Good news

Yesterday night I heard a good news after feeling nervous and down for these few weeks *phew*.
Hiro told me that he is not to be sent to that dangerous country where he couldn't bring the family. The news from the other country is not clear yet, though. But for now he will work here, in Japan (^__^). How long? no one knows! but at least he still will be here for the next 2 or three weeks.

God works in his own way. Thank you for praying with me, my dear bestfriends *hugs hugs*

The weather was as good as my feeling today. We had outdoor activities the whole afternoon. I brought enough snacks, and a magazine. He could play by himself at the park now and let me read peacefully. Only came to me when he wanted something to eat and took a rest. We went back home until he was too tired to say no, and was asleep in a minute I put him on his bed hahaha.



This flower is now fully bloomed here. I found them all around our place. What flower? I don't know and I don't bother to know. So white, pure, light and pretty. Like a baby's heart.



Hiro was working until late again today so I made this new recipe I took from my new monthly cooking magazine, with a bit modifications here and there to meet Iki's preference. Rolled pork with Tarako (fish's salted eggs) and boiled spinach. He loved it!!! \(^o^)/

"Busy" Week

This week is the busiest ever :))

There was no swimming school on Monday, but some mothers gathered at Sakurako-chan's house. We had lunch and fun talks there. The kids enjoyed playing with lots of toys there. They are about the same age so seemed that they were not interested to play together yet. They just got together if they want other kid's toy, and ended up fighting (_ _o)

Tuesday was swimming day as usual. I had some shopping afterwards and then spent the next 1 hour waiting for Iki playing with the small cars and tricycles downstairs. I was tired and hungry after the swimming lesson but how come this boy was still full of energy?!?!
There were some hungry mothers too waiting for their kids playing after their daily shopping. We ranted each other of how difficult to get the kids home with all those toys parked freely nearby the parking area and stairs (>.<)

I had hanami (again!) on Wednesday. Together with some friends from the swimming school. We had picnic lunch under Sakura trees at the park I visited last weekend with Hiro and Iki. We had onigiri (rice balls) with various fillings, Fried Chicken (Ayam goreng bumbu Kobe - yes, I prepared this one), dango (Japanese rice cake sweets in ball shape), and Sakura mochi. I didn't take any photos, didn't get any chance at all. None of us did. We were too busy feeding our kids and accompanied them playing. They had different interests so we were all separated! One mother with her 9 months daughter climbing the rocky stairs, one mother with her 1 y/o son interested to catch a fish from the pond, and me trying to stop Iki jumping from a big rock into a small human-made river. At the end we were all exhausted and I guessed everyone agreed that picnic with toddlers was not a good idea hahaha. We (the mothers) could have some talks only during our way home because the kids sat tiredly on their strollers.



Then I went to Saitama to visit Nova and Kiyo on Thursday. It was an hour trip from my house but we had so much fun there. Nova cooked Indonesian food, complete with her spicy sambal, krupuk udang, and Nutrisari!!! I couldn't remember when was the last time I had Nutrisari! Iki fell in love with krupuk and Nova gave us some to be cooked at home (Thanksssss a lot, Nov!). Too bad Iki and Kiyo were still not interested to play together. Most of the time Iki wanted the toy in Kiyo's hand and Kiyo also was interested to whatever Iki held. Iki is not as aggressive as Kiyo but he tried his best to defend or take the toy he's interested in. And so did Kiyo. There were always be little fightings between them hahaha



Iki and Kiyo. They are one year old different, but they are at about the same height now :)). They were fighting for this wheel drive at the park.



After swimming lesson on Friday, I had lunch together with some friends again at the Fitness Center's cafe. The food was really good and this time amazingly the kids were playing together. Playing here means running around and chasing each other. They were very active and noisy and uncontrollable. It was a hard work to stop them and bring them home, and still then Iki ran away from me again as I parked his bike at our apartment, to play with the car toys. Some other tired mothers with their shopping bags again welcomed me with their weak smile :p

Thanks God then I didn't have to meet anyone on Saturday. I just went out for a little shopping then spent the rest of the day at home with Iki and papa-chan. This -staying at home- is a very unusual thing in our home!!

And today I had lunch at an Indian restaurant in Shinjuku with a friend. The food was really good though it was not as spicy as expected. It was an all-you-can-eat buffet, and was really a good deal for 1500 yen for each person.



