Going to Europe (for the 2nd time)

This time, to the land of the pasta, yay!

ps. details of the visa is crossed out for security reasons obviously :P

Wishing You ....

A Very Merry Christmas!!!

Felicia, at 14 Months and 2 weeks...

Felicia now can walk without any assitance...as a matter of fact, she often refused any assistance (I'll try to post pictures of her refusing us holding her hand, but it's difficult as it's not always the case...).  In the past few weeks, she has shifted from crawling a lot / prefer to crawl, to walk a lot.  and I mean A LOT.  

Unfortunately, Felicia is also currently at the stage when she loves to...hit other kids...hhhh... 

I was worried at first that bigger kids would bully her, but apparently it's the other way around...her MO would be she'd spy on other kids (sometimes grown up too), watching them intently, then walking (a bit unsteadily sometimes) at them, watching intently again....then SMACK!!!  She'd hit them!  

Last Saturday we took her to Gramedia Book Store, and the first (and only successful attempt that night) victim is a girl around 2 years old who's held by her father.  At first Felicia showed innocent interest, so her nanny brought her closer, attempting to introduce her to the girl.  The girl extended her hand on encouragement from her dad, and Felicia accepted the proposed handshake excitedly....then, without further ado...SMACK!!! she hit her square on her chest!!!!!

I apologized profusely to the dad and dragged Felicia away...

She spotted other kids and always went after them, but we know better now and we let her get close but out of reach...

Then on Sunday we took her to Tunjungan Plaza, and while waiting for the food to arrive in DOME cafe, I brought her to GAP Kids store, and with the  merry Christmas songs playing, my daughter started to dance!  She'd lift her hands and moved her lil body!! too bad I didn't bring any camera...

After the meal (during which she eyed the couple next to us so intently that they could not help smiling and the guy attempted to impress the girl by being friendly to Felicia -- cute but a bit embarrasing for me...), we took her for a haircut..

I met my highschool's friend Mega and her son, and her son saw my daughter cried and he started crying too...At first Felicia didn't cry, she was curious with the mini-car in Kiddy Cuts, but once she felt her hair cut, she's starting to cry, I tried to make her feel better by holding her...but it just didn't work.  10 minutes and Rp. 85,000.00 later, we left the place ( I later on found out that the cut wasn't even and I had to fix it myself...but not too bad...).

Then we took her to Sogo on Children clothes and Toys floor to cheer her up....that's when she met another victim...we thought what happened on Saturday was isolate incident, but boy we're wrong...

This girl (around 2 -3 years old) was standing next to Felicia, interested at what Felicia's playing (a mini Keyboard), when Felicia approached her and suddenly her left hand pinching the girl and her right hand (to the girl's and my terror), pulled her tank top down!!!!  The girl looked terrified and stared at me pleadingly...  

Again, I apologized to her (though I doubted she understood me) and her nanny...Thank GOD her mom's not around!!!

After that, we took her for a bit grocery shopping, and nearing the end of it, she suddenly hold her tummy and said, "Ek!"....usually, this is a sign that she wants to poop...so we're quite nervous and speed everything up, but we still have to wait for the credit card transaction to be completed and when she became impatient, she started to yell "EK!!!"...

We rushed out of the place, but on the way home, she started to cry...I offered her some drinks but she refused, pointing instead at her pacifier...so I gave it to her and she fell asleep immediately....!!  

She didn't poop though, I suspect she just want to go home because she's tired and saying Ek! is the only way she can draw our attention ... but Ming disagreed...

On Monday, when my mom asked her, "Felicia, mana potong rambutnya?"  She would point at her new hairdo!  what a smart lil girl! She also said new words such as "Addoohh!!" (copying Ming), "Apa seh?"  (I don't know if she really understands the meaning of it's just a random baby talk, though).   She also called Ming's nanny as "Nenek!"

She understands instruction such as "Felicia, Melet nya mana?" One of her grandmoms taught her that, "Felicia, ayo main mata!" and she'd blink her eyes couple of times....

If I asked her, "Felicia, Mbak Dina yang mana?"  She'd point out my new maid Dina, but she only recognized the other maid as "Mbak".

Anyway, yesterday Felicia and Ming and I spent a good hour playing with her...we got her a lot of colorful plastic balls that she loved to throw, but afterwards, she's also cooperating well when I encourage her to put the them back...

We're still looking for the right school for her...one of my friend suggested Baby Smile near our house...I guess we have to check it soon...

Felicia's "Cece"

So last month (or two months ago?) I got a fake Chinese made Japanese anime doll as you can see pictured here that I left on the nightstand of my bed. Felicia calls the doll "Cece".....

Hidden Gems...

So yesterday I did clean up my cupboards and drawers...

And here's some of the things I found (the list does not include coins/bank notes from two days ago):

• 3 pieces of 18K Gold Jewely each with average weight of 3GR
• USD $5 (bank note) 
• SGD $2 (bank note)
• HKD $33 (coins)
• KRW 550 (coins)
• SGD $6.85 (coins)
• UAE Dirham 4.5 (coins)
• A couple of Turkish Lira coins
• Rp. 132,500 in coins of 500, 200, 100, 50

Fascinating!

Good Morning!

Kemarin akhirnya ku bersih bersih laci meja riasku....it took longer than expected, tapi memang dicicil mulai dari jam 9:30 pm sambil nonton DVD House Bunny...

Dari total 4 laci, sampah nya menuhi 2 tong sampah! hehehehee....as expected, so many rubbish...credit card bills from a year ago, restaurant receipts from TWO years ago, expired credit card/membership cards account statments from months ago, the hotel receipt of Omni Saigon Hotel from last May... Disneyland entrance tickets from three years ago which I originally planned to keep but now failed to see why and decided to throw them away...

But, I also did find some treasures...about SGD$60, some Turkish Liras, few Vietnamese Dong, hospital receipt from when I gave birth to Felicia, USG pictures of Felicia when she's just appeared as a dot on the screen...Felicia's blood category card which was taken shortly after she's born...(A+, same as me!), ...Ming's junior highschool, senior highschool ID Cards... (OMG He looks SO SO SO SO CUTEEEEE!!!!!!) ... and...my Allianz Investment Card, which is one of the benefit from the previous company I worked for.  I realized that I still have a very small amount of fund left there (around Rp. 300 rb in 2004), and mentioned that it'll expire in 2036 with my younger sister as beneficiary!  I even forgot I named her my beneficiary!! ahahahaha....

Anyway, I finished the clean up around midnight, but I still have some cupboards and more drawers to clean today...

I woke up around 5:30 this morning, helped sweeping the floors of my living/family room until 6:00 am, then Felicia woke up and I played with her for 15 minutes while her nanny took a shower.  

She's a real fast learner...I told her, "Felicia, be careful ya....nanti jatuh"  and she said, "ja tuh!"  she's copying almost everything she heard, Wak!! (from when my mom called my dad by his first name) Cin!! (from when I told my mom that if Felicia heard her Nai Nai called her Yei Yei by his first name, "Cin!" then Felicia would copy her; of course as soon as I shut my mouth, Felicia said, "Cin!") Maem! Yei Yei! No no no no! 

Then of course, if I said,"Felicia cannnnn...."  She would continue "thikkkk!"

And if I said, "Felicia naa....." She would say "Khall!" Then I'd say, "Lho, Felicia Nakal ya?" to which she'd reply "GAK!" ihihihii....

My mom also loves to trick her, saying, "Felicia anak'e Bo..." "Bo!"....but then if I remind her by asking "Felicia anake sapa?"  then she'd answer right away "Papa!"  Oh yeah, she can also said, "Tiek Tiek! "  (it's how she called my dad)

Hm...got carried away...I should have shared stories about my morning...hehehe...

Anyway, after her nanny's done, aku mulai ngelap-ngelap meja rias, bedside tables, meja TV di kamar, some statuettes, my favorite Lladro's pair of dove, which is one of my favorite wedding gifts, photo frames...

Then around 6:30, ko Ming woke up, so I can tidy up the bed (he helped! OMG!), then took a shower, got ready, and sweeping up the floor...

Oh, and today, my mom's friend, who's a Domestic Helper agent, lend one of the TKW for me until the end of this month (in January she'll go to Taiwan).  My mom drove her to my house, and the first thing she said when she met me is, "Cao An, Ce!"...I was like, wth?!!!!!

