I'm Back...!

I'm back now! After about a month not active writing in my blog. Here I am. Tapi gak tahu juga mau nulis apa. Paling cerita lebaran kemaren kali ya... Nothing special sih about my lebaran day karena dari dulu begitu-begitu aja. Pagi-pagi sholat Ied sekeluarga, dari situ langsung ke rumah kakek, trus langsung balik ke rumah lagi. Nerima para tetamu biasanya para tetangga dekat sekitar rumah sama anak-anak kecil yang pada 'nyawer' ke rumah-rumah. Trus agak siangan dikit, baru deh sodara-sodara pada berdatangan. Sodara dari nyokap dan bokap. Semua tumplek, plek, plek di rumah. Walhasil, rumah terasa penuh sesak deh! Maklum lah rumah kecil begitu. Tapi seru sih karena memang tradisi lebaran di rumah tuh emang kayak begitu, semua sodara pada ngumpulnya di rumah, secar gitu both of my parents are the first child in their family, so all their sisters and brothers are coming in to our house.

Biasanya mereka semua menantikan acara makan ketupat dan semur daging kambing buatan nyokap. Nah, kalo menu yang satu ini emang udah terkenal banget deh! Ketupat dan semur daging kambing buatan nyokap is the best ketupat dan semur daging kambing ever! Semua sodara dan temen-temen dekat yang dateng pasti gak akan afdol kalo gak pake makan ketupat + semur buatan nyokap ini...! Dan selalu aja tiap tahun, ketupat dan semur tsb ludes dalam satu hari itu ajah! Walhasil, kita-kita hanya bisa makan 2 kali aja, pagi dan siang. Malemnya udah kehabisan aja gitu. Tp biasanya sih nyokap suka bikin lagi buat kita-kita... he..he.. kasihan banget deh...!

Lebaran hari ke-2 kita pada kumpul di rumah adik bokap di Tomang. Acaranya silaturrahmi dan makan-makan lagi. Adik bokap yang ini, (kita panggilnya Mama Ida) paling pinter masak. Jenis masakan dan kue apapun dia bisa dan dibuat dengan cara yang berbeda dari orang kebanyakan, baik dari cara masaknya ataupun dari bahan-bahannya. Makanya adikku, Mila, suka belajar masak dari Mama Ida ini. Dari mulai kue nastar, kue keju, macaroni schotel, kue-kue tradisional Betawi, sampe 'bir pletok' (minuman khas masyarakat Betawi) sangat mahir dikuasai Mama Ida ini. Seneng banget bisa belajar dan nyontek resep dari dia, walopun kalo aku sendiri sih gak pernah nyoba... he..he... secara gitu gak punya banyak waktu untuk belajar dan nyoba-nyoba resep dari dia. Mila aja tuh yang rajin 'ngilmu' ke dia. Well, at least ada successor lah di rumah yang bisa mewarisi resep-resep masakannya. ;o)

Basically sih acara lebaranku ya seperti itu deh... For me lebaran is time to gather with family. Literally. Karena hanya pada saat lebaran aja kita pada ketemuan sama semua sodara. Kalo hari-hari lain atau acara-acara lain belum tentu kita bisa ketemu semua sodara karena pasti aja ada yang absen dateng. Well, that's my lebaran day! Everything is as it is. Nothing so special. Nothing so big. Just a regular and simple day with family which means a lot to each of us.

A Decision to Make

What do I do to make a good & right decision? Do I have to only listen to my heart alone? Or do I have to use all the facts I have in front of me? Or I just have to combine between those two?

Hmmm…, to tell myself the truth, it’s rather difficult either way. I still can’t make any decision yet until now. There are many things that come to my consideration.

If I want to follow my heart, I would say that I‘m 90% sure. But if I look at the facts, I’m becoming 50% unsure.

All I can do is let Allah Decide for me... I know He would give the best for me...

Ya Allah, please help me…
Take me back to You…
Embrace me…

I need You so much…
I’m hopeless without You…

Show me the answer…
As You are my Guidance…
As You Are The One who Can Save Me…

Ya Allah, please help me…

As You are The Greatest,

You are Excalted in Power,

And You are Wise...

