since i have all the ingredients at home, so i decided to make it last saturday since i haven’t been baking with naia for quite some times now. the last time i baked was for halloween party (which i still owe the story here). so naia was excited to help me, pouring the sugar and “trying out the apples” (yup, she was snacking on it heheh). too bad, i had to run as soon as the tart goes in to the oven since hubby and i need to go for a friend’s birthday. told my maid to take it out after 40 minutes, but apparently, it’s a bit too long (since the temp was set slightly too high) and made it a bit dry (as you can see the dark color on the crust). nonetheless, it still tastes good.. even naia asked for a slice before she went to bed last night.

here’s the recipe..

for the crust:

1/2 cup softened butter
1 cup of flour
1/3 cup of sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence/extract

cream the butter and sugar. stir in the vanilla, then mix in the flour. you can use a fork to do all the mixing, or you can just pop in to the food processor. since i don’t have one yet, so i chose the fork. once the crumb is incorporated nicely, just pour them into a pan (i use 8 inch pie pan). press them into the pan in equal thickness. pop into the 400F oven (or 200C) and let it bake for 15 minutes or until lightly golden.

for the cream filling:

8 ounces (225gr) of cream cheese, softened
1/4 sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence/extract

softened the cream cheese and sugar. put in the vanilla extract and mix evenly. break 1 egg into the mix. you can use a fork again to mix them, but once the egg is in, you may want to use a whisk so that it incorporated nicely, and lump-free. pour it on to the baked crust.

for the topping:

3 apples, peeled and thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup silvered walnuts or almonds (i used walnuts)

place the sliced apples into a bowl, pour in the sugar, cinnamon & the walnuts. mix together with a spoon (or you can use your hands). once the mixture are evenly coated the apples, arrange the apples nicely on top of the cream cheese filling, then scatter the walnuts on top.

bake in the 400F (200C) oven for about 40 minutes until apples are tender and golden.

a slice is never enough

manners. this should be what separate us from animals, if not how our brain functions. but it’s the one thing that does not reflect in the asian culture. they say, asians are very polite. for me, that means they should know their manners, right? unfortunately, i was disappointed to know that in almost every asian countries i know, it’s not a custom to say thank you, sorry or even excuse me.

when i came back to jakarta, i was surprised to realize that people don’t even say thank you when we hold the door for them. heck, they don’t even hold the door for anyone. i guess, what do you expect when the manners on the streets is to go ahead everyone at all costs.

so when i came to singapore, i thought.. hey, it may be a bit different. turns out, it’s even worse. they don’t even say thank you, sorry, or even excuse me. if someone is walking so painfully slow in front of them, instead of yelling excuse me, they would try to go around in a way that they made sure that those people know he’s annoyed. how hard is it to say “excuse me?” so those slow people can give their way? too hard, i guess. instead, the most they’d do is to yell.. “hellooo??”

well, that’s even worst, cuz yelling “hello” is like calling them stupid. and when someone would actually yell “excuse me” those slow people would actually feel annoyed like they’re doing something wrong. weird, no?

yesterday, there was a discussion on the radio on how singaporeans don’t have a habit to say thank you. the radio show called the married men in 91.3FM, is comprised of 2 guys and 1 girl. during their discussion, the guys agree that singaporean, mostly women, just don’t say thank you. the girl, of course, refused to accept that. on the other hand, me, the listener, totally agree with it. singaporeans in general just don’t say thank you, and worse, the women seems to think that they DON’T NEED to say thank you when a guy holds the door for them. as if, it’s the guy’s job to do that anyway.

that’s why now the singaporean govt, through a campaign, asks singaporean to be more polite by getting themselves a bit of saying thank you, sorry or excuse me. funny no? funny that they actually have a campaign on it.

on the other hand, i find that many parents are teaching their kids to make sure that they know these words and have good manners. but they forget, kids learn from mirroring their parents. so no matter how hard they tried to teach their kids to have good manner and saying those words, if the parents never even say it, they lost the battle already.

i learn that you teach kids by doing things and show them that that’s the right way. no other better tools of teaching than through action.

thank you for reading my blabbering thoughts!

*pic from sociableboost.com

blogging for me was always as a channel to pour my ideas, my observations and thoughts. by writing it, it also helps me to be more structured in my writings. there were times that due to blogging, i had a lot of help to write better. i love to write and i have tons of ideas i like to pour in my writing. i once made a goal to write a book and take off from work, but that never happened because the time i spared to write a book, i ended up using it to travel. and it was cut short because professional world had called me back.

the goal is still there, but whether it will happen or not, God knows. for now i just try to keep writing.

one of the things that i realized i was writing a lot since the beginning of blog was giving out tips and info about finance. maybe because this has a lot to do with my background. i always tried to give out easy tips, but the truth is, it’s so hard to give out financial tips that’s easy to understand. that’s why i give hats off to those who are able to explain finance in a simple term possible.

recently, i grow an interest about how to teach kids about finance. i know it’s a bit too early for my daughter since she’s only 3.5 years old, but i don’t think it’s too early to teach her about the concept of money and finance. a book by rosina simon, “raising a $smart kid”, is a really interesting book to learn about this. but of course, most of the tips apply to older kids.

