Mensyukuri Nikmat

Namanya hidup, selalu penuh penyesuaian. Namun seringkali dalam proses penyesuaian, ada hal-hal yang patut disyukuri.

Kami baru pindah ke apato baru. Segi baik apato ini: luasnya 53 m2, ada ruang keluarga, kitchen yang bersatu dengan ruang makan, kamar tidur bertatami (semacam tikar dari jerami), ada kamar mandi ala jepang (ofuro) jadi kalo mandi sambil duduk di dingklik plastik untuk bersabun sebelum menceburkan diri di ofuro (bath tub jepang) yang kecil ukurannya, wc terpisah dan kering, ada lemari khusus sepatu di mulut rumah, ada ruang belajar untuk aji yang bisa ditutup pintunya supaya aji bisa konsentrasi mengerjakan thesis yang tinggal beberapa bulan lagi harus kelar. Apato ini sudah diperlengkapi heater di ruang keluarga yang bisa menghangatkan ruang makan. Ada kitchen set dan bak cuci piringnya. Wall papernya cantik sekali dan lantainya dari semacam karet sehingga mudah dibersihkan dan cenderung menghangatkan.

Kemarin kami jalan-jalan disekitar apato ini. Memang jauh dari pasar, tapi ada circle K, Sunkus, supa kecil, tukang ayam, bakery. Sementara bisa survive dengan beberapa toko tsb. Kebetulan prinsip memasak ibu adalah 'seadanya' dan menghalalkan improvisasi. Jangan ditanya menunya apa karena tidak ada judulnya, tapi dijamin tidak bikin sakit perut atau keracunan setelah makan! Tapi kalo ternyata jadi masakan yang enak, disuruh bikin lagi pasti rasanya beda! ya abis gak dicatat proses masaknya!

Lucunya, ternyata kita dapet akses internet wireless dari kampus. Gratis! Mungkin karena letak apato yang di lantai 3 dan masih dalam radius jangkauan kampus hal itu bisa terjadi.

Sejauh ini, begitulah laporan kami.

Pindahan

Para teman, handai tolan dan kerabat yang kerap mengunjungi blog ini, kami terpaksa "menelantarkan" proses update dikarenakan kami harus pindah apartemen pada tanggal 25 September. Mohon bersabar sampai kira-kira sebulan sebab sambungan internet baru dapat aktif sekitar akhir bulan Oktober. Silakan membaca ulang artikel-artikel yang terdahulu; barangkali ada yang terlewati belum sempat dibaca. Jika berkenan, anda dipersilakan menulis komentar.

Sampai bulan depan!!!!

The Lucky Ones

Wednesday, September 21 is the day when Akira has to receive his first vaccination, BCG. Aji Sandy has STL (Special Topic Lecture) from 10.30 to 14.30. It means ibu and Wisnu has to accompany Akira to the Ward Office.

"Good things coincide with important things" the Japanese say. The night before, Wisnu refused to go to bed early. He insisted on watching the DVD eventhough the lights were off and he was left alone in front of the computer. On the other side of coin actually we admire his effort on being persistence :) Somehow he ended up crying and running to the bedroom at about 10.30 pm.

It was difficult to wake him up at 9.00. Ibu was buying the time by taking Akira to shower and tidying up the bedroom. At last, Wisnu opened his eyes as he was seated on his stroller. He slouched on it waiting for Ibu locking up the room and putting Akira on his sling.

To go to Ward Office is not really hard but quite challenging. It is in Maita --a subway station away from our dorm. The thing is there is no elevator nor escalator in Maita. Besides, it is quite traumatic for Wisnu to see the station as we used to put him to the nursery school when Ibu was giving birth to Akira and Aji had to go to campus. We could say Wisnu recognized the station and is always terrified by the idea that we are going to take him there again and leave him alone.


