What's the best way to celebrate new year? A new haircut will cost me an arm and a leg. Hehehe, just kidding, but, really, $30 for a haircut is out of question. A firework? Good idea. If we didn't have to spent the entire day waiting with bunch of stupid drunken guys. But we did it anyway. We went to Mrs Macquarie's chair to see the biggest and the most beautiful firework on earth ever (as they said in the paper). The firework itself was spectacular, although I didn't see it from the best spot -which was already taken by them who waiting from 10 am. At 9 pm, they launched the family firework from several point in the sydney harbour. Amazing enough for the warm up. They hoped family with little children were satisfied enough with this 'little' firework, and went home. But we didn't. We waited for another 3 hours among the drunken, party goers and noisy Aussie. Not a wise parent, huh? My friend said, "Mumpung gak ketahuan kakek neneknya." Hahaha. I c...
Makan siang Diet Mayo hari pertama Beneran nih mau nyoba diet mayo? Sudah baca pengalaman saya di sini kan? Nggak usah takut, dietnya nggak nyiksa-nyiksa banget kok, seenggaknya buat saya. Menu diet mayo sudah ditentukan untuk 13 hari. Ada menu sampai hari ketujuh, lalu hari kedelapan menunya mengulang dari hari pertama. Kabar baiknya, menu diet mayo ini bisa diakali agar ada rasanya, asal tidak ditambahi garam. Bumbu-bumbu lain seperti bawang, bawang bombay, bawang merah, lada putih, lada hitam, cabe dan berbagai macam herba diperbolehkan. Tapi nggak boleh pakai kecap manis atau saus tomat botolan ya. Bahkan mentega pun boleh, asal yang tawar ( unsalted butter ). Untuk sarapannya gampang banget, biasanya secangkir kopi atau teh, dengan 1 sendok teh gula rendah kalori. Saya pakai gula Tropicana Slim. Di hari keempat ada tambahan 1 iris roti bakar. Saya pakai roti gandum utuh ( whole wheat bread ). Sarapan hari kelima agak susah, karena cuma 1 wortel besar mentah yang diparut da...
My mom emailed me the file of my published-in-KOMPAS short story yesterday. Nindi was curious to see the page with cute illustration. "What is that, Mommy?" "This is mommy's short story, appeared in newspaper. Let me read it for you." Then I read the story for her. I wrote this about 9 months ago (I forget the exact date as I don't have the original file). This story is about Nindi sucking her thumb. It is based in a true story but I modified some parts. At first, Nindi enjoyed the story. But then when I finished reading, she puckered up her lip. "Mommy, why do you write story about me? Everybody will know..." She was upset. Oh, Dear. I tried to explain to her that it was just a story. "Please don't write about me again, Mommy. Don't write that I like playing doctor. Mbak Nina will know that I don't like being the patient. I just like being the doctor. You promise?" I said nothing but hug her. A.K. in the picture: Nindi when s...
The happy girl Tahun ini saya dan Nino merayakan ulang tahun pernikahan yang ke-20. Karena angkanya cukup istimewa (dan genap :p) saya ingin kencan yang nggak biasa-biasa aja. Di akhir bulan Mei saya sudah booking ke Nino, biar nggak tabrakan sama acara rapat-rapatnya. "Mas, nanti pas anniversary kita, nge-date yuk?" Nino dengan sigap membuka Google Calendar di tabletnya, langsung mengiyakan. "Oke... tanggal berapa?" tanyanya dengan nada datar. And I am like, "Excuse meeee..." Hahaha, same old Nino, jarang ingat tanggal anniversary kami. Saya nggak pernah mempermasalahkan hal sepele seperti lupa tanggal, lha wong saya sendiri juga pernah lupa. Saya merasa sudah cukup mengenalnya untuk tidak menaruh harapan terlalu tinggi untuk hal-hal yang sepele. Kalau tidak mau dikecewakan soal kado ultah, misalnya, ya saya kasih hint yang terang benderang. Biar surprise-nya masih ada (sedikit), tapi saya nggak kecewa karena bakal terima kado sesuai harapan, haha. Di u...