so far, i teach naia about money through the concept of savings and also the concept of money through a simple role-playing. everyday, if she is a good girl where she behaves well, eat well, sleep well and follow instructions from her nanny, i will give her coins. at this point, it doesn’t matter if it’s a dollar coin or a ten-cent coin, all she cares is how many coins she gets, not how much. she then will drop the money into her piggy bank. i taught her that when the money is in, she cannot take it out. she can only take it out after it’s full or when it’s for emergency. then i have to explain to her what is emergency. it ranges from charity to gift. she can borrow the money and take it out, but she has to return the coins back.

no, it’s not easy to teach that to a 3.5 years old. she’d be like “huh?” then just brush off my explanation. but of course, i don’t back off. i keep at it because i know someday she will understand.

the concept of money through a simple role-playing of a seller and buyer is also a great activity. naia looves doing this. she’d placed all her toys and take turns pretending to be a buyer and a seller. sometimes, she’d use the coins in her piggy bank to play too.

i learn from my own experience where my parents really spent a great deal amount of time to make us understand about the concept of money, savings, budgeting and spending wisely. at some point, my brother and i would only know that if we get some money, we save. spending our money is out of the question so what we did is we spend our parents’ money by asking them to buy things we want. ha! but at least, we make great amount of savings. over the years, as we grew older, we understand this better and we always have the habit to always “pay ourselves first” whenever we get some money. meaning, we always put aside some money in our savings first, before we spend anything. we grew to know that money does not come raining on us from the sky, so we had to prepare some for a rainy day. the fact that we used to live abroad and had to learn about this the hard way, we learned it early that we have to save if we need to survive.

on the same note, i want to teach that to my daughter. she needs to understand that. and it’d be ranging from questions like:

mama, why papa and you need to work?

because naia needs to go to school to be a smart girl. and i need to make money so i can pay the school, buy food, pay for naia’s bus fare, for naia’s clothes, shoes, and milk.

mama, then i don’t need to go school..

if you don’t go to school, you won’t get to be smart. then when you get bigger, you won’t be able to have a job and make money. if mama and papa no longer working, who would pay for the food?

then she’d be thinking herself, not too sure what to answer. i bet she’s confused, but that’s okay, she’ll learn to understand it soon.

or in another case, she would ask:

mama, why angela (her bestfriend at school) does not have a car?

because angela’s mommy and daddy cannot buy a car.

why?

because a car is expensive. angela’s mommy and daddy would rather buy angela good clothes, food and school fee than buying a car. if they bought a car, they cannot buy food and pay school fee for angela.

*quiet, thinking*

that’s why, you cannot throw away food and take off from school or destroy your toys. because they are paid with money. you are lucky because mama and papa can buy them for you now because mama and papa have enough money to buy them. if you don’t eat your food, it’s being thrown away, while there are other kids who are hungry because their mama & papa don’t have enough money to buy it for them.

*goes back playing*

i know that when i explained it, it’s too complicated for naia to understand, but it’s not that she doesn’t get it. she would, just she needs to process it in her litte mind. but i feel that the younger she is to get exposed to it, the easier for her to understand as she grows older.

i know that every parent would buy everything for their child just to make them happy. it includes me too! i want to make her happy, so i buy things for her. but as parents, we need to also teach our kids the concept of savings and wise spending, putting boundaries of how much we can spoil them. therefore, i do things to ensure that my daughter does not feel like she can ask whatever she wants and she’d get it. so my tricks are usually goes this way:

1. i don’t buy things she asks right away
if i take her to a store and i found that she likes something that i know would make her happy, i don’t buy it right away. i’d ask her, why she wants it. does she really need it? then i tell her, that i’ll buy it if she’s being a good girl for x days. or after she had finished her meal, or something like that. then, if i think the item is worth to buy, i’d go buy it without her knowing it. i’d give it to her later as a reward if she had indeed does something as she said she would. that way she doesn’t always get what she wants when she wants it. she needs to earn it.

2. i tell her that i don’t have any money
if she wants something very expensive, i tell her that i don’t have enough money to buy it. it’s too expensive. as she grows older, she’s grown to understand it. so i’d just tell her that i’ll give her 10 minutes to play with it, then we leave. if she wants to play with it again, we’ll come back next week. but i cannot buy it for her as it’s too expensive.

then, of course, i would never buy it! usually this happens when the items had no value for her. or she has something similar to the item. or it’s too big to fit in our apartment.

3. the art of bidding
do this with your child constantly. for example, naia wants to buy a candy at the store. as usual, she would pick at least 3-4 candies. because i don’t allow her to eat candy too much, i bid her to buy something else. like a fruit or biscuit. if that doesn’t help, i told her that i’ll buy only one. she then has to choose which one and i told her because my money can only buy 1 candy, not 4.

this will also help her to decide. in the long run, it’ll help her to know how to decide for herself. i always ask her to choose things, from what she wants to eat for lunch, what dress she wants to wear, etc. and the consequence is, she has to stick on what she has chosen. finish the meal she has chosen, etc.

4. apply rewards concept
i use this constantly too. she would be rewarded if she’s doing something nice. the reward of course does not have to be big. sometimes it’s just as small as a pack of biscuit, or a cupcake. sometimes even a kiss but that would build her confidence that she can do something and it was good that she’s being rewarded for it. sometimes it’s not just about money, but her behaviour overall. of course, later it will be applied as she grows older that when she’s doing a chore, she will then be rewarded with something. but this is quite tricky. you don’t want your kid to grow up only thinking that she needs to be rewarded for doing something good. so you must explain it carefully.

