Tuesday, November 25, 2008

what my dad would never know


What my dad would never know include:

1. my son, meaning his first grandchild. He was born 13 days after my dad passed away.

2. my house; I mean, my own house, where he could stay if he visited me. And also helped me to manage the electricity as well.

3. me driving car; really, I drive car now, I just haven't had the driving license yet.

I just think... what a short time I had with my dad. =(

Tuesday, 25 November 2008
1:11 pm

Friday, November 14, 2008

warna-warni perbedaan



"Jika kamu melihat warna-warni itu sebagai suatu perbedaan, aku langsung tahu, justru kamu lah orang yang paling sakit...."

Itu sepenggal dialog yang terus terngiang di kuping saya setelah nonton drama musikal NEGERI WARNA garapan anak-anak SMP-SMA Cita Hati, Surabaya. Koreografinya keren, audio-visual yang mendukung dan kostum yang semarak buat saya hanyalah supporting units. Saya sangat sesalkan karena drama ini tidak ditayangkan di televisi. Justru drama seperti ini penting di saat-saat seperti sekarang, dimana orang sudah lupa keindahan dari sebuah perbedaan. Lupa bahwa Indonesia dilahirkan dari asas Bhinneka Tunggal Ika yang artinya: BERBEDA-BEDA TAPI TETAP SATU JUA. Saat orang-orang lupa bahwa persamaan adalah sesuatu yang MEMBOSANKAN.
Dari kecil, saya belajar tentang lima agama di negeri yang saya tinggali, Indonesia. Dari kecil pula, saya belajar tentang berbagai suku yang tinggal di Indonesia. Dan segala perbedaan itu membuat negeri ini SPESIAL.


Karena itu saya nggak akan pernah mengerti dengan jalan pikiran orang-orang yang hendak membuat negeri ini jadi SATU AGAMA atau jadi SATU MODEL BUSANA gara-gara
stupid and silly thing called UU Anti Pornografi atau jadi SATU SUKU BANGSA, menyingkirkan suku-suku lainnya. Mereka yang melihat warna-warni sebagai suatu perbedaan adalah mereka YANG PALING SAKIT dan BUTUH DISEMBUHKAN.

Friday, 14 November 2008
1:33 pm

Monday, November 10, 2008

five days in childcare

When my maid said she could not go back to work for me, I started to think the solution of the problem. I hate to admit but, yes it is a problem. Well, of course, it would be OBVIOUSLY a problem for me, since my son is still not yet 2 years old and ABSOLUTELY cannot take care of himself, rite? It was not only my maid who did not come back after Lebaran day, but also my mother-in-law's and sister-in-law's maid. Thus, we had to look for 3 (THREE) new maids, which turned out to be a nasty business because it was kind of hard to look for LOYAL maid to work for us. Besides, my another sister-in-law (the one who also has a son with almost the same age with mine) needs a maid, as well! All in all, we had to look for APPARENTLY 4 (FOUR) new maids. Gosh.

This sister-in-law and I, then, decided to do some hunting of childcare near our neighbourhood - only to find it out to be another nasty business, because childcare or baby school in Surabaya has a VERY EXPENSIVE tuition and monthly fee (!!). One of the childcares I have observed requires us to pay IDR 3,000,000 for a class till my son turns three, another IDR 900,000 for monthly fee and another IDR 300,000/year for school's tools. Oh, well, I'd rather looking for the maid, then if so.

The childcare-hunting resulted zero on the day we were doing. First, because of the fee. Second, because of our considering to still hire maids. Until I heard from some friends about a childcare with not-too-expensive monthly fee nearby. At least, it only takes 15 minutes to reach for the place from my residence and workplace. There I went to search for the information and to take a glimpse of the place itself. The place is ok. It is two-floor wide room where kids can take a nap or sleep in the second floor and it even has its own kid's bathroom (it's very cute, by the way and outside the room), and a special room (they call it a soft-play room) where kids can play sliding, trampoline and house in there. They also have a program every month for every day's activity. Like introducing the name of fruits and playing 'looking for fruits' on the yard or introducing a knowledge about magnet, etc. So I took my son and hubby to the place on the following day, and my son was like happy to see the place. He asked me to get down from my arm and joined the other kids to play.