Anyway, it's just temporary, but was kinda pleasantly surprised...especially when we're going and I told her, "Dyna, pergi dulu ya, ati ati dirumah..." and she said, "Xiao Xin, Ce!"  and I was dumbfounded...what is Xiao Xin????  

My nanny laughed like nuts and told her, "Nonik e itu ngomong jowo-an!" huahuahuaa...so embarrased, but I manage to say a weak Thanks, and told her to teach my nanny and speak with my baby Chinese!!!!

I'm so pathetic huh?

Anyway, today as I said, I plan to clean some more parts of the cupboards/drawers...and tomorrow, I want to wake up half an hour early...who knows...I may be able to do some sports!!! hahahahaha......

Well, honestly, I felt better the past couple of days, having to wake up early and did some physical activities...I felt more refreshed, and though the first 15 minutes in the office I was sleepy, at least I didn't feel exhausted as I always did...isn't it interesting?

Oh well, gotta go back to work now...

Ibu Rumah Tangga....

Dua hari terakhir ini aku nggak ke kantor, tapi tinggal di rumah sama Felicia...

Ceritanya, Senin kemarin sekitar jam 11 pagi, aku telpon rumah, tanya kabarnya Felicia.  Susternya kasih tau kalo Felicia ternyata agak panas...waktu itu ko Ming Ming di Jakarta, jadi aku pulang ke rumah untuk ngecek dia...

Ternyata badannya yang panas, kepala, tangan, kaki-nya gak papa.  

Nah, waktu aku lagi sama Felicia dan susternya...pembantuku Kabur!!! Dua duanya lagi...

Aku gak tau ada masalah apa...padahal aku juga jarang dirumah...mereka bilang ke salah satu drivernya kalo mereka gak kerasan karena sering disuruh bersi'in kotorannya anjing sama bersiin jamban yang baru dipake Felicia...which is completely ridiculous....

Biasanya kalo Felicia poop di jamban itu, yang bantuin bersiin itu Suster-nya ko Ming Ming...dan masalah anjing, biarpun mereka kadang bantu, the one who did the most juga Suster-nya ko Ming Ming...Lagian lho, kalo mereka memang gak kerasan, ya ngomong toh...

Anyway, I don't want to go to details...but let's just say luckily, semua perhiasan en uang masih lengkap (akhir akhir ini di Surabaya sering ada kasus pembantu ngerampok rumah pas majikannya gak ada)

Sekarang aku denger cerita kalo tiap sabtu siang dia suka masukin pacarnya (pernah kepergok sekali pacaran jam 1:30 PAGI!) , terus dua pembantu ku itu suka tidur tiduran di kamarku habis bersiin!!! (gak di ranjang sih...tapi kan tetep ae...so freaky!!)...

Anyway, kemarin Felicia masih belum baikan, malah ditambah diare ringan...ya sudah, aku tinggal dirumah...nah karena pembantunya cuman satu (dipinjami mama), aku ikut bantu bantu bersih rumah...jadi aku nyapu, ngepel, en lap-lap ruang tamu, ruang keluarga, kamar tamu, kamar tidurku, sama kamar gantiku...

en, though I still have a nanny and Ming's nanny, and one (borrowed) maid....let's just say I have new appreciation for those of you abroad who has to do these by yourself...

Sekarang aku gak bisa naruh barang geletakan lagi, karena ntik aku harus bersi'in sendiri...terus juga biasane bangun tidur, mandi, langsung kekantor, sekarang bangun tidur bersih ruang tamu sebentar (maksudnya naruh gelas/piring kotor di dapur, buang sampah, kembaliin barang-barang yang geletakaan dari malam sebelumnya)...terus mandi.

Habis aku mandi, rapiin ranjang, siap siap ke kantor, terus nyapu...habis gitu aku minta kamarku di pel en sambil nunggu pembantuku selesai, aku main-main sebentar sama Felicia.  

Tapi mulai besok mungkin harus bangun lebih pagi soale aku mesti lap- lap dulu ...

anyway, the point is, aku mau pas aku berangkat itu kamarku sudah bersih en rapi jadi bisa dikunci.  kapok aku.  dua pembantu terakhir ternyata hobi istirahat dikamarku!  pembantu yang sebelumnya denger denger suka nyobain make up ku! iewww!!! untung lipstick yang aku pake ta bawa sama aku.  Sedang lipstick ku sama lipgloss/lip balm seng lain langsung aku buang...

Anyway...benernya sih, aku gak begitu keberatan bersih in kamarku sendiri...as a matter of fact, I kinda enjoy it... God knows I could use some more physical activities...

Hari ini Felicia pas ta tinggal wes baikan...tapi katane dokter e, antibiotiknya harus diminum sampe habis...obat diare nya sudah ta berhenti kan, en besok obat panasnya berhenti...

Ntik malem aku mesti bersih bersih laci...huahuahuaa...terlalu banyak kertas kertas gak ke pake yang berjubelan hihihi...

oh well, a lil bit variation of our mundane life is always good ...

New Word!

Kemarin Emak-nya Felicia dateng dari Jakarta, beliin Felicia banyak baju baru sama sandal baru...

Terus kita kasih tau Felicia, "Felicia, tuh dibeliin Emak baju baru ... bagus yaaa....Hayo, Felicia ngomong apa ?  bilang Shie-Shie Mak..." Eh, the lil one langsung bilang "Se-Shek" hihihi....

Pintar ya anak mama!

Felicia's 1st Christmas Tree!

Actually, this is not Felicia's 1st Christmas...but last year she's still to young at 2.5 months and we only have a small tree in a pot...But this year seems right to introduce her to the lights and ornaments and so on...

O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!
Thy leaves are so unchanging;
O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!
Thy leaves are so unchanging;
Not only green when summer's here,
But also when 'tis cold and drear.
O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!
Thy leaves are so unchanging!

so unchanging?  probably coz it's plastic!

Felicia...in the Morning

Tadi pagi jam 5:30 ke kamar nya Felicia...hoping that she's still sleeping and when she woke up, she'd see me first...hehehee....curang ya, padahal malem gak tidur bareng kita....

Aku jek nguantuk soro, jadi ya tidur tidur-an...eh, gak ada lima menit, aku denger suara-suara dibalik mosquito net-nya...en as I woke up, she also woke up at the same time...terus dia senyum senyum seneng liat aku...hihihi...

Habis gitu, ngajak Felicia keluar kamar, en diluar pas Susternya lagi nyuci botol-botol susunya di wastafel.  Eh, langsung Felicia bilang, "Cak ya" atau Shua Ya (kalo gak salah tulisane), yang artinya "sikat gigi..." hihihihi....

Memang sih satu minggu terakhir ini sudah mulai ngajari Felicia sikat gigi, awalnya cuman pake air minum, tapi terus sekarang sudah pake pasta gigi Switzal yang kalo ketelen gak papa.  Pasta gigi rasa Strawberry yang akhirnya jadi seneng dimakan sama Felicia hehehehe....

Terus aku siap siap buat kerja...

Habis gitu, pas mau berangkat, pas lagi cerita cerita ambek suster e, suster e ketawa (Suster e itu kalo ketawa lumayan medheni, kaya mak lampir hihihi....), eh, si Felicia yang ta gendong lansung bilang "Kage(t)!" t-nya gak seberapa kedengeran...

Suster nya cerita lagi, "Iya Nik, tadi saya dijiwit Felicia, duh sakit-nya, saya pura-pura nangis, eh, gak taunya si Felicia bilang 'Ais-ais!' lah iya, kok pinter ngomong sekarang" Aku yang liat Felicia lagi digendong sama susternya langsung tanya ke Felicia, "Felicia, yang ais-ais sapa?" Felicia langsung nunjuk ke Susternya....

Aku tanya lagi, "Lho, Felicia, yang nakal sapa?"  Eh, nunjuk Susternya lagi!

Anak Papa pinter yaaa!

Hiiii...LUCUNYA.....

Learning something new....

Kemarin Felicia belajar baru lagi!  

Kalo ditanya "Felicia, Papa ker.... " langsung dijawab "ja!"

Terus dilanjutin, "Mama ker...."disautin "ja!"

Terus dibilangin lagi, "Felicia di ru...."dijawab "mah!"

She learns that in a day!!!  