Lately I spent a lot of time with mothers so I felt really good to meet a single woman. For a while I was free from mothers' talks (kids, houseworks, cooking, shopping, toys, and even schools!), and had a totally different topic to talk about: travels, passion, work, restaurants, friendship, guys :p, fashion, and body shaping (haha!). Thanks to Hiro for taking care of Iki the whole day (^_^)

And I took this photo on our way home after having dinner at a nearby Chinese restaurant tonight. Sakura at night. As beautiful as they're seen during the day. This would be my last Sakura photo this year. As they are almost all gone now :)



What a fun yet tiring week. I guess next week I just want to stay at home :)

Please....

Hiro is not leaving on the 15th as scheduled. The company said that he must wait for the new information on April 10th. Whether he's going to be sent to that country where we couldn't go with him, or to the other country (which is much much better because he could bring the whole family).

The possibility is not big though (_ _;). Only about 10%. But it IS a hope. Though a miracle is needed, I do wish there is any to help us.

I pray day and night for that, and please pray with me too. Please pray to bring the miracle here so that the 10% chance could come true...........

PS: Last night I heard from Hiro that the possibility is only 1% now :(. God, I really need a miracle!!

Throwing away oil

Throwing away garbage here has its own rule. Garbage must be separated based on several categories. Combustible, incombustible, pet bottle, silicon tray, bin, milk package, old clothes, newspaper, magazines, and empty big boxes. Its more or less the same with the rule in Incheon except for oil. In Incheon oil must be thrown away inside a big special tank nearby the big public trash bin, meanwhile here oil must be put inside combustible garbage. When I heard it for the first time I was confused. How is it to put liquid into combustible garbage?!

We are big fans of deep fried food so oil is an essential need in our home. So how to throw away oil properly was one of my important to do list to learn. There are indeed some ways that can turn oil into combustible garbage. We use this one:



Powder that can turn oil into jelly like thing. The oil must be heated first until about 40 degrees Celsius. And then I just have to put the powder inside, mix them well with chopsticks, and let the oil cold. The final result is this:



This big oil jelly then can be thrown away as combustible garbage. It was really interesting for me hihihi (dasar udik!)

How do you throw away your oil?

(@_@)

I'm p.r.e.g.n.a.n.t
. . .
. . .
. . .
. . .
. . .
. . .
. . .

Iki is having a brother or sister!




(^_____^)

Happy April Fool day

Ohanami

Ohanami (literary means "flowers viewing") is Japanese traditional custom to enjoy watching the beauty of once-a-year-and-only-for-less-than-a-week Sakura or Cherry blossoms in Spring. During this period parks with sakura trees are really crowded. Some people are enjoying sakura by only scrolling down the park, but traditionally people have picnic party under the blooming sakura trees. Picnic here also involves enormous amount of beer so drunk people is a normal view -and excotic (?!) view- under the trees.

Actually Sakura trees can be seen almost everywhere here, but people prefer to go to parks where there are a lot of sakura trees. I took this photo this afternoon at the nearest park from our house. I love the contrast view of sakura color and the clear blue sky color.



Hiro hates crowded places so we didn't go to famous cherry blossoms spot for hanami. He said that there would be tooooo many people that it would be difficult to walk, especially with a small kid. So today we went to Tetsugakudou park, about 15-20 minutes walking from our apartment for hanami. There are many people there having hanami but not as crowded as famous hanami park, lets say Ueno park or Imperial Garden.



This is the close up of sakura flowers.



I love this spot. I felt like being inside a house with sakura roof



There were small pond inside the park so we had our small "picnic" there.



This is a photo of sakura flowers with pond's water as a background



And here is the close up:



The last shot before we left the park, and just before my camera was out of battery :p



And this is our dinner tonight. The highlight was Takenoko Gohan or bamboo shoots rice, one of Japanese spring food specialty.



