Thursday, January 12, 2006

Ibu ! Wis-nu (Ibu: Let me do it myself!)

Belakangan ini, yang namanya Wisnu minta ampunn keras kemauannya. Dengan kata lain, dia punya kemauan sendiri: baju mana yang mau dipakai, apa yang mau dilakukan, apa yang mau dimakan, gelas/mangkuk mana yang mau dipakai untuk makan/minum, mau duduk di mana.

Situasi macam begini, efektif sekali untuk latihan nafas (karena Ibu sampai harus berkali-kali menghela nafas panjang). Segala upaya dari membujuk, menunggu beberapa saat, minta dukungan aji untuk ikut membujuk seringkali berbuntut...tetep aja keukeuh maunya wisnu sendiri. Kalo udah begitu, apapun juga tidak mempan untuk mengalahkan teriakan wisnu yang berbunyi "NO" atau " NGGAK" .

Itu cerita pahitnya.

Cerita manisnya?
Wisnu sedang semangat mencoba melakukan semua hal dengan upaya sendiri.

1. Pakai baju sendiri
Walaupun kadang masih terbalik, atau tangannya salah masuk ke lubang kerung leher.



2. Sikat gigi sendiri
yang ini sih masih harus ditemani, kalau nggak...alamat odolnya diisap dan ditelan.




3. Membuka sepatu sendiri, plus menaruhnya di tempat sepatu
Kalau pulang dari bepergian, Wisnu maunya buka sepatu sendiri; tapi giliranmau pergi mah..masih harus dipakaikan karena terlalu lama sehingga bisa-bisa kami ketinggalan bis yang datangnya selalu tepat waktu.

4. Naik tangga sendiri, tidak mau dipegangi.
Padahal tangga di apato kita tidak ada pegangannya. Padahal hati ibu masih ketar-ketir liat cara wisnu merayapi tangga, tapi aji selalu menguatkan "biar, coba sendiri"


5.Minum dan makan sendiri
Ini sih apalagi kalo makan yogurt, sup, bubur kacang hijau, puding, minum teh manis..uhhh mana mau disuapin (takut diminta ngkali!)

6. Menyuapi Akira
Akira suka jadi gelagepan..abis bli Wisnu kalo nyuapin semangat sekali, sendoknya penuh dan belum habis makanan yang dimulut Akira sudah disendoki lagi.

Yah..semua itu bagus kan? Belajar mandiri.

Tapi.... ibu juga serba salah kalo lagi mecahin telur, Wisnu bergegas lari menghampiri ibu dan berkata "WIS-NU" yang berarti Wisnu mau mengocok telur dan akan menepiskan tangan ibu. Selain itu kalo mengupas telur, Wisnu wajib ingin ikut --walau hasilnya itu telur jadi hancurrr..... Dan yang paling susah untuk dilarang soal cuci piring-- kalo Wisnu turun tangan, alamat dapur bakalan banjirrr....!!!

Tapi ya tapi lagi... namanya anak sendiri, lagi belajar, lagi bereksperimen, masak mau dimarahin? Resiko rumah jadi acak adul rasanya masih bearable dibanding kehilangan kesempatan dan kemauan untuk berkreatifitas dan berinisiatif.

Arghh..ini baru Wisnu lho, belum ditambahin Akira dan si junior....!!!!

Thursday, January 05, 2006

Trip to Yukiguni-- the snow country


January 2 we left Yokohama for Urasa, the eastern end of the Nigata perfecture. It took us 10 minute by bus to Yokohama station, then 42 minutes by Keihin Tohoku Line to Ueno. But that's not the end...as from Ueno we had to go to Takasaki (112 minutes), Minakami (63 minutes) before we got to Urasa (70 minutes). We started at 8.18 from Yokohama and got at Urasa at around 3 pm!!!


Eventhough it was possible to get to Urasa in 90 minutes from Tokyo by Shinkansen ( 8,170 yen for one way ticket perperson), but we decided to bear the pain changing trains several times as we had only to pay 10,200 for 2 roundtrip tickets for ibu and aji using the 18 kippu (juhachi ticket)which is only available during the summer or winter holiday. With such ticket a person is free to go by any JR train to any part of Japan for 5 days or 1 ticket can be used by 5 people within 24 hours to go all over Japan. If we were to pay normal rate to go to Urasa from Yokohama, we might have to spend 4430 yen for one way ticket per person.

Why did we choose Urasa? Because... there are some Indonesian friends living and studying there--at International university of Japan. It happens that there are also ski resorts in Urasa and those Indonesian friends have access to the IUJ ski's equipment so that we need not rent the ski equipment and got free accomodation at the dorm .

In the winter Urasa is covered by two to three meters of snow. This is the prime reason why this place is also called Yukiguni ( Snow Country). The snow can last upto 4 months and people from all over Japan come to this part for enjoying skiing and snowboarding. Urasa is famous for its ski school although many people say it's not the best ski resort in Japan.

For us--the 21 coming from Yokohama, Odaiba and Honjo ... Urasa offers more than chances to touch the snow, but also to build friendship among our fellow Indonesians.



Wisnu was so excited to play with Hikari in the snow that he did not want to stop although his cheeks had turned red and the snow storm blew so hard.

Akira stayed inside the resort with Ibu having his own good time surrounded by Aji's friends who took turn holding and hugging him. We left the ski resort at 4.30 and got stuck in the heavy traffic jam for 3.5 hours as all the cars left the area at the same time.

We left Urasa on Wednesday morning. When we got to Urasa station we found out that the JR train was halted due to the bad weather. There was only one way to go-- by Shinkansen to Takasaki, the nearest station by 4250 yen for one person!! What can we say? It was the only train operating!

Wisnu seemed to enjoy taking the Shinkansen although he had to stand up as the train was so full. The good thing is from Takasaki we could take the Shonan Shinjuku Line directly to Yokohama with that 18 kippu.(18 ticket).

When we were in the bus heading to our apato, Wisnu sadly cried out "ibu, main salju" as he realized that we were back at yokohama where he can not find snow. Oh dear, maybe next time you could play again with the snow... maybe not in Urasa...