Oh, terus kemarin itu pas pulang dari kantor, Felicia kan liat ko Ming Ming di depan kamarnya, dia langsung manggil, "Koko!!!" Lho kok?! hm....biasanya memang sih dia selalu dengar mamanya kalo manggil papanya itu "Koko!".... wah kayanya mesti hati hati nih....

Satu lagi yang lucu, beberapa hari kemarin, Ko Ming Ming bilang sama Felicia, "Felicia, katanya suka jiwit ya, gimana sih njiwitnya?"  Terus sama Felicia LANGSUNG ko Ming Ming di jiwit; bukan sembarang jiwitan, jiwitannya dia itu (karena jarinya yang mungil) kecil kecil dan suka mlintir mlintir....sakittttt!!

Nah, kemarin itu, gak tau kenapa Ko Ming Ming dijiwit lagi sama Felicia, terus pura-pura nangis...Terus mamanya Felicia iseng, bilang "Tuh ...Felicia, papa nangis tuh....[The lil one looking at her dad intently]...Eh Felicia, papa kalo nangis gimana?" Eh, si Felicia langsung jawab sambil cengengesan "Hu..hu..hu..."  dan sampe sekarang, kalo ditanya, "Felicia, papa kalo nangis gimana?" dia mesti jawab "Hu...hu...hu..." HUAHUHAUHAUHUA....

hhhh....With the rate that she's going, learning new things, copy cat-ing everything we said (at least tried to)...I really would have to send her to a nursery school soon....

So Far...

Felicia is Thirteenth month and three weeks young...She is currently 9.1 and still 70cm tall...

Benere kapanari itu sudah hampir 10KG, tapi sejak sakit pilek terus batuk dari Minggu kemarin, rada kurusan dikit...

On her motoric development:

• Felicia sekarang sudah bisa jalan sendiri, gak dibantu, tapi mesti dibujuk en dirayu dulu baru mau; dia lebih suka milih jalan gampang en langsung crawling atau langsung nyari jari telunjuknya papa/mama/suster/bobo buat pegangan en terus jalan.  
• Jari-jari mungilnya bukan cuman bisa mbentuk angka satu (kaya nunjuk), tapi sekarang juga bisa dua (jari telunjuk dan jari tengah)
• Menurut laporan suster en Nai Nai -nya, Felicia sudah bisa masukkan buah ke kantong plastik, terus dikeluarin lagi.  
• Felicia sudah bisa pake Kamera!! iya, karena keseringan liat mama en papa ambil fotonya Felicia terus nunjukin hasilnya, dia sudah bisa teken teken tombol untuk liat foto-foto sebelumnya
• Suka ngrebut apa aja yang dipegang papa/mama.  Jadi Awalnya papa megang kamera, dia pasti ngrebut, terus mama megang telpon, kameranya ditinggal telponnya diambil dari tangannya mama.  Terus papa ganti megang iPod Touch, langsung telponnya dibuang iPod Touch nya diminta.  Terus mama baca majalah iPodnya ditaruh majalahnya direbut.
• Sudah mulai buka tutup laci laci en lemari lemari.  
• Kalo dua tangannya penuh terus ditawari barang lain, sudah bisa pass one object from one hand to the other
• Kalo susternya bukain karpet gulungnya tapi belum terbuka sepenuhnya, dia langsung ngelurusin ujung yang tergulung en dudukin bekas gulungannya.  
• Sudah bisa geleng kepala sambil bilang "Emoh!" kalo memang emoh.

On her new vocabs 

Tambahan kata-katanya lumayan lho minggu minggu terakhir ini,

• dia bisa ngomong "kakak" kalo lagi pengen dinyanyiin lagu "Burung Kakaktua",
• bisa bilang "Iya" karena biasanya kalo manggil "Papa!" sama papanya disauti "Iya?"  jadi sekarang sukanya bilang "Papa! Iya!"
• kadang manggil papanya "koko!" karena denger mamanya manggil gitu
• bisa bilang "Mbak!" kalo manggil pembantunya, "Sus!" kalo manggil susternya.  Kadang kalo lagi pengen nggarai mamanya, dia juga panggil "Mbak" ke mamanya, tapi terus setelah dicuekin sama mama, baru panggil "Mama!" sambil nyengir...
• bisa bilang "Nei-nei!" kalo manggil Maminya Ko Ming ming
• bisa bilang "Bobok!" alias Bobo nya (mamanya mama)
• bisa bilang "Kaa!" kalao liat Car (mobil)
• bisa bilang "Fish!" kalao liat ikan di kolam

On her additional knowledge

• Kalo ditanyai "Erduo nya mana?" bisa nunjuk Telinga
• Kalo ditanyai "Zhui Ba nya mana?" langsung Mulutnya dikecap kecap
• Kalo ditanyai "Bi Zi / umbel / upil nya mana?" langsung Hidung nya ditunjuk
• Kalo ditanyai "Felicia yang mana?" nunjuk dirinya sendiri
• Kalo liat suster / mamanya ngambil tissue langsung nangis, soalnya tau hidungnya mau dibersihkan, terus langsung geleng geleng sambil bilang "emoh!"
• Kalo ditanyai, "Yang cantik mana?" langsung nunjuk fotonya!

Felicia paling suka....Lihat kaca!! sambil senyum senyum ...  

I got a feeling narcisstnya ngalahin I'ie Vini en Auntie Sheila.....hhhhhh....

Oh, and additional info for Aunt Sheila, Felicia currently has 6 teeths...yeah, she's a bit late in that area...(but with her current tendency to bite when the least expected, it's kind of blessing in disguise...)

Taste of Snots...

My husband and daughter were sick yesterday...Ming is having stomache flu and Felicia is having runny nose and a bit of cough since Sunday.

Anyway, by yesterday afternoon, her runny nose was definately NOT getting better, and she refuses any attempts from us to clean her nose.  She'd shook her head and said "Emoh, moh!"  and the more we insisted on doing it, the more frustrated she got and finally she'd cried....

This is her first time having runny nose, and I just didn't have the heart to see her nose all so dirty and the discharges almost reached her lips.  But still, she'd say, "Moh!" 

So my nanny told me that I should try to suck the snot from her nostril.  (We bought the tool to have the snots removed, but it just didn't work and Felicia was so angry everytime we tried it on her..)

At first I said no of course.  I'd prefer to wait for my mom and ask her to do it.  

But then I don't know when my mom is coming, and when I looked at her, I felt SO SO baddd......she's looking at me with that adorable eyes, smiling with her runny nose...

So I decided to do it.  Her nanny holding her tight, she's screaming and trying to get away, and I tried NOT to look at the fact that her snots are everywhere...and I did it.  

The first and second attempt I failed.  I didn't know exactly what to do.  But the third attempt was a success.  I can feel the snots was quite a lot when I spat it.  and once we let go Felicia, she immediately stopped crying, and it was obvious that she felt a lot better, since her nose is dried for the first time in 48 hours.

She's smiling and I thought, wow.  I AM a mom!  I mean, I may not give birth naturally, but I just suck my baby's snots!! It was a happy ending after all! and It's not in vain!!!

Then I ran to my bathroom and threw up.

A Woman....

The following is a poem by Maya Angelou, sent by an old friend.  I read it through and love it because it is very true.  I hope one day when Felicia reads or perhaps even joins this blog, she will come to understand it too ...

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ...
 enough money within her control to move out
and rent a place of her own, even if she never wants to or needs to

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ...
something perfect to wear if the employer, or date of her dreams wants to see her in an hour...

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ...  
a youth she's content to leave behind

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ...
a past juicy enough that she's looking forward to
retelling it in her old age

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ...
a set of screwdrivers, a cordless drill, and a black lace bra

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ...
one friend who always makes her laugh... and one who lets her cry... 

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ...
a good piece of furniture not previously owned by anyone else in her family

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ...
eight matching plates, wine glasses with stems, and a recipe for a meal, that will make her guests feel honored

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ...
a feeling of control over her destiny.  

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
how to fall in love without losing herself.

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...  
how to quit a job, break up with a lover, and confront a friend without ruining the friendship

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
when to try harder... and WHEN TO WALK AWAY...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
that she can't change the length of her calves,
the width of her hips, or the nature of her parents

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
that her childhood may not have been perfect...but its over... 

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
what she would and wouldn't do for love or more

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW... 
how to live alone.... even if she doesn't like it...  

