Family Outing

This Saturday morning Aji, Ibu and Wisnu joined the Wyeth Gold Club Outdoor Event “ little indians” at the Ragunan Zoo. Alexa, Aunty Evi and Uncle Levi also participated in.

Ibu, Aunty Eha and Wawa Fia also were here!!!

It started at 10.00 am with the Brain Gym , some physical movements to balance the function of the brain. Then the parents were asked to help their kids to make the Indian’s hat and decorate their face with the body crayon. Alexa patiently waited for her mommy and daddy to prepare the hat, while Wisnu insisted on putting the chicken feathers on his hat by himself.

The first thing that the little Indians had to go through was the square with the rope for the kids to put their feet up high and jump over it. It surely was not easy but Alexa as well as Wisnu could manage with the help of their parents.

Next, Indians had to jump over the colorful bridge


Then, there was a tunnel full of balloons filled with water for those courageous Indians to crawl through. They had got to be careful , otherwise they could break the balloons and got wet!

After that, the Indians had to hang on the rope like Tarzan to cross the river. Oh-oh it turned out to be not very easy to get hold on to the rope and swing your body.

The last thing to do was to make your footprints on the paper as the sign that the Indians made all through the hurdles!!

These two little Indians are the representatives from the Pasar Minggu

The day was getting hotter, so it was really the perfect time to drink juice, especially we got it for free !!! Wisnu was still curious to look around the Indians’ camp and the fireplace. It must have been fun to imagine to be a real Indian kid!

We left the area at around 12.30 when the sun was high. It was a loooong and tiring day…..

Play group for Wisnu

Wisnu will turn three years old by August this year. We did not plan to put him to school so early, but so far we see that he will make some friends and learn to socialize if he joins the play group. Moreover, he has to see his cousin, Alexa, leaving for school every morning and often crying for not understanding why he can’t go with her as they most of the time spend time together- to the park , to supermarkets, to take a walk.





We set our own criteria for choosing the right school for Wisnu such as

1. location
we prefer the one in our neighborhood area since we can not rely on the public transportation so much in terms of safety and let alone the comfortability. Besides, we strongly believe that Wisnu should not suffer from the traffic jam only to get to his school as we want him to enjoy his journey to school and do not get burned out before he gets to school.

2. Affordable fee
Having to siblings and a government employee father, Wisnu needs to live in reality. We wish we could send him to the best school in the world, but we want Wisnu to understand that this is the best thing that we can give to him. We do not see the urgency to spend more than 3 million rupiahs to send him to a pre school as we’d better allocate the money for later higher level of education or for putting him into some other additional courses which suit his interest –either swimming club, painting class or music course or anything else.

3. the physical condition of the school
At least the school environment is hygienic, has good air circulation and gives ample rooms for the students to move around and play.

4. the atmosphere of the school
It might be ideal if we can find a school which adopt the up-to-date methodology and adjust it with the needs of the children, but such school might cost us a fortune. Anyway, Wisnu will spend only three hours in a week in a play group and we’ll provide him with other resources and stimulations to enrich him at home and it is still our responsibilities – the parents—to educate him and teach him basic values he’ll need to posses. Speaking of being realistic, we could only say that the atmosphere of the school at least should be lively and friendly for Wisnu . How to find it out? We need to see how the teachers communicate and treat the children inside and outside the classroom. We also observe whether the majority of the students seem to enjoy the activities and feel secured.


It took us several weeks to decide which one is the best. Here are some profile of the candidate:

PERISKAAji went to this kindergarten :) and for some sentimental reasons we need to check this school out. It is situated at the Kompleks Perkebunan –only less than 100 meters away from our residence and therefore within walking distance. The school charges Rp 1,800,000 for one year and Rp 150,000 for monthly fee. The school starts at 8.00 to 9.30 or 10.00 to 11.30 everyday. One of the teachers say that it is quite alright to let the students be absent or late sometimes (!!!). Being an old building, the rooms are dark and hollow. When we ask Wisnu whether he ‘d like to be there, he firmly said no.

