Bahasa Indonesia Baru

Kalau anda orang Indonesia yang telah meninggalkan kampung halaman untuk tinggal di luar Indonesia lebih dari 10 tahun, anda akan merasa sangat sulit untuk mengikuti perkembangan bahasa Indonesia terutama kata-kata baru yang diucapkan sehari-hari oleh orang Indonesia di Indonesia. Apalagi kalau anda jarang pulang kampung dan jarang berhubungan dengan orang-orang di Indonesia.

Terus terang saya sangat merasakan hal ini. Kemampuan berbahasa Indonesia saya terbatas oleh kata-kata yang saya tahu terakhir kali sebelum saya meninggalkan Indonesia sehingga ketika saya berbicara bahasa Indonesia akan terdengar sangat resmi, lucu, dan ketinggalan jaman. Akhirnya, daripada saya menjadi bahan tertawaan, saya memilih untuk berbahasa Inggris saja karena saya juga merasa lebih familiar dan mudah menyampaikan maksud saya.
Akibatnya, bahasa Indonesia saya tidak berkembang dan bahkan cenderung kaku karena saya jarang memakainya.

Tentu saja sebagai bahasa ibu, sulit bagi saya untuk melupakan bahasa Indonesia. Tetapi setiap kali saya mendapat email dari teman-teman atau keluarga saya yang masih tinggal di Indonesia, selalu saja saya menemukan banyak istilah-istilah baru/kata-kata baru yang saya tidak pernah dengar sama sekali sebelumnya. Ada juga kata baru yang sudah pernah saya dengar tetapi artinya dan penggunaannya sungguh berbeda dengan yang pernah saya tahu sebelumnya. Kebanyakan kata-kata baru tersebut digunakan untuk bahasa sehari-hari atau lebih akrab disebut sebagai bahasa gaul.

Seperti bahasa lain, bahasa Indonesia pun mengalami evolusi dan ini adalah bagian dari evolusi bahasa Indonesia. Terus terang saya merasa penasaran untuk belajar bahasa Indonesia baru ini karena saya merasa janggal setiap kali mendengar/membaca kata-kata baru tersebut tetapi saya tidak tahu artinya.

Tetapi sayangnya, setiap kali saya menanyakan/mencari tahu arti dan asal kata-kata baru tersebut, selalu saja saya ditertawakan terlebih dahulu baru diberi jawaban. Bahkan kadang kala tidak dijawab sama sekali karena banyak orang kira saya hendak melucu. Mungkin saya tampak seperti mahluk Mars yang ingin belajar bahasa Bumi. Atau mungkin saya tampak seperti orang 'tempo doeloe'. Untung saja jaman sekarang adalah jaman internet dimana Google.com adalah senjata saya untuk mencari tahu hal apapun termasuk kata-kata baru bahasa Indonesia yang saya tidak tahu.

Selama 10 tahun lebih tinggal di luar Indonesia, sengingat dan setahu saya, kata-kata baru yang saya pelajari adalah:

1. BT (saya mulai dengar kata ini pertama kali tahun 2000) - yang sampai saat ini terus terang saya tidak terlalu tahu pasti kepanjangannya tetapi setahu saya, BT banyak dipakai untuk mendeskripsikan keadaan yang membosankan.
2. Jadul (pertama kali baca tahun 2006) - ternyata singkatan "jaman dulu".
   
3. Jablai (pertama kali dengar kata ini tahun 2007) - ternyata singkatan "jarang dibelai".
4. Kopdar (pertama kali dengar tahun 2007) - singkatan "kopi darat" yang banyak dipakai untuk menerangkan pertemuan yang diadakan oleh mereka-mereka yang sebelumnya kenal melalui internet.
   
5. Secara (pertama kali baca tahun 2007) - Setahu saya, pemakaian kata ini adalah untuk mendeskripsikan kata "dengan cara" + kata sifat. Tetapi sejak 2007, saya penasaran sekali ingin tahu arti pemakaian kata "secara" yang sering sekali saya temukan ketika berkomunikasi dengan orang-orang di Indonesia. Rasanya pemakaian kata "secara" sudah tidak pada tempatnya. Selama setahun saya mencari tahu mengapa orang Indonesia memakai kata "secara" tidak pada tempatnya dan saya baru saja menemukan jawabannya di sini: http://ronny.haryan.to/archives/2008/04/18/secara-goblok/#comments

Saya rasa masih banyak kata-kata lain lagi tetapi saya sudah lupa karena saya jarang memakai kata-kata baru tersebut.

Kalau anda pembaca setia blog saya, anda tahu bahwa saya selalu menggunakan bahasa Inggris. Tetapi kali ini, saya mencoba untuk menggunakan bahasa Indonesia karena saya ingin tahu apakah blog entry saya kali ini akan terasa aneh/kaku bila dibaca oleh orang-orang Indonesia baik yang tinggal di Indonesia maupun yang tinggal di luar Indonesia.

Saya akan sangat bersyukur bila anda sudi memberikan komentar anda.

Happy Father's Day

To all fathers in the world,

May God bless you always and give you health, strength, and guidance to pull through each and every day of your life together with your loved ones.
May you always be great father for your children and great husband/partner for your wife.
Love and protect your children with all your heart and mind. In return, you'll gain their love and respect you deserve.

Happy father's day!!

World Environment Day (WED)

Today, 5th of June, is World Environment Day and the slogan for this year celebration is Kick the Habit! Towards a Low Carbon Economy. For more information about WED 2008, visit http://www.unep.org/wed/2008/english/About_WED_2008/index.asp

What have I been doing to take an active part to celebrate WED?

1. Recycling: I've done this for nearly 6 years now. I separate my household waste into recyclable materials (such as cloths, paper, glass, plastic, and other things that I can send to recycle center) and non-recyclable materials. Some of the recyclable materials I recycle at home by turning them into beautiful decorative items and re-use them. I like to use old printed papers for my origami projects. I diligently send the old newspaper & magazines to the recycle center for some pocket money.. :) Sometimes I can even use the money to pay for the newspaper monthly subscription. So, it's really a recycle thing.. :D
   
2. No Air Conditioner (A/C) when it's not an emergency: Since I don't come from a rich family, I'm used to live without A/C. My skin can cope with the hot and humid weather very well as long as it is not a direct heat from the sun. I can see a huge drop in my electricity bill when A/C is not in use.
   
3. Switch off electrical power when not in use: Every night before I sleep, I'll make sure I only use the least amount of power at home. I unplug all the electricity plugs that I don't use at night. It helps me to reduce my electricity bill and also reduce the risk of fire (from short-circuit). I'm so particular about this until I know exactly which main switch controls parts of my house switches so I can isolate them.
   
4. Switch off the lights when not in use: not only this will reduce my electricity bill, switching off the light when not in use will also help to prolong the life of the bulb.
5. Close the water taps tightly: I get irritated when I hear water drips so I always make sure all water taps are closed tightly and fix all the leak pipes around the house. It saves my water bill.. :)
   
6. No driving when it's not necessary: I prefer to walk then to drive. Driving is a stressful thing to do for me and it can burn a hole in my pocket because of the expensive petrol. Walk is a lot better. It's environmentally friendly and good for my health.
   
7. Sign up for electronic bills/statement as much as I can.
   

So far those are major things I've been doing to support the Green day every day move. Some people very close to me says I am very frugal because they get annoyed when I ask their help to do all the above. they said it's a waste of time. One person even gets very angry with me every time I ask him to reduce the use of paper. I'm just playing my part to save this earth. But unfortunately, these people think that what I've done will not give effect at all so why waste time to save the earth when the rest don't even care.
Hmmmm... I never even think like that. In my opinion, I should start every thing (especially good thing) from my part and spread the good things to others.

There is still 1 important thing that I promise my self to do: stop using plastic bag.
I've been trying to reduce the use of plastic bag as much as I can but I still need to use plastic bag to throw the rubbish. I plan to make a carton box from recycled papers (something like the egg carton) to throw rubbish so that I can stop using plastic bags to throw rubbish.

So, what have you done and will do to support World Environment Day?

Sharing important knowledge

Some of the information below I received when I attended an ante-natal class.

