Swimming

Iki wanted to ride a boat so last Sunday we drove around to find a boat rental. We saw the boats at Salonsa area, but had no idea how to rent them as there was nobody around. Lucky I brought Iki's hand helpers so I just opened his clothes and threw him into the lake.
He enjoyed it! How he loves swimming :p

Searching for a playgroup

We were busy in Japan. Swimming, playing with friends, and visiting places. That's why Iki is very lonely here. Everyday he mentions his friends one by one and says that he wants to play with them.
Therefore we think that it's time now for Iki to go to a playgroup.
We visited Salonsa Playgroup, recommended as the best in town by a friend. Iki fell in love with the place. It is spacey with lots of toys. Look at his face. He was very happy to play around that he didn't want to go home.
Too bad. It is full.... :(
They couldn't accept Iki until PERHAPS January. What a pity. I couldn't wait for two months and let Iki gets depressed at home.
I must find another playgroup....

At last....

So after 3 weeks at last tonight we will sleep on a bedsheet, with proper pillows and bolster. I got big package of bedsheets and pillows today. From Nova, not from the service department who keeps promising me everyday on the phone that they are coming hahaha!
Anyway, we love the sheets!! Anyone interested could contact Rumah Batik Arundhati (benova) :p

Locked (oh, God! Again!?)

Iki was grumpy from the second he opened his eyes this morning. I didn't know what he wanted. This whole week he has been acting as a baby. He wants my fully attention and always cries over tiny stuffs. Grhh he drives me nuts!
After crying the whole morning, he wanted to sit on his baby's car seat that just arrived from Japan yesterday. At first I said no, but then I just couldn't stand his shrieking so I put him on that seat. And put the seat belt on too....!
It was when my gardener came and knocked the door. I went out to explain what he must do today. I totally forgot that our door's lock is broken. It would automatically be locked and can't be opened without a key from outside. And this morning I didn't bring a key out...when I finished talking to the gardener, I was so freaked out to find out that the door was locked. I couldn't get inside, I had no phone in my pocket, and my crying son was dangerously locked on his car seat!!! Look at him on that picture. If he moved forward he could fall onto the table before hitting the ground!
My gardener couldn't help me so I ran to the nearest bus stop to ask someone to call the service department. I told the on call service that it was an emergency so that he could come asap. I waited for damn 30 minutes but nobody came. Then my maid came and an ojek driver tried to find a security to help me out. Meanwhile my boy was crying his eyes out inside. I stayed nearby the window to talk to him, and my maid tried to break the door's lock. She climbed the back window, opened it, climbed it, and opened the back door's lock from there. Oh, the hero!!!!
The 'emergency' service department came 10 minutes later, which made the total waiting time was 40 minutes!! Looked annoyed because the door was opened already. Anything can happen in 40 minutes right?! Shouldn't I be the one who was upset!?
Anyway it was over and thank God that Iki was alright.
But now I am wondering...if Mina-chan could get inside the house from outside, ANYONE could do that too!!! Oh my....

Rent a Car

So Hiro rented a car for two months while waiting for my new car is ready. I couldn't drive yet so everyday a driver comes to teach me driving. If something happened to the car, I just have to make a phone call and someone will come and fix it. I think 2 million rupiahs per month is a very good deal.
My progress is satisfying too. Within two days I could handle the car a bit and drive back home by myself. I think I must develop my self confidence more. I was sweating and trembling when I arrived home this morning (>.<).
Wish me luck so that I could manage to drive a car before my new car arrives :p. I hope I wouldn't have to run again to the hospital in the future, and Iki would enjoy exploring this city without riding ojek anymore hahaha

Gardener

I got a gardener today. His name is Sandi and he committed to change our jungle into a beautiful garden :p.
So far we have few trees already here: a mango tree, three kinds of guava trees, a banana tree, a lime tree, even a coconut tree with some coconuts hanging already. The most dangerous tree of all hahaha. Can't imagine what will happen if one of the coconuts falls down when Iki is playing nearby!?
So now I'm busy making our garden plan. Can't wait until it looks like a 'real' garden :p

Oh well...

He was just recovered from his fever two days ago, and yesterday I brought him to the playground at Pontada. It was a contrast with the playground at our neighborhood. This one is clean and well maintained. Iki was very happy and enjoyed playing. I enjoyed making some new friends too. I planned to go to that place every morning until I find a playgroup for Iki.
But this morning Iki caught a cold! A pretty bad one. He was upset too because he couldn't play out.
Oh well....I was so happy already that he recovered from his fever. Only for a day :(

Happy birthday

This is a very late post :p
Happy birthday papa-chan. No birthday cake or presents this year, sorry :p
But I am happy to have us together on that day (when u were getting older :p)

Emergency (again)

We've been here for 11 days now and I brought Iki to the emergency for twice already (>.<).
The first one was because he got itchy reddish rash all over his body, which according to doctor was an allergic reaction. Either because of food, weather, grass , or water. I watched his food consumption this week and it's alright, so perhaps its because of grass from the golf course or the swimming pool.
And this morning suddenly iki got fever and stomach pain. He cried and cried in pain. It was so out of sudden that I got panicked. Hiro just left playing golf and telkomsel has been error since yesterday so I couldn't make any phone call. Couldn't call ojek too, so at last I decided to walk to the hospital (it's about 1,5 km). I didn't bother to change or put sunblocks on as it was very hot outside. I just hugged Iki and ran as fast as I could. Luckily then, half way, there was an ojek passing by. I was sweating from top to toe and out of breath already. This I learnt a lesson that I cant only rely on TELKOMSEL!!
Iki vomitted a lot at the hospital. Doctor said that I shouldn't give him UHT milk because it is an instant milk. Iki must drink formula milk based on his age. Hiro was shocked and said that formula milk is for babies :p.
Doctor also said that I must cook well all the veggies I feed him too. Including tomatoes. No raw fresh veggies until his body gets used to this place. Actually it's good for Iki if sometimes he got sick. That way his body is building strong antibodies. But somewhat it broke my heart to see my little one in pain...