Abhilasa Pre scool at our temple—aditya temple
It’s located at Rawamangun, about 40 minute drive from our residence. One of the organizers says that they might provide pick up service if there is a demand for that. The special thing about this school is that it offers basic Hindu teaching and Balinese culture. We can also say that it’s the cheapest school as it only charges Rp 700,000 for registration and Rp 150,000 for monthly tuition. The school starts at 08.30 to 10.00 every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Sahabat Kecil
It is actually a big old house used for school. There are some classrooms and gazebo, but unfortunately there is also a shaggy bird cage . When we visited the place, there was no one around to give information and we did not see any of the students either. We could read from the poster that they only charge us Rp 5,000 for per coming.

Sanggar Kreativitas Bobo
There is a small public car (KWK) which passes the school. It is actually not really a school but center of creativity. Since there is a great demand for pre
School, so they opened pre school. They have a big yard where the children can play the slide, see-saw and swing. They have interesting activities for the children, quite good collections of reference books for the students as well as the teachers. The teachers seem friendly and the activities are quite interesting, but we have not had any trial yet. Unfortunately the classrooms are not very clean and they use old air conditioner which will probably trigger Wisnu’s asthma.

JEMARI
It is situated at Kompleks Bapenas, Siaga and there is a small public car (KWK) which can take us there. The registration fee is Rp 1,000,000 and the monthly tuition is Rp 275,000. The school provides “healthy food” once a month but we are afraid that their definition of healthy food is far from our own definition.


Learning Step
It is located at Cikatomas II, Kebayoran Baru. It is actually a new school so that it has some nice new toys and furniture. The teachers use English eventhough they still have some mispronunciation. Wisnu joined trial classes there twice, for Jumper class (age of 3-4) and toddler (age of 2 -3) but he did not seem to fit into the class (based on Aji’s observation). The teachers seem not to know how to handle a trial class visitor as Wisnu was left out during the trial. We decided then it’s just not for Wisnu.


TK Pak Kasur
It is situated at Jalan Raya Pasar Minggu, about 20 minutes from our house by bus. The building is quite nice and big, the classrooms are air conditioned, the yard is also very big for many students to play with the slide, see-saw or swing. We went there and met the principal who is a middle-aged woman and looks a bit strict for a kindergarten principal. It is just too expensive for –not to underestimate—such school with no special curriculum to offer : Rp 3,350,0000 for annual fee and Rp 195,000 for monthly fee. Just because it uses the brand’s name “pak kasur” who happened to be a famous kindergarten teacher on TV in the 90’s , it has the confidence to charge that much.

Gita Niti
The school claims to be musical play group which offers 50 % of musical curriculum and 50 % national curriculum. Music is given as the subject and at the same time as a tool to convey the materials. The students are taught living values—not a specific religion. We basically like the concept of this school and had a good talk with the principal. Wisnu also seemed to enjoy the activities and could get along with the other kids during the trial, and he even cried when it was time to . It costs Rp 3,000,000 for the registration and rp 400,000 for the monthly fee. The school schedule is also very convenient as it starts at 10.00 to 12.00 every Monday-Wednesday-Friday or Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday. Anyway, we still have some reservations about the way the teachers talk to the students—they insist the students to do things the teachers want and they way the teachers want the students to. Besides, the teachers say too many “don’t” for things they should have been able to tolerate such as when some students enjoy running around in the classroom while the other students were singing (it’s actually because the students got bored sitting down and only listening too long)


Well, so far we could not decide yet which school we choose for Wisnu. Perhaps we’d better wait until July. Meanwhile, we will look for more information and try out more schools while we still have time. We just could not figure out that choosing a play group would be this challenging !!!

Keanehan (baca: keistimewaan) seorang Wisnu

Tante Devina sekitar sebulan lalu memberikan tag untuk membahas keanehan Wisnu. Bagi kami (sebetulnya), sepertinya hampir tidak ada yang aneh tentang Wisnu. Jadi membutuhkan lebih dari sekitar sebulan untuk mengumpulkan data dan menyimpulkan, bahwa, somehow, Wisnu punya juga beberapa keistimewaan.