1. Breast milk is the best: I was successfully breastfed my son for 15 months and I can't stress enough how important it is to give your babies, from newborn - 6 months old, only breast milk (exclusive breastfeeding) because breast milk is the only thing that their tiny stomach can digest. Breast milk also provides complete nutritions for your babies to grow while helping all the internal organs to mature and can function properly. It's cheap and convenient. It protects your babies against infection and allergy. You will see that the rest of the information I give below will always referred back to breast milk as no. 1 solution. It is also important to know the correct way to breastfeed your baby, again I stress the word, breastfeed. Not nipplefeed. Make sure baby is latched on properly to the breast so that mother doesn't feel the pain on the nipple during breastfeeding. Many women do not want to breastfeed because they can't stand the pain.
   Visit La Leche League website for more info about breastfeeding or ask guidance from other breastfeeding moms.
2. Breastfeeding moms must be relaxed and happy to help increasing the milk production. For more information about how breast milk is produce, read here: http://www.babies.sutterhealth.org/breastfeeding/bf_production.html
3. Breast milk produces at night so breastfeeding mothers have to breastfeed their babies at night so that the breasts will not be too full. Full breasts are very uncomfortable and painful.
4. Do not put breast milk in a glass because breast milk can loose its important nutrition when it's put in a glass. Use a plastic cup/container instead.
5. No water for newborn to 6 months old babies. Only breastmilk (or only if mother can't produce breast milk, then give formula): According to the latest news I read from Reuters, giving too much water to babies below 6 months old and younger can put babies at risk of a potentially life-threatening condition known as water intoxication because their kidneys are not yet mature. Too much water will make babies' bodies to release sodium along with excess water and losing sodium can affect brain activity.
   You can read the rest of the article here: http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSCOL76777020080527
   
6. When your baby has jaundice (yellow skin): Jaundice is caused by the excessive amount of bilirubin in the blood. It is dangerous when bilirubin level is more than 15 mg. The treatment: Blue light - to help to bring down the level of bilirubin faster, give breast milk NOT water because bilirubin will come out together with the stool not with urine. Water will come out as urine which won't contain the bilirubin. So, beware when someone asks you to give more water to your jaundice baby. Read more about jaundice here: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001559.htm#
   
7. When your baby has wind/colic: No traditional herbs for breastfeed moms. Breastfeed more. Do not apply oil/ointment on the stomach because it can caused liver damage (some mothers like to apply oil/ointment such as minyak telon/minyak kayu putih (Cajaput oil) to baby's stomach every time after bath. This is dangerous because after a warm bath, baby's skin can absorb the oil/ointment very well.
   
8. Nappy rash on baby: Change the nappy frequently. Even if you buy the most expensive nappy, you still have to change it frequently because you do not want the urine to stain your baby's skin that can cause the rash.
9. When your baby has eye discharge: The treatment for eye discharge: antibiotic eye ointment or drops, frequent cleaning of the eyes carefully and gently, massage the tear duct which may be blocked.
10. When your baby has heat rash (red rashes on the skin): Do not over-cloth the baby. Bath the baby more to cool down.
    
11. No pacifier: I don't recommend to give pacifier to your babies because: it's unhygienic (your baby can get oral thrush - fungal overgrowth in baby's mouth). Pacifier can cause nipple confusion on breastfed babies, and it's dangerous when it's accidentally swallowed (baby will die because of choking).
12. Sleeping position for babies: Back is the best. Lie on the back to sleep. Never leave your baby sleep on the tummy. It's a common cause of SID (sudden infant death/cot death).
13. Always strap in your babies (children) in the right car seat for them when traveling: the baby car seat must be properly and securely installed at the rear (back) seat of the car. Do not install baby car seat in the front seat and the passenger side with airbag when your car is equipped with airbag. Visit this website for more information: http://www.edmunds.com/advice/womenfamilies/articles/104581/article.html
14. Get as much as information you can and always check with your paediatrician/other specialists before you do anything dangerous to your children.

Love and protect your children. Unconditional love is the most important thing you can give to your children because it will teach them how to love others unconditionally as well.

These are all important information I can think of to share with you for the moment. I hope this basic information can help you to become more knowledgeable and wise parents.

Ante-natal class

I'm so glad I finally managed to drag my husband to attend ante-natal class. He missed the 1st one 4 years ago because of his work commitment and distance that kept us apart.

To me, attending an ante-natal class is a very important part of pregnancy period. Although I have attended before, I chose to attend again on my 2nd pregnancy because I believe the knowledge that I received is very valuable to prepare me and my support person to care for our newborn later. Besides, I needed to know any updated information regarding babies/children immunization, sicknesses and how to prevent them, and also great information on what to do/give and not to do/give to babies.

My 1st ante-natal class was provided by Birthcare (great postnatal hospital) in New Zealand. It was a free (fully subsidized by government) 3-day class from morning 'till afternoon. I was given 2 books containing the course material, one book for the father and one book for the mother. The 3-day class was very elaborate and the information given was great especially for 1st time mother like me who had to care for the 1st born by herself. I learned all about to go through my pregnancy, the birthing methods available, the painkiller options during labor, equipment used during delivery, tips on easy-quick delivery, the importance of breastfeeding, how to breastfeed correctly, and parenting education. Too bad my husband couldn't join me, so for 2 sessions my partner was an empty chair then on the final session, one of my good friends agreed to become my temporary birthing partner.

My 2nd ante-natal class was in Malaysia. It's provided by the hospital in where I am going to give birth later.
It was a half a day class. The fee was RM20 per couple in exchange of buffet lunch and all important things to bring to hospital for delivery. The speakers for this ante-natal course consisted of a paediatrician, an obstetrician and gynecology, a nurse, an anaesthetist, and a physiotherapist. I learned a lot of new things in this class especially things regarding breastfeeding, babies, and parenting in Malaysia in addition to the same knowledge I received on my previous ante-natal class in New Zealand.
My husband and I agreed that joining this class really gave us more knowledge about taking care our children. We learned many things that most people take for granted thinking that they already know when actually they know the wrong things.
It's great that my husband was there with me listening to the same information so that when we face a problem concerning our children, we will react the same way and not blaming one another instead. This is a very important point to highlight why it is very important for me to take my support person to attend an ante-natal class.

If you are pregnant, I really suggest you attend an ante-natal class with your support person (your husband, your mother, your mother in-law) so that every one will get the same knowledge and you, as a mother who only wants the best for your children, will not be blamed for doing things that consider new to your support persons. Your mother/mother in-law always think that they know everything better than you do because they are experience mothers, but if they never update their motherhood knowledge, then they will teach you all the wrong things (old information) which can be dangerous for your children. The knowledge you receive during ante-natal course will act as your mythbusters so you know for sure what to do/give to your children.

By attending ante-natal class, you and your support person will be more prepared and relax to welcome the wonderful addition in your family.

Happy Mother's Day

My mother's day prayer this year will be focused on mothers all over the world who are facing difficulties in their life and in their journey as a mother and will also be focused on mothers who were forced to become a mother against their will.
May God give these mothers strength, guidance, and patience, to pull them through each and every day of their lives.
So that with their big heart, these mothers will still be able to give their unlimited amount of love to their children and family and in return, their children will be able to learn how to love others.

To all mother in the world: Happy Mother's day.

Malaysia Airlines VS Air Asia

From 5th May, Malaysia Airlines has been introducing a zero (0) Ringgit fare (passenger only needs to pay for airport tax and surcharges) for its domestic flight tickets. According to the letter from its Managing Director/CEO, Dato' Sri Idris Jala, his airlines has put aside up to 30% of the seats for the these Special Everyday Low Fares.

This is an important move by Malaysia Airlines to be able to compete with Air Asia, which has been giving away zero Ringgit tickets on any special occasions, such as its birthday, since long long time ago.

So now everyone traveling within Malaysia is able to enjoy Malaysia Airlines 5-star service on board of a world's 5-star airlines. They just need to purchase the ticket online at www.malaysiaairlines.com, at least 30 days before the flight departure, and cannot change their mind.

With a ticket price a lot cheaper compared to the normal price, passenger is allocated 20kg check-in baggage allowance, free meal on board, and an allocated seat with seat number (you don't have to fight for your preferred seat).

Air Asia fired back this campaign by offering to pay the difference to any of its passengers if they can find any MAS airfare that is lower than the cheapest offered by Air Asia. This airlines is going to even lower the price of its ticket by introducing sub-zero Fare campaign that will be launched soon.

I personally find this battle very amusing. It's funny to see how Malaysia Airlines reacts to the hard competition given by Air Asia.
It should not feel threatened and compete with Air Asia because these two airlines are in a different class/group which supposed to serve different group of people with different tastes of traveling by air.
Why don't MAS try to focus on giving hard competition to Singapore Airlines (SIA) instead? Try to see any opportunities beyond what SIA can see.
But looks like MAS chooses to abandon the fight with SIA and admitted that SIA is a better airlines. So it shifted its focus to go head-on with Air Asia instead knowing exactly that Air Asia has to go to the battle with its own limited force.

This battle will leave SIA smiling because then SIA will be alone in its class. When there is no competition in the market, passengers will have limited option and this can't be good for them.

I personally has been an Air Asia fanatic because so far I have been able to save a lot and still enjoy traveling to my favorite destinations.
Now, I will have to consider MAS because I would love to enjoy the 5 star service with a cheap ticket.

If I fly with Air Asia, I'll get cheap ticket with budget-style service.
I have to pay more to get any services such as: my check-in baggage (15 kg luggage allowance), priority boarding, and for my meal on board) but then I will fly with new planes (safe, fast, and comfortable).

If I fly with MAS, I'll get a little bit more expensive ticket but with 5-star service.
I don't have to pay for anything extra. My luggage allowance is 20kg. I'll get to board first when traveling with my children (free of charge) and I don't have to fight for my seat.
On top of that, there's free meal on board. Hmmmmm....it sounds a better option than Air Asia.
But then, I will fly with old aircrafts.

Let me calculate again everything and see if at the end MAS will win my choice... : )

Update:
Malaysia Airlines is starting its Everyday Low Fares for ASEAN routes today, 21st May 2008 until 3rd June 2008 for travel period: 1st July - 14th December 2008. HURRY!! HURRY!! It's a very good deal not to be missed!

Maid or no maid?

As a housewife and a mother, I'm sure I'm not the only one who is facing the dilemma whether or not to have a maid (domestic helper) to assist us in our daily chores.

