Marketspotted: services for the dead

While we’re here in Indonesia we took the time to visit Akong’s grave (may he rest in peace). Via some random convo with relatives, I learned that there is this whole business for the dead. One company seems to now lead the market with integrated lines. From washing the bodies, applying makeups, to providing an array of coffins and grave sites to select from - of course all depending on your budget. For makeup, you can choose Revlon package for 1.5 million rupiahs or Estée Lauder for 2.5 million. I guess there are many more options. You can even opt for a spa for the dead, I’m not joking.

Our Trip to Indonesia

During our trip to Indonesia we watched the new Star Wars movie: The Last Jedi and went to a zoo with Pandas, I mentioned Pandas because they are not native to Indonesia and are not that common. The movie Star Wars The Last Jedi was a continuing to Star Wars The Force Awakens (made 2 years ago 2015). The movie had a great plot to watch. It was very intense to see who would win the
 Rebelion or the First Order... 

The Blog Returns

Hello everyone. As you can see, we are continuing this blog after it has been left alone for five (almost six) years. We hope anyone reading this understands that since we moved to Australia we haven't had the time to keep blogging. We only come back to Indonesia for our holidays now. Oh, and this time we have some new bloggers: me (Alfie) and my brother (Alwyn). I hope we can make this blog as good as it used to be. 😀

Not ready for elementary school

Alfie is now an elementary school student. For one thing, we decided to enrol him to national school - Regina Pacis. I know that it will not be easy for Alfie to adjust to this old and conservative school. I have a lot of concerns and am worried that he doesn't want to go to school. To my surprise, he is not that bad. He cried a bit at school because he still hasn't made friend. He wakes up as early as 5am and does his homework everyday even with lots of grumble mumbles.
After a week, the most worrying thing happened today. Either he was not feeling well or he was stressed out with the new environment, Alfie threw up when he arrived at school. When I picked him up at 1035, the teacher said she couldn't release Alfie because he cried all the time and hasn't finished his writing exercise. He was alone in the classroom, finishing his exercise. And this thing continued to the next couple of days.

At home, I asked Alfie "Why did you cry at school, Alfie?" He calmly replied "I think I am not ready for elementary school" Well, maybe the right answer is "not ready for 'old-style' elementary school. So sorry Alfie, we need you to experience this to be a strong and tough boy! Hang in there!

Parenting 101 (1)

Alfie always surprises me with his knowledge. At his age now  (5 going to 6), he knows and understands a lot of things far much better than I was at his age. This evening, at a regular piano practice, he asked me "What is allegretto?" I said "I don't know, let's google it" I opened the google page and let him type. We got the answer 'allegretto means moderately quick' He read by himself as he can read now. Suddenly he added "Oh, it's like Adagio means slow, and then Moderato, Allegro and Presto- if you want to sing very fast!" I was speechless for a moment. He knows the terminology very well. I checked google, and they are all right! I myself never heard Presto in my whole life :) I asked Alfie where did he get all the things. He said "From Little Einstein!"



For those who against TV for kids, I must say that in fact it brings a lot of good things to kids - especially Alfie. He learnt many things from Oso, Handy Manny, World Word, etc.


The most impacted thing that we observed Alfie learnt much from TV is his English. It is impressive listening to his vocabularies and how he use the phrase or terminology at the right time. Here are just some samples:
"Mama, can I help you arrange the silverware?", "Wow, the rainbow is invisible", "We will arrive at no time"

School Holiday 2012

This is the most productive holiday for the boys. As I am still on maternity leave and Aco is on a very minimum working hours, we can do a lot of things together.

The most significant results from this 6-weeks holiday are Alfie can ride a two-wheel bike and swim a frog style, while Alwyn is no longer afraid to get into the pool without floaters and learning to ride a two wheel bike too. 

Other than that the kids also had several free activities in the Clubhouse ie playing table soccer, racing Tamiya car, decorating bag, and drawing. 
 

They also had a chance to play bowling @eX, play with their cousins Vanessa and Nadya in the playground @Giggles and spent a night at Novotel Bogor to visit Kebon Raya and Rumah Air. 

In one fine Sunday morning, we went to Taman Suropati just to satisfy Alfie and Alwyn desires to have a picnic at the park. They really enjoyed the day. The night before, Alfie and Alwyn were busy preparing toys and things to bring for their picnic.

Agatha

Introducing Agatha Lin Patunru. Born May 7, 2012.