Pertama, mudah tidur dan tertidur.
Ini benar-benar berkat bagi kami. Kalau sudah mengantuk, dalam posisi apa saja dan dimana saja, meskipun ditengah hiruk pikuk orang banyak, Wisnu bisa terlelap berjam-jam. Tidak perlu di atas kasur yang empuk atau dengan selimut kesayangan, begitu mengantuk, Wisnu tinggal menghisap ibu jari kiri dan dalam hitungan detik akan terbang ke pulau kapuk.

Waktu usianya kurang dari setahun, seringkali pada saat makan, belum habis makannya, Wisnu bisa terlelap di atas High Chair-nya. Bayangkan saja, sewaktu kami bepergian dengan kereta berjam-jam dari Yokohama ke Nigata, dalam kereta yang penuh sesak, Wisnu bisa tidur lelap di atas strollernya. Di dalam mobil tua Aki, di tengah hari bolong, walau berpeluh keringat, Wisnu bisa tertidur lelap. Waktu kami ke factory outlet, Wisnu bisa dengan santainya tidur diatas strollernya, walaupun belum makan dan suasana sekitarnya hiruk pikuk.

Masih soal tidur, Wisnu termasuk early bird—dalam artian waktu tidurnya lebih awal dari anak-anak lain. Dari bayi sampai umur setahun, kalau sudah jam 6 sore, Wisnu pasti tidur lelap sampai subuh. Untuk memberi susu pada jam 9 malam dan jam 12, baby sitter pun kudu “kerja keras” membangunkan Wisnu. Botol susu dijejalkan ke mulutnya pun tidak berhasil membangunkannya. Ditepuk-tepuk pipinya, diguncang-guncang badannya, tetap saja dia tertidur.

Setelah lebih dari setahun, waktu tidurnya mundur menjadi jam 7.30 malam dan bangun jam 7 pagi. Meskipun siangnya Wisnu tidur siang 2 sampai 3 jam, jadwal tidur hampir tidak pernah bergeser. Kalaupun pernah sesekali jam tidurnya terlambat karena ada tamu atau dalam perjalanan, besoknya pasti Wisnu teler berat yang akan berakibat entah tidur siang yang lama atau berangkat tidur lebih jauh.

Kedua, lebih senang makan sayur dibanding ayam/ikan.
Rasanya tidak jarang orang tua mengeluh anaknya tidak mau makan sayur. Wisnu mah malah kebalikannya, baru mau makan kalau dilihatnya ada sayuran di piringnya. Coba saja bujuk dengan perkataan “ pake sayur ini ‘nu”, biasanya dia jadi tertarik untuk makan. Seringkali makanan yang ada di piringnya yang dilahap habis adalah sayuran, sedangkan nasi dan lauk lainnya masih tersisa.

Rahasianya supaya anak mau makan sayur? Percaya atau tidak, waktu ibu hamil, memang bawaannya pengen makan sayur. Setiap pagi, ibu makan kukusan brokoli, wortel, buncis dan jagung. Tambahan lagi waktu Wisnu sudah mulai makanan padat, jenis makanan yang diperkenalkan pertama kali adalah sayur-mayur (bukan bubur instant atau biscuit manis )—jadi bubur dengan satu jenis sayur yang sama selama 3 hari berturut-turut. Setiap 3 hari sekali Wisnu diberikan jenis sayuran lain . Hal ini sebenarnya dilakukan karena Wisnu sempat terkena kolik pada usia 3 bulan dan menurut salah satu buku sayuran tertentu bisa menyebabkan kolik sehingga pemberian makanan pada bayi sebaiknya dilakukan bertahap dengan cara memperkenalkan hanya satu jenis makanan selama 3 hari –karena reaksi alergi atau lainnya baru terlihat setelah 3 hari. Kami juga tidak pernah menyangka hasilnya malah luar biasa—Wisnu menjadi anak yang suka sayur.


Ketiga, minum susu setiap kali haus
Dalam usianya yang hampir tiga tahun ini, setiap kali haus yang dimintanya adalah susu. Padahal dia baru makan nasi, yang diminta adalah susu.Hal ini terus terang bisa bikin ibu dan aji ketar-ketir memikirkan budget untuk susu. Kalau dituruti, susu 900 gram bisa dihabiskan hanya dalam 3 hari. Padahal, jaman sekarang, mana ada susu murah???