Personally, I do not really need a maid because I can do all the housework by myself. Thanks to my parents who have done great job for allowing me & my brother to participate in doing the housework since we were very small and we grew up to become a clean-freak.. :) (I think my brother is worst than me.. :)).

But then my other half is the total opposite of me. He can't live without a maid or a helper or someone that picks up his dirty cloths on the floor. He said he has no time to do unimportant things like cleaning up papers from his desk or do the dishes. He prefers to have someone else to do the job.

To me, having a maid is a very serious expense that a family needs to think about more than just twice. The cost of hiring a maid can already burn a big hole in my pocket, not to mention about providing her with health care/insurance and personal necessities which she can just ask for top up anytime, plus, of course, her salary and bonuses. I take it like I am hiring a professional worker but then unfortunately, the maid that I hire is far from a professional worker. She did graduate from a high-school but then just like most maid from Indonesia, my maid comes from a very remote area where electricity is something that the people there are longing to have.

Since this is not my first time having a maid, I can understand her situation. Since the first day she started to work for me, I have been teaching and coaching her so that her work performance is able to meet my standard and expectation. Along the way, I constantly have to lower down my standard and expectation and close one eye if I don't want to get depression.
Not just that. I also need to work around the budget to make sure that she won't burn more holes in my pocket because she just couldn't care less about working carefully with my kitchen & household equipments. Before she came to work with me, I had all electronic fancy household and kitchen equipments to help me doing my chores faster and easier. The expensive things I bought are supposed to last at least more than a year. Though I have constantly reminded my maid NEVER TO TOUCH my fancy equipments, it's just her habit of ignoring my instructions. So, I had to hide away those expensive stuffs and bought the cheaper version or just provide her with the simplest equipment possible.

But then, this will also present me with another problem. Since it's cheaper, the quality is also less. And since my maid works like a robot with no control, she is able to destroy things in matter of days!! Nothing lasts at least a month! So, I have to keep on buying the new ones so that she can continue her work. This is not to mention her attitude problem that I have to bear every time. Oh well, what to expect? I just have to treat her professionally in 1 direction. I can't hope to get a professional work attitude from her since she doesn't even know what it means to be a professional worker... :\

To my other half, all these things are just small matters because to him, the most important thing is that he doesn't have to clean up after his mess and can keep on creating a mess as often as he wants to.
To me, this is a nightmare because I am the one that has to deal with her everyday and I am constantly worry about controlling my expenses.

But then, I have to admit, the maid helps me so that I can do other things such as updating this blog and taking care of my child and my self.

Oh what a dilemma!!Only I and those having the same experiences like me will understand how it really feels... :| Definitely not my other half. We are in a different boat... :(

Checked Baggage Handling Fee@Air Asia

Pay attention people! If you fly with Air Asia, starting 21 April 2008, you have to pay for checked baggage handling fee of RM3/bag-one way (if you pay online) or RM5/bag-one way (if you pay at the check-in counter).

For more information, please check Air Asia website:
http://www.airasia.com/site/my/en/page.jsp?reference=baggage

The sweetest thing

Last night, after came back from the hospital (previous post), again, I had a big argument with my other half in the kitchen. My 3.5 year old son heard it and run to the kitchen to see us. He saw me crying and asked me, "Why are you crying, mommy?" I told him nothing happened. Mommy was just a little bit sad. Then he came up closer to me and tapped my leg and said, "It's ok, mommy. Don't cry! Don't be sad!" He took my hand and asked me to sit down. I sat down (while still sobbing).

Then my son came up to me again with his red ball, gave it to me and said, "Here my ball, mommy. I give this ball for you. Don't cry anymore. Don't be sad, ok?" Then he took his cookies and gave it to me while saying, "Here my cookies, mommy. You can have them all. I give my cookies all for you. Don't cry, ok?" While sobbing, I really couldn't stop smiling. My son saw it and said, "Mommy is smiling. Mommy is not crying anymore. Mommy is happy again because I gave everything for mommy." Then he asked me again, "Why are you sad, mommy?" I tried to put myself together and answered him, "Looks like daddy forgot how to love mommy." Then I heard my little boy said, "Daddy, daddy, you have to love mommy. Come here! Come here! I show you how to love mommy. See..like this (while hugging me and kissing me)." Then he continued, "Now you do, daddy! You hug mommy and you kiss mommy." His daddy did what he said. Then my boy said, "Like that, daddy. Like that. You love mommy. Good daddy!"

This time, I really put on a big smile on my face. My son looked extremely happy to be able to make me smile again. He thought his mission is accomplished and he returned to watch his shows on tele.
My son is the definitely the best medicine for my great depression. This little man is the sweetest person I know and I'm so glad I'm his mother.

Temporary memory lost

Yesterday was the worst day in my life. I had a big argument with my other half. So, to release the anger, I walked aimlessly touring Ipoh town for about 2 hours in the mid of the day. When I got very hungry, I stopped by at the hospital closes to my house to have lunch at the coffee shop there. I was very sad, tired, thirsty, and hungry. In the coffee shop I was greeted by a group of nurses from the pediatric clinic and I also met the nurse from my O & G clinic. Talking to them has made me forget for a while about my sadness.

The nurse from O & G saw that I looked very tired and unwell. So, she suggested me to see the specialist to get checked. So, I got my urine checked first before seeing the specialist. From the urine test, the nurse found out that I was dehydrated, exhausted, and there was high level sugar content in my urine. It was a red alert for every one. So, my specialist quickly assessed my condition and my baby. He suspected I suffered from great depression and referred me to a different specialist from different hospital.

Once every thing's done at O & G, I quickly called a taxi to take me to the referred hospital. When the operator asked me to give my name, my contact number, and the address, suddenly, I just could not remember a thing. Suddenly my mind was blank. It was like a chunk of my memory was removed from my brain. I forced to remember but I just could not!
The operator asked me to read the information from somewhere but I just couldn't get any information to help me remember other than the name of the hospital as my pick up point. Luckily not too long, the taxi arrived and I showed the taxi driver where I want to go by showing the reference letter from O & G specialist. Along the way, I tried hard to remember things about me, but I just couldn't.

When I arrived at the other hospital, I was sent to the right clinic by the front desk officer. In the clinic, again, I had difficulty to give my details for registration. The nurse asked me to sit down and tried my best to remember things about me slowly. Suddenly I remembered that I had a name card. So, I took out my name card and gave the details in there. I was very happy. From there, I could remember my details again.
When doctor saw me, I told him what had happened. He said that temporary memory lost that I suffered from was triggered by the great depression I had.
He prescribed me some medicine, but I think I wouldn't need the medicine if only I had enough support and love from the people around me.

Walk slowly, mommy!!

Yesterday morning I fell down in front of the lift of my apartment. I twisted my ankle and bumped my right shoulder on the floor. I didn't remember how exactly that happened. It happened very fast. I was talking to my husband while walking towards the lift. I didn't notice there were puddles on the floor. Suddenly I was already on the floor and feeling a tremendous pain on my left leg. I laid still on the floor, didn't dare to move a muscle. I was in shock. The first thing came to my mind was the baby in my womb. "My baby. I hope my baby is ok." I kept on repeating that sentence. My husband was in shock too. He tried to help me to get up again. He kept on asking me if I was ok or not.

When I finally managed to get up again, I couldn't say a word. I was still too numb to speak and worried so much about my baby. I quickly checked if I was bleeding or not. There was not any blood coming out of my body. Fuih!! Thank you, God! I knew I couldn't blame anyone. It was my fault. I was not careful enough; but according to my husband, my slippers were to blame. He kept on blaming me for wearing the slippers because the slippers didn't have a good grip anymore. Never mind my slippers, it was all my fault for not paying attention while walking. I just prayed hard so that the baby was not affected at all.

The whole day all I could do was laying down on the bed feeling the pain all over my body. I sprained my left ankle. My right shoulder and my right hip got blue black bruises. I hope I fell down on my side so that my baby bump was untouched.

I couldn't come down to pick up my son when he returned from school. When he saw me laying down on the bed, he asked me, "What happened with you, mommy?" I told him I fell down and sprained my ankle. With his serious face while holding my hands, he said to me, "That's why you have to walk slowly, mommy. If you walked slowly, you will not fall down anymore."
Wha..ha..ha..I tried my best to hide my smile and put on my sad face and said, "Oh yes, darling. Thank you for your advice. I'll walk slowly next time, ok?" Then I saw him smiling at me. Oh my boy! He's just the best thing that ever happened to me. I pray so that the second baby will be as brilliant as the big brother.

No dress for a giant

Ipoh is definitely not a place to shop for big size pregnant woman like me. I have been looking for a formal party dress to wear to my friend's wedding party but until today I still cannot find one. I am very frustrated. This is the 2nd week I have been going in and out any women apparel shops in Ipoh just to get a piece of formal dress that fits me. The choices are really limited even for small frame non-pregnant women, let alone for the big frame and pregnant ones.

I did find some models that are beautiful and suit my taste but unfortunately the biggest size the shops have is M-size... :( Even the free-size dress could not fit me because I have big boobs, big butts, and of course, a growing belly.

Oh I miss my personal tailor, Mrs. Junita. She is the greatest tailor I've ever known. She used to make beautiful dresses especially for me. When I had to attend special occasions, my mom would take me to her or she just needed to inform Mrs. Junita that I needed a beautiful dress. A week later I could collect that dress and it just suited me perfectly. Mrs. Junita knew my size very well. The last gown Mrs. Junita made for me was my wedding gown. Since I got married, I've been living so far away from her and my dress size has changed tremendously.