5. concept of charity
for now, it’s a simple as set aside her unused toys and give to the needy. another small thing is to drop coins to the charity box. right now, naia doesn’t know that the box is for charity, but she’d loove to drop coins in them. she’d ask some to us everytime she sees one. it’s a bit complicated concept to teach her now, but eventually i will explain it better as she grows older. the concept of charity is important to teach so that they can evaluate their rewards not just in terms of doing something good, but also in terms of sharing to others.

the point is, kids mimic what their parents do. so, before you start trying to teach your kids about the habit of savings and spending wisely (want vs. necessity), you may want to take a closer look at your own habit. have you set a good example yet?

this is actually a repost. found that i wrote this a few years back when i was still single. now that i’m married, it’s interesting to know that it’s so TRUE! so it deserves a REPOST!

—

one day, plato asks his teacher

[plato]: what is love? how do i find love?

[teacher]: there is a field full of apple trees in front of us. walk through it without having a step back, and pick the most delicious incredible apple there is. if you think you have picked the most delicious incredible apple there is, then you have found what love is.

so plato starts walking through the apple field, and after a while, he comes back to his teacher.. empty handed. upon seeing his pupil return without any apple on his hand, the teacher asks…

[teacher]: why don’t you bring any apple at all?

[plato]: i was only allowed to bring one apple back and i cannot make any step back during my walk through the field. actually i have found the most delicious incredible apple i think there is, but i wonder if i might find a better apple from the rest of my walk forward, so i didn’t pick that apple. when i continue my walk further, i realized that out of all the apples i have found, there is nothing compared to the one i have found earlier, that’s why i didn’t pick anything at all.

[teacher]: so that, my student, is love.

in another day, plato asks his teacher again…

[plato]: my dear teacher, what is marriage? how do i find it?

[teacher]: hmm.. there is a forest full of trees ahead. walk forward without taking any step back once and you can only cut one tree. and when you decide to cut down that tree, make sure it’s the tallest of them all, because that means you have found what a marriage is.

so, following his teacher’s instructions, plato starts walking toward the forest. after a while, he comes back with a tree. the tree is not a fresh/organic one, and it is not even that tall. it’s just an average tree. so the teacher asks plato..

[teacher]: why did you cut down an average tree?

[plato]: because.. based on my experience before, after i walked through the whole field, i came back empty handed. so this time, when i saw this tree, i thought… this is not so bad so i decided to cut it down and bring it here. i don’t want to miss any opportunity to take it with me.

and the teacher’s answer is…

[teacher]: so, that.. my dear student… yeah, that is marriage!

moral of the story:

love, the more you look for it, the more you can’t find it. love is in the bottom of your heart, when you can control what you want and control your hope for something more.

when you want and hope for something more from love, then all you get just emptiness… nothing you will possess, and nothing can be turned back. you cannot turn back time. so just accept love as the way it presents itself to you.

*photo credit: www.aspieweb.net

i decided to put on hold the ballet class because i think she was still too young for it. naia was having an adjustments to fit in and interacting with people in her school, so i doubt that she would be able to in a dance class. although i totally understand how much she loves to dance.

after asking questions and finding out more about it, i decided that i’ll put her on a ballet class if she reaches 3.5 years. of course, only if by that time she still wants to take ballet class. apparently, she does. when i took her on an observation inside the ballet class 2 weeks ago, she was so excited and happy that she couldn’t stand sitting on the side of the class. when called by the teacher, she joined right away and started dancing and following the teacher’s instructions. that’s when i know she’s ready.

so this past saturday, she’s officially in a ballet class. right now, it’s a modern ballet class at the ballet & music company. i’m trying out for 1 term. if she really does enjoy it, then i’ll move her to a classical ballet when the term has ended. she can then decide which one she likes best.

as early as 7.30am on a saturday, naia woke up to ask us whether it’s her off day from school or not that day. i told her that it’s not an off day cuz she has a ballet class today. hubby told her that she should get ready, took shower and had her breakfast (things that she would always find a reason not to do in the morning). surprisingly, she jumped out of the bed, asked her ‘mbak’ to feed her breakfast and she then straight to go to shower. wow! she was ready by 8am while both hubby and i are still in our bed .. LOL! well, the class doesn’t start by 11am, so we still have plenty of time to get ready.

by 11, we were already in front of the class. i told her that she will go inside the classroom by herself as i will not be sitting inside to watch her. at first, she was hesitant, but as the class door opens and sees other little girls went in by themselves, she just ran and sit down in front of the teacher. she was then asked her name and asked to waved to her friends. i was just watching her from outside of the class. before the class door closes, i told her that i’ll be waiting outside.

the class runs about 45 minutes, from 11.15am to 12pm. so i went to run some errands and went to the nearby stores. apparently 45 minutes run very fast, so by the time my watch reaches 12pm, hubby and i walked to the ballet center. apparently, the class was already out and i saw naia crying in her stroller that we parked outside of the classroom. apparently, she thought that we had left her because she didn’t see me when she comes out. aww.. poor thing! what a bad first day experience for her.