*****

The Best Picture

This is the best picture of my lovely Nadia... She looks sooo beautiful and innocent... With the sunlight that strikes her face make her look even more radiant. The picture was taken a month ago at Pangkor Island on her weekend holiday. Nadia, you know that I love you sooo much, don't you?

Nadia is Back Home to KL... :o(

After spending 10 days here in Jakarta, today Nadia left to airport to go back to KL. Ooooh, I miss you already, my lovely Nadia. She and her mom took a 2pm flight. We dropped them at the airport. Since we heard that there had been some big tidal that had been going on since yesterday, we decided to take Damri there. We were worried that there would be bad traffic and that we had to be asked to take another route which none of us was aware of. Then, Damri it was. But it was fun, and Nadia was enjoying her Damri ride too.

Ten days seem like seconds only for me. I spend one full day with Nadia at Kidzania on Monday. She seemed to enjoy her time at Kidzania. At first, she felt uncomfortable playing all alone without me or Mila accompanying her, but it was the rule. We can only wait outside the playing area and check on her once in awhile. Finally, she started to enjoying her time and activities. She visited bank, learned how to queue at the bank and withdrew some money. She also went to the department store, learned how to make perfume and bracelet.

Then she went shopping for groceries at the supermarket. Had her hair done and put some make up at the saloon. Then she worked as a model at Vita’s Locker and did the fashion show. Since her cash was running out, we asked her to work as a tour leader at Panorama Travel and a cashier at the pharmacy. She was very excited when she got paid 8 Kidzos (that’s the currency at Kidzania world). Having enough money again, she then paid a visit to chocolate, ice cream and noodle factories. And she ended up her day at Kidzania by riding a bus for a city tour. She was really having fun there. And it was a very valuable experience too for her, playing and having knowledge at the same time. She said that she would tell it all to her daddy when she got back.

Oh ya, one funny story to tell too. Nadia always wanted to meet Pak Polisi just to proof that Pak Polisi is nice and friendly, and that she is not afraid of them. Shierly, her cousin is afraid of Pak Polisi actually, that’s why she was obsessed to show and tell her that Pak Polisi is nice and friendly. Finally, after coming with me to my office, at 12pm we went to JaCC to meet my mum that would take her back home from there while I went back to office again. At the entrance, she saw a man that she thought was a police. Well, he was not real police, he was a security guard at JaCC actually who wore a police-like uniform. Then, she waived and smiled while saying "Hello, Pak Polisi!" Then I had an idea. I asked her if she wanted to take picture with him, and she said yes. Then she did. She was very excited… and would tell her story and show the picture to her cousin and everybody else.

Oooooh, Nadia, you are so cute. I miss you already now…

There is Something about Nadia & Bajaj...

Finally, Nadia is in Jakarta! I’m sooo happy she’s here. She’s my lovely niece. I love her. I miss her sooo very much. Now, she’s here already. They arrived yesterday. I picked them up from the airport. I waited for about 1 hour as my sister misinformed me about their arrival time. They arrived at 4pm and we went straight home.

As usual, if they’re in Jakarta, I will take leave from office as long as they’re here. But now, since my leave balance remains only for 2.5 days so I took half day leave for a week. I go to the office in the morning and go back home in the afternoon.

Today, we went to JaCC buying some groceries at Hypermart. I met Mila, my mum, Nadia & Shierly there at lunch time. We went shopping for a while and went back home after that. We looked for Batik dress for Nadia, but didn’t find the right one. Then we decided to look for it another day.

Going back home, Nadia insisted to take a bajaj. I don’t know why but every time she’s in Jakarta, she always asks us to take her riding a bajaj. She loves bajaj very much and she was very happy when she jumped into the bajaj, waiving, singing, yelling, jumping around, etc. etc. She likes to sit next to the door so that she can feel the wind and enjoy her bajaj riding, she said. And when she gets off, she doesn’t want to let her hands of the bajaj door until she closes it, and she waits until the bajaj is gone out of her sight. Ooooh, she’s so funny… There must be something about Nadia & the Bajaj... ;p

I love you soooo much, Nadia…!