Keempat, indera ke-6 atau penebak jitu?
Mungkin sebagian dari anda tidak percaya mengenai indera ke-6. Tapi apa dong namanya? Seringkali di halte bis, Wisnu berseru “ bis datang” dan sekonyong-konyong muncullah bis. Atau Wisnu sering menyebut “ Akira pup” atau “Aji datang” dan beberapa menit kemudian barulah hal tsb terjadi.

Yang sering bikin ibu merinding adalah waktu dulu di Yokohama, malam sebelum tidur, dalam kamar yang gelap, saat aji belum pulang, Wisnu berceloteh “ ibu, ada boneka di atas “ (menunjuk ke langit-langit) dan berlanjut “ada 3, ada tangan, kaki gak ada” Huehhhh…..bikin ibu merinding aja judulnya! Apalagi ditambahi ucapan Wisnu “ Wisnu bobo dulu ya, boneka, dadah”. Kalo ada jawaban dari “para boneka tsb” apa jadinya????

Di Jakarta, sekitar waktu magrib , kadang Wisnu masih berlari-lari di teras belakang rumah dan tiba-tiba berhenti mematung memandang ke arah kebun . Meskipun ngeri untuk mendengar jawaban Wisnu, ibu bertanya juga , “Kenapa, ‘nu?” lalu dengan ekspresi muka yang tegang dia menjawab sambil menunjuk, “ Ada cat (kucing)” . Ibu mengikuti telunjuk Wisnu, tapiii..kok gak ada apa-apa sih? Nah tuh dia ….

Kelima, sangat pemaaf.
Kalau berkelahi dengan sepupunya, walaupun dia dipukul, dijambak, jarang sekali dia memukul balas. Paling-paling dia hanya menangis dan memberikan mainan yang dijadikan bahan rebutan. Pun kalau dipukuli berkali-kali sampai dia tak berdaya, Wisnu cuma menangis dan sesaat kemudian saat sepupunya meminta maaf , dengan muka masih basah airmata dia bisa menjawab, “ iya, main sama-sama ya” atau “ gak usah pukul-pukul ya”. Heran.



Special Things about Wisnu

Here is the tag from Aunty Devina: eventhough we still think there is no weird things about Wisnu but Wisnu is special in his own way.

First, he sleeps easily.
It’s a blessing in disguise for us, especially when we need to take him with us for shopping or other important things such as to the Ward Office, hospital, etc. Just put him on his stroller, he’ll start sucking his left thumb and fall asleep easily. He could sleep in this position like two or three hours despite the noise and heat. He does not need to lie down on soft mattress or to be swindled by soft blanket.

Wisnu’s sleeping behavior does not change so much. Since he was born, he sleeps for long hours and after 6 pm he’ll sleep tight and wake up at 5 am. When it was the time for the baby sitter to give him milk at 9 and 12, it takes really extra effort to make him drink as the baby sitter would have to shake his body, tap his cheeks, or anything else but Wisnu kept his eyes closed. In Yokohama he would sleep at 7 or 8 and gets up at 7 as soon as he heard the jingle of Aida-aida from NHK TV. Now, we are back in Jakarta and he goes to bed a little late –at 8 or 9 and wakes up at about 8-9 –jet lag?

Wisnu sleeps for long hours. He could take 4 hour nap and still goes to bed at 8 pm and wakes up at 8. If he’s very tired he could sleep from 4 pm to 7 am the following day—skipping his dinner and only opening his eyes to ask for milk and going back to bed easily.


The second special thing : He prefers vegetables to fish or chicken
Some parents might envy us for this—Wisnu would not eat if there is no vegetables on his plate. Boiled carrot, string beans or broccoli would be more enticing for Wisnu than chicken or fish. Our magic word to make him eat is, “ Look, there is carrot (or other vegetable) on your plate!” and he would put the vegetables into his mouth and we could make him eat.