after telling her that we’re sorry and she finally settles down, i asked her about the class. at first, she said she doesn’t want to go again, but this was merely because she was afraid the same thing would happen when she got out of the class (me not being there). so i promised her, next time i will not go anywhere, i will wait outside. then, she said she wants to go back to the class again. she seems genuinely happy.

ahhh.. good for her! my baby is a big girl now..

first, because this is a second pregnancy, and i’m 3 years older than my previous one.

second, i have a toddler daughter who is very active and in the period of her toddler years, meaning, very moody, needs a long-mile patience everytime to deal with her on anything. even as simple as taking a shower.

third, i don’t have the luxury to be able to sleep whenever i want, wake up whenever i want during my off days.

to sum it all up, this second pregnancy really drains my energy. to be able just to function everyday is already a miracle. add a mile long patience i have to endure everytime i face my daughter, it’s even another miracle i have to perform everyday. my body is tired all the time because i don’t get enough rest as much as i want. after a long day at work, i’d go home to a needy toddler who only wants to do things WITH ME and noone else!

so yes, it’s a drag. not the pregnancy, no. but the situation that i’m in because this is a second pregnancy and i don’t have the luxury that i have during my first one when the only people i need to take care is my hubby, who is mostly taking care of me

so there are days that i ask hubby to start pitching in with taking care of my daughter. as simple as taking her to the wash room when we’re outside. or when she wants to brush her teeth at night, or changed into pajamas. not that he didn’t help before, but i made him to be the primary on it so that naia can get used to being taken care of by her dad instead of me all the time. so when the baby is born, i can focus on taking care of the baby, taking turns with hubby.

the problem is, naia is at the rebellious phase where:
1. she thinks she’s big enough to do things herself
2. she thinks she’s big enough to think for herself
3. she thinks she’s big enough to know what she wants and what’s good for her
4. she uses her logic to say no and do whatever she wants

i don’t mind with #1-3, but the thing is she would rarely listen to anyone else when this happens. so she’d either make a mess, do things completely out of this world, or just test your patience. and most of the time, no one can tell her what to do, but me. she listens to noone but mama. sometimes she just doesn’t want to listen, period. this is bad, because that means i have to talk her out of it.. and believe me, when you’re pregnant, tired, and lack of sleep, you just don’t have the patience for it.

so what i did to ease things are:
1. manage her expectations
i try to let naia knows before hand that something may needed to be done that she needs to follow. for example, when she’s watching TV, she just gets angry when someone suddenly told her to shut the TV off cuz it’s time to go to bed. she’d be screaming and howling. so what i do is i tell her that when the clock has gone to a certain number, the TV is off. and that usually follows with a quick agreement.

2. tell her in advance on something that may be changed out of her routine
in the morning, i usually make time to go and drop her off to school. but there are times that i need to leave home to be at work a bit early. naia has a custom that when she wakes up in the morning, she’d take a milk or warm tea in her straw bottle, while still cuddling in my arms. when she wakes up to find me already in the bathroom before she had her milk/tea, she’d throw tantrum. so what i’d do, i’d tell her before bed that i will leave home early, so she won’t see me when she wakes up. most of the times it works. or i wait till she finishes her milk/tea and get up. she usually has no complains then.

3. praise her for being a good girl
always praise her. it brings her confident. i usually ask her when i got home if she was being a good girl at home by finishing her meals, had a nap, follow instructions from her ‘mbak’. if she is, i’d give her something as a present. this something can be as small as a sticker to something big as a cookie. whatever it is, it helps her to be confident and know that she’ll be rewarded for being a good girl. on the other hand, if she’s not, i won’t give her anything and i’d ask what bothers her so that she doesn’t obey the rules and routines. getting her to talk and explain about it is my favorite part, cuz she’ll have her own logic to explain herself. it’s so cute! at the end, of course, i’d tell her that i don’t like it if she’s not being a good girl and ask her to be one again the next day.

4. i try not to say ‘no’ to her
at this period, naia likes to test things out, to see how far she can go before she’s being told “no” to. hubby and her nanny would right away tell her when she’s doing something that she’s not supposed to. i try to contain them and let naia do whatever (under our supervision). or if i really think that it’s too dangerous for her to try, i’d try to distract her to doing something else. it’s better than saying “NO” to her face, because she just haaates to be told that and that’d be like opening a pandora box to her mood swings.

as for baby#2 .. it’s getting bigger in the womb, the baby also moves a lot more and i can feel every move. this also another dead tiring moment because everytime i have to endure to the movements (which sometimes a kick here and there). from the beginning, baby#2 is shown very active inside the belly, now that it’s bigger, i can definitely feel it even more.

as for preparation, we’re pretty much still have not yet prepared anything. the only big item we have prepared so far is to upgrade our car to a 7 seater, cuz we need to install 2 car seats once the baby is born. here is hubby saying goodbye to our old car 2 weeks ago.

i’ll probably wait till the later part of the pregnancy to start preparing for items like clothes (though most will be from naia’s old ones), cots, etc. besides though the doc says the baby is most likely a girl, hubby has not yet closed out a chance that it could be a boy. so, fingers crossed!