Embracing 2012

 Here we go again, welcoming a new year. The foregoing one has been wonderful. But we lost one beloved person. Anna’s aunt O’o passed away in April. It was a huge grief. She had been very close to Alfie and Alwyn since their birth. She literally took care of the boys every weekday after school, before we picked them up in the evenings. May she rest in the utmost peace. Though obviously we will always miss her nastar – that’s Indonesian pineapple cookies, O’o made the best.

We have moved to a new house. The boys love the spacious areas – meaning, there is more space to mess around with their toys. But from time to time they still go “we miss the apartment”. Maybe because it’s closer to their school. Traffic is bigger challenge now, yes. As Alfie once complained, “I hate staying in the car for hours if it’s not like, moving”. Sorry boys, we just wish Jakarta’s traffic will get better someday.

One week after their close birthdays in August, we took the kids to Australia. Call it a belated birthday present. We flew to Sydney and drove to Canberra where Aco gave a presentation and back to Sydney again, visiting Tante Arty.  Alfie and Alwyn enjoyed the trip (except the car seat in Alwyn’s case, apparently). Taronga Zoo was very enjoyable to the boys. So were the harbor and ferries.

So now let’s welcome the new year. It seems the competition in the house will get stiffer next year – Anna is pregnant. The doctor expects the newborn will come in May. Alfie understands that he’s going to have another fella. As for Alwyn, he’s more reserved (maybe he’s been enjoying his status as the youngest – so he goes, “But all these legos and Transformers, I can keep ‘em, right?”).

Alfie has a resolution for next year: to form a rock band. He even has a name already: Stop by the Line (we have no idea what that means). He said he’s going to play the guitar and sing (no, he can’t play a guitar – yet). Alwyn, on the other hand, doesn’t care.

Happy new year, friends! 4As.

The toughest audience

Embracing 2011

And yet another new year is coming. Following our tradition in welcoming 2010, 2009, and 2008, we would like to embrace 2011 at least with the same optimism. This year has been great. Alfie and Alwyn turned 4 and 2 last August. Time flies. Alwyn has enrolled in pre-kindergarten. He enjoys it so much, he sometimes sneaks in to bigger kids' program, Alfie's that is. Alfie on the other hand is more into his music school. He can now pick up on tones and play them on the piano - many times incorrectly, but way better than his father. School activities also varied more. He had a couple of outings to museum or national park.

But most enjoyable to the two boys this year seems to be two things. Firstly, thanks to Tante Luthfi we could observe the training session of Indonesia's air squadron guys - in their preparation for the Military Anniversary. Alfie and Alwyn were so excited looking at all the F16s and others making maneuvers in the air. The following weeks were full of them telling the story to their friends - or taking it to their dreams.

Then came Bali. Aco was having a conference in the beautiful island and he took the entire gang with him. As he was busy making presentation, Anna and the kids explored the beach, swam, and what not. After the conference they all visited Turtle Island - a small island 40 mins by boat from Benoa seashore. There Alfie held a young turtle (but reluctant to touch the older, bigger ones), while Alwyn looked more interested in iguana. They also enjoyed watching monkeys in Uluwatu, despite some brief quick "attacks" of those animals in their attempt to grab the peanuts in Alfie's hands.

Other than those two experiences, the two boys constantly fought each other -- and made peace right after. Alfie is calm and patient, while Alwyn is more provocative. But when Alfie gets angry, he can be very dangerous. So far the competition, attack and retaliation between the two young men is still tolerable.

Anna went to US in July for two weeks and to Malaysia in December for a week, so Aco had to take care of the kids by himself. Well, not exactly. When you say "take care" of the kids in Indonesia, usually it means asking help from your parents. So what he did in weekdays was take the kids to his in-laws after school and pick them up in the evening. On weekends, he was devoted to the kids' request.

Anyway, happy new year, anyone!

Alfie and the Transformers

Alfie is four

Aug 18, 2010

Alfie goes green

Alwyn goes green

For Alwyn

Alwyn, you just fell asleep after crying for the big autotoy downstairs. Too bad we can't take it, Son. It belongs to your school. But I know you're crankier than usual not because of that car. But because you're not feeling very well. You're having a fever, albeit a mild one, as far as I could tell when I kiss your forehead. Just sleep, Son. I can feel your lil heartbeats against mine. So regular, so innocent. While listening to your breath, I'm canceling some meetings -- still embarrassingly too little of sacrifice compared to your being ill, I know. I'm sorry, Son, that I've been busy again. But the last two days were beyond my power. The AC broke down so it got too hot in the house. You couldn't sleep well. Neither could your brother. That's why I sent you over to granny's along with your bro. I'm glad to hear that you both could sleep tight there at night. Now that the AC is fixed, I promise you, I'll pick you up this afternoon and you can sleep in your fave room again. Mama sure misses you too. But she is working far, far away. Let's pray for her so she can come home with lots of toys for you. Alright?