Since Ipoh isn't a place to find cloths for giants like me, I really have to start looking for great tailor that can design and sew special attire for me. In the mean time, I will have to expand the area of hunting to neighboring states either Penang or Selangor. Oh no...3 hours driving just to get a dress??

Update: I finally found 1 very beautiful dress in a boutique shop that sells specially made gowns/dresses for special people like me... :D

Malaysia General Election

On the 8th of March, I joined my husband to drive all the way to Penang just to vote. Oh well, I was kaypoh (busybody) lah abit..:) I wanted to see how the election went on in Malaysia. As a foreigner, of course I am not allowed to vote. I just came to watch and compare with the election in Indonesia.
Along the way to Penang, my husband explained so many things about political situation in Malaysia and about all the parties involved in the general election. After he voted, we visited our friend's house in Penang. They all discussed and predicted the result. I was just trying to chip in as much as I knew about politic in Malaysia (definitely not much).
The next day we read the news that the result of this 12th general election was quite surprising with the ruling party (Barisan National) lost its two-thirds' majority in the Federal Parliament. In Penang, Kedah, Perak, and Selangor, the opposition (DAP,PKR,PAS) won the state legislature. In Kelantan, PAS (the opposition) still ruled.
I personally quite surprise with the result. To me, it shows how the people of Malaysia took the election seriously and realized that every vote could make a different. The internet took a great part to open up the eyes of Malaysians.

In my opinion, it was a pretty quiet general election day. I was trying to remember the last election I witnessed in my country but it was a very long time ago when the late President Suharto was in power and there were only 3 parties involved (PPP, Golkar, and PDI). I didn't even witness 1998 the 'reformation' tragedy led by the students to topple President Suharto. I have left the country a year before. Since then, I have not been really following the news about political situation in my country. It's getting more and more confusing for me since I don't live in the country anymore. What I know is that life is getting tougher in Indonesia. Take Jakarta for example (because this is the only city I've been visiting), every time I go back there, the traffic jam and the road condition are getting worse. The city development with no proper planning has made life in Jakarta is getting more and more difficult. I thought after the reformation in 1998, the situation in Indonesia would be better but unfortunately, the Indonesian people were not ready with the change in power.

I believe Malaysians are more ready for the change in their country and hopefully the country will not go down the same line as Indonesia.

I'm back online

I just could not describe how I felt so relieved when I finally landed at the LCCT after a long vacation back home. As usual, I didn't feel home at all. While I was there, I just could not wait to go back to Ipoh. I wanted so desperately to go back to Ipoh I nearly asked my husband to change the ticket for me so that I could fly to Ipoh early. But I didn't do it. I didn't want to see the disappointment in my parents' face if I had to go back to Malaysia early. They had a great time while I was there. They played a lot with my son who was adapting very well with the situation and with the neighborhood. He has met so many friends who thought he was very cool to be able to speak English very well at such a young age. Every time he spoke, his friends and all my neighbors would stare at him with awe; and for my son, he was very happy because he has become the centre of attention in my neighborhood.

Overall my trip back home was not as great as I thought it would be. Even when I just landed at the airport, I already had a commotion with some local government officers who insisted to separate my maid from me and my son. I stormed through them and screamed high and low for they were just behaving like a bunch of robots which were badly programmed to do the job. These robots were not programmed to catch some exceptions when the switch button was on. How the hell they even dared to ask me to help them by taking my 2 maids to join the 1500 other maids who had to go through some questionings when they decided to go back home. Who needed help here? Me, the pregnant lady who can't carry heavy bags and traveling with a very active 3 year old toddler, OR these robots?? My 2 maids didn't even intend to go back home when I took them to Indonesia. They landed in Indonesia because I wanted them to accompany me to go back home so that 1 maid could help me to carry the luggages and another maid would help me to monitor my hyperactive son. So, in another word, my 2 maids came back to Indonesia with their boss (me), not like those 1500 other maids who came back for good to Indonesia. It's a completely different case and these robots could not even see it. How mad I was!! I was never so mad before until my heart beat was racing and I could not even breathe properly.

Ok, that incident has been an indicator that I would not feel good coming back home. For the whole 3 weeks I was in Jakarta, the weather was terrible. It rained everyday and flooded here and there. I could not sleep as I had to watch out for the water level in my front yard so that we could evacuate in time before the heavy flood came back.
Then, since my neighborhood has just experienced big flood for the 1st time in 27 years, I could still see big piles of rubbish every where and water mark on the wall that the flood left behind.
I tried my best to be very careful in choosing what I ate until I actually lost weight. As careful as I could be, still I had a food poisoning (again) when I was in Jakarta. I didn't know exactly which food or drink had caused the poisoning. Perhaps it was the milk I drank because when I was there, there was a big news about E.Zakazaki bacteria that has contaminated the milk powder but I was not sure if the milk for pregnant women was affected or not. What I knew I got a terrible stomachache that worried me so much and forced me to have another scan just to check if my baby was alright. Thank God baby was fine, but my son was not. He caught a terrible cough and flu up to present.

To make situation more uncomfortable for me and my son, the Indonesian electricity company was lacking of coal to generate more energy to supply electricity to all customers in Java and Bali Island. So, we had to experience no electricity for hours. Luckily the weather was not too hot because of the rain otherwise I would have melted... :)

On this trip I focused in spending my time with my parents. I didn't even called any of my friends in Jakarta because I wouldn't be able to see them anyway. The heavy traffic jam right in front of my house all the way to where ever my destination would be, has really deterred me from going out of the house. I know I will never get used to this situation anymore. I really respect the people in Jakarta who have to deal with heavy traffic jam everyday. They have wasted their life time on the road too long so if they have a chance to rest, they will just go to sleep. They are all very exhausted and don't have time to do anything else. Thank God I don't have to deal with this anymore.

The only good thing I could bring back to Ipoh as some souvenirs from my Jakarta trip was the fact that Indonesian songs are always the best to me and I just love them so much. My heart and my ears are just so relax to hear these songs.
I'm glad I could find them on YouTube as always. Just in case you want to hear the great Indonesian songs, just watch them here:

Oh no! Not right now...

No one likes to have a terrible flu especially when you are pregnant. This is a bad thing that's happening to me now. I hate it so much. First, it's because it attacks my immune system that makes me very weak and even more tired than I already am. Second, it's because I can't take the damn medicines! Oh..no!! I need at least a paracetamol to help me to fight the headache but since I choose to give a chance to my immune system to fight without any help, I just have to 'enjoy' the feeling of my head is about to split into 2. I can't describe how painful it is. Now I know how Harry Potter feels every time Voldemort is in his head. Since I don't know how to do occlumency just like Harry, I just have to bear the pain and vomit when I really can't stand the pain. Gee, I never know I am too dependent on that bloody paracetamol.

Headache isn't the only challenge to my body defense, it comes in a packet with runny nose and sore throat which are trying their best to test my immune system.
I know my body is fighting the sickness. It fights so hard I feel so weak and restless at the same time. My nose produces liquid actively it doesn't give a chance for me to even run for my handkerchief. The liquid would flow back to my throat and make my throat so itchy and dry as if I just swallowed one bucket of sand. I cough and sneeze so much I'm worry about the foetus in my womb. I pray hard it won't be disturbed by this sickness. Disturb the mother, but not the foetus!

Gosh, I can't remember the last time I feel energetic and alive. At the moment, I just need to focus on helping my immune system to fight the flu before I fly back home. It will be a horrible experience to fly with a nose blocked and pregnant at the same time. Even without the flu, I am feeling nauseous and intolerable hungry all the time, so with the flu, that horrible feelings intensify, plus the sleeplessness every night. Oh...I don't feel well at all.

Gong xi fa cai

In case you haven't noticed, I just changed the template and the header for http://coffeeliqueur.blogspot.com again in conjunction with the Chinese New Year celebration. This year we welcome the year of rat. I'll use this template until Cap Go Meh (the 15th day of Chinese New Year celebration) though I kind of like this template... :) It's so pinky and so girly... :D

Just like last year, I'm going to take vacation and visit my family back home. So, I won't be able to post anything new until I have access to the internet again.

For those who celebrate Chinese New Year, Gong Xi Fa Cai, Have a prosperous year of rat.
May the year of rat bring so much joy, luck, wealth, health, harmony, success, and happiness to you all and your family.

Flood..flood...and more flood

Again, Jakarta is flooded. No area is spared this time including my parents' house. The house has been a flood-free zone for the past 27 years, but this year...it gave away...:(
The dirty muddy water entered my parents' house slowly from yesterday afternoon. My dad tried his best to clean up and sweep the water out the whole afternoon but his efforts has become worthless in the evening when the flood water entered the house again and this time was higher and flooded more areas in the house.

My mum was alone that evening because my dad went to church and the light went out. My mum cried out of frustration when she tried to salvage all precious things at home, alone in the dark. She was forced to return home alone from work yesterday because my dad couldn't get out of the house to pick her up. She had to walk about 1 km through the knee-high flood water all the way home.