Served with Hiyayakko (soft tofu topped with katsuobushi and soy sauce), Renkon no Hasamiage (fried minched pork in sandwich style lotus root), Shirasu (baby sardines), and Nameko Miso Soup (kind of mushroom).

haircut

At hair salon now. Trying to change my cute image into a matured one. Let's see how would it be (^_-)〜☆

Spring is here (^___^)

It's actually already getting much warmer this month, but I could really feel spring today as we walked around our neighborhood after Iki's swimming class. Small leaves are starting to appear, waking up from their long sleep during winter. Spring is an important season for Japanese because they believe that it is when everything is started. That's why schools and offices start their new term in April, the month when Spring starts (Indonesia starts the school term in July, and Europe in September -as far as I know).



We bought a small pot of imported tulips from Holland, and it brought pretty spring feeling in our home.



And really good fragrance too. This is the first time I know that tulips open all the petals during daytime, and close them again at night.



Also this small pot of cute bell-shaped flowers. No smell, but it is a nice view beside my PC.



These small white flowers were pretty. I found them in front of the playing ground inside our apartment complex



And these pink swirling flowers were inside a pot behind the kindergarten. They smelled really really good too!



Nearby was a tree full of these small pink flowers



And these are the most beautiful ones. Sakura!! They are fully bloomed today in Tokyo.



I found this long road full of Sakura trees nearby our apartment. We had little walk there with a friend and her son. Beautiful. Really beautiful. It was a nice walk with a nice friend. Too bad that today was her last day joining the baby swimming class since the boy turned three already and will start kindergarten next month. Here is Iki under the Sakura trees. Lately he always gives me that kind of smile during photo taking. Somewhat he feels that that smile is cool (?!)



Iki was in a good mood today *phew*. And I got good news from papa-chan. Today was my first perfect spring day (^_____^)

what to do?

I told him not to tap the fish displays at the supermarket. He was angry and cried on the floor. I tried to talk to him but he didnt want to listen. I tried to hug him and brought him out of but he was really strong. You wont believe such a small kid could have such power.at last i put back all the shopping stuffs and used all the power i had to bring him out. its been 1.5 hours now and he is still crying. I couldnt do any groceries, couldnt go home for preparing his lunch. All the eyes are on us, some tried to talk to him but no result. I could only sit beside him, hoping he would calm down.I really want to cry now....

8 Things

Got tagged by Intan about this 8 things, so here we go (^_-^)v

8 Things that I am passionate about (now):

• My family
• Living together everywhere with my family :(
• Friends
  
• Food
• Body shaping :p
• Traveling and food
  
• Cooking
• Internet and computer

Eight books I have read recently (hmmm baru sadar gak pernah baca novel lagi....)

• Japanese food, Orange page cooking book
• VERY magazine (for spring fashion :p)
• Picture dictionary
• The Food of Asia
• Who is hiding under the sea?
  
• Orange page February edition: Tamago
• Land of plenty, by Fuchsia Dunlop
• Small Christmas books

8 Things I want to do before I die:

• To watch Iki growing up, getting married and having children
• To live together with my small family
  
• To visit church again :p
• To reach body weight 38 kgs
  
• To swim properly
• To learn skiing
• To visit at least one country in each continent
• To buy a house somewhere in South East Asia (preferably Bali) to spend our life after Hiro's retirement

8 Things I have learnt in these past years:

• TRUST is very important
• Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder
  
• Sometimes "I'm sorry" is a difficult word. So I really respect someone who could put aside the pride, be responsible and say sorry
• Patience is one most important thing I must have in raising a toddler
• That money can ruin a friendship :( and also family ties
• Positive thinking is healthy!!!!
• Don't worry too much about everything, it's tiring!
• That I'm no longer "Shierly". I'm just a wife and a mother now....

8 Things that attract me to my bestfriends:
Hmmmmmm I don't know too. Any of you, my bestfriends, could help me answering this?

8 Songs that I could listen to over and over again: (I MUST to)

• Obento by Iki
• Cicak cicak didinding by Iki
• Ayaya-o-o by Iki
• Move your head by Iki
• I think those are songs I must listen to over and over again now. Don't listen to any other songs lately...

8 Things I say often:

• IKI!!! (more to scream or shout :p)
  
• No!
• Mama is cooking!
• Mama is busy!
• Please play by yourself
• Sit during eating!
• Bite your food
• Iki, pipis??

8 people I'm excited to tag:

• Carla
• Valens
• Pre
• Emmy
• No more people to tag :p. Others already posted the same thing before
  

Numb

I got sms this afternoon that Hiro will leave in less than a month.