The subway to Maita was not crowded but Ibu chose to stand up so that Wisnu could hold her hands while sitting on the stroller. Ibu whispered, " Wisnu, you'll have to get off from your stroller in Maita and climb up the stairs" but it was not easy to make Wisnu understand the situation. Perhaps he was still so sleepy to walk that he cried out loud when he was asked to climb up the stairs. He sat on the floor and screamed. Ibu was at a loss but suddenly there was this middle-aged Japanese lady who approached us and lent a hand. She carried Wisnu on her arms compassionately and mumbled some Japanese words which sound really empathic and soothing for Wisnu. We managed to get to the ticket gate and Ibu was searching for the ticket but it was nowhere to find. The station officer noticed this and it made ibu felt even more nervous. Gosh. The lady who was carrying Wisnu was patiently waiting outside the gate with Wisnu and it made Ibu started sweating. Desperately Ibu said to the officer: "Sumimasen (excuse me), I lost my ticket, gomenasai (I'm sorry)". Ibu was ready to pay another 200 yen for the lost ticket but surprisingly the officer smiled and said "Daijofu, dozo" (that's Ok, please). What?? We could get away without ticket???

Still stunned by the officer, Ibu approached the lady who helped us. She was talking to herself. It seemed that she was in doubt whether she had to take the left or right exit. Ibu said," Gomenasai, we are going to the ward office for vaccination" with all gestures she could figure out in the effort to say that it's allright if the lady would put Wisnu down. The lady did not say anything but looked around her. It seemed that she was going to a different direction but she was trying to get someone else to help us. Then came two other ladies and this first lady said in Japanese something like ," Goemenasai, blablabla kodomo(child) blabala okasan(mother) blabla, ideska (is it ok?)". Before ibu could ask what on earth she was trying to say, the first lady gave Wisnu to those ladies. One of them carried Wisnu and the other one skillfully took the stroller from Ibu's hand . Strangers to us yet so helpful!!! They tried to make a conversation and ibu could only guess their questions about Akira which needs the fixed answer such as 'sankai getsu' (three months old) and "otoko" (a baby boy, not girl) and " arigato" when they say "Kawaiiii" (cute).

We parted at the exit gate. They seemed to get used to the situation of helping strangers like us as they obviously did not show any negative body language nor comments.

When we got to the Ward office we found out that the vaccination would be at 13.30. Oops!!! It means we had to wait about two and half hours. To kill the time, Ibu asked about the possibility for Wisnu to receive free vacination too on the same day but the officers there do not speak English much. Yet, the midwife was about to take us to the 5th floor to get some info but we bumped into a man who turns out to be the person in charge for the vaccination . Then it was the man who took us up and talked to the lady officer about Wisnu's case. We got the medical record for Wisnu and they even tried to call the Kanagawa-ku ward office to come up with the information to do with the vaccination as soon as we told them that we were going to move from Minami-ku to Kanagawa-ku this weekend. They did it wholeheartedy eventhough it was 10 past 12 at noon when they should have had to take their lunch break.

In short, Akira got his BCG vaccination inspite of the language barrier. He is such as brave baby boy that he cried very little during the vaccination. When waiting for the vaccination shot to get dry, we were supposed to sit and listen to the explanation from the paramedics about the A to Z of the BCG vaccination. Wisnu started to cry as he was hungry, sleepy and bored. The lady who was giving presentation with the power point realized that Ibu needed help. She stopped talking for awhile to carried wisnu on her arms. After that she continued to give presentation with Wisnu on her arms. Amazing !!! She seemed to be happy of being able to help and asked :daijavu??" several times to make sure Ibu could manage everything. The best thing is she was prepared to give more help .

Going out with a baby and a toddler in Japan and was helped by stangers really left deep impression on us. These people who have helped us through today remind us of the other days when there have been many other Japanese who helped us here. They are the kindest people we meet in the friendliest country. We are the lucky ones , indeed.

ABCD (ABRI Bukan Cepak Doang)

Sekitar tahun 1990-an ngetop banget kan istilah ABCD ini buat ngecengin mahasiswa baru yang lagi diplonco 'n kudu ngebotakin rambutnya. Nahhh..keluarga kami ini bukannya masuk militer semua, tapi .... potong rambut di Jepang mahal euy!!!

Aji sandy, contohnya cuma berani potong rambut di Indonesia, jadi sesudah 3 bulan di Jepang, pulang ke Indonesia cukur rambut karena mau ketemu sodara2 pas hari Natal di rumah mbak Yudi. Balik ke Jepang, tu rambut gondrong sampai ibu dan wisnu datang. Akhirnya cukur rambut juga di Gumyoji pake cari yang paliiing murah 1500 ehh tukang cukurnya gak ngerti kalo kita mintanya cepak lagi! Mana motongnya gak jelas gitu modelnya.

