birthday wishes

saturday 21 march was Ar Ir's birthday. I didn't make or buy any birthday cake and candles. but Dan had a surprise for them. a stay in a hotel.
sabtu 21 maret kemarin ultahnya Ar Ir. tidak ada kue ulang tahun dan lilin. tapi Dan punya kejutan: menginap di hotel.



they were so excited. when we first got there, Ar asked me, 'do they have computers here?'
I said, 'no they don't'. so it was the first wish of Ar: 'I wish hotels have computers I can play with...'
anak-anak seneng banget. saat pertama kali tiba, Ar bertanya padaku: 'di hotel ada komputer ngga sih?'
aku bilang 'tidak ada...'. jadi inilah harapan pertama Ar: 'andai saja ada komputer di hotel, jadi aku bisa main..'

in the evening we went for burgers and milkshake. when we went back to the hotel, they satisfied them selves almost an hour in the bath tub, then off to bed.
that was when Ar said his second wish: 'I wish this was my home...'
and Ibit replied: 'oh yeah, off course...'
sorenya kami pergi cari burger dan milkshake. waktu kembali ke hotel, anak-anak puas-puasin berendam di bath tub hampir sejam lamanya. lalu pergi tidur. itu saat Ar mengucapkan harapan keduanya: 'andai saja ini rumahku..'
kata ibit: 'yang bener aja..'

so when it was time to check out, I told the kids to get ready. and Ar said his last wish: 'I don't want to go home. I love hotel. I wish I could stay here forever...'
ketika tiba waktunya check out, aku suruh anak-anak bersiap untuk pulang. dan Ar berharap untuk terakhir kalinya: 'aku tidak ingin pulang. aku suka hotel. andai saja aku bisa tinggal di sini selamanya...'

well I don't know what to hope about that, boy. but this is the wish at least I could make come true for your birthday presents...
wah, ga tahu ya nak, bisa ngga ibu mewujudkan harapanmu itu. tapi ini harapan yang paling tidak bisa kami wujudkan sebagai hadiah ulang tahun kalian...

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this post is for us and photo story friday


Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

my mirror boys

why Angie always called her twin 'mirror brothers'?
what will cross your mind when you hear the word 'mirror'?
I agree with her, and call my twin boys 'mirrors' too.
kenapa Angie selalau memanggil anak kembarnya 'mirror brothers'?
apa yang terlintas di benakmu ketika mendengar kata 'cermin'?
aku setuju dengannya, dan suka juga memanggil anakku 'mirror brothers'

I think of 'reflection'. what I see in a mirror is my reflection. exactly the same. when I want to see how I look like, I will look at the mirror. I think that's the idea, why twin brothers are called so.
aku pikirkan tentang bayangan. jika melihat cermin aku melihat bayangan. persis. jika aku mau lihat seperti apa aku, aku bercermin. kupikir itu idenya, mengapa saudara kembar di sebut begitu

they look so much alike. some times, even my twin themselves, argue about a picture of one of them.
'is this you?'
'no, that's you'
then they would come to me and ask who's picture was that

mereka mirip banget. kadang, mereka sendiri, udur-uduran tentang suatu foto salah satu dari mereka.
'ini kamu?'
'bukan, itu kamu'
lalu mereka akan datang padaku dan bertanya, foto siapa itu


I remember one day when they were younger, I don't remember exactly. Ar stood in front of a mirror, looked and pointed at it and said, "Ibu, that's Ir".
aku ingat waktu mereka masih kecil, tapi ngga ingat tepatnya. Ar berdiri di depan cermin, melihat dan menunjuk, lalu berkata, 'Ibu, ada Ir'

they play the same games. they have the same feeling about each other's presence. they have the same perspective of things.
mereka memainkan permainan yang sama. merasakan hal yang sama atas arti kehadiran mereka satu sama lain. punya pandangan yang sama tentang banyak hal

but do you notice that in some way, mirror also means opposites? isn't 'mirror' is a tool we use in some drawing software to make 'the opposite position' of an object? and that's an idea too, why I can call my twin 'mirror brothers', they are 'opposites' in many ways.
tapi pernah terlintas ngga, bahwa cermin juga berarti 'kebalikan'? bukankah 'mirror' adalah tool yang kita pake di software-software menggambar, untuk membuat obyek tampak sebaliknya? itu juga idenya kenapa aku sebut kembarku 'mirror brothers'. mereka itu kebalikan, di banyak hal


they learn things in different ways. they are interested in different things. they respond to a thing in different ways. they have different favorite food.
mereka mempelajari banyak hal dengan cara yang berbeda. tertarik pada banyak hal yang berbeda. memberi respon yang berbeda pada banyak hal. dan punya makanan favorit sendiri-sendiri