I was numb.

But Hiro felt bad because he said I was so quiet this evening and thought that I was angry to him.
I am NOT!!! I am just numb.

What am I supposed to feel then? happy?

YAY!!! My husband is leaving in less than a month!!
YAY!!! I don't know where to live yet
YAY!!! My family will be separated
YAY!!! It'd be great to raise a toddler by myself
YAY!!! Iki won't see a father's figure for few years
YAY!!! I'll have no one to talk to at night for few years
YAY!!! I'm scared
YAY!!! I'm so waiting forward to it!

I thought tonight I would get warm hug and comforting words. I got harsh ones instead :(

Thank you!

Asakusa

We went to Asakusa -a distric name that offers traditional side of Tokyo- with my parents in law today. They wanted to show us their new bigger car. Unfortunately I got carsick because of the new car's smell, and drove Hiro mad because I forgot to bring my medicine (forgetting stuffs is in my blood! don't be surprised :p). So actually I lost my mood at the very beginning of the trip (_ _o)

It was lunch time when we arrived there so we browsed for this very famous restaurant named Komagata Dozeu. It serves "dojo" or Japanese loach, and we chose that restaurant because I haven't tried dojo in my life before. Dojo is like small version of unagi (eel) served in its whole shape.



We ordered two types of dojo. The first one coming was this nabe style (hotpot) one. Hiro said that lots of Japanese women could not eat dojo in this style because it came in a whole shape of dojo. They prefer to eat raw fish that these boiled poor dojo hahaha. It tasted soooo good thought and I really really loved it!!



Hiro also doesn't really like the nabe style dojo so he ordered this one. Dojo mixed with gobo (kind of roots) and eggs. The shape of dojo couldn't really be seen then.



There's also dojo Miso soup. I didn't take picture of it, unfortunately. It freaked me out because the dojo I ate was wet from the thick soup. I really felt like they were alive and I ate them directly from the mud. YUCK! God, I got goosebumps remembering that soup (>.<)!

Then we went to the most famous site in Asakusa area, Shenonji temple. I've been there alone in 2003, so this was my second time being there. Can you see the smokey point in front of the main temple? Japanese believe that the smoke could cure diseases so people tried to catch it to their sick part of the body. I put some smoke onto my stomach, hoping that all the fat there would go away hehehe



There were lots of small shops along the street to the main temple. From souvenir shops, snack shops, food stalls, to toy shops (so of course little Iki did some shopping there!). At the end of the row of those shops, there were hanging lanterns in front of the main gate. They must be beautiful at night!



This is the inside part of the temple where people pray. I haven't been to church for almost three years but I went to Japanese temple for three times already in less than 3 months! (two of which were in two weekends!)



There were also Japanese traditional children game stalls. Iki was interested but he was just way toooo small to play the game :)



I enjoyed this chocolate banana. It looked "good" and it tasted good (^_-)v



And this is me in front of the main gate of the temple :). Look at me.....I really need strict diet (T_T)

White Day

March 14 is celebrated as White Day in Japan. It is when women get the return of the chocolates they gave the ones they love on Valentine's Day. As soon as Valentine's Day was over, all the stores in Japan would change their display for this White Day gifts. Usually men give sweets but nowadays other expensive gifts like jewelry or lingerie are also common. This explains why I didn't get anything from papa-chan on the Valentine's day (^_-)v.

I am not used to this White Day culture yet so I totally forgot about this today. That's why I was bit surprised when papa-chan brought home a box of chocolate for me, and some cheese cakes to celebrate this day. I actually didn't expect it and thought he would be too busy to remember this :p



Papa-chan's rare blueberry cheese cake tasted really good. The cheese simply melted in my mouth.