If you ask how to make your children eat vegetables voluntarily—well, I started to introduce vegetables to Wisnu since he was still in my womb. My regular breakfast menu during my pregnancy was boiled vegetables –especially broccoli, carrot, beans, corn, peas. Everyday? Yes, everyday!
Beside that, when we introduced solid food to Wisnu, we gave him porridge with one kind of vegetable for three consecutive days. It took us about a month to introduce all kinds of vegetables and after that we started adding fish or chicken in his porridge. We did this because he had a terrible colic when he was 3 months old and one of the books says that we should test the effect of vegetables for him by giving him only one kind of vegetable and see the reaction in three days. We never thought the careful diet plan resulted in great appetite for vegetables.

The third thing : He is a milk freak
Wisnu does drink milk a lot –when he’s thirsty or even after he finishes his lunch or dinner meal. If we give into his desire of drinking milk, one can of 900 gram milk can be consumed within only 3 days! It creates budget problem for us as children milk is quite expensive either in Yokohama or Jakarta.

The fourth : having the sixth sense (if you believe in so) or merely a good guesser?
When we were waiting for the bus, he would say, “ Here comes the bus” and several seconds after that the bus was really coming. Wisnu could also tell that Akira would have a bowel movement before it really happened. Moreover, before the bell rings, he sometimes says “ Aji is coming” and it is really Aji who is coming home !

The thing is sometimes it raised my goose bumps as he says “ Ibu, there are puppets on the ceilings, there are three of them with hands but no feet” meanwhile it was at night in our dark bedroom and Aji was not home yet .
Therefore sometimes we did not want to ask for more if he started saying such thing like “ there is a cat over there” and at the same time pointing at a dark corner at the backyard at dusk. We just did not want to know whether it was his imagination or he had a vision.

The fifth : very forgiving and full of compassion
He often has a fight with his cousin, Alexa. Wisnu will not do anything but crying eventhough Alexa hits his head, pulls his hair, scratches his face. He never wants to hits back. During the tug of war, when Alexa almost loses and starts to cry, Wisnu will let the toy go. When Alexa comes to him asking for an apology, he will always forgive her and simply saying, “ Please don’t hit me, it hurts” or “ Let’s share the toys”.


That is Wisnu based on our observation. About Akira? Don’t ask! It’s probably too early to say about him!

Namanya juga anak-anak

Alexa dan Wisnu bersepupu dan hanya bertaut usia 10 hari. Sedari bayi mereka bersama-sama (karena ortu mereka tinggal serumah) dan bisa dikatakan kalau mereka berjauhan akan saling mencari, tapi kalau berdekatan bisa bertengkar hebat.

Dalam satu hari, mereka bisa bertengkar beberapa kali. Contohnya pagi ini, sesudah mandi, mereka mengerubungi Akira di dalam boxnya. Awalnya Wisnu memegang gorden dan berniat bermain ciluk ba dengan Akira dan Alexa. Tapi entah kenapa, kelihatannya Alexa kurang senang melihat Wisnu memegang gorden, sehingga Alexa merenggut gorden yang tengah dipegang Wisnu. Wisnu, tentu saja , berusaha menariknya sehingga terlepas dari tangan Alexa. Akibatnya, Alexa kecewa dan dengan gusar mencakar Wisnu. Kaget dengan reaksi Alexa, Wisnu mecengkeram leher Alexa sambil berteriak , “ Sakit”, namun apa ayal, Alexa kembali mencakar muka Wisnu. Wisnu menangis dan Alexa yang sedari tadi sudah berusaha menahan tangisnya pun akhirnya menangis tak kalah kerasnya dengan Wisnu.


Tapi apakah itu berarti permusuhan? Tidak. Sesaat kemudian mereka bisa dengan rukunnya berjalan menuju taman dan berlari-lari sambil tertawa-tawa. Malah ketika Wisnu terjatuh dan terluka lututnya, Alexa dengan manisnya memberikan Wisnu bunga untuk menghibur.