Setelah Akira lahir dengan rambut gondrongnya dan ternyata kulit kepalanya penuh cradle cap, dan Wisnu kelihatan kegerahan karena garuk-garuk kepala terus (yang pasti dia tidak sedang berpikir pada saat garuk2 kepala) selain itu persediaan shampoo bayi sudah habis, mulailah ibu hunting pisau cukur. Pucuk dicita ulam tiba, di Akachan Honpo ada tuh alat pencukur rambut dan tdak terlalu mahal.

Coba lihat foto dua anak gondrong.
Awalnya aji Sandy ragu-ragu mencukur. Dasar ibu nekad, awalnya mulai nyukur jambangnya aji. Trus karena gak tega kalo hasilnya pitak kiri-kanan, jadilah Akira yang dijadikan target. Ternyata??? Emang bener jadi pitak... Aduh, maaf ya Akira... Akhirnya aji turun tangan dehhh mencukur Akira hingga 3 cm.
Ini hasilnya.

Sesudah Akira, ibu melirik Wisnu. Coba tebak apa kata Wisnu? "Nggak,nggak" sambil geleng-geleng kepala. Yahhhh... Wisnu, kan kalo gagal itu namanya proses belajar,nak. Aji sudah hampir give up dan membatalkan niatnya. Ibu insists. "Sini, Wisnu peluk ibu, biar aji potong rambutnya, biar nggak gerah." Wisnu sempat menangis ketakutan mendengar suara pisau cukur itu. Tapi lama-lama..eeeh keenakan. Apalagi sambil liat kaca dia liat wajahnya kok jadi terang. Inilah cukuran 6 cm.


Dan akhirnya aji mencukur rambutnya sendiri. Bravo!!! Tapi ini beda modelnya; cepak 12 cm.


Nahhh..kan kalo begini tinggal ibu yang potong rambuttt...

Goodbye Gumyoji (Part Three)

We are counting down the days to move out-- it's 11 days to go. Sigh.

We've told you about the people and the spots in the Foreign Student House. Allow us to share with you some stories around this area.

It's similar to this Yokohama Dori Shotengaiwhat they call Gumyoji market (Gumyoji Shotengai). Very clean, very convenient, very safe (no pickpocket). Look at the rooftop. It gives shade during hot summer or rainy days, perhaps essential during winter--unfortunately we won't have the chance to go here then. Another special thing is there are some speakers around the area that we can listen to the instrumental songs--most of the time Beatles song such as "All my Loving".

There are two stores which were closed before we even moved out. One is 55 Photo where we used to buy disposable camera for only 450 yen and have the film transferred to the CD for 1000 yen. Second one is the fish shop (Sakana-ya) which sell fresh fish (3 slices for 320 yen), octopus(tako), cuttle fish(ika) for 280 yen, etc. The sakana-san would beckon us by shouting loudly. Many times they managed to wake Wisnu up who was sleeping on his stroller. These two stores offer cheaper price than their competitors--perhaps that's why they are out of the business.

We do not know what they call this kind of store but this is where we ran to when we were too hungry to wait for me to cook but had no much money to eat out after going out from hospital or about to go out to the park.
Look at the mouth watering food they offer.All kinds of fries: prawn(ebi), cuttlefish(ika), sweet potato (satsuma imo), eggplant(nasu). They also have the ready-made food or bento and some other dishes like all kinds of salad, home recipe food like spinach sprinkled with sesame seeds, pumpkin, fried noodles, etc. The best thing to go here is they smile a lot and are very patient dealing with Japanese mute like me. I just need to point out at the food I want since I can read the price tag and use my fingers to decide how much I want. The shopkeepers would respond in Japanese. My husband is luckier since he has more vocabularies and they smile more to him.

Another shop is this shoes store. On the first days we set our foot in Japan, wisnu did not have shoes. I forgot to take Wisnu's shoes back in the luggage when I tried to put in some stuffs because it was so full that even after I stood on the top of the luggage I can't zip it. We bought sandals for wisnu here for 1500 yen. That was the most expensive stuff I bought for wisnu as in Indonesia his shoes or sandals would only cost me 30,000 yen or 330 yen.