This morning at 6am Jakarta time, I called my parents to find out their latest situation. At the time I called, the rain was still pouring and there is no way that the water will subside because all other area outside the house have submerged and in certain area, the water level reaches chest high. The water pops out everywhere from under the ceramic floors, the toilet, the sinks, and this situation really frustrates every one. People are trapped at their homes flooded with dirty muddy water. They can't use the toilet. It is hard to get clean water. Food is not easy to get either. The neighbors are sharing boxes of instant noodle with each other. Traffic jam can be seen everywhere. Many people have already abandoned their vehicles stranded in the flood.

It pierced my heart to hear the news but I couldn't do anything either. I'm so far away and it's already good that I can still maintain the communication with them.
I knew all along that this is coming. I have been trying my best to persuade my parents to move out of the area but they just don't want to leave at all.
I don't know how long they can stand with this kind of extremely frustrating situation. The situation will sure get worst and I hate to hear, "Sorry...it's too late. There is nothing else we can do."

I'm coming back home soon and will try to assess the situation. I hope I can come up with best solution to evacuate my parents.

300,000 free seats from Air Asia

Quick log on to www.airasia.com to grab free seats to your favorite destinations as this award winning budget airline is offering 300,000 free seats for its domestic and international routes.

The booking period is from 29 January to 3rd February 2008 for traveling dates from 26 February - 15 May 2008.

If I were not pregnant, I would have grabbed some free seats to Macau and Siem Reap (Angkor wat) because I have been longing to visit these 2 places.
Click this link for free seat status to check which destinations still have the free seats: http://www.airasia.com/site/my/en/page.jsp?reference=300kfs

Here are some tips to help you to get the free seats:

1. Sign up with Air Asia website to get newsletter to your email address. This is very important so that you get the news ahead of other people.
   
2. Log in to Airasia website a.s.a.p no delay whatsoever after you hear any news about free seat from any sources, especially from Air asia newsletter because usually, it comes a day earlier than the advertisement in the newspaper. So, if you log in right away, you'll gain 1 day ahead of anyone reading the newspaper.
3. If the website is very busy, try to log in during odd hours when people in Malaysia are asleep. You can ask a favor from your friend or family who lives in different time zone (like in UK, Europe, Australia, New Zealand) to help you to get the ticket but don't forget to pay them back, ok?... ;D If you do live in time zone of GMT+1/2 or GMT+10/12, you'll get bigger chances to get the free seats.
4. Get ready with your passport and credit card details to speed up the process.
5. Keep on trying and don't give up easily. Try to modify your journey and be flexible if you can't get the destination you want to the nearest destination then continue your journey by land. For example, if you want to get KL-Yogyakarta route but there is no more free seat available, try to get KL-Solo route because from Solo to Yogyakarta it takes only an hour by car. Or if you want to go to Singapore but you can't get the free seat, try to opt for Johor, then take a taxi/train to Singapore. Or if you want to go to Jakarta but no more free seat available, you can try to get KL-Bandung first, then go to Jakarta by bus. It's only an hour journey.

Ok, that's all from me. Good luck, people!!

The apple of my ice

My 3 year old son came back from school telling me the story about what he did at school today. He told me that he has learned to play a computer game that had a hamster in it. So I asked him what happened with the hamster. He said, "The green hamster eats a green apple with the ice.", then I told him, "How can the hamster eat the green apple with the eyes? The eyes cannot bite and chew."
I saw him staring at me and said again, "No, mommy! The green hamster eats a green apple with the ice. The ice."
I still thought that he mentioned "the eyes" and insisted that the eyes cannot bite and chew the apple and explained to him that the hamster must have eaten the apple with the mouth.
I saw him thinking hard. I thought he was digesting the information I told him.
Then he said again, "Then there is ice on the apple."
I said to him, "Oh..there is some ice on the green apple. Does the ice melt on the apple?"
He said, "No! The hamster eats the green apple with the ice."
I thought he returned to his first statement and trying to convince me that the hamster can eat the apple with its eyes.
I saw him getting a bit frustrated when I still didn't get what he meant.
So he stood up and walked to the fridge and took out some ice cubes.
He returned to my side and showed me the ice cubes and said, "Mommy, this ice is on the green apple and the hamster eats the apple with the ice."
Then I understood what he was saying actually. "Oh..I see!!! I'm sorry! I thought you were saying the eyes...not the ice. I'm sorry for being so slow to understand you. Alright?"
I saw him smiling so widely. He knew I finally understood his sentence... :D
D'oh mommy is sooo slow...:D

Another time when I held my son's hand to cross the road, I told him to watch out for the cars as there were too many cars on the road.
Then he answered me like this, "but mommy, there are 3 cars on the road. Not 2 cars." Wha..ha..ha.. I burst into laughter.
Apparently, he has mistakenly understood the word 'too' in 'too many cars' with the word 'two (2)' because of the same pronunciation.

Food Poisoning

Last Saturday, I went to have breakfast with my husband at one of many hawker food joins in Ipoh. This was not my usual thing to do but because I have woken up so early in the morning and I felt a terrible hunger that would make me vomit if I didn't eat quickly, I begged my husband to take me with him.

I ordered a bowl of wan tan noodle and a piece of roti chanai for a quick and easy meal while my husband ordered a bowl of prawn noodle with 3 giant prawns in it. I didn't dare to order that one as it is not advisable for a pregnant woman to consume shelled fish during early pregnancy.

After I finished my food, I felt so bloated and wanted to vomit. I thought it was because I ate too much and I was sure that there must have been quite a generous amount of MSG in my food.
On the way back, I told my husband that I could feel the MSG and it made me sick. I felt dizzy and nausea.
My husband asked me to lay down. I laid down and closed my eyes for about an hour.

When I woke up, I felt a terrible feeling in my stomach. I went to toilet to pass bowel motion but instead of passing bowel motion, I vomited so much. Gosh! I felt so weak and dizzy. Once I could handle the nausea, I passed watery bowel motion. I freaked out! My food must have been contaminated with some bacteria or virus that made me suffering like that. I could not walk out of the toilet because I was shivering and so weak. I called my husband and asked him to carry me to the bed so that I could lay down and informed him what had happened.

I was so worried about my pregnancy and about the baby in the womb. Luckily, after about an hour of resting, I felt a lot better and was able to eat again. This time I made sure what I ate was clean and came out right away from the stove.

To make sure everything was fine, I went to see my Gynecologist on Monday to check on the womb. On the same day, I received a sad news from one of my pregnant friends that she just lost her baby due to typhoid. Oh no! It scared the living daylights of me! I panicked! I couldn't wait to get the result from my Gyne. I did the ultrasound scan again to make sure the baby's heart beat in normal rate and was not infected by any virus or bacteria. My Gyne told me that I had food poisoning last Saturday. He asked me to be careful when choosing my food and asked me to avoid hawker food as much as possible. The fetus looked alright and the heartbeat could still be seen. Oh thank you God!!

I promised my self to be extra careful with the food I eat and stop visiting hawker food joins for the time being. Nothing worries me more than loosing the precious gift due to my negligence and ignorance.

Oh by the way, my doctor informed me about the possible harmful effects of herbs, chinese drugs, native medicine, bottled extract of chicken, and alcohol, during pregnancy. I have also been advised not to take them throughout my pregnancy, delivery, and post natal period (confinement period). This is very important to remember especially during Chinese New Year feast that's coming in 2 weeks.

Another good news

This good news is for those who love travelling.

1. Malaysia Airlines has an online offer for Kuala Lumpur - Yogyakarta (Indonesia). It only costs RM99 one way or RM198 before any taxes and surcharges. This airlines also has many online offers to other destinations. Go check out the website at www.malaysiaairlines.com!
2. Air Asia now serves Kuala Lumpur - Yogyakarta route as well and the ticket price is very competitive.
   
3. Air Asia ticket price from Kuala Lumpur - Singapore starts at RM29.99 one way (I managed to get a free ticket when Air Asia gave away 30,000 seats to celebrate the liberation of KL-Singapore route...:D)
4. To fly cheap from Australia to Kuala Lumpur, you can fly with Air Asia X (Long distance Air Asia) or Jetstar. Air Asia X serves Brisbane (Gold Coast) - Kuala Lumpur route while Jetstar serves Sydney - Kuala Lumpur route.
   
5. You can now take train (KTMB) from Ipoh - Singapore vv directly. The journey will take about 8 hours. For more info, check out KTMB website at www.ktmb.com.my (use IE to open the website properly).

There you have it! It does not cost you a lot to fulfill your dream of touring the world when you know where to get a good bargain. I'll help you as much as I can... :)

Sharing a good news

Some people believe that informing a good news about your pregnancy before it reaches 13 weeks old to other people is a taboo because the first tri-semester of pregnancy is the most crucial time. The pregnancy may get a spontaneous abortion (miscarriage) anytime because of many reasons such as chromosomal defect, imperfect brain development, drugs, cervical incompetence, ectopic pregnancy, or severe accident. According to my pregnancy guide book (New Zealand Pregnancy Book. This is a great book, by the way.), it is estimated that as many as 30% of pregnancies are lost, although many of these occur even before a woman is able to confirm pregnancy or in another word, before the woman know that she is pregnant.