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW... 
whom she can trust,
whom she can't,
and why she shouldn't take it personally

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
where to go...
be it to her best friend's kitchen table...
or a charming inn in the woods...
when her soul needs soothing...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
what she can and can't accomplish in a day...
a month...and a year...

Life is too short... So kiss slowly... 
Laugh insanely..Love truly and forgive quickly...

My Smart Daughter

Felicia is One year Three weeks and two days young now, She's also 9.5KG and 70cm tall.

Yesterday we went to the doctor because there's a rash on her tummy, which we suspected to be allergy but actually the doctor said it's reaction to the Minyak Telon. He prescribes a balm to replace the oil.

Anyway, so we then coincidentally found out that it's time for her to get another kind of immunization shot.

The doctor said that it's better if L.Steiner hold her casually while she's standing up instead of forcing her to lie down on the bed. Which he did, and then the nurse hold her thigh. Me and her nanny were watching anxiously, and Felicia seems clueless at first, she's all smiling from the plenty dolls in the doctor's office.

Then as the drug was injected, She, of course, started crying miserably, her face is all red and her eyes are full of tears. I then took her from Mink and saying "Ooohh, kasian ya sayang..., digigit semut ya....sakit ya...semutnya nakal yaaaa...." which basically telling her that an ant had bitten her and caused the pain...

But then, my almost thirteen months daughter immediately pointing her finger at the doctor accusingly!! Dr. Daniel was laughing out loud, and covering his eyes, pretending to be afraid of her...and my daughter kept pointing at him and making baby talks....

So Smart!

Escalator for the Lazy People!

Check it out! I have been wanting to post this for quite a while now... It's located at Hong Kong Causeway Bay overhead bridge just across Sogo.

My Pretty Daughter

Beberapa hari ini, Felicia kalo ditanya, "Mana fotonya yang cantik?"  Sudah langsung senyum senyum sendiri sambil nunjuk fotonya yang dipajang didinding.

Terus juga suka joget sama lagu "Potong Bebek ..." Jadi ceritanya nih, kalo kita mulai nyanyi lagu itu, langsung Felicia nyari jari telunjuk kita buat pegangan, terus dia berdiri sambil goyang goyang ke kanan en ke kiri...

Terus lucunya lagi, pas baris "Lalalalalalalalala...." dia ikut nyanyi (kalo lagi mood) "yayayyayayayayaa" 

Terus nih, kalo kita ganti lagunya, " Pok Ami Ami" atau lagu lain, dia suka sebel terus langsung main njiwit sambil teriak teriak.  Kalo dicuekin en kita terus nyanyi langsung ngomel en mau nangis.

Terus masih suka main Peek A Boo , tapi kali ini dia yang sembunyi: selimutnya diangkat buat nutupin mukanya, terus pas kita bilang "BAaaa!" dia nurunin selimutnya sambil meringis.

My Mink

There are times when Ming was being a-know-it-all son of a gun.  There are times when I can't believe I'm married to this guy (and not in a good way), but to be fair, I'm sure he has that feeling too from time to time about me.

But this blabbering is dedicated for the lovely Mink he is.  

Like the spontaneous birthday kiss and hug he gave me past midnite.  Like the way he hold my hand in the morning when we both are up but too sleepy and lazy to actually wake up.  Like when he told me sweetly that he'd happily filled up the water tank in the toilet (when it wasn't working a couple of nights ago) for me to use if I want him too.  Like when I was feeling miserable (sometimes for no reasons at all) and didn't want to get up and I told him to get me a glass of warm water with lime juice and he did.  no question ask. no "later, hun".  he just did.  

Like the bear-hug he gave me just when I need it.  Like when I said this morning "You better get the toilet fixed this morning because I just have enough of it!" and he just look at me with that lovely smile that I just COULD NOT keep getting angry at him.  Like when he called me just to say thank you for that lovely bread I re-heat for him this morning.  

hhh...it was those small moments that remind me how lucky I am to marry this adorable Mink.

Until of course, the next time he acts like a-know-it-all-he-bitch

ARRGHH@#&^%^$*(#(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The most important thing for me in a house is (beside Air Condition if i stay in Indonesia) the bathroom.  Give me a sleeping bag and I can sleep peacefully.  No kitchen?  I'll be happy to get Nasi Bungkus for 25 cents.  No mirror? No Problem!

But all I want, is a decent WORKING bathroom.  It doesn't have to be sparkly clean for God's sake!

When I woke up in the morning, I need to know that a warm shower is waiting for me, that the toilet is working perfectly so I can do my both business peacefully. 

Really, is it too much to ask?!

Apparently so.  Ever since Friday, there has been problems with my water pump.  I had someone come to fix it in the morning, then it'll work for a while, then it got busted again at night.  Saturday morning he came to fix it again, then on Saturday evening it broke again.  Sunday Morning he came to fix it yet again, and .... MONDAY morning it broke again!!!

And it's not JUST the pump.  On Friday it's the pump, on Saturday it's something else, and God knows what happened that fateful Sunday night.  

And just as I thought it won't get worse, this morning, my maids filled one plastic bin full of (cold) water for me in the other bathroom, and when I was about to take a shower, a COCKROACH scurried near me.

ARE YOU FU#$*&^ING KIDDING ME?!!! 

I had the same problem when I was staying in a boarding house in Jakarta, renting an overpriced, old and insect-infested room simply because of its great location.

I thought I'm past that.  I was wrong!

That lil bug does it.  It's like the butterfly effect.  The needle on Camel's back.  

I put on my house-slipper and step on it several times with a vengeance while screaming "FUUUCCCKKKK!!!!!"  

I don't feel the slightest better, but when I finally lift my feet after taking a shower and saw it all dead and squeezed, I have to admit, a lil satisfaction and relief creeping in me.

hhhh.....

If tomorrow morning the toilet isn't working properly, I'm renting an apartment for the week.

Happy Birthday ME!!!

HUAHUAHUAHUAAAA.....

I am now 27 years, wife and mother of one.  

OH. MY. GODDDD!!!!!  

oUCH!

I fell down last Sunday, during Felicia's third celebration.  Worse, I was carrying Felicia at the time.

We were in Gramedia Expo parking lot in the basement.  We brought a lot of thing with us.  My handbag, Felicia's bag, Ming's camera, Felicia's bike (she refuses to get on the stroller, so we use bike everywhere).  So I told Ming to carry all the stuffs while I carried Felicia.

Then just as I was about to move my left leg, something blocking it.  You know the small block of concrete that was always marking each parking spot?  Well, because I was holding Felicia, I could not see it.  

Anyway, What happened next was something ... extraordinary...

Within seconds, everything seems like in a slow motion.  My free right hand could not grab anything to hold on to, so I knew I was definately about to fall.  The only thing I was thinking of that moment was, "Don't let her go, don't let her go, don't let her go".... As a matter of fact, I was focusing SO hard on NOT letting Felicia fell, that without realizing it, I did something that now I know I couldn't possibly have done.

Anyway, so my right leg got stuck, my left leg is falling so fast, my right hand stretched out exactly 90 degree out for balance, my left hand is holding on to Felicia.  And then I hit the floor.  To be exact, my left knee-cap hit the floor square.  My whole body weight, (and that's a lot..hahahaha) PLUS Felicia's are being sustained by my left knee cap.  

I heard a resounding "Thud!!", and then thinking, "thank GOD I didn't drop her".  Throughout the whole thing, Felicia didn't even blink.  She's just looking at me, not realizing what has just happened.  While I was falling, I could hear Ming Ming keep saying, "Oh my God oh my God oh my God, Vivi!  You poor thing, are you okay?!"

He came right at me afterwards, and I was still in that position, that professional gymnastic's perfect landing position, and I can only manage to say very calmly, "Please take the kid. take her now."  He dropped everything (don't worry, he managed to place his very expensive camera on top of the trunk first), then sweep Felicia off in his arms.  

Then, with all the pains came flooding with a vengeance, I finally let go and screamed "OH MY GODDDD, THAT HURTSSS!!!!!!" 

After I was up on both my legs (my left one was still trembling), Ming of course, immediately said, "Honey, no acrobats while holding the baby please.  You should pay attention more to your surrounding, I mean, it's a concrete! can't you see it?!"  I was embarrased, my left knee cap felt like it was about to explode, and I wanted to cry.