Here comes another one-- the shop which sells traditional wear.We bought yukata, obi and the socks for our niece's birthday here. It was in the early summer and was still expensive, but we might not have the summer collection available if we wait to buy later before we leave Japan. It's for a birthday present so it's just got to be special, right Alexa? (We just hope that you could figure out how to wear them and find the right occasion to show it off to your friends, our dearest Alexa). Ever since we bought the yukata, the shop owner recognized my face. Especially everytime I pass the store, I took time to check the price of jimbe and touch some of the collection with admiration. I know I can't afford it. It went on like two months until one fine Saturday afternoon we passed the store and saw the tag" 10 % discount". The store owner sweetly greeted us "konichiwa". I said to my husband," Could you tell him that we are waiting for 50 % discount". My husband grinned. I think the shop owner has been waiting for this chance and he said " 10 % discount". I smiled at him and said, "We are waiting for 50% discount". He was surprised. Indeed. He said," e? 50%? nai". I knew it I can't push my luck. We were about to leave the store until the owner said" 20 %". My husband and I laughed. I said, "No. Thank you". Hurriedly the owner said "30 % then". My husband and I glanced at each other. I've been planning to buy jimbe for Subhan but...I did not know what to think until the shop owner hurried into his store and came out with some color choices. Well.. My husband said, " So you're buying one for Subhan? I think I'd like to have one too". So we bought two sets. What a bargain! We could have got jimbe made in China for cheaper price at Uni Glo but this store sells special jimbe with classic Japanese pattern.

What makes this market special? In our new place , there will be supa(supermarket) and combini (convenient stor/drug store) which offers of course, higher prices, and impersonal relationship. What makes it worse is I will not be able to go out for window shopping as the market is so far and located at the top of a hill. Moreover it's going to be cold winter--too cold to go out with a no-cold-resistant-baby like Akira and asthmatic boy like Wisnu.

It only took 6 months to make you feel at home. When we started to get used to things around here, we have to move out. And later, after 6 months getting used to the things there, we are returning to Indonesia. That's life.

Goodbye Gumyoji (Part Two)

Besides the office staffs of Gumyoji Foreign Student House, there are some favorite corners we will surely miss.

Number one, is this backyard garden. It is the nearest site which could change our mood. Many times Wisnu and I did not have a chance to go out of our dorm, but the sounds of many animals like the crows during the springs, semi during the summer create good moments of conversation. Wisnu would play at our veranda and comment on those animals--the sound, figures, anything. I always keep the curtain open to invite winds and avoid turning on the aircon too often due to the expensive electricity bills. Unlike our friend who lives in apartment in Honjo, we can smell the rain here! As told in our previous posts, Wisnu play swing and chase the butterflies here, and I should say I could make Wisnu eat his lunch during the picky-eater days here.

Second,this hall. Let's just name it waving alley. Why? Because here I usually take Wisnu to wave his father away. I would carry Wisnu in my arms and stand at the window, while Akira was crying and Wisnu would shout" aji...". Sometimes he sobs upon his father's departure. Wisnu likes to tease me by pretending to knock at our Korean neighbor's door and saying" knock,knock" and he shook his head with big smile on his face uttering " ibu, bukan, momo" he means 'it's not our room but momo's room'.

Third, this vending machine and the pay phone.We pass this place everytime we go out of our room. Sandy was the one who introduced Wisnu to the idea of putting the coin in and bingo you got a bottle of tea. Wisnu would always try to ask money from me for the tea everytime we pass this place. He would say, " ibu/aji, uang, teh, teh" which means "Give me a hundred yen for the tea, please". Sometimes he cried for I most of time would refuse his request. Some other times he would be contented to insert one or five yen coins in and take them out again and again. Lately he could copy some of our sentences and come up with" gak ada uang, ambil" which means " no money, take it " because one day I said "I have no money" and "Let's turn right to the bank, we are running out of cash. We are taking some before we go". He seems to be good at combining effective sentences :)

About the pay phone, I had some unforgettable moments here. I used this pay phone to call my parents backhome and there were times I tried hard to hold back my tears upon listening to their voices. God, that's why they say "the absence makes the heart grow fonder". This pay phone also the witness for some critical moments such as when Wisnu had a diarrhea and I tried to call my husband but at no vail. Moreover, the night when I had the contraction before giving birth to Akira, I tried to reach my husband's cellphone desperately but he did not pick his phone up. Thank to Devina who had tried to get my husband connected after our chatting during my progressive contraction.