Personally, to me, it is very very hard to conceal a pregnancy because getting pregnant is something wonderful that does not come easy to me.
For my first pregnancy, I had to wait for 5 years to get it, despite all the mocking and cursing I got. I even found out late about it because I was so sure all along that I could not get pregnant so easily. So, the moment I knew I got pregnant, I could not wait to tell the world about it. I knew I would feel extremely disappointed if it got aborted. I did not even dare to think about it; but thanks to God, everything went well and so smoothly.
My big belly suddenly became a public property. Every where I went, people stopped me and asked me how many months pregnant I was while touching my growing belly. From the youngest one at around 5 years old to the oldest one at around 90 years old, they honestly showed that they cared for me and that they too were very happy for me. These people didn't even care if I was only a stranger in the country.
It was the greatest adventure I have ever had so far. Really! Nothing could beat the happiness I felt for the whole duration of pregnancy. It was so wonderful to be the centre of attention and to get all the priorities in life so why would I hide it?

What happens if you are asked to do the X-ray? You've definitely got to inform about your pregnancy no matter how early it is.
It is also important to inform a GP that you are pregnant before the GP prescribes any medications to you.

When I found out I got pregnant for the second time, again, I found it hard to keep it a secret because this pregnancy is an answer to my prayer. I informed God that I am ready and my body is ready too to conceive my second child and God listened to me.
Just as my first pregnancy, I found out a bit late. But this time I could feel the same symptoms as the previous pregnancy so I've already suspected it.
And now, I'm telling the world about it because I want the world to be happy with me and pray for my pregnancy so that I will have the same smooth ride or better for the whole duration of pregnancy as the previous pregnancy until the day, I am able to give my 2nd child, the same greatest gift of love I've given to the big brother, my breast milk.

So, if you see that this blog is not updated too often, that is because I can not sit too long in front of computer. Just as the previous pregnancy, I always feel tired all the time so I need to have a lot of rest. Just say a little prayer for me and the baby inside my womb so that every thing will be alright. Thank you people!

First day at school

Yesterday was a very important day for both my son and me because yesterday was his first day at school. Though it's only a pre-school, both of us were overwhelmed by the fact that my son has just reached another important milestone in his life. I got more excited than any one else including my son. It doesn't sink in his brain yet that when he goes to school, his world is not just mommy, daddy, and his nanny. He needs to learn to interact with his new friends and his teachers. He needs to learn to be independent. It is important that he develops his social skill as well.

On Sunday, we went for shopping to buy more pants and cloths for my boy because he doesn't have his uniform yet. I prepared him as much as I could so that he wouldn't be too overwhelmed by the situation and the new things at school. I trained my son to sleep early at night and wake up very early in the morning because usually, he sleeps at midnight and would wake up at 10am. A week before his first day at school, I trained him to learn to sit down and feed himself. Normally, he wouldn't stand to sit down for more than 5 minutes and it took about at least an hour to feed him. He needs to be able to sit down and feed himself because I was afraid that my son would walk around while his friends enjoy their meal. My son is learning very slowly about this. I don't get much support from others who stay with us because every one wants to teach my son his/her own way and my son knows that there will always be someone that is willing to feed him. D'oh I am really frustrated about this but I can't be too hard on him or he will be frustrated too and he will refuse to eat.

So the 1st day at school came.

My husband and I couldn't sleep because we were afraid of waking up too late and I could feel that I was very nervous about my son's reaction on his first day at school. I heard from so many people that usually first day at school is a crying day because the kids will not want to be separated from the parents.
I tried to calm myself down and prepared my son to go to school. My son still didn't realize why he had to wake up and get ready so early that day. He thought we were going to church. He was very excited and got ready with no fuss at all.

When I saw him ready to go to school with his small water bottle on his shoulder and his small bag that he dragged here and there, I could not hide my emotion. Oh my boy has grown up so fast. Seems only yesterday I gave birth to him and now he is ready to go to school. I hugged him tightly and kissed him. If only I could paint, I would have painted this moment. I did take many photographs but I don't think the photos really show the emotion I experienced that day.

The first day at school was not only for my son but it was also for me and my husband. We were not too sure what to do the moment we arrived at my son's school.
As for my son, he got so excited to see so many kinds of educational toys around and no one seemed to say "No" to him when he played with all the toys. He jumped from one section to another taking different kinds of toy but one thing that attracted his attention so much was the computer set. He was so happy to see the computer he is very familiar with. He played with the computer and quickly forgot about his mommy and daddy. When every one saw him quite ok with the new situation, the teacher assured us that he would be fine. So, off we went. My son didn't even hear us saying good bye to him. He was so busy playing and discovering his new toys.

Then when we came back to pick him up again after school finished, he run very fast while screaming and crying so loudly the moment he saw us walking towards his classroom. From the teachers we found out that he cried for hours when he realized mommy and daddy were not around anymore. He hugged my husband so tightly and screaming that he didn't want to go back to school anymore. Oh poor my little boy! He got so trauma with the new situation.

For the whole day yesterday, I kept on talking and talking to him, trying to calm him down and convinced him that mommy would not leave him anymore.

Today, I was so afraid that my son refused to go to school at all, but he forgot about the incident yesterday. He woke up early and got ready quickly. He still thought that he was going to church (again)... :)
But then, when the car made a right turn to his school, his trauma came back. He screamed and cried so loudly that he did not want to go to school.
I hugged him and gave him assurance that mommy would always be with him. Mommy would not leave him alone this time.
So, I had to carry him out of the car and comforted him while walking down to his classroom. Then, the moment he saw the toys and the crayons and the computer, he wanted to go down and dragged me around the classroom. He showed me where he played and he showed me what the computer did.
Again, I was so overwhelmed. I could not hide my emotion but I didn't want him to see me crying because then he would think I was sad when in fact I cried because I felt very proud to be his mother. I could not believe I managed to help him to reach this milestone.

On the second day, slowly my son got used to the situation and the surrounding. I slowly retreated to the back of the school joining a group of parents who were waiting for their children.
When the classroom door was closed, I could hear so many children crying, including my son. He forced to open the door and stormed towards me with so much fear in his face. When he saw me, he hugged me tightly and said, "I want mommy! I want my mommy! I only want my mommy!"
I saw many other younger kids crying looking for their mommies. 1 teacher had to comfort 4 crying kids. Oh what a stressful situation!
I tried my best to comfort my son and assure him that I would never leave him alone. But it was not easy to gain his trust back. So, I had to sit down inside the classroom until his teacher took the children out for an outdoor activity.

Most children love the outdoor activity. They stopped crying at once and got busy playing with the sand. My son was so busy playing with the sand he completely forgot about me. For another 2 hours, for the first time, I saw him following his teacher's instruction and not even bother to look for mommy.
Then it was time to go back home, but my son did not want to go back home! After more talking and persuading from me, he said good bye to his teacher and promised to come back again tomorrow. Wow! I could not believe my ears...:D
For the whole day today, he was so proud that he did not cry anymore at school and I use this opportunity to lift up his spirit more so that he won't be afraid to go to school again tomorrow and hopefully, by next week, I don't have to stay at school anymore so that he can learn to be more independent.

Oh what a great experience as a parent!!


1st day at school. Still trying to explore the classroom and the surrounding.






Showing daddy the new toy.






That is my favorite thing, the computer!

Going green

If this is not your first visit to my blog, you should have noticed that I'm giving a facelift to my blog. This year, The Coffeeliqueur way is going green in support of any efforts to green the earth, especially the recycling project. This is the main reason of choosing green as the theme color of this year. Other reasons include a fresher appearance to my blog and also a soothing/calming mind for my readers after they visit my blog. This blog is a kind of mental therapy for me and for every one who reads this blog. Since I am a peaceful person, I hope not to post any controversial stories here. I want to keep the happy blog status just like what one of this blog visitor commented.

Enjoy your visit at The Coffeeliqueur way! I hope you become a regular visitor of this blog. Don't forget to leave your comment or just to say 'hi' when you visit this blog. Let me know if you link to me so that I can link to you back. Let's support the efforts to green the earth for us now and for our future generations!Oh by the way, this blog is not about a cup of coffee and liqueur or a cup of coffeeliqueur on the rock. There no alcohol involved whatsoever...so it's safe to read this blog together with the whole family... :)

Happy New Year 2008 to all

It's still too early to get ready for new year countdown so I thought of writing my last post for 2007.

In 8 hours 11 minutes I'm going to say good bye to 2007 and welcome 2008 with hope of a better things in life.
On this great opportunity, I'm going to do the flashback to highlight some great things that happened in 2007.

2007 has been a great year for me. Things are definitely getting a lot better towards the end of the year. In fact, this year's Christmas is the best Christmas I have had since I moved to Malaysia. It was a simple Christmas as I told you before in my previous post, but what made it the best is that I celebrated Christmas with people that mean the most to me with all the love and affection and joy that I never had before. I felt very happy because I did not have to go to places where my heart refused to go. So I didn't have to pretend to be happy and this has really made me happy. Sounds confusing, huh? :D

In November 2007, my very best friend came to visit me from the faraway land. Her visit cheered me up and brightened up my days. That was a visit I had been waiting for 3 years. Her visit meant a lot to me and to my mental health... :)

Before her visit, I went back home with my husband and son for Idul Fitri holiday and got a chance to meet up with my cousins whom I hadn't met for years. In June-July, my folks visited me and they brought along my beloved uncle and aunt. I never had so many companies and so many people cooked for me before. Their visit also meant a lot to me and I would love them to visit me again in 2008.