To this day, I am still amazed at how I managed to get on that position to prevent Felicia from falling.  I tried to copy the position again, and I couldn't!! even with both my hands holding on to something.  There's no way I could have done that, but yet I SO did!!

Plus, now I know that Ming, deep, deep deep down inside, is a very sweet and considerate man.  I couldn't forget his voice when I was falling, he sounded sincerely concerned, worried, and very loving.  As a matter of fact, that was probably the only time I've heard him say something with that loving voice.  

Sure shortly after, he's acting like a know-it-all-he-bitch by telling me I should have been more carefull, et cetera et cetera.  Sure, last night he pissed me off by refusing to let me use OUR computer for just few moments after he's been using it for hours.

But the point is, I know that deep, deep, way deep down inside, he's  a sweet guy.

hhhh....well, the main point I was about to say is: I fell.  No Worry, didn't drop the baby.  and against all odds, Ming was being so kind and considerate.

Felicia, at One ...

Sekarang Felicia sudah bisa:

• Liat sambil nunjuk ke langit- langit kalo ada yang bilang "Cicak! Cicaknya mana yaaaaa..."
• Nunjuk dirinya sendiri kalo ditanya "Felicia nya yang mana yaaaa...."
• Nunjuk susternya kalo ditanya "Susternya yang mana yaaaaa....."
• Nunjuk dirinya sendiri kalo ditanya "Yang suka gigit siapa yaaa...."
• Kalo ditanya, "Felicianya nakal yaaaaa..." sudah bisa jawab "GAK!"
• Kalo ditanya, "Felicianya E'Ek yaaaa....." sudah bisa jawab "GAK!" tapi kalo memang bener mau e'ek, jawabnya "ek....ek....."
• Sudah bisa bilang "Papa" kalo liat papanya/liat fotonya papanya/kangen sama papanya
• Sudah bisa bilang "mamamamamamaa" kalo lagi seneng ati pas liat mama, lagi pengen digendong, lagi gak enak ati, baru kebentur
• Sudah punya gigi bawah 2, gigi atas 2.5 (yang depan dua sama sebelah kanan baru keliatan dikit)
• Sudah bisa bilang "KHO! KHO!" kalo liat Thor, our new puppy.
• Kalo dipapah/lagi merangkak, suka ngejar en nendang anjing-anjingnya.  Kalo Poppy diem aja ditendangi, Kalo Richie cuek, kalo Thor suka bales jilat jilat.  ieuwww......
• Paling suka main di ruang Paviliun
• Paling suka makan ikan Dori.  Ikan yang lain gak suka (Salmon, Tengiri, etc)
• Kalo sudah naik sepedanya susah diajak berhenti.  Kalo gak didorong sepedanya suka protes.
• Waktu diajak ke Pasar Atum milih satu boneka, dan sekarang jadi favoritnya.
• Selalu pengen incip apa yang dimakan orang lain.  Jadi sampe sekarang sudah incip: Teh Tarik, Kopi Torabika, Passion Fruit-Green tea with Pearl, Mango-Red tea with Pearl, Blue Lychee, Ice Cream, Hashbrown, Sausages, Pancake, Pho Hoa, Wingko Babat, Chicken Lemongrass, Bakwan, Hiwan.  And loves them all!!
• Kalo seneng bilang "NAAAKKKKK!!!!!"
• Kalo mau minum bilang "NAK NAK!!" sambil mau ambil botol minumnya.
• Sudah mulai nangis kalo ditinggal papa mama kerja
• Kalo teriak telinganya orang orang dalam jarak 3 meter pada berdengung
• Paling suka main kejar kejaran 
• Paling suka juga main Peek A Boo
• Kalo ada mama gak mau digendong sama susternya
• Kalo ada papa gak mau digendong sama yang lain
• Kalo digendong mama gak mau sambil duduk, mintanya mama berdiri en ngajak keluar kamar.  
• Kalo pas digendong terus mamanya jalan balik kekamarnya sukaannya teriak teriak, gak mau
• Kalo gak dituruti suka sebel terus jiwit, kalo gak gitu nangis
• Kalo mau tidur sudah gak mau digendong, maunya baring baring dulu diranjang sampe kecapekan sendiri
• Kalo di kithik kithik sama mama sukaannya bales gigit
• Sudah bisa berdiri sendiri
• Di permukaan keras, Sudah bisa "merayap" sambil pegangan
• Dulu pernah tangan kiri nya dipegangi mama, terus jari telunjuk dari tangan kanannya dituntun ngikuti garis garis di telapak tangan kirinya sama mama.  Jadi sekarang kalo lagi ngelamun suka (berusaha) niruin
• Suka pengen masuk kamarnya papa mama.  
• Suka main "bowling" sama lipstick and make up nya mama a.k.a ancurin/buangin/buat berantakan meja riasnya mama.
• Suka liat cermin terus senyum senyum sambil nunjuk dirinya sendiri
• Lansung senyum kalo difoto (asal lagi enak ati.  Kalo gak suka nyuekin en nunduk terus), habis gitu pengen liat hasil fotonya sambil nunjuk nunjuk dirinya sendiri

The Celebrations!

Felicia is one year old now, she’s no longer a baby, she’s a toddler!!  

For her birthday, we got her a brand new shoes and two new dresses. We also got, of course, a very big and colorful birthday cake we especially ordered from Igor. They custom made one of the accessories so it would look like her favorite doll (it's the huge one in front, with red and yellow stripes and flowery antenas), and she’s pretty excited about it.

We celebrated her birthday THREE TIMES!.  

The first one was with her Jakarta grandparents, on her birthday, Thursday 9 October 2008. At first we planned to eat out, but since her Emak and Engkong seldom got the chance to come to Surabaya, they preferred to spend as much time watching her at home. So we ended up eating a delivery of 369 noodles at home.  

Since we could not cut the cake because of other celebrations are waiting, Felicia gave Emak and Engkong their own Opera Cake to bring to Jakarta, which we heard is a big hit with Felicia’s uncle and aunt there as well.  

Felicia also got her nanny and the maids some cupcakes.

Thank you for Emak and Engkong for the especially heavy and sparkly angpao! And thank you as well for Uncle An An and Auntie Chen Chen for the toy!

On Saturday, The second celebration waiting, because her Surabaya grandparents were away to Singapore for medical check up during her actual birthday. In the afternoon, we brought the cake to Nai Nai and Yei Yei’s home and took more pictures there before having dinner in our favorite family restaurant, Lemongrass, which offers great food, delicious drinks, and MSG free! So Felicia can also eat the Pho there (it’s Vietnamese Restaurant)

Her Nai Nai got her lots of brand new clothes from Singapore, along with new socks and hair bands and accessories. Felicia got the chance to ride her bike around the swimming pool, and played with the grand piano there. Yei yei gave her a red envelope as a gift, which she gracefully accepted at first, waved it around, and decided that a piece of envelope did not interest her at all and threw it away. Twice.

HHHHhhhh…I have to teach her that it’s what’s inside that count. Literally. Hahahaha…., anyway, thank you Yei Yei for the gift, It’ll go to her savings for sure (boy she has more money than me!!)

Also thank you for Aunt Sophia and Uncle Alex for the toy!

On Sunday, I decided that I haven’t met my friends for almost one year and that’s too long and invited them for lunch and hence Felicia’s Third Party. This time we had lunch in my favourite location restaurant, a café called The Library inside the new Gramedia Bookstore.  

My friend Lidiawati also brought her son, and we had good time. Unfortunately since Lidiawati and I are preoccupied with our kids, and there’s husbands as well, we could not chat as freely as we’d like to….

feisty lil one

But it’s a good thing to meet up, we promised we’ll see each other again on Lidiawati’s son’s first birthday in a couple of months. Yup, that’s how busy we are ahahahaahhahaa…..

Thank you Aunt Lidiawati for the colorful dictionary! Felicia’s mommy LOVES it! And thank you Aunt Natalia for the toys! Felicia loves it!! Hehehehe….

And so the three celebrations made the whole week a pretty tiring one, but thoroughly enjoyable!  

Happy Birthday Granddad!!.

Happy Birthday to Felicia's Granddad, my beloved Daddy, who is celebrating his 57th Birthday in Osaka with his newborn grandson.