The last, but the most important place: the washing and drying room which has saved us a lot. Wisnu and I had very limited collection of clothes. When there were no clean clothes to wear it means it's high time for washing. Hocuspocus in 50 minutes we'll have all clothes ready.Don't tell anyone that this place is my contemplation site. Indeed. I ran here to keep my sanity when my hormones really play my emotion. It never downed on me that it could be sooo relaxing watching the spinning clothes.


Sob. Goodbye Gumyoji.

Goodbye Gumyoji (Part one)

We are moving out from the Foreign Student House by the end of this month. Staying here for almost six months seems to be all of our lives. It's the first place for us to live together as a family --no relatives, no servants, no baby sitters. Just us.

The hardest part of leaving this place is that we are so acquainted with the administrators and the staffs.

For Wisnu, Fujita-san is the apple of his eyes. Every morning (Monday to Friday) Fujita-san always cheerfully greets Wisnu "Ohayo Gozaimas". Wisnu will always look for Fujita in the morning and ask me "Ibu, ayo mas", which means "Ibu, where is Fujita-san?".
Wisnu throws his toys out of the window to the garden as soon as he got bored playing with it. Sometimes he does it to make me go to the backyard garden to pick his toys and he would say "ikutt!!" which means he has to go with me and have sometime playing swing there. It is Fujita-san who will put the toys in our veranda. Whenever we meet him, he will take sometime to carry Wisnu and make a conversation as if they understood each other.















The second one is Nishida-san. She is my reliable interpreter and translator. When I was pregnant and had to cancel the doctor's appointment she was the one who helped. She gave lots of information about child raising and cooking. Wisnu loves her too.
She wished to see the house we live in in Jakarta as she could not figure out how come there are two families living at the same house sharing the same kitchen and living room and having 4 bedrooms. The house she lives in is divided into two parts-- one for her mother and one for her and the whole family.


There are two other ladies. One is Makita-san, the manager of this house. She is the one holding Akira in this picture. She lives here, in the Foreign Student House with her family , but we never meet her two sons though.
I never forget one hot summer night when we could not turn the AC on because one we could not understand the menu in remote control and second, that night the temperature could not be set just like usual, we called her through the intercom and she came to our room to help out. Another thing I remember about her is that her tingling key holder whenever she opens the office door. I can tell it's her who is opening or closing the door , not Nishida-san, from the sound of her key holder.Beside that, she is a real mom -- I mean she really knows how to put crying baby to sleep.Akira slept in her arms comfortably when my husband was trying to take my picture wearing the kimono and yukata.

The last, but not the least, is Kuroda-san, the janitor. She is the one who put on the Kimono and Yukata and the hair-do. The best thing is that we got it for free!!! She is as the matter of fact a professional Kimono dresser. If we ask someone like her and take photograph in the photo studio it will cost more than 30,000 yen for few snapshots.



I hate to realize that in our new apartment, there will be no these friendly people. We will be out of civilization :( on the 3rd floor. Well, you don't cherish things you posses until they no longer exist.

Something to adopt from the Japanese

We are vey much impressed by the service the Japanese provide. Almost everywhere we go, any Japanese we meet seem to have certain attitudes toward their work. Is it because they are wellpaid? Is it because they have 'pride' in doing their job?


In the 100 yen shop (similar to value dollar shop in S'pore or Jakarta) I found a set of Winnie the Pooh spoon, fork and chopstick for Wisnu. When my husband paid at the cashier, without asking our approval, the cashier rushed to change the item with the finely plastick wrapped. Not that I am not proud of being Indonesian, but perhaps the cashiers in our stores will not bother looking at it , let alone changing it with the one in the better condition.

Last week we went to the florist to get some flowers for tilem offering. We stood there for awhile trrying to locate the cheapest flowers because the price ranges from 500 to thousands yen. Finally we could get the bunch of lovely roses for only 350 yen. Before we paid the flowers, the florist open the paper wrap and checked the condition of the flowers. Quickly she found out that two stems were broken and replaced them with the fresh ones. Stunning !!! It did not really influence her whether we only bought the cheapest item.