And then, the biggest, the greatest moment happened in May 2007 because one of my dream has been fulfilled. I finally managed to visit Vatican, and not only that. I also managed to kneel down and pray in front of the tomb of the great Pope John Paul II. Who am I for I am so blessed? I am only a teacher's daughter with great traveling experiences.
Thanks to my great friend who tried to keep his promise though it took him 10 years to fulfill it. Thank you, my friend! I am very blessed to have you back as my best friend. Yeah...I 'lost' 1 friend but I 'found' my long-lost best friend back in 2007.

Continue on...
In April 2007, I got a chance to visit Malacca. Though it was only 2 day-trip, it has left great impression on me. I hope someday I could visit Malacca again.
In March 2007, I visited Singapore and met a number of old friends whom I miss a lot. That 5 day- trip was great. I took my son to Sentosa Island for the first time.
In late February early March 2007, I went back home and stayed there for nearly a month. It was quite the longest stay for the past 4 years. I attended the important meeting with WRM (We R mommies) in conjunction with its 3rd birthday. I met many new great friends in there.
Then finally, since end of December 2006 until early February 2007, I was very busy with my husband's family to prepare the Chinese New Year, the year of Pig.

As you can read above, I did not have a quiet year in 2007. It is a traveling year for me.
But in 2008, I won't be traveling too much because my son will start his kindy in January and I have promised my husband to learn Mandarin together with him...;)
Let's see...hopefully, by end of this year, I will be able to speak Mandarin so that I can start planning to visit China in 2009..upppsss..then I'll miss the Beijing Olympic 2008... :(
But it's ok. I want to visit China to see the Great Wall and to visit my friend.
Yeah...I think 2008 is going to be a 'quiet' year for me. It's going to be a year of learning and collecting new skills.
I hope 2008 will bring more joy, luck, wealth, health, and happiness for every one because according to the Chinese, 2008 is a good year. Though I am not Chinese, I'm married to one so it makes me half Chinese already... :)
Oh by the way, I almost forget. 2008 is a leap year! Yay! Another leap year is coming! Yay! I'm jumping for joy. You know why? because I will be able to celebrate my 2nd wedding anniversary! I pray so that 2008 will also be a great year for me and my marriage life.

I still have many dreams to fulfill and I am a person with strong determination. When I want something, I will try to get it no matter how long it takes.

So, to every one who visits The Coffeeliqueur way, Happy New Year 2008! May this 2008 will bring all great things in your life so that 2008 will be a great year for you all.
Come back often just to see if I can speak Mandarin already... :)

Flood and landslide in Indonesia

I have just talked to my dad on the phone and he asked me to go read the latest news about Indonesia. It's news about flood and landslide which claimed many lives in Java island caused by very heavy rain that can last for hours.

My dad who is in Yogyakarta and is supposed to drive to Surabaya tomorrow is thinking of canceling the trip to Surabaya because of heavy flood around the Bengawan Solo area.
My dad told me that it rains heavily everyday in Yogyakarta and the hilly area such as Tawangmangu has been hardest hit by the landslide. Oh my God! Tawangmangu that I know is a very beautiful place. I used to visit this place for vacation to see the waterfall.

As I'm writing this post, I'm reading the online news about my country at Metro TV online.
The bad news keeps popping up as the headlines. The flood also happens in Jakarta (not surprise about this), in West Sumatera, and other parts of Indonesia.
Indonesia is very prone to natural disaster, especially during the end of the year. I don't deny the fact that Indonesia geographical position is not actually in a good position either. Being in the pacific ring of fire makes Indonesia very prone to earthquake and any volcanic related disasters. Years of deforestation has left many areas in Indonesia, especially in Java island, with very little vegetation to hold the soil and this has caused the flood and landslide during tropical downpours. Don't forget about forest conversions and chaotic spatial planning that happens in every part of Indonesia. On top of that, many Indonesians still adopt the attitude of I-don't-care-about-other-people-and-my-next-generation-as-long-as-I-get-what-I-want-now towards the environment and the government is also not pushing any 'love the environment' policies hard enough. They only act when the disasters strike. It's a bit too late, isn't it?

As 2008 is approaching, I hope to hear better news about Indonesia and in the mean time I can only pray hard so that my country always survives any tragedies and natural disasters, the number of victims reduces and every one can get back to normal life as soon as possible.

Click here if you want to read the complete news.

All I want for Christmas is Doraemon

Anyone knows Doraemon? If you like Japanese cartoon character, I'm sure you'll know Doraemon, the blue cat-like robot that has a magic pocket full of anything you want (I should rather say, Nobita wants). Nobita is Doraemon's friend who likes to cry and when he cries his tears pouring out heavily every where...:D

When I was small, I loved to see Doraemon in the TV together with my brother. After I woke up from a nap and took shower, I would be ready to watch the show while waiting for dinner to be ready. Even when I was in college, my flatmate called me Nobita because I used to cry a lot and when I cried, my tears poured out every where just like Nobita...:D

So, when I knew Doraemon was coming to town, I didn't want to miss the opportunity to relive my childhood memory. I took my son to get up close and personal with Doraemon after the Sunday mass just before Christmas.
Actually, my son doesn't really know who Doraemon is and he didn't seem so interested at all...:( It was me who tried my best to get as close as possible to this blue cat-robot. My son was more interested in the fake snow falling down from the snow-making machine...:)


This was the stage for Christmas with Doraemon.





Before Doraemon came out, there was a choir caroled to cheer up every one that visited the mall.




Doraemon!! This was as close as I could get...:)






This is Nobita. My son who was with my maid actually bumped to him so close but I was somewhere up in the 2nd floor to get this photo.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2008

Looks like Christmas this year is going to be the simplest Christmas I have so far.

I only received 1 card so far and I don't put up any Christmas decorations at all in my house; no Christmas tree, no presents, and not even a 'Merry Christmas' sign. My house is so plain as if I did not celebrate Christmas at all.

Up to present, I still cannot decide where to go for my special Christmas diner. I have been to almost all restaurants in Ipoh that supposedly serve good food... :)
Unfortunately in Ipoh there are very limited choices of fine dining restaurant to go to for a special occasion like Christmas. Unlike Penang, Selangor, and Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh only has a few fine dining restaurants such as Indulgence and Brewster for western food, Oversea and Tai Thong for chinese food. So, I really have no idea where to go for my Christmas feast because I am not in the mood to travel for 2 hours (sans traffic jam) to Penang or KL just to eat.

Anyway, that's not important. The most important thing for me during Christmas is that I get a chance to spend more time with my husband and my son.
Merry Christmas and in case I don't have a chance to go online, Happy New year 2008 to you all.

Telefon bimbit, had, and telor mata kerbau

My Indonesian friend came over to visit me from a far away land and this was her 1st visit to Malaysia.

When I took her for a drive around the city, she admitted to me that she got confused with Bahasa Melayu (Malay language) spoken here in Malaysia. I was very surprised when she told me this because I thought she would not have difficulties understanding Bahasa Melayu at all since she comes from Sumatera island. I thought the melayu people in Sumatera speaks the same Bahasa melayu like the Malaysians. So, when she told me that the language is completely different, my eyes were round and my mouth was gagged in disbelieving her explanation.

Her confusion in Malay language started when she was on board of the aircraft on the way to Kuala Lumpur. She said she could not understand what it means when the flight attendant mentioned about telefon bimbit in the airplane. The word sounded so strange to her ears.

I told her that usually telefon bimbit is mentioned together with cakera padat and komputer riba by the flight attendant making the safety announcement on board. "Yes..Yes..that's right!" she said. I informed her that telefon bimbit means cellular phone, cakera padat means compact disk, and komputer riba means laptop. "Whua...ha...ha..." I heard her laughing so loudly and continued "I always thought komputer riba means something bad because 'riba' in Indonesian language means lintah darat (usury - english)." "Whe..he..he.." It's my turn to laugh now... :D
Then I continued, "Yeah...the same one as the word 'budak'. Budak in Malay language means kanak-kanak (children - english) but in Indonesian language means slave."

"Oh gosh! It's better to speak English then and just understand the English version because even though I do understand bahasa melayu, some of the words means completely different from words I understand." my friend concluded.
"Yes, that's right. But when you stay in Malaysia long enough, you'll learn to speak like the Malaysians and you'll grow to understand the differences of the 2 languages." I told her.

Then when I was about to turn into a one way road, my friend read a sign board that says, "Jalan sehala". She started her inquest about the difference in Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa Melayu again. "What's that 'Jalan sehala'? I don't remember bahasa Indonesia has that word." She said. I smiled at her. While continued driving I explained to her that 'jalan sehala' means 'one way road' or 'jalan satu arah' in bahasa Indonesia.
Then I heard her saying, "Kalau gitu, jalan dua arah bahasa melayunya jalan 2 hala?" (That means, 2-way road in malay language is jalan 2 hala?)
"Yeap. That's right.", I nodded.

Then I drove into a tunnel. In front of a tunnel there is a sign board that mentioned about the height limit of vehicles that can pass through the tunnel. My friend asked me again, "What is 'had'?"
"It means 'limit' or 'batas' in bahasa Indonesia.", I answered. "Oh...I see..", she said.