*****
tomorrow will be my mirror boys birthday. they will be six, and I just realize how fast time has gone by, and time has painted more differences to my boys. and no matter how similar they are, still, they are two different persons
besok mereka ulang tahun. enam tahun, dan baru kusadari betapa cepat waktu berlalu, dan waktu mengukis semakin banyak perbedaan di antara mereka. tidak peduli betapa miripnya, mereka tetap dua orang yang berbeda.

this is Ar who loves chicken steak

this Ir who loves fried noodle

and I love them both, the same

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Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

it wasn't worth that much....

tiwas penasaran, kaya apa yang namanya grebeg mulud. tahun lalu katanya ada 16 gunungan. aku pernah baca harusnya ada 30 gunungan. lalu segala pusaka kraton di keluarkan.
aku udah mbayangin sesuatu yang megah dan sakral, yang bakalan bikin merinding dan bergetar.
tapi dapetnya ini...

I was so curious, how a Grebeg Mulud is. Last year, they said there were 16 gunungans. I read somewhere, there should be 30. Then all the Kraton's Pusaka (weapons) would be brought out. I was ready for a chilling gracious moment.
And this was what I got...

drumband pembuka jalan-nya kalah banter sama drumband-nya Ar Ir
the opening drum band, ah... Ar-Ir's Drumband Group sounds even louder

lalu keluarlah prajurit ijo
then came out the 'green' soldiers

diikuti prajurit biru
followed by blue soldiers

dan prajurit merah
and red ones

dan gamelan kyai... apa ya? kanjeng?
and a set of Gamelan Kyai Kanjeng

ini yang dinanti-nanti Ar Ir: gunungan. gunungan pertama adalah gunungan jaler, yang isinya sayur dan buah2an
these were what Ar-Ir have been waiting for: gunungan. the first to come out was the male gunungan, made of fruits and vegetables

di belakangnya ada gunungan estri, dari rengginang dan jajan pasar. total gunungan ada tiga pasang, atau enam buah. dikit amat! tapi bentuknya sama semua, jadi ga usah dipasang gambarnya yang lain.
behind it, the female gunungan made of rengginang and some other traditional snacks. there were three pairs of gunungan. compared with last year, it is a small amount. they all looked the same so I only put pictures of a pair of the gunungans.

setelah itu muncul rombongan prajurit pemanah
after that, the archeries

udah. barisan ditutup dengan para abdi dalem yang jumlahnya banyak banget....
that's all. the parade was ended with all the abdi dalems (palace servers), so many of them.

yah.... lepas dari kenapa grebeg mulud ga semegah yang kubayangkan, ini tetaplah usaha pihak kraton untuk melestarikan budaya. dan walaupun rasa penasaranku cuma terbayar sebegitu, lumayanlah. buat pengalaman sekali seumur hidup...
well... ignoring why the Parade wasn't that big, this was still the effort of Kraton Solo to maintain a traditional moment. And even though my curiousity wasn't paid enough, that did okay. as once in a life time experience...

yang bikin tambah ngga cucuk adalah, semua gambar ini aku ambil cuma pake cameraphone-ku. harusnya aku bawa kameranya Dan...
what made it worse, was, I took all those pictures only with my cameraphone. I should have brought Dan's Camera, but as I told you, we didn't plan for this...

Note: what I saw was certainly not the whole ceremony. those gunungans and gamelan set brought to the Mosque at North Square for the next procession. You might be interested to learn more about Grebeg Mulud. The link is to Yogyakarta Grebeg. I Couldn't find one for Surakarta, yet.

it was, an adventure

some body tore my bag with a cutter or something.
ada yang merobek tasku pake silet

but they didn't succeed getting any thing from it.
tapi tidak berhasil mengambil apa pun

so I thought I'd better put my wallet in...
jadi kupikir sebaiknya aku menyimpan dompetku di...

ah, couldn't think of any better place.
tidak terpikir ada tempat yang lebih baik lagi

it happened last Monday when I and my children and my sister and her children, went to Sekaten. Sekaten is a festival held by Surakarta Empire to memorize Prophet Muhammad's birthday.
kejadiannya Senin kemaren, waktu aku dan anak-anakku dan kakakku dan anak-anaknya, pergi ke Sekaten. Sekaten adalah festival yang diadakan di Keraton Surakarta untuk memperingati hari kelahiran Nabi Muhammad.

actually we didn't plan to visit the Sekaten. we only wanted to visit the Surakarta Palace. but, we were so lucky (or unlucky?) because that day was the day of Grebeg Mulud, the culmination of Sekaten Festival.
tadinya kami bukan berencana nonton Sekaten. cuma pengen berkunjung ke Kraton. tapi kami sangat beruntung (atau sial?) karena hari itu bertepatan dengan perayaan Grebeg Mulud, puncak perayaan Sekaten.