Siangnya mereka tidak saling bertemu karena Alexa pergi bersama orang tuanya. Pada saat Alexa tiba di rumah, Wisnu sedang makan malam sambil menonton DVD Baby Einstein. Melihat keasyikan Wisnu, Alexa mengutarakan niatnya untuk menonton juga, tapi DVD yang berbeda. Mama Alexa mengatakan bahwa ia harus menunggu Wisnu selesai menonton. Mungkin hal ini menimbulkan kekecewaan bagi Alexa, sehingga ia mulai mengganggu Wisnu dengan cara menyentuh layar komputer, berusaha mematikan komputer. Karena Aji dan Mama Alexa khawatir komputer rusak, dijauhkanlah Alexa dari komputer. Apa yang terjadi? Dengan hati yang masih kesal, Alexa mengeluarkan mainan yang baru dibelinya. Wisnu melihat dari jauh dan merasa tertarik untuk mendekat, namun Alexa segera berujar “ Nggak, nggak boleh”. Mama Alexa dan para orang dewasa yang lain berupaya membujuk Alexa untuk memperbolehkan Wisnu bermain bersama. Saat Wisnu mendekat dan berusaha memegang salah satu mainana Alexa, dengan spontan Alexa merebutnya kembali. Ibu mengambil mainan Wisnu dengan maksud mengalihkan perhatian Wisnu, tapi Wisnu menampik mentah-mentah. Ketika Alexa ditawari untuk berbagi mainan barunya dan diiming-imingi untuk bisa memakai mainan Wisnu, Alexa semakin kuat bertahan dan malah melemparkan mainan Wisnu ke arah Wisnu. Wisnu menjerit dan disusul Alexa menangis juga. Jadilah Wisnu diangkut ke kamar untuk menenangkan diri.


Beberapa saat kemudian, mereka sudah sama-sama tenang dan bersiap tidur. Alexa mendatangi Wisnu untuk meminta ijin agar diperbolehkan meminum susu Wisnu.

Alexa : Wisnu, aku boleh nggak minum susunya?
Wisnu ; Gak boleh, itu susu Wisnu
Alexa : aku minta
Wisnu : gak boleh yah
Ibu : kenapa gak boleh?
Wisnu : Alexa pukul-pukul Wisnu, sakit gituh.
Mbak Nur : oh, tadi Alexa pukul Wisnu, jadi sekarang Alexa tidak boleh minum susu milik
Wisnu
Alexa : aku mau minta susunya
Wisnu : gak boleh (nadanya mengeras)
Alexa :gak mau, aku mau susuku aja. (melotot)
Mbak Nur : ya sudah, kalau begitu Alexa minum susunya sendiri saja ya. Yuk Alexa!
(berusaha menarik Alexa keluar dari kamar Wisnu)
Alexa : gak mau
Mabk Nur : alexa masih mau di sini?
Alexa : iya, (mendekat ke Wisnu)
Ibu : oh, alexa mau minta maaf. Iya?
Alexa : iya, aku mau minta maaf
Wisnu : gak (dengan muka lurus)
Aji : Alexa sudah minta maaf, tentu Wisnu maafkan ya Wisnu
Wisnu : gak (dengan tenang tapi masih sedikit dendam)
Aji : iya, dimaafkan dong ya, sini Alexa. Ayo saling memaafkan, salaman.

Akhirnya Alexa naik ke atas tempat tidur, dan mereka besalaman, berpelukan dan tersenyum simpul. Dan dengan mudahnya bermain bersama lagi dan cekikikan seru. Aihhhh… dasar bocah!

Back to Jakarta

Returning home turns out to be not that easy. All of us need to make adjustment.

General feature;
We live in a 5 bedroom-3 bathroom-2 living room-dining and kitchen room house which belongs to Aji’s parents. We share the house with Aji’s twin sister—Aunty Evi, and her husband—Uncle Levi and their daughter—Alexa plus the baby sitter—Mbak Nur, plus the servant—mbak Tila.Since we arrive, there are also Mbak Anis, the baby sitter for Akira and Bik Onah –the servant to cook and do the house chores.It’s a full house!!

Let’s see hoe each of us coping with Jakarta!

