parallel

Live in reality
stand your ground
take your destiny
realize where you belong

I can’t live a parallel life
coz it has a tunnel between
for me to pass through
from one to the other
and it connected both in anyway

Sandals and Milkshake

I bought Ar Ir new sandals.

Aku beliin Ar Ir sandal baru.

"Ar, look at it's bottom. It's very hard", said Ir.

"Ar, lihat, bawahnya keras banget", kata Ir.

Of course. That was the hardest out sole that I could find. Their sandals should have hard outsole or they'll end up like this

Tentu saja. Itu yang terkeras yang aku temukan. Sandal mereka harus yang solnya keras, kalau tidak, pasti akan jadi seperti ini

in few days.

dalam beberapa hari.

Tonight after dinner we made instant (as usual) milk shake.

Hari ini setelah makan malam kami bikin milk shake instant (seperti biasa)

'I want Mocca flavor', said Ibit.

'Aku mau rasa moka', kata Ibit.

'I want strawberry flavor', said Ar.

'Aku mau rasa stroberi', kata Ar.

'I want water flavor', said Ir.

'Aku mau rasa air', kata Ir.

This is what I meant with how he said surprising things.

Ini lho yang kumaksud, Ir selalu mengatakan hal-hal tak terduga.

Belajar Membaca

Learn to Read

ayat pertama turun.... "IQRO'..."
first verse... "read..."

bukannya ingin mencerabut masa bermain anak-anak dan memaksanya untuk belajar. tapi anak-anak harus belajar untuk belajar
not to grab children's play time and push them to study too hard. but children need to learn to study.

Ibit jaman seumuran Ar Ir sekarang udah bisa baca meskipun belum lancar amat. masih suka bingung antara p - d - b. sebelum baca musti dilihat dulu keseluruhan kata, baru bisa putuskan itu p - d atau b.
when Ibit was Ar Ir's age now, she could read even wasn't so fluent. she sometime still get confused between p - d - b. before saying the words she need to see the whole letters to decide is it p - d or b.

ya... waktu itu aku belum kerja. di rumah aja. waktu full buat anak-anak.
well... I didn't work that time. stay at home. full time for children.

waktu Ibit umur 3 tahun, sempet ngerekam dia nyanyi sampe dapat sekaset penuh. perlu waktu hampir sebulan, karena meskipun hafal banyak lagu, kalo lagi nggak mood ya nggak mau nyanyi... toddlers.
I remember when Ibit was 3, I recorded her singing and we got a cassette full. took almost a month, coz although she knew many songs, some time she didn't get the mood and refused to record.... toddlers.

waktu Ir umur 2 tahun belum apal warna, aku panik dan segera memberikan kursus intensif setiap hari. hari pertama aku pake metode 3 mangkok berwarna lego merah - kuning - biru, mengumpulkan lego berwarna yang sama di satu mangkok-- belum dengan menyebutkan warnanya. Ir bahkan ngga ngerti dia harus apa. sempat putus asa. lalu aku bikin robot dari warna-warna lego yang berbeda. tiba-tiba dia ambil lego yang belum dipasang dan memberikan lego dengan warna yang sama dengan robotnya. jadi begitulah: robot merah maem yang merah... alhamdulillah berhasil.
when Ir was 2 and didn't kno colors, I got panic and soon give him an intensif course everyday. first day I used the method of putting legos of same colors in a bowl -- without mentioning the colors. just put them in groups. Ir didn't understand what to do and I got frustrated. then I made robots of different coler. sudddenly he took a piece of lego and fed it to the robot of the same color. so it goes that way: red robot eat red lego... alhamdulillah we did it.

saat ini aku merasa bersalah banget. aku keasikan jadi orang kantoran. kalo di rumah ama anak-anak adanya main-main aja. ngajarin Ar Ir ini itu cuma kalo inget aja. habis anaknya juga ngga pernah minta, malah kadang di ajak belajar susah. beda ama Ibit dulu yang justru selalu minta diajarin karena pengin cepet bisa baca. hasilnya, di umur hampir 5 tahun, mereka baru sampai 'na'. ibu macam apa aku ini...
right now I feel so guilty. I was too busy working. when I am at home all we do is mostly play around. I teach Ar Ir this and that so rarely. they never asked for it too, they some times even refused to learn. unlike Ibit who always asked to learn because she wanted to be able to read. results: in age of 5 Ar Ir gone this far : 'na'. what kinda mother I am.

waktunya membayar kesalahan. aku mulai rutinkan nemenin Ar Ir mengenal membaca, setiap hari, hatta cuma 10 menit. alhamdulillah cepet. mereka sudah siap untuk mengenal huruf vokal selain 'a'.
time to pay. I started to accompany Ar Ir learn to read daily ten minutes a day. alhamdulillah they learn quickly. now they are ready to know other vocals than 'a'

bismillahirrahmaanirrahim,
ayo anak-anak, kita bisa!
come on boyz, we can do it!

I WENT HOME

AKU PULANG

It’s been over two months since the last time I visited my parents and Dan’s grandparents. So I did. Alhamdulillah they’re all OK, except that my dad still feel a little weak after getting chikungunya couple weeks ago.
Sudah lebih dua bulan sejak terakhir kali kami mengunjungi orang tuaku dan Mbahnya Dan. Alhamdulillah semua baik dan sehat, kecuali Bapak yang masih agak lemas karena sakit chikungunya beberapa waktu yang lalu.