Solonese are very concerned about this occasion. well you can call us Solonese. but honestly, this is the first time in my life I attend this annual festival.
warga Solo menganggap perayaan ini sangat penting. kami bisa juga sih disebut rakyat Solo. tapi jujur, ini pertama kalinya kami nonton perayaan rutin tahunan ini.

take a look and you'll see why pickpockets were having fun along the festival.
lihat aja, pantesan copet berpesta pora di sini

why do I let myself trapped in this crowd?
kenapa aku mau-maunya nyebur di keramaian ini?

and let my kids burnt under the 11.00AM sun?
dan membiarkan anak-anak terbakar matahari jam 11.00 siang?

and why should I climb to get best position to take pictures?
bela-belain manjat tembok supaya dapat tempat terbaik untuk memotret?

was it worth what I finally got?
apakah setimpal dengan yang kudapat?

you tell me when I tell what I got, on my very next post.
kasih tahu pendapatmu jika nanti kuceritakan hasilnya, di postingan mendatang.

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Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

making friends through blogging

Diane from forgetfulone gave me this beautiful award. Thank you very much...
aku dapat award lagi dari Diane di forgetfulone. terima kasih banyak...

Tell me, how can you be friends when you never met before? Does it make sense to you?
Off course it does! Did you ever have a pen-pal when you were kids? I Did. I found them through magazines. Most of them didn't last long though.
katakan padaku, gimana mau temenan kalo belum pernah ketemu? masuk akal ngga sih? tentu saja! pernah punya sahabat pena waktu kecil? aku punya. dapet dari majalah. memang sih, kebanyakan ga bertahan lama.

Now I make 'never-met-before' friends through blogging. Just like in the real world (that if you consider blogging world is not real :P) I find friends that I like and I don't. Some people are not so nice in the network. But you can still find much more nice people, if you want to.
sekarang aku dapat temen yang-belum-pernah-ketemu lewat blogging. seperti di dunia nyata (itu kalau kau menganggap dunia blogging tidak nyata) aku menemukan teman yang kusuka dan yang tidak. tapi tetep masih banyak orang baik yang bisa kau temukan, kalau kau mau.

I have this blog with most readers are from outside Indonesia, and I have another blog with readers from all over Indonesia. Both gives me lots of blogger friends, the nice ones. With my Indonesian blogger friends I do more than just commenting on each other's blog. We chat, we talk and send messages via phone, and the best part is: we meet!
aku punya blog ini, yang kebanyakan pembacanya dari luar Indonesia, dan aku juga punya blog lain yang pembacanya dari se antero Indonesia. dua-duanya meemberiku banyak teman blogger. dengan teman-teman blogger Indonesia, aku melakukan lebih dari sekedar saling berkomentar di blog masing-masing. kami chatting, sms-an, telpon-telponan, dan yang paling seru.... ketemuan!

I want to meet you Dandelion's readers. But most of you live on the other side of the earth! Enough for me to be able to keep this friendship through blogging, still hoping some day we have a chance to meeting.
aku pengen sih ketemu pembaca Dandelion. tapi kebanyakan tinggal di paruh lain dari bumi. cukup deh ngobrol dan berteman lewat blogging. tetep sih aku berharap dapat kopdaran...

So....

This is what the "Let's Be Friends" Award represents:
jadi inilah yang ingin diwakili oleh award "Let's Be Friends":

These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement (? big word, lol). Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.

blog-blog berikut ini hangat mempesona. para blogger yang baik hati ini bertujuan dan ingin mencari teman. mereka tidak tertarik dengan kejayaan pribadi. harapan kami adalah bahwa setiap kali pita penghargaan ini dibagi, akan makin banyak persahabatan terjalin. berikan perhatian lebih pada para penulis ini. sampaikan kepada delapan blogger yang juga harus memilih delapan lagi, dan cantumkan teks yang telah ditulis secara cerdas ini bersama awardnya.

don't forget to let them know they got this.
jangan lupa kasih tahu apa yang barusan mereka dapatkan.

I have chosen these 8 friendly blogger friends to receive the award:
aku memilih 8 blogger bersahabat ini untuk menerima awardnya.

Bloggers outside Indonesia:
melissa from areyouserious
triplet mama from loving my triplet
heather from a day in the life
G from where's my angel?

Bloggers from Indonesia:
easy from easy
abdee from baladaPNS

nina from simple life

evi from grow and shine
rice2gold from beemyfriendblog

you are great friends I have, thanks for being ones.