and sleepy time. Left me feel lonely and bored at home hahaha. The weather was actually nice today, but I got this monthly guest. Made me decided to stay at home instead of going out with stomach pain and bad mood. I ended up cleaning up all the floors in this house. Can't believe I did it. It took 2.5 hours only for vacuuming the floors. I never spent such a long time, effort and ENERGY to clean a house. Not even our house in Korea :p

Hiro has nomikai again with his colleagues today so after Iki slept my parents in law had a talk with me. Actually they have brought this topic since few days ago. They think that now it's time to give Iki a brother or sister. Hiro gave them a blunt NO answer so whenever Hiro's not home they tried to made me change Hiro's mind. My mother in law even cried tonight to convince me how Iki would be lonely without a sibling.

I told them that I also wanted one more kid. But I also explained them that Hiro and I had talked about this and decided that it would be very difficult. Raising a kid in Japan is bloody expensive, and Iki's education is not our only consideration. We've been thinking about the next 20 years for Iki's life. We want him to experience lots of things: entering good school, eating good food, staying at good environment, travelling to many places, and lots of toys :p. Which are impossible if we have two kids.

My father in law understood and amazed that Hiro has been thinking that far for Iki's future, but not my mother in law *sigh*

If we provide Iki with good life and lots of attention, he won't feel lonely. It was the last sentence I said to my mother in law before saying good night. Which was not satisfied her :p

Hiro is busy and I won't be able to have a talk with him at least until day after tomorrow. But I feel much better now after writing this down here hahaha.

My blog is my trash bin? :p

No comment (#_#)

I'm online using my mobile during our stay in Japan. Well, there's actually a PC upstair, but my 'free time' is only at midnight and it's impossible to leave Iki downstair alone.

I'm still updated to blogs through google reader, but I can't comment or reply comments on my blogs. Somewhat the 'publish' button can't be clicked. So thank you for visiting my blog and drop your thought here, but I'm sorry for unable to comment. Anyhow, I still read all of your interesting stories, so keep blogging!! (=_=)v

Today we went to a bookstore at Ikebukuro station. I bought a book about making my own jewelry and some supporting tools. I've been interested to jewelry making (for my own satisfaction and collection) for quite a long time, and now I think I could start learning it since I've got more free time especially at night. Let's hope I could manage to keep it up hehehe.

Got a new Japanese mobile too. Black, simple, thin, and light. Soooo Hiro's style!!! But I like it.
Had contact with Nova this afternoon, we're planning to meet this weekend. I forgot when was the last time I talk to someone on Javanese!!! Brought me back some memories from Surabaya :p.

I did it!!!

At last I showed my naked body to my mother in law!!!!

Tonight Hiro is drinking with his colleagues. It's too far from home that I decided not to join. I was afraid not to be able to arrive home on time for Iki's bath and sleeping time.

Then my mother in law said that she would be glad to bath Iki. But she's very old and father in law was worried to let her alone in bath in Iki, so....as a good daughter I stepped in. I joined them taking ofuro (@_@).

Let's say this is a training for next week's onsen. When I must get naked together with many other strangers inside Japanese style public bath!

I felt so awkward and embarassed, and THANKS to Iki for playing with my breasts and showed them to my mother in law! (_ _;)

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 (^__^)