Hope you have a better celebration than last year, when everybody got caught up with Felicia's birth and no one remembered it was your birthday (including you) until late at night....

Your quiet presence has always brought a calming and assuring atmosphere in our family, and at times, the one "force" that keep both the balance and sanity at home, especially among the raging hormones of three "feisty" daughters who never stops asking you, "Who do you love most, Dad?"

But of course I know that You know that You love me most!!!

(take that Ciprut!)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FELICIA!!!

October 9, 2008

Felicia's first birthday, yaaaaay!

Greetings from Felicia!

Cheers!

More pics at the usual picasa website.

Congratulations!

On the new couple, my baby sister and Mr. Aldo!

Take good care of her, make her happy, or else....

Congratulations!!

On the birth of my first nephew, on September 24th, 2008, at 10:01 pm.

After more than 18 hours in labor, buckets of tears, and dozens of phone calls across countries (don't want to imagine my mom's phone bills!), my (very brave) sister Vini finally gave that one final push and welcome her firstborn son, Jacob a.k.a Keito Yasumi, 3.5 KG.

Mother and Son are doing well, and we are looking forward for the first official pictures from the Yasumi Family!

With lots of love,

The Oei & Suharto Families...

Varsity Blues - A Movie Review and So Much More

After having a fit of Insomniac life in the past couple of weeks for no apparent reason, exhausted from the 10 hours long days at work dealing with the pressure of the busiest season of the year, still dazed yet fascinated by the growth spurt of my eleven months daughter which I cannot seem to keep up with, I was vegging alone in the living room (hubby is away for a week long business trip to Hong Kong), reaching out for the remote control to see what was on HBO for the last time before I really should try and get some sleep; after all, how long can you survive with only four hours of sleep every night?

Varsity Blues was scheduled next.

The title seems awfully familiar. It’s like a small, unimportant piece of memory from years back tried to burst through. Then I saw the actors’ name, and suddenly realized that I’ve seen this movie. Or at least try to, once, a long time ago.  Now a bundle of unresolved issues from time past and not-so-forgotten flooding back my mind.

Before Orlando Blooms walked the Middle Earth and enchanted us with his elfish beauty, before the geeky yet such a cutie Tobey Maguire made us wish our boyfriends were bitten by radiation-infected spider and took us across the Manhattan’s skyscraper, there was, Dawson.  Yes, I am talking about the one and only, James Van Der Beek.

For the twenty-something-not-yet-thirty gals out there, surely you remember Dawson and his creek. This was before Katie Holmes becomes Mrs. Cruise, Mother of Suri. This was a time when you’re struggling to stay awake at that Anthropology class, that horrible physics teacher who may or may not be gay, and your biggest worry is your pimple(s) and what are you wearing for that yet another Sweet Seventeen Birthday parties.

Although I have never been a fan of Dawson's Creek, and indeed have never watched even one episode from beginning to end, I am fully aware that the series have become almost a cult-like among my class, just like Beverly Hills 90210 was before.  

The year was 1998, a decade ago that seems just like yesterday.

The story goes that a pretty and talented Joey who I suspected deep inside is not yet comfortable in her own skin, was best friend to Dawson, who considers her more as one of the guys than a girl.  However, as the new girl, played by Michelle Williams, intrude their friendship, not only do they face the peer pressures in high school, struggle to find their identities, they are also forced to deal with the issues of their increasingly mature sexuality.  

I can tell you that whether these took place in Dawson's Creek or Petra 2 Senior High School in Surabaya, every teens can relate to that issues.  God knows I certainly have my share of Cain and Delia.

At the height of his fame from Dawson's Creek, James Van Der Beek played in a movie called Varsity Blues (1999).  I rented the VCD hoping for an easy and forgetful comedy (Yes, it was still VCD then).  Halfway through, in the middle of a scene where a girl put on a whip-cream bikini and nothing else, I realized this is not what I was expecting, turned off the TV, and forgot about it for ten years.  By the way, that girl turned out to be Ali Larter, one of theleading character in "Heroes" TV Series.

But now, as I watched this movie, I began to see it in a completely different way.  First of all, it was a football movie, and I have to admit, not as enjoyable as Remember the Titans as football movie.  But there's something deeper than that.

On top of being a football movie, it was about a teenager, Moxon, played by James Van Der Beek, who must deal with living in a shadow of an undeserving character, Lance Harper, played by Paul Walker (who would turn out in Fast and Furious 1 & 2), just because his coach prefers it that way.  Moxon's life is clearly far from perfect when his coach choose to ignore his obvious talent and wit, and his father puts high expectancy on him based on what his father thinks it's best for him and on what was his father's dream and not his.  Let me tell you, I know a story of people who deals with such parents one too many.  Myself included.

Then one day, after an unfortunate incident (for Lance), Moxon found himself in the middle of spotlight, became the most popular guy in his town, and seduced by the prettiest girl in his class.  Despite his grounded background, good nature and a steady girlfriend, Moxon found himself irresistably drawn to fame and to the arms of another girl.  

It was then that Moxon has to decide whether he should go the easy way and do what is expected of him and what other people told him to do, or whether he should go the hard way, choose his own path and listen to his heart, or in short, as Moxon puts it, be the hero.  Because, let's face it, it's easier to be a rebel when everyone worship someone else than be yourself (though differ from what other people expects of you) when everyone's eyes are on you and half of them waiting for you to lose your luck and fail.

That was just the surface.  There's the story about the coach who has difficulties in letting go his glorious past and accepting defeat by stubbornly refusing to listen to others' input, blaming everyone else for everything that went wrong, pursuing what he wants at all costs including sacrificing his student's life, and instilling fear as a way to maintain control.  God I know a person just like that.

There's also the story of Darcy Sears, the prettiest girl in town who's also smart, yet is so used to being the pretty one that she thinks the only way to get out of the lil town of West Canaan is by using her body instead of her brain.  Although I completely confident about my brain (and my body), I can certainly relate to the feeling of being so trap that you'd feel you'll do just about everything to get away from it.

And of course, the story of their teacher Miss Davis, Biology teacher during the day, stripper at night.  Of Moxon's idealist girlfriend, who is trying so hard to stay true to herself that it became surprising that when the end credit rolls, I've realized that nothing is revealed of her, it's as if she's not a real person.  Making you think that perhaps not one real person can remain idealist their whole life.  What's more, I got a funny feeling that while she's perfect for Moxon when he's down, she is probably the last person who's happy for him when things turn out for the better for Moxon, and you can't help but wonder if Moxon should just stay away from her.

And suddenly, I was thinking about the girl who I was ten years ago. Given, nothing much have changed. I’m still fashion-challenged, wearing the least and almost non-existent make up daily, and yes, still overweight.  Although, as a credit to myself, I have to mention that at some time, around 5 years ago, I did finally reach my ideal weight after a nasty breakup. But as I found happiness afterwards, it seems that the pounds found me.

Yet at the same time, I've grown a lot, become more comfortable about my own feminity.  In ten years I've faced the saddest moments, devastating and disappointing times, fell in love few times, fell out of love, lose a best friend, gained other friends, making an oath before God, and living the most defining moments, the happier times of my life.  

Now, I'm no longer the seventeen years-old who worried about getting a job and a boyfriend.   Yet at the same time, I'm also fully aware that I'm in another crossroads in my life as I have to come terms and find balance in my role as a wife, mother, daughter, sister, and in laws.  All this while maintaining true to myself and not what other people expects of me.  All the while must answer and know who "I and ME" is, and isn't, at all times and try not to get lost along the way.  All the time must do it under the microscope of 1800 people working for the company looking at me everyday and business associates far more experienced than I am who won't hesitate testing me at every possible chance.

I can't help smiling remembering the time when I couldn't wait to finish highschool and finally have this ideal picture-perfect life I've always imagined and did not have to think about the beauty queens-type, clueless girls that surrounded me in highschool.  There were times when I thought, after highchool, I will have more control over my life, lead it exactly the way I want it, with a big apartment in the city, a fancy car and a prince charming, flying around the world for business.  There were times when I just couldn't wait to start my life.

Well, ten years have past since then.  I did get the big house, the car, the prince, and the business trips.  My life has not always been picture-perfect though still beautiful, and it amazes me that I still have to deal with the beauty queen.

At 11:30 pm last night, the movie Varsity Blues ends the way it should be, Moxon and his friends become their own heroes.  