A few weeks away after that (my mom came to help me from my hometown), I've got 5 trial-days (I paid for it, of course) in the childcare. So, for four days, I was accompanying my son in the childcare and had to observe whether he could follow their schedule or not, since my son a little bit too young to be left without company. On the fifth day, I would be nowhere to be seen by my son, so that the staffs could recognize whether my son would be very difficult or not when he could not see me anywhere.

Four days plus one in the childcare, I just knew that kids could be very unusual. There are about 15-20 kids every day (they normally receive max. 25 children per day) and they all have different habits.

Note: all of these names are not their real names, I do not want their moms, who may drop by in my blog and recognize their kids' name mentioned in this blog, suing me. No way.

NON
It takes almost one hour for her to finish her meal. She usually eats twice, for lunch and in the afternoon around 4 pm before her parents pick her up. But, get this: she MUST eat her meal with CHOCOLATE on top of every spoon. Hello, chocolate on top of a soup with rice? What kind of taste will you get? Apparently, CHOCOLATE helps her to finish the meal more quickly.

CING
She was usually accompanied by her nanny, because of her age (less than 2 years old). Her nanny told me, that her parents do not really love her on account of she is a girl not a boy and the parents have got two boys already so that she is kind of needed anymore. I don't know whether the nanny told me the truth or not, but overall, this little girl is quite close enough with my son.

AVATAR (hah? avatar? I told you this will be a real name)
Avatar is Ching's brother, but he's not too attentive of his sis. He likes to play with Brenda (haven't been mentioned, don't worry).

HANS
He would be crying from the first time her mother takes him there until her mother picks him up and he cannot be separated with his goling and pooh doll. Take one of them and you will hear him crying even more loudly. Once, one of the staffs asked him: "Are you not tired crying all the time, Hans?" And this boy solemnly shook his head and said, "No." and continued his crying.

VINA
Vina is also usually accompanied by her nanny. She also always keeps her meal in her mouth during lunch time till nap time and after she wakes up the meal has been gone. I don't know when she swallows it, though, because when she is asleep, I see she still has meal in her mouth.

SATRIA
Oh, this boy is quite handsome. He's got big eye with quite long lashes and he's quite good as well.

BRENDA
Brenda is a sweet and friendly girl. This girl is the first to be shouted by Avatar every time he arrives at the childcare. She is also helpful. Once I saw my son like slipping on the floor, she helped him out by pulling his hand.

TINO
Tino has a very curly hair, like -if you ever read comic of Candy-candy- Eliza's hair, plump face, quite big body for a 2-year-old boy and tiny nose out there. He's also friendly and really looks alike his father. Sometimes he pups in his short pant without even saying anything to anyone.

FERRE
Ferre is a quiet girl, with small eyes, and never cries (at least when I was there, I never saw her crying). She used to be shy if asked to sing in front of her friends, but last time I came, I saw her singing in front of them already.

JALI
Jali is quite often to be punished since he sometimes pushes or disturbs his friend. I hope he doesn't have a chance to push my son, but anyway, he does not stay there every day - maybe only the days while his parents cannot take him with them.

RINA
Rina is also a quiet girl, but not as quite as Ferre. Sometimes when she is not in good mood, she does not want to play with her and will be sitting in some place all alone. Oh, and she also takes a very long time to finish her lunch, maybe one hour or more.

HENDRA
Hendra is a very active boy and quite handsome as well. But unlike Satria, he is more -what is it- naughty (?) and sometimes does not really care about what the staffs ask him to.

ROY
Roy has a big body but needs some therapy because he still cannot speak much in his age. He is about 4 years old. He is also accompanied by his nanny and likes chocolate milk in bottle, not glass, with nipple. His nanny told me that when his mother was pregnant, she had to consume some medicine on account of her weak pregnancy for 8 months. And when she got the labor, the baby would not come out because the head was stuck by the intestine. Whooa.. what a story.

DANIE
Danie looks very ALIKE my friend. I think my friend was like Danie when he was a kid. He was also quiet but once grumbled that he was bored in the place.

RANDY
Randy is a very small boy, less than a year, younger than my boy as well, but we can communicate with him. He understands what we say even though still does not have many words to respond. And get this: he tried TO KISS me! Not once, not twice, but several times. Hah.

Still, I prefer working at my workplace to working at childcare. I like to see and watch children, but I think I don't have enough patience to look after them. I hope everything will be ok. Today, I left my son in the childcare, and hopefully he will be ok and developed well.

I really hope so.

Please pray for us.

Monday, 10 November
3:30 pm

PS: Happy Heroes' Day!