"Geez!! I never expected that Malay language is a lot different compared to Indonesian language.", my friend told me.
"Well, I thought at first you would easily understand the Malay language because you come from Sumatera where all the malay-Indonesian live.", I said.
"Yah...but we have our own malay-Indonesian language which is different. Each area has its own local dialect, such as the people in Medan speak different dialect compared to people in Padang and Palembang or Riau.", she explained to me.
"Yes. I agree.", I understand her explanation.
"Luckily, I have you to help me translating the Malaysian language to me. Otherwise, I would misunderstand everything and get more confused with these strange words that sound funny to my ears. By the way, you already have that Malay accent! You don't speak like a Javanese anymore!", my friend told me.
"Wha...ha..ha..Thanks mate!", I blushed... :D

I was glad that another person has proved it that Malay language is not the same as Indonesian language and admitted that it's better to use English to avoid misunderstanding since most Malaysians understand English while at the same time trying to understand the Malay language in Malaysian way, not the Indonesian way... :)

Just yesterday, I found another Malay words that sound so strange and funny to my Indonesian ears. The word is 'telor mata kerbau'. If I translate these words one by one:
telor (egg - english) - telur (Indonesia)
mata (eye - english) - mata (Indonesia)
kerbau (buffalo - english) - kerbau (Indonesia)
But the whole words actually mean sunny side-up egg. In bahasa Indonesia, we also have nearly similar expression, but we use 'cow' instead of 'buffalo', so sunny side-up in bahasa Indonesia is telur mata sapi...;)
I wonder what my friend would say about this...he..he..he..

When you come and go and say nothing at all

When you come to visit me from the far away land, it is for the first time I have a genuine smile on my face. The smile that is so warm and so encouraging to tell people that I can face the world.

Even a week before you come, for the first time, I have completely lost my anger to the world and got back my sanity. Nothing could seem to ignite my anger and disappointment. Suddenly everything seemed so bright and beautiful. This continues on for 3 days you are with me.

Then you go away...
Your departure brings back all the anger and the disappointment in me.
I am back to the insane me trying to face the world on my own.

You and I know exactly that 3 days are not enough to redeem the time we have lost for being apart. The moment we are together, we realize that things have changed. Things are not the way we had when we were together. We know we have to move on and try our best to maintain the bond despite all the changes. So, we let things flow and say no word to avoid confrontation because we treasure this rare reunion so much more than anything else in the world.

You often stressed to me that everything happens for a reason and to me, God has a very good reason to let me have you as my best friend, my angel without wings and I thank God for this.

Thank you for taking good care of me when I am in dire need of a company. You are there for me any time any way. I'm sorry for not being able to repay this. I was incapacitated myself when you needed me but my dear friend, my prayers are with you always where ever you are and what ever you do.

Thank you for the best 3 years and 3 days in my life.

Let's get busy

It's 6:08pm when I started to write this post and I have been up and have been working for 12 hours straight. No lunch break and no shower yet for the whole day...wha..ha..ha.. :D

Excuse the smell but I really need to finish my work for today. Once I finish writing this post, I'll fly to take a shower and have my 1st meal for the day. Fuih!! I'm starving now that I realize I haven't eaten the whole day. I only had a cup of decaf with creamer in the morning to wake me up a bit.

After being absent for more than a month, today, I'm trying to revive my items sold on eBay Malaysia. This is my 2nd online store actually. My 1st online store is at http://artatyourleisure.multiply.com.

I have been selling stuffs online for 1.5 years now. I've received 100% positive feedbacks from my customers who were happy to deal with me.
Lately, ebay Malaysia has upgraded its website and service. It started to apply charges on some services which were free. But I still have to use it until I can have my own domain name.

Unlike my 1st online store, Art at your leisure, which concentrate mostly on art and craft projects, my 2nd online store on eBay Malaysia sells many different things which are good bargain, unique, and beautiful. Since the items are located in Malaysia, I use Ringgit Malaysia for the price. The price is very reasonable (some are very cheap) especially if you earn Pound sterling/Euro for a living... ;P
You can check it out. My items are great for gifts for people you love and care about. I use Pos Malaysia to ship my item.

This is the least I can do to help my husband to pay the bill. I know this is nothing at all compared to the amount stated on the bills...whe..he..he.. :D
At least this will keep me really really busy (honestly! Working at home is a lot busier than working in the office) and this will also exercise my multitasking skill to the maximum to compete with the Intel Processor... ;) so that I learn to manage my time well and prioritize my duty as a mother, a house-queen, a home-based businesswomen while still trying to stay fit by going to the gym and exercise regularly. Geez, 24 hours is never enough!

Another alternative for MS Office - free

Who doesn't love free stuffs? My eyes and ears are always on the look up for anything that is free or gratis.. :D, especially if that free stuff is a great item which will cost me a fortune to have the same/similar thing somewhere else.

So, this morning, when I was browsing the newspaper, I came across an article about IBM Lotus Symphony.
IBM Lotus Symphony is an office productivity suite that consists of Lotus Symphony Documents, Lotus Symphony Spreadsheets, and Lotus Symphony Presentations and is available for free-download.

Great! There is another alternative office productivity suite for MS Office and it is FREE!!
This is great! So, this Lotus Symphony is joining OpenOffice.org for this free-to-download office productivity suite market.
Another alternative product(especially the free one) for this suite pack is very good for us so that we don't depend on MS Office all the time. Office users should try to look into these alternatives and learn to use them.

I met many people (who are pure office pack users and are not internet savvy) who do not know that there are other similar software to MS Office that are available for free. They only know MS Word and friends. They are only familiar with this MS Office suite and do not dare to try alternative softwares which are similar to MS Office pack. The problem is...MS Office is very expensive, especially the one for business!

So, yeah...this news from IBM is great. We will have more options to learn and get familiar with.

You can read more information about IBM Lotus Symphony and download the software for free here:
http://symphony.lotus.com/software/lotus/symphony
or here:
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Office-tools/Office-suites/IBM-Lotus-Symphony.shtml

Read about OpenOffice.org and download it for free here:
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Office-tools/Office-suites/OpenOfficeorg-for-Windows.shtml

Thomas and friends birthday treat

There was no crafted scary looking pumpkin sitting in front of my door for the Halloween but instead, there was a cute innocent looking of Thomas the train face carefully drawn as part of the decorations for my son's birthday cake.

Yes, that's right. My son celebrated his 3rd birthday last month and I had to creatively come up with my own trick to have Thomas and friends birthday treat for him.
It was a last minute change of plan from Kipper the dog theme to Thomas the train theme because my son suddenly felt tired of seeing Kipper all the time.
For the past 2 weeks before the D-day, I had been digging out any information from anyone and of course from the internet, courtesy the lovely mr. know-it-all-Google.com, so that I could print my son's favorite cartoon character on his birthday cake. I really wanted to see his big big smile when he saw the cake for the first time. I racked my brain to mix and match any edible materials to get Thomas' face pasted on the cake. It's frustrating but it was fun to do. I baked the chocolate cake on the night before the big day.
The next day, I woke up at 5am to get Thomas' face ready before I decorated the cake.
Since my family is anti-butter sugar icing, so I decided to use cream cheese instead to frost the cake.

By 8 o'clock the Thomas birthday cake was ready. My husband was very surprised to see the cake. He never knew I could make such a cool cake before. I had to keep the cake in the fridge first before starting to decorate the whole house with all things Thomas and his friends. I made all the decorations by myself including the birthday boy hat.

At 10 o'clock, the birthday boy woke up and got out of the room. He had a very big smile on his face though his eyes were still half opened. He walked towards the dining table. His smile was even bigger now and his eyes were widely open for he was so amazed to see all his beloved cartoon characters, lead by Thomas the train, were displayed on the dining table. He gasped and said, "It's my birthday...today!". He sounded exactly like Jake (when Jake celebrates his birthday), one of his favorite characters in Kipper the dog show. I kissed him and said, "Happy birthday, sweetheart. Yes, it is. Today is your birthday and you turn 3 today."

After he drank his milk, I shoved him to the bathroom to get ready for his birthday party. Not too long, he came out again from the room wearing Thomas and friends T-shirt and pants. I put on his birthday boy hat right away. He looked extremely cute. He looked even cuter when he saw the birthday cake I brought out from the kitchen. He giggled to see his Thomas birthday cake complete with the train miniature and 3 lighted candles.

Once every one was ready, we started the birthday party. Since my son hasn't gone to school yet, he only had his mommy, daddy, his nanny, Kipper the dog and friends, Little Einstein, and of course Thomas and friends to come to his birthday party.
We all sang Happy birthday to him and my son, he just could not wait to blow the candles. He kept on blowing the candles even when we haven't finished singing the birthday song. After blowing his candles for 3 times, he insisted to cut the cake by himself. So, I let him cut the cake.
"Oh no! I cut Thomas, mommy!I cut Thomas!" he screamed. I laughed so loud I could not hide it. I knew he was going to say that. I helped him cutting the cake and gave it to every one. The chocolate cake was sooo delicious. I made the chocolate cake to suit my son's taste. Every one loved the cake.

On that day, my son was not the only one who was over the moon. I was very happy to know that this simple birthday party was a success, especially the Thomas birthday cake.
On that day, my son was not the only one celebrating. Me too, I was celebrating my 3 years of motherhood.
My son is 3 now and he is going to kindergarten soon. Oh how time flies! I still remembered clearly from the first day I conceived him, delivered him, breast-fed him, changed his nappies, carried, rocked, and sang lullaby for him for hours until he slept. He is a little man now who is very talkative, active, and smart. No matter how fast he grows up, to me, he will still be my cute little boy, the magic that God has created in me.

Happy birthday, baby! I love you very much. My prayers are with you always.