One day at the cafetaria of Shinmin Byoin Hospital, Wisnu and I could not get any seat during lunch. the cafetaria has two corners: one for the hospital staffs and the other one is for visitors. I just stood in front of the cashier as I saw that there was no chance for a pregnant woman and a two-year old child to squeeze in the crowded corner. I did not ask for help because I did not know how to in Japanese. I did not have to wait long until the cashier with her gesture showed me the way to sit among the doctors and nurses. She even pushed Wisnu's stroller to help me get in and took a high chair for Wisnu to eat.

If we need to get documents either from the ward Office or Immigration office, we could get them done on the same day. My husband said that the officer stayed until 5 pm to finalize the papers eventhough the closing time was 4.30. They do not complain. No extra fees. No grudges.

picture : http://plato.acadiau.ca

I think we will take those attitude home...and promise not to complain if others do not share the same values... (the latter is the hardest!!!)

Kegembiraan Wisnu




Dalam hitungan 24 jam, seorang Wisnu bisa beberapa kali menangis, menjerit, menelungkup di atas lantai berurai air mata, mengguncang-guncang baju ibunya atau ajinya minta digendong.
Kalau sudah begitu, jalan potong untuk meredakan tangisnya adalah menggendongnya dan mendekapnya.

Namun demikian, hanya beberapa hal kecil saja bisa membuat senang hatinya. Pagi hari, begitu bangun tidur kalau susu sudah tersedia dan ia akan langsung duduk di depan TV sambil menonton acara TV NHK kesayangannya: inai inai baa!

Lalu sekitar jam 10 pagi, sesudah ibu selesai memasak dan memandikan Akira, Wisnu tahu waktunya main ke play room di Chiku Senta (balai rakyat-red) . Meskipun setibanya di sana, dia akan ragu-ragu bergabung dengan anak-anak jepang, tapi beberapa saat kemudian biasanya akan lebih tenang bermain di antara mereka (catat: bukan berarti bersama-sama mereka).

Jika tiba makan siang, makanan akan lebih cepat masuk ke mulut kalau sambil menonton DVD Baby Einstein atau Dora (yang cuma ada 1: Nursery Rhymes) sesuai dengan pilihannya. Model memontonnya juga khas Wisnu, filmnya bisa berganti-ganti dalam beberapa menit. Misalkan awalnya ia minta menonton Dora, lalu dalam 10 menit, dia berteriak "ibu-aji, ganti, tain-tain, nih..inih" sambil menunjuk DVD yang diinginkannya.

Kalau saat mau tidur, yang ditariknya adalah ajinya. "aji, yuk, bobo". Mungkin Wisnu tahu, ibu bagiannya menidurkan adik. "is..is.." berarti Wisnu minta susu. (sekarang Wisnu minum tidak pakai dot lagi, tapi pakai sedotan lho!). Sebelum tidur kadang Wisnu minta dibacakan cerita atau bermain asyik dengan bisnya.

Itu acara rutin harian. Hal-hal di luar itu, ada juga yang membuat mata Wisnu berbinar-binar.
Contohnya, kalau sehabis mandi Wisnu ditanya :"Wisnu mau ikut pergi?". Pasti jawabnya antusias :"Ikut!', tidak perduli kemana perginya, kadang cuma pergi ke pasar membeli sayur-mayur atau ke kantor pos membayar rekening tagihan. Selain itu kalau diminta menjatuhkan pilihan baju mana yang ingin dipakainya, " ini,ini" jawabnya sambil tertawa-tawa.

Apalagi kalau begitu tiba di perempatan jalan, kita berbelok ke kiri, ke arah stasiun subway, dia pasti berlari sambil teriak "bis,bis" yang berarti kita akan naik kereta. Biasanya dia juga akan berujar, "ibu, bis, " sambil menunjuk stasiun lalu jawaban standar ibu adalah" bukan bis, kereta".

Tadi pagi, ada sumber kegembiraan baru untuk seorang Wisnu kecil. Nampaknya musim hujan sudah tiba lagi menjelang musim gugur ini. Wisnu senang sekali bisa memakai jas hujan dan sepatu boot barunya. Apalagi ibu mengijinkannya menciprat-ciprat genangan air dengan sepatu bootnya. Walaupun masih agak kebesaran, jas hujannya bisa melindunginya dari basahan hujan. Jadi Wisnu bisa berteriak"hujan..hujan..." sambil berlari.