Matano Lake

Sorowako lays along the Matano Lake. Yesterday evening Iki and I walked down to the lake hoping to see the famous sunset there. Which unfortunately couldn't be seen from that part of the lake.
But we enjoyed the view anyway. Many kids were swimming, some people walked around just like us, and some couples were having their romantic moments.
Let's see if this weekend we could have a boat trip around the lake :p

Goats

These goats are Iki's friends. Iki is always very happy to see them around our neighborhood. This evening he gave them some leaves and was excited to watch them eating. His giggles made my day :)

Market

We went to the market again this morning eventhough Iki complained a lot the second I called the ojeks (it's the ONLY public transport here, FYI). I love this market! It has wide range of fresh vegetables I can only find in Indonesia hahaha (if you live abroad, you'll understand my feeling), and the price is always negotiable. I also enjoy the short conversations I usually have with the sellers. Somewhat it's more interesting than just picking display veggies from supermarket. Iki still hates this market and Mina-chan always laughs looking at his expression. But I'm sure he will get used to it sooner or later :).

Playground

We found this playground about 10 minutes walking from our house. Iki was really really excited and jumped out of his stroller when he saw it. There was a written rule that the kids must not wearing any sandals or shoes, and it amazed me to see them ALL following the rule :p.
But it surprised me more to see how dirty the playing ground was. There were LOTS of shits all over the place!! Either from the cats or goats or cows or whatever animals 'playing' there too. One mother I met there said that the playing ground at the other INCO's housing complexes are well maintained, but unfortunatelly not ours :(.
Iki was still frustrated there, but started to play when i cleaned up a bit his playing area. There were some school boys playing hide and seek, and I can't help not to laugh out loud to hear them playing: "hom pim pa halahium gambreng!" hahaha. Reminded me of my almost forgotten childhood :).
What an interesting morning :)

Mina-chan

Her name is Aminah, but Iki calls her Mina-chan. She starts working here today, helping me out with the houseworks. So far she is good. She follows my directions pretty well and is not lazy. She cooks our lunch too, so that I could steal some of her recipes :p. Iki is also happy. Because Mina-chan is here, mama-chan suddenly plays with him the whole day haha. I think I will start homeschooling him step by step in near future. Having a maid is an advantage of living in indonesia I won't miss hahaha. She just takes care of the household anyway. Iki is still my responsibility for 100%

Iki and ojek

This morning we went to the market by ojek again. When we got back home he told me, "iki scared. Next time, mama only ne. Iki yada (don't want to)". Oh dear....

Our new life

We are all adapting to our new life here. Our house is located on a hilly area of INCO's housing complex. Sorowako is a mining city (nickel), so it's pretty polluted. It is very dusty in the afternoon, that's why i prefer bringing iki out for a walk early morning. The only public transportation here is OJEK. Iki had his OJEK debut this afternoon and he was so scared. He also added that the guy wore dirty jacket hahaha! Oh, my boy is having some hard time adapting here. He misses his friends in japan everyday and wants to play with them. Poor boy. He also is suffering because he couldn't find thomas toys or good clean cars at the local toy shop. And oh, he hates it when I bring him to the market. It's really the traditional one = dirty+smelly+full of flies+BECEK. He always gives me disgusted face and asks me to bring him out of that place. I hope he will manage :p. Our house is nice and half furnished. We're just waiting for some small but important details from the maintenance department. We've been using wrapping papers as curtain and sleep without bedsheets and pillow haha! I'm still using GPRS for updating my blog and start to get tired typing on this small keypad haha. Today we walked to the TELKOMSEL, but the flash connection there is too expensive. I don't know any other provider and has no one to ask to yet. I have some blog friends here but couldn't email them because i can't access my gmail's address book and can't visit their blogs to leave comment too :(. Yeah well, hopefully next week i could find one :p. The good thing is, I got a maid today and she will start working tomorrow. YAY !!

Morning walks

Hiro goes to work at 6 o'clock every morning and then Iki and I have some walks around the neighborhood. Iki likes to look for PUTRI MALU and touch them one by one excitedly. He also likes to find cats and watch their behavior. Sometimes we walk to the lake too. Morning time like this is the best time to walk around. It's not hot yet with fresh air (NO DUST!!).

FW: Immigration

Tuesday, 7 October 2008 3:30 PM

We are now waiting for Iki's KITAS at Immigration office in Parepare (about 3 hours driving from Makassar). The waiting room is dark and crowded. Two ceiling fans couldn't help bringing cool air inside. It's very hot, and with almost every man is smoking, this is a very poisonous room for my son (@_@). Don't ask me about the smell!! Sweat+smoke+food+whatever it is people bringing inside. I surely will vomit if someone brings durian here :p

Iki is also depressed here. He couldn't find any clean chair to sit on hahaha. He also busy warned the other japanese guys not to sit because the chairs are dirty. What a boy! Let's see how would he be after 3 years living in Indonesia :p

Moving out

So we are moving out now. It's been 6 hours but the moving company hasn't finished packing our stuffs yet. I slept for 4 hours only last night so i'm struggling to keep my eyes opened now....

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.