Aji Sandy :
For the first three days in Jakarta, he indulged himself with SLEEPING. He has not started working but he reads more books, more magazines, watches more Holywood movies from DVDs , eats rice less but more snacks. He starts practicing Aikido every Saturday and Sunday at the Dojo nearby eventhough it is different style they have there.


Wisnu :
Routine activities change a bit. Now he wakes up a little late (at 8 not at 7), has a little breakfast, takes a bath twice a day, takes his nap at around 3-5 pm, dinner at 7, goes to bed at 9.30 (used to be at 7.30)


He has a friend to play with—Alexa and we should say a competitor to argue and fight with. Every now and then we could hear one of them shouting “NO” or “DON’T” or “IT’S MINE” or “DON’T HIT” and they end up crying. The funny thing is that they will start looking for one another and seem to forget that they just have a fight.

For no clear reason, Wisnu often cries when it comes to the bath time. He will walk on his tiptoe in the bathroom (perhaps because the floor is wet ) and refuse to go in as he will say “NO , it’s the toilet”. Our guess is that he expects the bathroom to be separated with the toilet like in Yokohama and has dry floor. The thing is we can not renovate the bathroom only for Wisnu.




Akira:

He is in the good care of our baby sitter, Anis. As soon as he wakes up, Anis is ready to attend to his needs. There are also some changes for Akira. Now he sits on his high chair and watches the Baby School VCD in his meal time. He takes a bath twice a day, eats more and drinks milk less. He has many people surrounding him :besides Anis—the baby sitter, there are Bik Onah and Mbak Tila (our servants) and Mbak Nur (Alexa’s baby sitter) to play with Akira. Of course ibu is still around to play with (but not changing the diapers anymore!)


Ibu :
Life begins again to Ibu. From the first day of our arrival, ibu goes out of the house—seeing her bestfriend : Wawa Fia. The following days, there are always things to do which mean places to go: ITC (international trade center—a mall like shopping center with a bargain price), supermarket. She even managed to go to Bandung with Tante Evi to take Tante Niken to do some shopping at the famous Factory Outlets.

There are Bik Onah and Mbak Tila to cook and do the house chores, and Mbak Anis to take care of Akira, Mbak Nur and Alexa for Wisnu to play with. It leaves a huge room for Ibu to do something different , something she has always wanted to do. For the company she used to work for will be ready to take her back by the end of July, there must be something else to make her busy before life drives her crazy. She begins to search for part time job --so far none is quite promising, but she keeps her eyes widely open. There are some interesting courses to join but they are not on the top list of priorities for the time being as Aji will be the only bread winner for the next four months.

Ibu still wakes up around 1.30 AM and work on the computer or get something to read before going back to sleep at around 5. Unfortunately, the internet connection is expensive and slow in Jakarta, so she could only plug into the cyber world for several minutes a day now. Perhaps it a sign for her to read and write more!!!

Getting Tickets home: not that simple

We were informed that the world bank as the scholarship provider would bear the expense on Aji’s ticket to Indonesia. In the request form from YNU (yokohama national University) Aji wrote down that he preferred flying by Garuda Indonesia Airline (GIA) as Ibu has got the one year open return ticket. We thought the form would be forwarded to the world bank but life just is not simple.

Thinking that the world bank would care to grant our wishes, we naively bought GIA ticket for both Wisnu and Akira. GIA could not accept credit card so that we asked Tante Niken to lend us cash . Tante Niken was returning to Indonesia and we could return the money by the time we got there.

About the second week of March, Aji found out that the world bank through American Express Travel Agent has reserved him a seat by Korean Air. Aji immediately informed the administration of the YNU but to our despair they insisted that Aji contact the world bank directly. They said ,” It’s strictly between you and the world bank”.

We did manage to contact the Amex Travel Agent through e mail and they mentioned that they are responsible to book the ticket with the lowest fare and so far Korean Air fare is the cheapest they could get and if Aji requested another airline, aji had to bear the expense. They also stated that the Korean Air only costed 1400 US but GIA is 1800 US which means that we’ll have to pay 400 US if Aji still wants to choose GIA. Moreover, they can’t guarantee that Aji would get the ticket as the GIA could only put Aji’s name on the waiting list.