apparently the video was sending shockwave throughout china social media and people were angry about it. the most disturbing part was that NO ONE was even helping the little two-year old after she got hit the first time. 18 passerby went by her without even offering to help, then a second van ran over her again. after awhile, then a 58-year old scavenger woman came over and screamed for help and for the toddler’s mom. the little girl is now in a coma and the doctor said that her injuries were so severe, there’s nothing else they can do.

people who were in video was said to be afraid to help her because there was an earlier incident where an eldery man was involved in an accident. he was given help by one of the good samaritan but instead of praise for being a help, the good samaritan was charged for interfering with accident scene, or something like that. and because of that, they are afraid to help victims when accidents happen.

helloo?? are we not humans? don’t they have hearts? regardless whether they would get charged later for whatever stupid reasons, how could they let a little girl fighting for her life on the street? and those stupid drivers, don’t they have eyes? at least stop after they felt that hit something? wtf!

recently, i’m hearing more and more ignorance towards kids. in one of the news postings in facebook, i read about a little girl being beaten to death by her own mom because she was playing with her mom’s new expensive lipstick. the mother was so pissed that she started beating her, and before she knows it, the girl died from severe beatings. the mom then realized, her little girl was using the lipstick to write “i love you” on her white sheet. how cruel!

are we living in the world of ignorance now that we just don’t have the patience, hearts or even compassion for a little human being? kids who were given cigarettes to smoke, killed for something so stupid like out of jealousy or selfish reasons, beaten instead of loved, it’s just so sad.

i still can’t take my mind off that clips. i can only imagine how i must felt if it were my daughter lying there. *knock on wood*. are not a society of humans where compassion, conscience and healthy thinking brain that separates us from animals? so why are we acting even worse than animals now?

it’s just beyond me!

parenting is one of the hardest job in the world. it takes a lot from parents to raise a child, heck, it takes our whole world. raising a toddler is no easy task either. it’s very challenging and drains your patience. but eyes filled with love from your child throws that away when they come and kiss you and tells “i love you” before they sleep. it’s part of life. everything is a process, no instant matter.

but the world are so tied with instant, their ego and selfishness, they don’t see things that way any longer. life is not something they cherish. it’s like living day on day out.. searching for materialistic value instead of emotional and spiritual fulfillment.

are we become robot now? i refused to believe that. but more or more, it’s seen in front of our eyes that the society has become that.

how can we avoid it? i don’t want my daughter to live and grow in a world where conscience and moral standars have gone that they only think about themselves without having empathy to others. i’d rather seeing her grow up to become a ‘rich’ individuals spritually, emotionally and conscience-wise, than financially rich.

yes, it’s a cliche, but something must be done to make that happen, as i see the world has changed so much. so sad

recently, my intention to write comes back alive again. it seems that i’ve been having some writing block that it was so hard for me to write anything. well, not because i lost touch, it’s more because i lost the time i can spend to write. back then, i used to write in between my lunch time. i would always find the idea to write during my commute to and from work. life was interesting back then. everyday i would find something new and interesting to write or share in my blog. not that life is not interesting now, it’s just that i have other important stuffs on my head.

then family comes. not that i blame them, of course. i love my family and i love being a mom. so then, my blog becomes a family blog where i write about my daughter and her milestones. i was a bit hesitant to do that though, even until now. because for me, blogging is about writing my thoughts and opinions, not a diary. that’s why i kept myself anonymous for the longest part since this blog exists. then, the urban mama comes along. it’s like moving my ‘family blog’ writing there. then it becomes not just a hobby, but also a business. as someone who sits behind, running it as a business, it takes more of my time doing that then actually writing in it. so i give up writing almost entirely, even in my own blog.

the feel still comes and goes. i want to write again, but always stuck on what to write. my life has become a routine and i still want to separate between my daily life and what i can blog. i tried not to blog my daily life. hubby said, why not? so i’d write about something special happened in our life, but not everything.

back then, more than a decade ago, people are not so tuned in the virtual world as they are today. even then, i worry about giving out too much in the virtual world. but these days, i see people write about their daily life, mentioning the most private things like who the name of their daughter’s nanny, where they live, what they do, where they work, it just seems too scary for me. so i tried to put in boxes on how much info i can share here in my blog, eventhough, most people already know who i am in the real life, who my family is, what my daughter’s name, etc. but i still think, i need to stop at something and not giving out too much. after all, blogging is a digital foot print, and i don’t want to be held responsible if i’m sharing too much info.

that’s why i’m searching on ways on how to continue writing in this blog. i don’t want to make it as a diary, i want it to contain all my thoughts. yes, they may be boring, but when i looked back at my past thoughts, i’m amazed on how analytical i was. i want to be like that again. maybe soon.. we’ll see.

image credits: www.marqui.com

the opportunity was just an accident really and it was done through twitter. last year, during the first kids fashion festival event from the same magazine, mbak tenik offered me and naia a spot as a runway guest in the opening event. but of course, since we’re not in jakarta, it was too hard to fulfill the invitation. especially it was offered at the last minute.

then, during one of my visits to jakarta, i was honored to meet mbak tenik in person for lunch, together with ninit and mbak andi maerzyda, just for a chat. she is very lovely and friendly in person. after that, we’d contact each other through the universe of twitter where i found out that she’s also friends with some of my good buddies.