As for me, I may not be a "hero" by Moxon's definition yet, although I certainly hope that I go the right way in every opportunity that presents itself.    

Varsity Blues is certainly a hidden gem for me.  It was a surprisingly nice, a refreshingly good movie about a simple life of an ordinary person at complicated phase in his life.  A movie that would be both relevant and inspiring for me while I was in highschool and ten years afterwards as a grown woman, wife, and mother of one.

Even when for some people, it remains just another football movie.

Merhaba!

Finally!! after waiting for...let's see....THIRTEEN YEARS, I have finally arrived in Europe!!

Sort of.

To be exact, I have been staying in the European side of Istanbul for the past week. And yes, for those of you lacking in geographical knowledge, although most of Turkey is in Asia side, and in fact, half of Istanbul is also in Asia side, the other half, the one separated by Bosphorus strait, lays at the edge of Europe. Or, as Ming would like to say, in the p*nis tip of Europe. Interesting phrase.

What do I think of Istanbul?

Well, it's definately becoming one of of my favourite city. ever. It's the Hong Kong of Europe, only with better weather, clearer air, and more beautiful views.

After spending the first five days of our stay for the Jewelry fair here, we finally got the chance to do some sightseeing yesterday. Mr. Tamer, our friend and colleague, show us around the town in Sultanahmet area. At first, of course We head directly toward the Haghia Sophia, only to find it was closed on Monday.


So we went to Basilica Cistern instead, which is right across the street. Then we went to Blue Mosque and Topkapi Palace.


Earlier, Mr. Tamer, who is a Moslem, told us that he would like to take us for a dinner like the Sultans. I thought he's just being polite, but really, he took us to the renovated Ciragan Palace, formerly home of the Ottoman Sultan (well, one of them anyway), which was burnt down but now renovated to a fancy hotel. There is a hotel next to the Palace, but the Palace itself contained four suites which you can rent for 4,000 YTL, or around 2,200 Euro per night.

Anyways, we had dinner in Tugra Restaurant, but before, we had nice chats and enjoying the view of Asia Istanbul and Bosphorus Strait while waiting for the Maghrib, since Mr. Tamer fast. Unfortunately, in Europe that means 7:40 pm. Meanwhile, plates of cheeses, salami, honeycomb, milk cream, tapas, bread, smoked ham, pickles were already served and waiting. Was SO tempted, but politely waited for Mr. Tamer to start the Iftar meal.

At around 7:40, we started to hear Azan, and then lights in the Mosques across the straits was lit. It was a perfect ending to a perfect day.

The food is excellent, though after the soup and hot appetizer, I actually did not eat the main course, only had a couple of bites of the sea bass. What can I say? These westerns method of serving appetizer, soup, hot appetizer, main course, and desert is just crazy! by the time we got into hot appetizer, we're more than full!

Only in Istanbul we spent average 3 hours of dinner. Yesterday was actually 4.30 hours. We sat and talked and joked and laughed. I had an awesome time.


Today, we went to see the Grand Bazaar then stopping by Mr. Tamer's office. It was 3:30 by the time we're done, so we went back to the hotel first, took a nap, and then Ming and I took a taxi to go to Haghia Sophia.

I insisted we go, though the hotel's front desk said it may have closed. I mean, it's like going to Paris without stopping by the Louvre! or going to Vatican without seeing St. Peter's Basilica! Crazy I tell you!!

Anyway, apparently in summer, they opened until 7:30. We got there at 5:30, only 30 minutes before the upper floor gallery closes.

We chose the perfect timing.

I have been looking for the right words to describe it, but I believe in this case, any attempt would be proved futile. How could you do it? How would you do justice for it? Where do you begin?


The THIRD church, the final one who was to be taken over and changed to a Mosque in the 13th century, was actually inaugurated in 27 December 537, although the mozaic were completed decades later.

Breathtaking.

I know there must be dozens of them, at least, in Europe, but if you think that this church is used to be "the largest cathedral ever built in the world for nearly a thousand years, until the completion of the Medieval Seville Cathedral in 1520" then you'd be able to appreciate its beauty, and to understand why is it that when Mehmet II the Conqueror, at the age of 21, conquered Constantinople and changed it forever to Istanbul as we know today, the first thing he did is to rush and claim the Aya Sophia as his trophy and changed it to a Mosque.

Anyway, enough of that.



After we visited the Sophia, we went to nearby restaurants and food stalls, joining hundreds of people who are waiting for Maghrib nearby the Blue Mosque.


We had a simple dinner of lamb sausage and beef with eggplants and potato puree in one of the cafes, and we took taxi back to the hotel since we're leaving for Singapore tomorrow.

Once we have the time, we'll post more on the pictures of the fanciest restaurants in Istanbul that we went, plus, perhaps, stories on how we manage to offend so many people in one day and laughed at them silly.

but that's another story.

Gulegule!

Istanbul!!

A very nice city, but have yet to explore it because of the exhibition. Learnt some new things (how to annoy people the Italian way!) and the many styles of kebabs! yaay! Anyway, will post later!



Sooo tired....

Incredible !ndia

So says the back of the immigration departure card that my colleague showed me (while I waited 3.5 hrs for the Singapore Airlines ticket counter to open in the international airport because of the four days of non-stop rain that hit the city this side of the monsoon season. Multiple parties informed me of horror 5-hrs trip to airport stories and missed flights that I decided to play it safe and came straight to the airport rather than risking it out there. Already the news said flood killing people in this city because of the rain, so what am a sane person to do?) and the first thought that came to my mind was: "Incredible Smell!". I have smelled it first hand in the rented car that one of the more adventurous potential customer got for us to show his corporate office in the city proper (the airport and the hotel was located at the outskirts of the city), claiming it to be his company car during conversation, but with the reality of a brightly painted logo of tourist company advertising its services on the sides. The guy is a crook, never manifesting it directly in words but the arrogant behavior and illusions of grandeur gave it away after several meetings with him. Two of my regular customers already warned me about him. His office was crap too, even worse than some of our Chinese customers' office. For some reason (or made up one), he thought that we were looking for a partner to open a factory here and because of the government regulation here limiting foreign ownership to 74%, maybe he thought that he was the one! Anyway, I'm getting side tracked about Incredible !ndia (and yes, that's how they typed it in the card, with the !)..

This country is indeed incredible:
1. Incredible Smell (legions of unwashed people assaulting your nose with their aromatic hair and maybe armpit odors)
2. Incredible Service (or lack of it, which might be limited to my hotel but I seriously doubt it after my observations about the people)
3. Incredible Traffic (loads of small taxis and bajajs littered the street) and dont start about the road! (to be fair, it was Surabaya's road 3-4 years ago after the rainy season)
4. Incredible Poverty (if you think people living in triplek houses under freeway overpasses in Jakarta is sad, here they live on the sidewalk with plastic sheets for walls. Maybe the corpses on the street story came from here)
5. Incredible Food (the best part of visiting really! I didn't dare to try the spicier ones but the ones that I have tasted were very good and most of them are vegetarian!)
6. Incredible Weather (it was raining the whole time except for my first half-day)
7. Incredible Shameless Self-Esteem (which doesn't hold up to the rest of the world. They are proud of it except that they dont know that it's crap!)
8. Incredible Airport (it is constantly under renovation and for an international airport, the roof is leaking and the water drops were contained with torn newspaper. This was happening at the immigration counter!!! and also all over the airport)

So it is the sums of all these things that leads me to give this suggestion to you:
Don't go to India unless you really really have to (Taj Mahal supposedly) and cut all of your expectations of any international standards by half. A forewarning is that maybe the Taj Mahal is also crap based on what I just wrote. So for example if a hotel advertises itself to be a 5-stars hotel (as in the case of my hotel, the incredibly shitty Park Plaza Mumbai), it's really a 2.5 stars, based on the following:

1. It doesn't smell (1 star)
2. It has a working door lock (1 star)
3. The food doesn't give you stomach ache (half star)

