BxC Park

This saturday was so exciting as my sister and her family were coming to our small house but sadly it was due to the haze that has gotten worse in Pekanbaru, where they have lived for the last two years. Around  11.oo pm when they arrived, I was still awake just doing a piece of blog writing, while both of my nephews was falling asleep. We just did short chit-chatting before going to bed as they had been on 18 hours journey from Pekanbaru-Padang-Jakarta because no flight could be accessed directly from Pekanbaru; instead, they had to depart trough Padang.

On Sunday afternoon we planned to go to BxC Park, the beautiful and happening one in Bintaro, located in the Bintaro CBD, just beside the Bintaro Exchange Mall (BxC Mall). Our little family often spend time here, especially to enjoy the greenery, the fish ponds as well as the cuisine sold in the BxC food court when getting hungry after an hour of playing in the park. That's why I definitely wanted to bring my nephews there as I'm sure they would enjoy this beautiful open space.

When we arrived (at 5 p.m.), fortunately it was also easy to find the available car park since we often experience a lack of such space if we come on the weekend. We then bought some bread for all of us as the traffic jam, which took almost 1 hour made us a bit hungry hehe. My daughter had her meal while the others ate the bread. Finishing with the meal, we explore one side of the park, taking some photographs and accompanying the children to play maze made of shrubs. These are what I like most from BxC Park, it's spacious, green and children friendly. Also, every Saturday night, there is a gig taken place in the center of the park, but we have never experienced that.

We fell relaxed afterall and I'm happy just seeing their enthusiasm and cheerful faces. :)

When PDT was over.....

Finally, my 4.5 months journey was going to an end, which meant a good news on one hand and an uncomfortable feeling on the other hand. Why? As I would not have to sleep late at night dealing with assignments as well as self-studying, I can definitely spend more times doing other activities as opposed to learning, haahaha. However, since I still had to wait for almost 2 weeks long for the IELTS result, surely it made me difficult just to stay calm before knowing the score. 

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So, what happened with going back to the office? A bit awkward if I could say. I've met lots of new colleagues also a new boss, but fortunately, the same job hehehe making me feel like entering a new office back in early 2011 when I firstly came to this place. Meanwhile, I must have dealt with what so called "jet lag" with this new routine as well, although I still have to start commuting at a similar time, going home at 5 and then arriving around 1.5 hours later seems too hard for me. I've really missed heading off from IALF at 3 and so seeing the sunlight when arriving home, absolutely I do miss accompanying my daughter to enjoy the afternoon just in our neighborhood :( And for sure, I am about to lost my comfort zone during the PDT with an enjoyable learning, a cozy place to study (a.k.a. resource center) and off course great classmates.

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Well, I must admit that these 13 people with their own uniqueness have completed this journey. The duo Phd students, Mas Toto and Mas Agus are like our role models regarding their skills, abilities and also experience, hopefully we could be like them as we reach our mature age hahaha. Another "mature" student is Mas Cahya, the one who got an unconditional offer long before our course ended up, lucky u! no more worries about what the IELTS would be hehe. Our class leader, Mas Bram, is the energetic one organizing our outside-class activities such as munggahan and other eating out moments. He also intended to arrange our video performance for the end-of-course event, but, unfortunately the IALF management didn't give us permission. Pandu, together with Mas Toto and Mas Bram, were my partners in speaking study group in which we each other criticized and gave and received many inputs and constructing comments, these meant a lot for me, guys! Rizky, those showing me how to go home by train from Sudirman Station, is a reading master and thus we called him Reading Wicaksono hahaha. Cahyo, Rizky's BFF I suppose because they will go to the same state, Adelaide, and come from the same institution, is the one who often sends "wrong" messages into our WA group haha crazy! Thariq, the youngest guy in this class, a businessman wanna be but trapping himself being a government officer currently, is the hilarious one. Puji, mr. cheerful, is those never looked angry or sad, thanks for reminding me to avoid saying "but I'm not sure" in every discussion hehehe you now it is unconsciously said :p  Mas Danang, my ex-colleague, is the calm one, I've almost never seen him in a hurry, indeed he did his presentation in an attractive way; thus although exceeding the time limit, he still got good grade, unlike me hehe. Lastly, the women, Putri whose has a British accent is very fluent in speaking and able to stay calm even when given an unexpected topic, amazing! Mba Wulan, coming from Binjai makes her being called "miss Binjai" by Mas Tohari. She is also the funny one with a unique dialect and a well-organized person. And, Novi, another young guy in this class, was the only one who disappeared in the event in Decanter haha. She was always copying the weekly timetables for me, Putri and Mba Wulan, thanks!

Us...at the closing ceremony, 9 Oct 2015

By all of the ups and downs we have passed, I would undoubtedly miss those moments. I hope Allah will allow us to have such a reunion Down Under and ease our study as well...aamiin. Don't forget also with our wonderful plan in the future, Hotchkiss and Partner Consulting Firm hahaha

Tightening a Mother-Daughter Relationship

Image taken from www.ummulhasanaat.co.za

As a working mom, I should realize that I might have limited time with my little daughter, which often make me blame myself of an unintended situation between me and her. However, a  regret would not change it unless I do something matter. It then pushes me to gradually deal with my ego, which previously make me always sad when my daughter preferred to be with my mom rather than me. Although I am conscious that my melancholy is a natural emotion of a mother, this must be relaxed. And now, I am still trying to enhance the relationship.

First and foremost, finding the right time to be with her has been a proven way. For example, in the last lebaran holiday, I decided to have quality time with my daughter as I started my course break by allowing my mom visit my sister in Pekanbaru earlier. The result is that she became reliant to me, so it eased my next journey to Bengkulu when there would be only me, my husband and her, without my mom.