one day, after i changed my avatar in twitter for the millionth time, mbak tenik replied by saying that naia and i should be in ayahbunda cover. of course, i didn’t think it was serious. but apparently she did. so when i went back to jakarta for a week visit in early march this year, she asked me to spare a day for a photoshoot. whoa! even until the last minute, i thought she was joking. and even if she did asked me for a photoshoot, i still thought it’d be just for a feature, not for the cover.

that morning, on our last day in a week visit to jakarta, naia and i prepared early and went to femina building. mbak lala was there to greet us and ega was there to interview me while i was being made up. naia knew she was going to be shot also, but thought she’d be shot in a bunny costume. so when she saw me done with my makeup and no bunny, she was so disappointed (hence, the grumpy face in the picture above). after make up, we went to FX, because the shot is done in one of the restaurants there.

took us a while to get a good shot, because naia didn’t smile freely. she acted to smile but not a real smile. not until my mom’s driver, whom naia adores so much, pretended like he was falling, naia would smile and we got the perfect shot! the one that made the cover is actually the shot from the second session, which was done very fast, but somehow the one that’s made the cut.

thanks for the lovely crew of ayahbunda for their patience with naia throughout the whole photoshoot. and of course to mbak tenik, who made it happen. thanks so much!

the magazine was published in april this year and it was like a perfect birthday gift for naia, who turned 3 that month.

that same month, ninit and i was also interviewed and featured in an article on republika newspaper. the interview was about how blogging leads us to business, of course, it’s talking about the urban mama.

you may click on the picture above for a bigger version, in case you want to read the article, though i think it’s still very small.

what a month!

day 2
kalau hari pertama sesampainya di NZ bisa dibilang habis di jalan dan karena faktor perbedaan waktu yang jauh, jadi benar2 efektif menikmati liburannya dimulai dari day 2 ini.

kita bangun pagi2, which means, masih pagi buta di singapore. tapi untungnya naia gak jet lag sama sekali. jam 9 soalnya kita udah dijemput dengan bus yang akan membawa kita ke mt. hutt. nah untuk ngakalin supaya gak ketinggalan bus dan bangun on time, semalem kita tidur langsung ngikutin waktu NZ. (lagi-lagi) untung naia bukan anak yang susah tidur. yang penting semua lampu dimatiin, dia akan tidur sendiri. jadi sebelom jam 12 malam pun kita semua udah ngorok. sebelom tidur kita udah mandi air anget, biar gak kedinginan boboknya. dan sekalian maksudnya biar besok pagi, kita bisa langsung berangkat, gak pake mandi lagi. hihi.. sounds jorok? well, that’s what you do in a winter weather. gue masih inget, dulu temen2 gue di kampus di amerika malah hanya mandi di malam hari, apalagi kalo ada kelas pagi.. wih, bablas lah ga pake acara mandi. gue sih masih pake mandi yah kalo pagi2 dulu, udah kebiasaan, tapi emang karena udaranya dingin, gak berasa keringetan. jadi mau mandi pagi ato engga sebenernya ga ngaruh. yang penting sikat gigi.

dan karena hari kedua ini kita bakal spend the whole day in the snow, jadi gak ngaruh lah mau mandi ato gak. yang penting sebelom berangkat sikat gigi dulu, pake lotion biar kulit gak kering dan bundled up. naia was so excited to finally able to see and play in the snow, dia langsung loncat begitu dibangunin dan langsung ikutan ribet siap2.

sesampainya di mt. hutt, ario langsung beli paket untuk ski buat 2 hari, sekalian urusan rental2. kebetulan karena gue gak ikutan ski, jadi perlengkapan rental juga ga banyak. hanya ski gear untuk ario dan ski boots untuk naia. untuk gue sendiri, gue udah punya snowboarding boots, tapi karena gue ga bakal snowboarding ya dipake buat maen di snow aja.

rencananya, selama ario ski, gue ama naia hanya akan maen2 snow aja di bunny slopes. tapi begitu keluar dan ngeliat ada banyak anak2 pake ski gear, naia jadi pengen. jadi deh kita nyewain naia ski. langsung happy dan begaya dia, walopun awalnya ga berani dilepas tapi lama2 jadi bisa sendiri.

kira2 jam 5 sore, kita pun balik kembali ke penginapan. puass maen di snow. walopun cuma guling2an aja, sliding, etc. kalo udah kedinginan, kita masuk ke lodge minum hot chocolate. trus balik lagi maen2 di bunny slopes. buat gue sih mayan nyantai, tapi ternyata capek juga krn kalo udah kecapekan, naia jadi super manja minta digendong. ya ampuunn.. kan berat!!

malamnya, kita jalan ngitarin methven sekalian nyari dinner. ujung2nya malah dinner di japanese resto and the only japanese resto around. abis itu mampir ke grocery store buat beli sarapan besok pagi. karena sama kayak hari ini, pagi2 kita bakal naek bis lagi ke mt. hutt.

day 3
second day spending the day in the ski area. karena malam ini setelah dari mt. hutt kita akan balik ke christchurch, jadi pagi2 udah heboh urusan packing, karena mesti check out. barang2 kita tinggalin di concierge sambil nunggu jemputan bis. dan karena ini hari terakhir kita akan maen2 di snow, jadi pengen puas2in banget.. karena di christchurch gak bakal ngeliat snow lagi deh.. or so we thought.