We checked with the travel agent referred by GIA in Tokyo that the ticket would cost 40,000 yen with a waiting list status. Then we were waiting for the green light from the AMEX Travel Agent in Washington DC and trying to negotiate the possibility of getting a reimbursement if we buy the ticket from Tokyo as it happened earlier (when aji was leaving for Japan, he had to buy his own ticket but got a reimbursement in Japan). The AMEX came up with the reply that there was such thing like reimbursement and they said the seat from GIA for March 26 was full but they came with two options on our : flying on March 26 with business class for 900 US or fly with GIA by 400 US on March 28. Somehow, they said the Korean Air is reserved for Aji.


Paying for 900 US for being on the same plane with the whole family seems to be out of question because there is no way that we could afford it! To go by March 28 means that ibu and the kids have to pay cancellation fee for the ticket issued plus we had to contact the apato agent to adjust the bills as we need to delay our departure and prolong our stay in the apato. Both options are not affordable.

To let Aji fly by Korean Air means that we do not have to pay for Aji’s ticket with the consequences that Ibu will have to fly alone with Akira and Wisnu. Difficult? Just imagine a 6-month-pregnant woman on the plane with the 9-month energetic infant and the almost-three-year old unstoppable toddler for 6-hour flight and 30-minute transit in Denpasar plus one and half hour flight to Jakarta. NO WAY!

Then we decided to reserve the ticket from the Travel Agent in Tokyo. The thing is Aji could only get the ticket for Narita-denpasar as the Denpasar-jakarta is fully booked. The agent offered that the last flight from Denpasar to Jakarta at 10.40 PM. Here is another intricacy.

It was confirmed that Ibu and the kids would fly by GIA from Narita to Denpasar by 11.00 Am and arrive at Denpasar at 4.30 PM and then continue with GIA to Jakarta at 5.30. to be able to fly together with Aji means that the kids have to wait longer time in Denpasar and got to Jakarta by midnight. At first we thought that it would be too tiring for them to do so, therefore we asked the possibility to stop at Denpasar and stay there for couple of days before continuing the trip to Jakarta. But then, to have such plan means we will have to pay for the cancellation fee (30,000 yen) for the issued tickets.

The travel agent said they need to talk to GIA first and we found out that it was possible for Ibu’s ticket as it is one year open ticket with open status valid until April 20. However, we’ll have to pay 15,000 yen for each kid if we want to do so. It means, like it or not we should take the last flight from Denpasar to Jakarta by 10.40.

Another thing is the travel agent does not accept credit card, therefore we have to borrow some more cash!!! The cash we have would be spent for the last bills : electricity, gas, water, HP and internet disconnection. Ibu lost her ATM from Mandiri Bank and we could not withdraw any cash from credit card before we paid all the last month debt.

After chatting in the YM, Aunty Fia was trying to help by sending money through Western Union Money Transfer on Monday afternoon, but the bank had already closed. The following day was national Japanese holiday so it won’t be possible to take the money. Still unsure which bank in Yokohama provides the Western Union service, ibu asked Aji to find out some info from the campus staff. Unfortunately, on Wednesday Aji had Aikido exhibition for the whole day and the campus staffs did not have any idea or never heard about Western Union at all. On Thursday, we had to attend Aji’s graduation ceremony from 9 to 4 pm. Friday morning Aji had to go to Tokyo to report to Indonesian Embassy about our departure and legalize his certificate , around 3 PM Aji finally found out that there is one bank in Sakuragicho providing Western Union Money Transfer but it was already close. The security guard said we could try on Saturday at 10-12, but when we went there it was closed.

Somehow, we managed to pay for the ticket on Thursday afternoon with the loan from another friend and received the ticket on Friday afteroon. PHEW !!!! Ibu had never been that anxious as we got the tickets confirmed only two days prior to our departure. Still, we had to figure out what to do with the money in the Western Union representative. In the website it says that the receiver could not the money , the money could be withdrawn by the sender under within 45 days after the money was sent eventhough the transfer fee could not be returned.

Those things make our life more exciting to live :)

picture:
www.microsoft.com
http://larnach.info/U120/images/eMM.png