Ready to Kindergarten

Yes, it's Alfie's preschool graduation day! I am proud of him. Looking back a year ago, I was full of doubt in deciding whether he should go to school before he is turning into 3 years old. But today, I know that I made a right decision.
I remember in the first month of school, it was so hard for us to convince him that school was fun and it was not as scary as he thought to be left alone there. He cried all the time asking to go home and ended up with throwing up everything he ate. He kept doing that to get our attention. However, going to the 2nd month, he started to like school, play with his friends and catch up with the lesson. Suddenly, he speaks English all the time. Then, he pretended he was the teacher and performed very well as hawaian dancer.. the other time, he fought with Matthew - his fighting partner.
Today, Alfie is a big boy. He is now 20kg and 105cm tall. He can count 1-20, recognize numbers and letters, can spell ( but stil can't read), and of course sing a great numbers of songs. He loves Alwyn very much, tough sometimes he can't help to hit or kick Alwyn. They are really Cat and Dog :). We are very blessed to have them.
Good luck Alfie in your next journey to knowledge!

The Graduate

Soccer frenzy

Aco Jr.

Bukan Iklan loh

Alwyn goes to Ancol

Alfie goes to Ancol

Mallrats

Waiting for pickup

Alfie's 2nd Field Trip to Rumah Abia

Alfie's school 2nd field trip to Rumah Abia - Ciawi. Visiting wooden toy factory, Alfie paid a lot of attention to toy-making. Alfie also experienced coloring his own toy.

Alfie's Masterpiece

Alfie likes brown colour very much. Everytime he has drawing class, he always colours his picture in brown. This is one of his masterpieces.

Alfie is cleaning up

One lesson that we always enforce our kids to follow is cleaning up their toys after playing. One day, after messing up the toys with his bro Alwyn, Alfie just left the room. Of course I asked him to clean up. "Alfie, please clean up" then continue with the usual song "I see Alfie cleaning up, I see Alwyn cleaning up..." In a second, Alfie picked up the song and sang together with me. But he didn't start cleaning up. So I asked "Alfie, why don't you clean up?" And he answered "I am singing, so I don't have to clean up." Oh, kids...

Welcoming Tiger Year

Nadia: Gong Xi Gong Xi

Alfie: Aku dah gaya belum?

Alwyn: (cool aja deh)

Vanessa: Aku dong dah kayak putri Chen Ie

Phoebe: ?

... and laughing

Seriously watching tv

Nite, ewwewone!

Alfie and Ben

Alwyn reads Barney

Alwyn and the shade

Embracing 2010

Wow. It feels just like yesterday. And today we're entering yet another new year. We wish you all a happy 2010. May the coming year be at least as wonderful as the best so far.

We don't have a Guinness record class of stuff in 2009. We enjoyed it, nevertheless. Well, not really all the time, maybe. Anna was surely suffering during the Lebaran holidays, as the nannies left for good. And boy, what a pain finding their replacements. It was really trial-and-error at work. I did try to help. But I guess my contribution was marginal, though. The two boys knew full well, I'm not their mother.

I was busy, too. The transition at office took more time and energy than we had expected before. That included the hefty and slow bureaucracy at the university and faculty levels. As a consequence, I was without any designated position (and hence task) for nearly three months. The upside of that is I was able to publish a couple of papers. Life is fair, I guess.

For the two boys, well, of course they enjoyed every single day of the year. Alfie is almost 3 and a half now. This year he performed twice at school. Once as a giraffe and the other time he was a hoola-hoola dancer (the teacher told us, the theme wasLilo and Stitch -- we couldn't find any right costume, so we agreed to his teacher: make him a hawaiian dancer). Alfie has started his Yamaha music school this year. Oh, he also got a special present from Tante Fifi, a set of Lego blocks. He keeps his new assembled house close to his Ben-10 stuff.

Alwyn, on the other hand, is 1 year and 5 month. He can walk -- I guess 'run' is more appropriate: he walks so fast, he falls down many times. But he's made of iron and steel, that's what we think. Alwyn likes to come to Alfie's school. One day he insisted to join the big(ger) kids club and thought he could do trampoline bouncing -- he fell down successfully with his face on the carpet. No tears nor cry whatsoever.

Happy new year, everyone!

Alfie is rehearsing and Alwyn is disturbing him