All the missing stars:
1. The 4 batteries that are powering your room's small deposit box had only 3 batteries and they are sprawled outside with no one coming in to fix it for five days
2. The internet connection is controlled by some asshole in the front desk who picked up the phone only once during my stay to actually give me the password to login. The other times someone else picked up with promises that the asshole will call back (no one did for 1.5 hrs) and the other time the server was down
3. The fresh towel has a bright yellow stain on one of the corner which could be: squised papaya, squished orange, squished durian or more likely: squished shit (i wisely decided not to smell it to determine what it actually was at that time and just threw it inside the bath tub)
4. The shower box is sloped to better regulate the water flow, except that they put the drain hole on the UPPER part of the slope, so the shower is always full of water
5. On the last night of the trip, at 2:30am, the electricity went on and off for about 6 times in the span of 10 minutes, each with bursting flash of lights as the lights in our rooms are halogen, kind of like being flashed with a full camera flash right in front of your eyes. How did I know it was 2:30am? I'm always aware of my surrounding so i know :P To give the hotel credit they did give me 3 candles to light in case it happens (which according to one employee is common)
6. On the last day of the trip as I was checking out the same thing happened at the lobby, have these people no SHAME???
7. The waiter on the dinner buffet gave you nasty look and nodded to acknowledge that you asked for tea, except that he just stood there. After you asked for the 3rd time he brought you the tea mixed with milk, which when I sipped I immediately commented that this is not tea but rather 'banyu korah-korah'
8. The bells and lights in front of your room have pretty much decayed
9. The furniture has the looks of the furnitures that Vivi was interested to buy from Index at the PTC (yes, her taste is not that good, bwahahah)
10. The remote control has one dead battery, which was replaced with one of the 3 batteries from the room safety box and it's still a remote from hell, you have to squeeze reaaaaaaaaaally hard for it to change channel

So if you total all the missing stars, it comes out to be -7.5 stars! And they have billboards all over the city saying that it is a "LUXURY Business Hotel".

Now I have written for quite some time and still there is 2.5hrs to go, ugh! To make life interesting, as I was walking to the other side of the check-in counter, I saw a blue queue strap (that they have in front of the bank or any kind of line to help you queue up) and empty space behind it with this sign "Suspicious Article Ahead, Do Not Approach Within 100m" and suddenly I realized that there were soldiers lining up the strap and that there was a guy in full bomb suit moving forward slowly next to a bomb-sniffing dog, I'm NOT joking!!! I was like WTF???? and I just walked the hell out from there... Aren't you supposed to clear the airport for this kind of shit??? Fifteen minutes later apparently it was false alarm and everything went back to normal.... incredible indeed!

Sleepily yours,

Lord S

Yay!

My daily cuppa!

Wannabe

That is the word that describes this place the best. They want to reach the sky, but the stairs broke when you are 2m away from the ceiling. They want to impress you with a luxury car, except that it is a car made in the Soviet Union! They want to show you a brand new, 5-months old hotel, except that the floor is not polished and the roofs are dirty.... It's almost like that song Ironic by Alaniss Morisette. Even the jewelry here is the same, they have all the designs and the diamonds, except that the finish is not shiny... Either that or they just dont have a very high standard and think that their own standard is good enough for the world, except that it's not :P (the "katak dalam tempurung" syndrome).... The Indonesian term will be "Gak Nyucuk"

On my way back to the exhibition center and the hotel, there are many contrasts along the way. Houses made of thin wood (triplek) a'la Indonesia, people living below freeway overpasses, colonial style milk farms, very very old fire fighting cars (which is actually a tractor, which I think will pull water wagons), roads with holes in them, modern office building, dirty housing complexes with people having sex on the roof and also beggars offering you to grope their boobs for US$ 0.20, all good stuff!

In the exhibition itself the customers get going after lunch time (which is after 2pm) and not much was happening before then, Indians are very relaxed people. The food halls themselves are unique in that they use COUPONS!!! There are no cash transaction going on (except McDonalds) and you have to exchange cash with coupons then exchange the coupons for your food, like your high school bazaar (if you dont know what I mean, then maybe your high school's not so good). Basically what happens is that they will have a big hall set up with rows of long tables and it will have different stalls serving different kinds of vegetarian food (they are ALL vegetarians). You just pick what you want, check the price, and pay them with the coupons. The coupons themselves come in different denomination, 5 rupees, 10 rupees, 20 rupees, 50 rupees and have the different catering house name stamped on them. One of them serves this very nice salted pineapple juice, which is exactly what it is (for 80 rupees, 1 rupee = Rp 220). They also have a very nice Mocha Coffee for 90 rupees that I buy every morning to start the day, go go Costa Coffee!

There are plans to go visit some of the factories on Monday and then maybe I can take photo for Imoet with the people pooping on the street. I did take picture of the people having sex on the roof but I want to keep this blog for all ages :P

Cheers,

Lord S

ps. No lip chewing! unless by hot, thin, hard bodied girls with big ( . ) ( . ), yeh!

Land of the Curry

I am now in Mumbai, India, land of the curry!!! And for first impressions, the look of the city here is actually like Jagalan, Pasar Turi (that's the outside of the NEW international airport, which is still work in progress) and the roads in Trawas/Batu. There are no beggars or dead people in the street as was rumored before but then I haven't gotten the chance to actually go to the city itself. The hotel is located on a hill (as advertised) but what was not mentioned that the hill itself was full of crap! half done building, slum neighborhood RIGHT across the high wall that the hotel built complete with barbed wire on top. To be fair, all the crap around the hill is quite cleverly disguised with trees and foliage so from afar you wont be able to see them. The street is full with antique taxis and tuk-tuk (bajaj).



As for standard of living, it seems that food here is quite cheap. Inside the exhibition hall, food costs around USD 2 and the portion will make you full. So food outside should be minimum half of that. Hotel buffet costs USD 20, cheaper than Surabaya Shangri-La's USD 25 and it's full of soupy food. Hungarian beef paprika, Mongolian chicken, and a bunch of other Indian names that I can't remember or know what they are made of, the similarity is that they are all soupy except for the Bashmati rice (long grained and soft, quite good).

So far the pace of life here seems to be very relaxed, with most customers coming in at the fair after 1-2pm after lunch, very few comes at the official opening time of 10am. It is rainy here also, being in the middle of the monsoon season, although it is not too heavy, more like drizzle here and there. I have yet to meet the gollywashers, which according to my Indian contact happened at the show three years ago and it flooded the exhibition hall and they had to cancel the show then.

The exhibition itself is not very furnished, it's more like big warehouses connected together. There are even birds living inside the hall, one of the them crapped on the information counter guy that I was asking about something. His backshirt and chair is full of bird poop, ewwwwwwwwwww.

Anyway, I will try to get some pictures posted later, but if you can imagine all the Indonesian locales I mentioned above, you already know how this place looks like.

Booyah,

Lord S

HELP! I'm ageing fast!

What IS wrong with me?  

I have always enjoyed harlequin-ish books from time to time, indulging my self in a feast of what I told Ming "soft-core porn" stories, in which the guy is always too good to be true, cold, distant, yet passionate in bed. It's a phase. it's usually near my PMS.  

I even told Ming one day, joking, how come he never kissed with "demanding" lips as described in one of those silly books (Ming absolutely hates kissing. he's usually down to groping, what a waste of those chewable lips -- believe me, I've chewed them as often as he permits it)

But then now, at work, with people who sat behind me and next to me are all gone out of town, with my dad in law away out of the office, I can browse the internet and the first thing I do is to check www.eharlequin.com !!

I laughed at some of the summary. is just too cheesy, but I also, surprisingly, can't wait to read some of them!!! 

What is wrong with me?? I used to like better books such as The Life of Pi, Roots, The Alchemist, even satire comedy like Terry Pratchett's books. Then I downgrade to Chicklits. Now Harlequins????

I suspect ageing is one factor. AM a mom. HAVE settled down.  

Is that it?

Ming called from Singapore and I told him about the website and he said immediately, Oh, the porn? Harlequin is not porn of course, though not lacking in the very sizzling description of great sex and kisses.  

hhhh, anyways, I used to be able to buy Indonesian language harlequin books near my office for 30rb per book. a great bargain. But last time I checked, they told me they no longer carried the Harlequin series, they returned them already! can you believe it? If people in Indonesia had moved on to other books, how come I get stuck there?!

WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?

I mean, don't get the wrong ideas, Ming always meets his obligations "lahir and batin" if you know what I mean. No complaints there.  

So tell me guys, have you been through this phase in your life when you seem to have endless need for the soft-core por..i mean, harlequin-ish books??