Hari pertama puasa berjalan dengan mulus, nyaris tanpa gangguan (kecuali angin yang bertiup sangat kencang). Menjelang buka puasa, Nino dan aku bingung, mau memutuskan buka jam berapa. Ikut jam di hape Nino (yg lebih lambat) atau ikut jam di hapeku yang lebih cepat. Kami juga punya 3 jadwal buka puasa yang berbeda, poster dan leaflet yang didapat dari Nino Jumatan di kampus . Yah, cuman selisih 4 menitan sih, cuman kurang mantap aja. Nunggu bedug magrib? Bedug magrib dari Hongkong kale? Masjid terdekat dari sini jaraknya 30 menit pake mobil (nggak deket lagi dong...). Akhirnya aku nyetel radio muslim di Sydney ... lewat internet (soalnya kami juga nggak punya pesawat radio, hiks). Argh, akhirnya denger suara azan juga... Buka puasa kali ini, aku bikin kolak. Nino nggak suka kolak, tapi tetep aja aku bikin, sudah tradisi! Pengennya sih pakai pisang, nangka dan ubi. Tapi, apa daya, pisang di sini harganya $13 sekilo. Gilak kan? Nangka, kira2 segitu juga. Ada sih yang kalengan, sekitar $3...
Suasana di kelas. Foto oleh Adiar Ersti "Kita ini orang-orang gila yang kurang kerjaan," kata Bu Ita Guntari, financial planner yang duduk di sebelah saya di briefing Kelas Inspirasi Surabaya. Celetukan beliau diamini oleh Bu Astrid Wiratna, psikolog RS Siloam, yang tertawa lebar di kursi di belakang saya. Kami termasuk ratusan orang yang menyambut tantangan "mengajar sehari" di SD negeri, untuk menginspirasi mereka tentang profesi yang kita geluti. Tadinya saya merasa nggak pede, saya kan nggak sukses-sukses amat, profesi saya 'cuma freelancer'. Tapi kalimat itu bagaikan lampu menyala di atas kepala saya. Justru itu, Cyin! Anak-anak ini perlu diberi wawasan kalau kita bisa kerja kreatif dari mana saja, tidak perlu masuk kantor, tidak harus kerja di jam tertentu, bisa sambil tetap momong anak, dan nggak peduli kita lulusan apa asal punya keahliannya. (alasan yang terakhir semacam curcol!). Trrrrriiiiiiing!!! Saya putuskan mengisi formulir, mendaftar i...
Ibu saya tidak lulus SD, sekolah hanya sampai kelas 2, cuma bisa baca tulis dan berhitung. Ketika remaja, Ibu menjadi pelayan toko kain. Selama itu, beliau menabung gajinya dengan membeli emas. Setelah menikah dengan Bapak (katanya sih lulus SD, tapi kami tidak pernah melihat ijazahnya), Ibu menjual emasnya untuk modal buka toko. Bapak menjahit dan Ibu berjualan alat-alat jahit seperti benang, kancing, jarum. Keluarga kami hi dup sederhana. Kami tinggal di kios satu lantai. Saya tidur di kasur busa tipis yang digelar ketika toko sudah tutup. Kami tidak punya TV, kalau ada acara menarik (misalnya ketoprak TVRI), kami harus menonton di TV tetangga. Benda-benda mewah seperti kulkas dan sambungan telepon baru kami punya setelah saya lulus SMP.
We were home, at last. It was not a long flight, Sydney-Denpasar only took 6 and half hours. But it was three thousand dollars away. That's way we never gone home for these last two years. We're welcomed by the heat in Denpasar. The air conditioner in Ngurah Rai airport was not working, really bad for an international airport. It was 30 celcius degrees out there and inside. Ayesha threw up and I had to change her clothes and her nappy just beside the baggage claim, as we didn't have a baby change table in the toilet. The 15 celcius degrees differences between Sydney and Denpasar/Surabaya was shocking us. But as soon as we met our family at Juanda, it didn't really matter anymore. Everbody was there, my mom, my dad and mom in-law, my brother and sister. We had a long hugging and kissing session, but this time there was no tear, only big smile. From Surabaya, we drove to Malang. Along the way, my six-year-old daughter, Anindya, was really confused to see so many people. T...
Rating: ★★ Category: Books Genre: Teens Author: Nick Earl Nick Earl is an Aussie author. He's already published several books, inc. the award winning one. Monica Bloom is his latest book. I dont think I can enjoy this book. Maybe because I'm not familiar with his writing style. He wrote about a teenage boy that crushs on his misterious neighbour's cousin, which is Monica Bloom. Perhaps I should start reading his previous book, the award winning one.
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lucu juga idenya. tp selama ini dia udah makan sambal berbotol-botol, hot-nya sampai di mulut doang, hehehe.