Another good way to tighten the bond is spending my time to play with her, which do not need to go to some places, instead, staying at home during the weekend will be more effective. Sometimes, going out could reduce the boredom, but it would also lead to distracting your child's attention. Indeed, children would only be focused to what he/she sees in malls, for example, rather than to the parents. In contrast, when I was staying and playing just at home, we could have a more intensive conversation in addition to some games we played together.

Lastly, it was bedtime session, which I can use to easily talk to her about anything, let's say, how to pray before going to sleep. Meanwhile, touching her forehead and caressing her hair during that time would make her comfort and thus she would fall asleep simply.

Thank you my daughter for teaching me how to deal with myself, be patient and remember me that you are the most important present in my life. Hopefully, there will be better situation in the future that we as a family will have more time being closely together.

Bengkulu for the Lebaran Holiday

Being our routines in the last four years, we go to Bengkulu during this Lebaran holiday. Differently, my husband only took three days work leave whereas I was luckily given the two-week break from the course so I could use my work leave deposit in other occasions. Therefore, I started the holiday earlier and had time with my daughter while my mom went to Pekanbaru to visit her other grandchild. 

We went to Bengkulu on Thursday morning, early morning to be exact since we had to leave our house at 5 a.m. to reach soekarno-hatta airport. Initially, I planned to have more time to spend there and feed my child for her breakfast before the boarding time. Unfortunately, there was a long queue at check-in process and so we finished that lately. It resulted in an unfinished breakfast for Kiki as we only had around 30 minutes before the airline called us. Alhamdulillah, the flight was on-schedule although we had to wait to take off due to the heavy air-traffic. Similarly, the flight was also enjoyable as three of us could fall asleep during that flight hihihi. Arriving in Bengkulu at 10 a.m., my in-laws were already there in the airport to pick us up. After finishing with our luggage, we met them.

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the Lebaran Day

The day is just a day after we arrived in Bengkulu. That's why when we touched down at oma-opa's house, there were so many foods available, from any kinds of snacks and pempek to the food that usually prepared for lebaran day, such as lontong, gulai, etc.

Early in the morning at the day, we all prepared to go to the Ied praying place, which is quite close to the house but as we are in a hurry, we needed to go by car. I prepared Kiki's stuffs that keeping her calm during my praying activity. I also brought her mukena in case she wanted to wear that as all of the people going there would wear that. Alhamdulillah she stayed nice during the time and then we went back to the house afterwards.We then had our breakfast before visiting our relatives. We went to my parents in law' sister then to their extended family. At 12 we had finished doing those activities.

Surprisingly, she was pretty calm during my pray :)

Going to Lais Region

At the day after, we planned to go to Lais Region, which is around 1 hour drive from Bengkulu city. Unlike our initial plan, we went lately because we have to wait other family members who wanted to join us. Kiki fell a sleep during the journey, but woke up before we reached Lais. After arriving at Lais, she told me wanna have a pee...oh  my there was no toilet as we were in a village where the grave of my hubby's grandpa is in. Suddenly, I just decided to go to one house and ask the owner whether we can use their toilet hehe, and they allowed us...many thanks. We then went back to Bengkulu and had a short break seeing Lais beach.

Beaching at Pantai Panjang

Pantai Panjang is the most prominent landmark in Bengkulu, where most people spend their free time. Indeed, in each visit to this city, me and my family always go there. To be honest, this beach is even better than those in Bali, for example, because of the white sand, the cleanliness, and is also far less crowded compared to Bali's.

And, in this occasion, again we visited Pantai Panjang since Kinanthi loves going to beach. Just like the previous, she didn't want to end and go home, ha ha ha. Going there at 5 p.m., at that moment we simply enjoyed the waves, the sand and absolutely the beautiful sunset.  

Looks good yeah :P

Going Back to Jakarta
After spending almost 10 days in Bengkulu, we should go back to Jakarta, back to the reality, with the crowd and the traffic jam we never met during our stay in Bengkulu, but I think it was exciting for Kinanthi because she will see Uti again he he he.

a Book Review: "Dear Venny, Dear Saffron" by Gary Crew and Libby Hathorn

Image is taken from www.brotherhoodbooks.org.au

This is a romantic novel authored by two Australians. Although simple, this book is interesting regarding the plot, the character of the figures, and also the way the authors use to present the story. Overall, I would recommend this book, especially for those who are in favor of such genre and need an easy novel to be digested.

The story begins when Venny (Venero Merlo's nickname), a 16 years old Australian boy, has to send mail to Saffron Duval, a pen friend to be, as part of English course accomplishment. Initially, he views it as a silly task but it changes as time goes by. 

Saffron, who base in New York, is an orphaned girl living with her aunt named Beatrice. She has a rollercoaster life since her parents were dead, and she thus has to follow her aunt. She does a home-schooling due to her unsuccessful school days with some jerk mates who ruin her physiologically. On the other hand, Venny coming from a well family in Australia is a cheerful person who then starts a career in modeling before a physical accident comes up and changes his life since then. It is not a coincidence that Saffron loves art painting and similarly Venny then realize his talent in sculpture.

After a long journey of becoming penpals with almost  three-year shares of ups and downs in each other's personal lives, they realize that it has been a start of a love story, although they have never met yet. At that time, Venny admits that he loves Saffron, who give a similar response. Long story short, even though separated by continents and oceans, Venny make a promise to visit Saffron one day, and he is working thereon.

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P.S. Thanks to Barbara, who recommended this novel as I used to be bored with reading activity.