Iki took this Orange Cheese Cake. I think it's the best amongst others. It had perfect combination of orange's sweetness and thick cheesy taste. Oh I was so sure it contained liquor which made it even tastier. Iki loved it (>.<) and didn't allow me to have any bite hahaha (but my lovely papa-chan took some for me :p)



I had this baked cheese cake because this is what Iki allowed me to eat! It tasted really good though (^_^)



And this is what were inside the red box. Orange chocolate sticks. Boy, they were heaven!. Haven't finished all, of course. I'm sure those cakes and 4 chocolate sticks and Mabo Tofu and a big portion of rice with super spicy sambal for my dinner are enough to make me doubled my Tae Bo practice tomorrow (>.<)



Thank you Papa-chan. This is really sweet *hugs*

Impossible dream

Two days ago I got information that Hiro is going to be sent to a country where he could not bring family for security reasons.
I knew it would happen sooner or later but still, knowing it myself was like a nightmare. But as a wife I must support him. He's leaving for our sake anyway. Dissapointed? Yes. But life must go on and I have to deal with the decision.
I have to decide where will I live with Iki when we're apart. Either in Indonesia or Japan. Too many things come into consideration that I couldn't decide even though I've been thinking about this nonstop for these two days *sigh*
I miss Indonesia. I miss my family, friends, and the food. But I don't know what will I face there. Where would I live? Manado? My parents are now living with my sister on a small island in the middle of nowhere. My brother lives alone now and I know he'd be more than happy to live with me. BUT I don't think it's wise to live with him and anyway I don't want to take care of him :p.

I have no place to live in Surabaya. I must rent a house and buy ALL the furnitures, or rent a furnished apartment (which is much more expensive than renting our apartment in Japan now!). I don't have any job, and don't intend to have any either. I don't want to leave Iki to baby sitter.
OK I'll be busy on the first few weeks if I moved there. But after I tried all the food I'm missing now, and met my friends, I might have nothing to do then. I don't want to spend my days jumping from one shopping mall to another shopping mall :p.

Bali? I love going there for holiday. But for living? Will I just lying on the beach, tanning myself and Iki every day?!

In other hands, I could actually put Iki into playgroups, or swimming school. But....I don't know. I just think that something is not right. Don't ask me, I couldn't explain what. I want to go to Indonesia. It's just..........

And Japan.
I just started my life here. I don't speak good Japanese, I can't read kanji, I don't know a lot of rules and cultures and habit and common senses yet. I don't know A LOT of things.
But I just start enjoying my life here. I just start making friends. We have swimming class three times a week. Iki and I love it. The food is good and Iki loves Japanese food more than any other food. We're always busy. Either for swimming, playing, surveying, traveling, and shopping. We have happy life here, as a whole family. I don't know if we would still feel the same without Hiro. I am not sure if I could manage being with Iki only for 24 hours.

My parents in law would be really really sad if I moved to Indonesia with Iki. My mother in law always said that she's old and dying and wants to spend time as much time with Iki as possible. But I'll be dying if I have to spend as much time as possible with them hahahaha. JOKING!! I love them. Really I do. They are very nice and lovable. I don't mind to visit them sometime and enjoy traveling with them. It's also very nice to see their happy faces, and also Iki's happy faces if they're together. But it's just tiring, really tiring, spending too much time with them *sorry, Hiro :p*

I couldn't let this matter out of my mind these days, that's why I think I got this very nice dream last night.......

We were packing Hiro's stuffs when suddenly Hiro got the idea to ask his boss if he could bring his family along. I was laughing out loud at his idea but honestly couldn't stop hoping. So the next day we went to his office together. We met a lot of people, and talked with them before at last we met the boss. Then Hiro told her (in my dream, the boss is a woman!) about his idea and explained how we would be able to manage living there. To my surprised, she agreed!!!
So then we went home, full of joy. We stopped by at the nearest supermarket and bought some stuffs for dinner. For dinner celebration, for exact.
Then as we arrived home I started to cook. I couldn't stop smiling because I was too happy. It was like a dream to me. Then my cooking alarm rang as the sign that my rice was ready. It was when my real "alarm" rang too and woke me up :(

I took me few minutes to realize why I was on the bed. My heart was broken into pieces. IT WAS A DREAM!! hahahaha
A very sweet dream indeed, isn't it? but it's an impossible dream.

However I tried to deal with this, from that dream I still realized that deep in my heart I still wished....I wished that we could be together.

At the park

I'm now accompanying Iki playing at the park.On mornings when we don't have our swimming class,I like to bring him here,let him playing with the slide, with ball,with the swing, or simply trying to catch the pigeons. After he got really tired then he would eat lunch a lot and then sleep easily hehehe
Then I could have little time to take a rest or do my thing (^o^)v