Cikelin Chronicle

Di Australia, hari ibu diperingati setiap minggu kedua bulan Mei. Hari Minggu yang lalu, Anindya bangun pagi-pagi untuk memberi kejutan hari ibu untuk saya. Saya mendapat kartu di dalam piring kertas cantik dan magnetic note untuk ditempel di kulkas. Wah, cocok sekali dengan profesi saya sekarang sebagai penulis daftar belanja mingguan, hehehe. Anindya membuat kartu dan membeli hadiah ini di sekolah. Kartunya berbunyi seperti ini: " Dear Mum. Thak you for yor help. I want to have a caravan do you mum? I like what you treat me. I have a give for you in the box ." Soooo sweet I wanna cry. Oh, about the caravan, I'll tell you later . Di sini, perayaan hari ibu lebih personal. Setiap orang mengucapkan selamat hari ibu dan memberi hadiah kepada ibu masing-masing. Tradisi memberi hadiah kepada ibu di hari ibu ini seperti tradisi memberi hadiah natal. Bisa ditebak, toko-toko di Mal berlomba memberi diskon dan harga spesial untuk produk-produk wanita. Begitu juga toko bung...

Aussie has special day for almost everything. Here we have Father's Day, Library Lover's Day, Red Nose Day, National Tree Day, Daffodil Day, Sorry Day, etc. Today is a Jeans Day . You are expected to wear jeans to school or work and gives small donation, say $1. The money goes to charity. Unfortunately, I can't fit in my old jeans, yet. *sigh* A.K. Me in my jeans, 2006  

What will you do in your day off? When you are able to take off your 'mother-hat' and your 'wife-hat' and simply become you. I have two days off every Thursday and Friday, when Didi goes to ChildCare. I always look forward to these days, imagining what I can do to indulge myself. However, as the day comes, I simply don't know what to do. Last week, I planned to have a luxurious bath with my Body Shop champagne-scent bubble bath, but then I realized that my bathtub was a bit leak. I wanted to go shopping, but I thought that shopping was included in a housewife's task (wasn't it?), so better not to do it in my day off.  So, I enjoyed myself reading for hours (at that time: Burnt Toast - Teri Hatcher's Autobiography), then I put some more sentences to my forever-unfinished novel. After that I returned some books to the library and called my sister on the way home. Unfortunately, she's busy with her new band (or maybe a new boyfriend). Then I thought may...