Monday, April 2, 2012

Short note



Just taking this quick moment to say that I love being a Mum.
It can be very frustrating, exhausting and monotonous especially in my case but all is rewarding. For every tired bones, there are smiles from Tania. For every minute I am about to burst out and yell in exasperation, There she is stood with innocent smile and lovingly if not trusting calling me "Mama Annie". For every seconds that it feels very monotonous, she performs a new things she learned, a new word, a new movements etc.

Life is just beautiful and unpredictable.

Monday, March 19, 2012

Senyum Manis itu....

Pagi-Pagi iseng lihat2 foto yang di posting adik2 di Facebook. Ternyata, Sudah Ada perubahan persepsi tentang Bagaimana cara tersenyum. Senyum manis itu bukan lagi  tarikan Dua sisi bibir ke atas, atau pun sumringah yang kelihatan deret gigi. agar wajah terlihat Bahagia.

Berdasarkan rangkaian foto-foto yang Saya lihat Pagi ini maka, senyum manis yang menarik itu adalah....

1. Menggembung-gembungkan pipi... Dengan bibir yang mencurut... Selintas jadi Mirip ikan kembung or puffer fish ... Bayangkan Ny. Puff... Guru mengemudinya Spongebob Squarepants

2. Penampakan ikan kembung ini masih di kombinasikan lagi dengan 2 kening yang terangkat ke atas seolah sedang kaget, terperangah atau sedang me-WOW kan sesuatu... Dengan Dagu sedikit mendongak atau di donyongkan ke bawah Dan bahu yang di majukan kedepan seperti foto model lagi pose

3. Kalau bukan senyum ala ikan kembung atau puffer fish... Maka Gaya senyum terbaru adalah mengemut bibir kebelakang... Hmmm atau gimana ya cara mendeskripsikannya.... Pokoknya berusaha agar Lesung pipi kelihatan. 

4. Kemudian Selain ekspresi wajah tersebut Akan di tambah dengan pose-pose Lainnya seperti mengucek rambut, atau setidaknya Tanganpun harus di rambut, disisi kepala de el el seperti sedang Sakit kepala, pusing atau lagi bĂȘte. Menggigit jari. Meletakan Tangan Di depan mulut seperti teperangah. And so on

Mengapa anak2 sekarang mau Saja menjadi Ny. Puff Saya tidak tahu. Mungkin itu definisi cute saat ini. Merujuk kepada maraknya trend K-Pop (mungkin)

Baiklah... Saya tidak menentang atau melarang ekspresi diri generasi yang Lebih muda Dari Saya. Toh dengan kemajuan teknologi dimana Semua orang Sudah bisa memiliki kamera Dan kemudian men-share-nya dengan jaringan pertemanan, Baik di dunia Nyata atau pun dunia maya, kita Semua merasa ketertarikan Dan kebutuhan untuk mengkespresikan diri kita. 

Hehehehe....Ternyata senyum manis pun menderita sebuah perubahan persepsi.
Kalau melihat foto2 Jaman Oma opa dulu... wajah mereka kadang Tanpa senyum, terlihat dingin Dan kadang tidak menatap kamera. 

Foto2 jaman mama Dan papa, terlihat Lebih Berani Dan frontal terhadap bidikan kamera. Mereka tersenyum Dan menatap kamera. Mari kita sepakat menyebut senyum ini sebagai senyum normal... (ingat normal itu relatif ya)

Foto2 Saya sendiri masih dengan pose senyum normal namun pada masa Saya pun senyum itu Sudah sedikit menjalani pergeseran. Bukan hanya senyum biasa, namun juga di tambah dengan kepala yang sedikit dimiringkan ke kiri Dan ke kanan secara asymmetries atau pun simetris. Kadang2 Saya Mengangkat jari telunjuk Dan jari tengah membentuk peace sign... Atau kadang Tanda peace ini di letakan secara diagonal di pipi... Merujuk ke cara pose teman2 Jepang. 

Dan sampai lah kita ke adik2ku tercinta yang mari secara comical Saya sebut generasi Mrs. Puff and Model-wanna-be. 

Sedihnya, Saya tidak bisa menentukan satu pun foto tersenyum yang tulus, yang tidak dibuat-buat walau banyak sekali foto2 cantik, ekspresif, cute de el el de es be ge... Mungkin mereka Semua sedang berlatih jadi model atau mengkespresikan Jiwa model yang Ada Dalam mereka. 

Hmmm... Kalau standar senyum ini di pakai Dalam penilaian Putri Indonesia atau Miss Indonesia apakah termasuk Dalam kategori 3 B (Brain Beauty Behaviour). Saya jadi ingat 2 Gadis manis yang Saya lihat di salon minggu lalu. Mereka cantik dengan polesan make-up, dandanan and tata rambut ala anak muda (baca K-Pop style). Mereka mengantar temennya yang Akan memotong poninya. Singkat kata 2 Gaddis manis K-Pop wanna-be ini duduk di Kursi tunggu yang letaknya tepat bersebelahan dengan Saya. Begitu duduk Dan kelihatan Kaca, salah satu Dari mereka mengeluarkan handphone kamera Dan mereka berdua pun sibuk menggembung2kan wajah Dan memotret berulang2 pose yang Saya sebut kan Diatas. Sambil setiap Kali berteriak 'awww kita cantik... Cute bangets!" kemudian salah satu Dari mereka tersenyum yang bisa Saya bilang senyum normal... Teman yang satu ya lagi pun bilang " yang ini dihapus Saja. Kamu senyum ya Jelek disini". O lalala!!!!