kalau kemaren hanya maen2 di bunny slopes, di hari kedua ini, naia kekeuh minta ikutan ski class. setelah tanya2, ternyata kelasnya bayar NZ$75 untuk 3 jam. gue pikir sih kelasnya ya yang untuk ngajarin ski aja.. ternyata enggak. jadi naia diajakin masuk dulu ke activity center, disuruh gambar2 sambil kenalan. trus dipakein gear lengkap dan baru diajarin satu2 untuk slide down. ih, tau gitu dari kemaren gue masukin dia disitu. kan mayan banget. di activity center nya itu juga kayak daycare gitu, dan kita juga bisa ninggalin aja kalo emang orang tuanya mau ski. tapi ya berhubung gue emang ga ngapa2in jadi gue ikutan aja semua aktivitasnya sambil nemenin naia.

the ski instructor is this friendly girl who’s really good with children. di kelas naia ada 3 anak lain yang ikutan. yang satu cewek sekitar 4.5 thn dari inggris, trus ada 2 anak cowok, yang satu dari aussie dan satu lagi lupa dari mana. the instructor herself is actually from finland but speaks clear english, so naia can understand her fine. lucunya, naia langsung senyum2 gitu pas tau nama gurunya adalah dora.. hihihi..

dan ternyata naia happy banget bisa ikutan ski class ini, karena emang jadi langsung bisa loh! emang anak2 itu kalo diajarin cepet banget ya.. she was sliding down the slopes fine and was able to stop too. canggih.. gue juga jadi ikutan belajar trik2 ski deh.. karena sebenernya gue pun gak pernah ski. dari awal gue langsung belajar snowboarding soalnya.

selesai kelasnya, sempet makan dulu dan menghangatkan diri di lodge. trus we took the early bus down to methven karena bus kita ke christchurch juga agak early. soalnya pengennya bisa sampe di christchurch gak terlalu malam. maklum, mesti nyari makan malam juga kan.. mana kita juga mesti pick up mobil sewaan di airport. dan emang kita di drop-in di airport karena biar bisa nyari makan malam dulu disana. eh ternyata, karena nyampenya udah lewat waktu jam makan malam (jam 8 lewat), semua stalls makanan di airport, udah tutup aja gituu.. duh bener2 deh ini NZ, semua mesti on time. jadi deh kita beli makanan apa aja yang penting bisa kenyang dan naia makan.

abis makan malam, kita ambil mobil sewaan dan menuju tempat penginapan kita di west fitzroy. ternyata menuju tempat penginapan ini gak gampang karena banyak banget jalanan ditutup akibat gempa, jadi kita muter2 mulu krn jalanan yang di kasih ama GPS gak bisa dilewatin semua. eh pas akhirnya sampe, kita ga nemuin kunci apt nya di mailbox. jadi karena tempat penginapannya ini berupa serviced apartment, jadi emang ga ada lobby atau concierge 24 jam. perjanjiannya, kunci kamar kita akan ditaro di amplop dan ditaro di mailbox. tapi taunya ga ada!! duh, udah panik aja bisa2 mesti tidur di mobil kita malam itu, tapi akhirnya bisa contact salah satu yang jaga dan langsung dateng. gara2 miskomunikasi dan kita nunggu lama, mereka ga enak jadinya apt kita di upgrade dan kita dapet free internet service selama stay. yay!

sayang gue lupa foto2 apartment nya. yang pasti keren banget deh.. lengkap banget amenities nya, sampe ada laundry & dryer juga. perlengkapan dapur pun lengkap abis, there’s even an oven! gue sampe berpikir mau baking coba.. hihihi.. untung masih sadar ini lagi liburan. yang pasti apt ini recommended banget!

day 4
kita bangun agak siangan karena capek banget semalem baru masuk ke apartment udah malam gara2 miskom itu. rencana hari ini ada 2 tempat yang mau didatengin. ke ferrymead, yang sebenarnya adalah kota tua christchurch, lalu ke willowbank, a small wildlife reserve.

di ferrymead, kita bisa ngeliat kehidupan jaman dulu di christchurch, ada arcadia theater, bakery, sampai old tram yang masih di maintain banget. sayang karena dingin jadi rada sepi. malah pas naek tram-nya, kita cuma satu2nya penumpang. dan sebenernya juga hanya muter doang, tapi ya seru aja liat old school tram. sempet menghangatkan diri dulu di bakerynya, beli cookies, hot chocolate & muffins. enaakk.. tapi pricey, as other places in NZ, apparently.

karena ternyata tempatnya kecil, jadi kita bisa nyelesein muter2 di ferrymead, faster than we thought. jadi setelah itu kita sempet jalan2 muter2in christchurch dulu. trus makan siang di daerah downtown nya. berhubung naia maunya mesti makan nasi, jadi lah kita nyari tempat makan asia.. dan ujung2nya malah ke resto malaysia. sempet ngobrol2 sama yang punya resto, sharing cerita ttg asian communities di new zealand.

selama di resto, kita udah mulai melihat ada ice turun. menurut prakiraan cuaca, emang katanya christchurch akan snowing hari ini. tapi karena semua orang di christchurch bilang, jaraaang banget sampe bener2 snowing, jadi ya kita gak expect to see a real snow shower. buktinya ya cuma icy rain doang yang turun.

jadi abis dari lunch, kita lanjut ke willowbank. sebenarnya ada 2 zoo yang bisa didatengin di christchurch, tapi kita sengaja milih willowbank yang lebih kecil karena .. kecil! soalnya udara di luar juga dingin banget, gak mungkin kita berlama2 jalan di luar kan. tapi ternyata puas banget di willowbank, karena walopun kecil, binatangnya banyak. most of them are the natural new zealand animals, jadi emang belom pernah kita liat di zoo di singapore. keren2 banget binatangnya.. ada kangaroo juga. tapi gue amazed ngeliat koleksi birdiesnya. ada barron creek goose yang warnanya bener2 keren, kayak pake boots deh. dan the star of the show, bisa ngeliat kiwi bird juga! sayang ga bisa difoto karena kiwi bird ini tinggalnya di tempat yang gelap, jadi gak bisa kena cahaya.

abis dari sini, kita langsung pulang karena terjadi accident dimana naia gak kuat nahan pipis di udara dingin, dan malah pipis di celana. dia udah bilang mau pipis, tapi sebelom gue berhasil bawa dia ke toilet, dia udah keburu pipis duluan hihi.. akhirnya dibungkus pake selimut dan kita langsung balik ke apartment. abis itu kita sempet keluar lagi nyari makan malam, trus stay in sambil gue ngelaundry. and guess what, di luar pun mulai terlihat snow shower makin kenceng dan snow nya makin banyak.. wuiihh, ternyata beneran snow showers loohh! but we thought.. oh well, paling juga bentar aja showernya. walopun pas kita keluar sempet bingung karena ternyata snownya udah mulai banyak jadinya jalanan udah mulai licin. gue sempet bertanya2.. kok ga ada plower yah yang bersiin jalan? oh well, ini bukan new york city. orang2 christchurch gak terbiasa nerima snow, jadi ya didiemin aja gitu ama mereka..

day 5
rencana hari ini adalah kita mau pergi ke akaroa, mau ikutan cruise buat liat dolphins. many people say that it’s a great view. tapi begitu kita bangun pagi2.. dan ngeliat keluar.. tadaaa.. masih snowing dan snow di luar udah numpuk!! wow, really be careful what you wish for. kita kesini pengen liat snow, ternyata emang beneran dikasih banyak banget! akhirnya kita stay in dulu. untung sempet belanja makanan di grocery, jadi gue manas2in makanan dan masak buat sarapan. soalnya jalanan di luar juga penuh dengan snow, jadi rada2 bingung mau nyetir tar gimana.

di tv juga disebutin kalo kota christchurch ditutup hari itu gara2 snow. jalanan juga licin, which is definitely ke akaroa gak mungkin juga. even the airport is closed.

buat gue yang pernah ngalamin snow blizzard di new york berkali2, snow di christchurch ini sebenarnya ga ada apa2nya. tapii karena orang2 disini gak terbiasa dapet snow sebanyak itu, jadi pada gak prepare. gak ada yang bersiin jalan, gak ada yang ngerapiin depan rumahnya, semuanya dibiarin gitu aja.. which means… the roads are slippery and becomes icy. dan susah buat jalan deh. tapi akhirnya kita keluar juga, cuz we gotta eat. walopun kuatir ga nemu ada yang buka, so we aim to go to the nearest mall. untung salah satu mall yang gede buka, walopun gak the whole day. di perjalanan menuju ke mall, sempet ngelewatin park gede dan seruuu banget liat orang2 pada maen di park, throwing snow, making snowman. waahh.. pemandangan yang pengen gue share ke naia and thought she would never get to see.. ternyata malah bisa ikutan.

at the mall, most of the stores are closed, tapi foodcourtnya buka. ya udah kita beli lunch trus sempet beli beberapa makanan buat dinner. karena ga yakin ntar malem bisa keluar lagi. abis itu muter2 di mall, naia malah happy karena nemu playground, jadi dia maen2. pas ngelewati hoyt’s, cinema disitu, ternyata buka dan lagi ada kung fu panda maen. ya udah, daripada bengong kita ga bisa kemana2 juga, akhirnya malah nonton deh! hihih..

malemnya kita stay in aja di apartment. beberes karena besok kita udah mesti check out. walopun rada kuatir karena airport masih ditutup. jadi bedoa deh supaya airportnya buka besok pagi dan kita bisa balik.

day 6
pagi2 kita sempet sarapan nyari makan in the nearest mall. muter2 foto2in kotanya, especially the buildings affected by the earthquake early this year. abis itu kita balikin mobil, sambil terus2an ngecek airport buka ato enggak. untungnya pesawat kita siang, jadi penerbangan tetap on time.

bye bye south kiwi island.. hope to see you again!

by midnight waktu setempat, kita sampai di KL. loh kok KL? iya soalnya emang rute pesawatnya kan ke KL. dan kebetulan bokap nyokap gue juga emang lagi di KL karena lagi nungguin adek ipar gue yang mau lahiran, jadi kita extend 1 hari di KL.. well karena mau gak mau emang mesti stay di KL karena waktu mendarat kita udah terlalu malam… jadi emang udah ga ada connecting flight lagi ke SG. at least we got to see my parents, my brother and his wife, who’s counting days til their firstborn arrive.

the end.