In the end, seperti yang Saya bilang Diatas... Saya tidak menentang Dan melarang... Tidak salah kan berekspresi.. Tapi jangan kehilangan jari dirimu yang sebenarnya hanya agar bisa disebutin cute, cantik Dan mengikuti trend.

You are beautiful in brain and Behaviour. Tinggal laku Dan bobot bicaramu (berpendidikan) yang Akan menjadi cerminan seberapa cantik dirimu. 

Berfoto ala K-Pop, CB, 7 Icons etc... Ayooooo... Saya juga suka kadang2 memakai pose2 ini... Buat lucu-lucuan Aja....

Friday, January 13, 2012

1 Week in Padang

Tomorow afternoon will be exactly 1 week of Tania and I joining Simon in Padang.
So far it has been an enjoyable adventure. I got several messages asking me whether our move will be 'permanent' (that is until Simon's contract is done) or just temporary, a month or two. At the moment I will say, I don't know. We'll play it by ears. Tania absolutely enjoy her time with her daddy and that is irreplaceable and too precious.

Padang adventure week 1 has its challenges and of course lots of joy.
We live in Simon's rented room 3 minutes (just guessing) walk from the office.
There are so many advantages to this. Tania got quality time with Daddy, Simon got food other than Makanan Padang and we get to safe up a lot of money. Simon comes home every lunch time and dinner. Tania gets to see her dad, read book and play iPad with him. We save up on food expenses because as Simon said he can spent up to 50,000 IDR for 1 day food just for himself. Now that I am cooking, 50,000 IDR stretches for 2 or 3 days for the three of us. Simon gets to eat vegetables cooked other than swimming in coconut milk, curries etc.

Now this very big advantages present a challenge for me, especially on the cooking front.
You see... It's a rented room so we have no kitchen. We also don't have/haven't bought a stove. So as I mentioned in my previous note, I am utilizing our rice cooker to cook all of our food. HAH!! Trust me it works BEAUTIFULLY!!! Of course it takes extra work, patience and creativity but oh yeah it works. (got couple of notes from friends who said they've tried it too)

Simon already suggest me to start posting my cooking with rice cooker recipe on my cooking blog (which I intended to do). Please keep watch on it. So I've cooked full meal for us of rice, Vegetables and proteins dish, porridge for Tania and I'll start on desert this week.

The rice cooker cooking took me back at our refugee camp. I still remember very vividly the time we fled our village during the Sectarian Conflict in 2000. We fled to my mother's sister's place who live at the Navy Base in Halong. There was no gasoline for our stove and our wood supply had ran out (we live in a navy complex housing and no where near the woods). Thus my mother took the liberty to use our rice cooker to cook almost all the food we have. So when Simon Andy I still thinking of buying a stove and need to set schedule to clear out some space to cook, I told him..,. I can cook Keith rice cooker in the mean time.
He told me later that he was quite amazed that I can produce full meal from it. Nah! It's no rocket science. Nor that I am overly creative etc... Experience and my Mom taught me not to give up on situation. Thank you Mama!

Monday, January 9, 2012

Notes on Padang Arrival Day and Day 1

- Short Note on Arrival in Padang: Arrived at about 3 PM. The weather was pretty bad and we had a bumpy ride on our airplane. We were welcomed by drizzle or rain and a slightly bigger one as we headed in a taxi to Simon's rented room, which will be our 'home' for the next ..... Time. I got Tania to sleep and then start unpacking and tidied thing up. Simon went to the market and bought the essentials... Electric Fan, Rice Cooker, water dispenser, plates, glasses and cutleries. We had a good nap. Our dinner was rice and food we packed from Ambon; sambal goreng Tempe and Ayam ungkep goreng, with an addition of pop mie to add a bit of soupy thing for our rice. note on the rice in Padang ... Not very nice. ---

Padang, Day 1
It was Sunday and it Began with no running water. 
It didn't dampen the spirit. What's a day without bath anyway? Hehehe.... Surely the three of us can managed that. 
We had the same breakfast as our dinner (meaning no extra spending for food)
Today is spent to shopping for some other essential and getting me to get used to the traffic (amazingly crazy people driving) and the route to the market and shops. It helps me to see the areas and calculate time and need whenever me and Tania go out for our daily food shopping. 
lunch at shopping center. Back to the room and nap.
Late afternoon was for me to get creative and utilize the rice cooker as our alternative cooking device (since we haven't bought the kompor yet)- warm the rice, cook Tania's porridge, heat the soup for our dinner. DONE! Lovely day 1.