Fun FRIDAY

My brother Bondan was there with his wife End and his son Imong. Ar + Ir + Imong = disaster. But I let them run around the house, yelled and scream – and cry. My parents don’t mind, for a day or two, so one of us should go before their blood tension rise…

Adikku Bondan juga ada, sama istrinya End, dan anaknya Imong. Ar + Ir + Imong = bencana. Tapi kubiarkan mereka berlarian keliling rumah sambil berteriak, menjerit, dan menangis. Bapak Ibu juga ngga keberatan kalau Cuma satu dua hari. Jadi salah satu harus pergi sebelum tekanan darah mereka naik….

So we decided to spend the evening in Bondan’s house. He has a new play station, some thing (so far) I never agree to have. I still think some games contains violence like that NARUTO that Ibit and Ar played (and other battle games…) though I knew some don’t. Bondan told me he had a game that would keep me stay in front of it. GUITAR HERO. What could I say, he was right.

Jadi aku putuskan sorenya kami ke rumah Bondan saja. Dia punya Play station baru, sesuatu yang sampai saat ini aku masih belum setuju untuk beli. Menurutku banyak gamenya yang mengandung kekerasan, termasuk game NARUTO yang dimainkan Ibit dan Ar (dan game-game tertarungan lainnya) meskipun aku tahu banyak juga game yang aman-aman saja. Bondan bilang dia punya sesuatu yang bakalan bikin aku betah duduk lama memainkannya. GUITAR HERO. Yo mesti….

So while I and Ibit were busy strumming our ‘guitar’,
Jadi selagi aku dan Ibit sibuk main gitar,

Ir was busy playing with Imong’s toy bus.

Ir sibuk main bis-bisannya Imong.

Ar was busy racing in the computer.

Ar sibuk ‘balapan di computer.

And Dan? He was busy taking our picture. You can see his foot on Ar’s pic…
Dan? Dia sibuk motret kami. Lihat aja gambar kakinya di fotonya Ar….

Slow SATURDAY

We planned to visit Dan’s grandparents in Terok this day. But I took a little time to take a look at my dam. And this is it’s latest condition.

Rencananya hari ini ke tempat Mbahnya Dan di Terok. Tapi aku sempetin mampir nengok wadukku. Dan ini keadaan terakhirnya.

And the river below.

Late afternoon I took my children to come closer to paddi field and learn that this, someday will be the rice we eat everyday. It was cloudy and the rain fell quite hard. And it was thundering too, I didn’t turn on the TV. So we spent the evening in the living room, talking, seeing old photos….

Agak sore aku ajak anak-anak lihat sawah, dan belajar bahwa ini, akan jadi nasi yang kita makan sehari-hari. Sayangnya hujan turun deras, dan berpeetir pula. Aku ngga berani nyetel TV. Jadi kami menghabiskan petang di ruang tengah ngobrol, lihat-lihat foto lama…

SUNDAY in Solo

Before we went back to Semarang, I stop for a while in Solo and met my sister and family in Manahan Stadium. We watched ‘Jaran Dor’ (Bang Horse) attractions that showed some acrobatic action, included by a 6 yrs old boy.

Sebelum balik ke Semarang aku mampir ke Solo, ketemu Mbakku di Manahan. Nonton atraksi ‘Jaran Dor’, pertunjukan acrobat, termasuk oleh anak umur 6 tahun.

Breakfast under the tree.

Sarapan di bawah pohon.

On the way back, we stop by in Kampung Kopi Banaran, and home.
Dan di perjalanan pulang mampir bentar di Kampung Kopi Banaran…


Whoah!

my accomplishment this week....

....is how I get along with my new baby.

I worked a l ittle hard but I finally did it. I played 'Little Serenade' by J Hayden.

Now I'm working on 'Mennuet in G' by Bach, and that'll be my next one.
:D

And Ibit is doing prettty well too. She plays better in chords than I do. Her fingers are so small but they dance beautifully....

These are our accomplishment together I guess...

A girl bus singing beggar

Yesterday in a bus, on my way home.

Kemaren di bus, dalam perjalanan pulang.
I wouldn’t care if only it was a boy or man. I mean I would; I would put a coin or two in their hand -- unless they sang awful, I wouldn’t pay attention or money....

Aku ngga akan peduli kalau saja itu laki-laki. Makusuku ya aku peduli; aku akan kasih sekeping dua keping -- kecuali nyanyinya bener-bener payah, aku ngga akan kasih perhatian ataupun uang...

But it’s a girl, and I can’t help myself not to pay more attention. I don’t really like the song, but she sang quite well. She was so strong she could hold the guitar without a hanger. I wouldn’t be able to strum if so.

Tapi ini perempuan, dan aku ngga bisa menahan diri untuk tidak memberi perhatian lebih. Aku ngga begitu suka lagunya, tapi suaranya lumayan. Dan menurutku dia kuat banget, pegang gitarnya tanpa gantungan. Kalau aku, aku ngga akan bisa genjreng.
Everybody has to struggle for their life, but some has to struggle harder than the others. She is one of those. And I sympathize to girls who choose to be a singing beggar.

Setiap orang harus berjuang untuk hidupnya, hanya saja sebagian harus berjuang lebih keras, Dia salah satunya. Dan aku bersimpati pada gadis-gadis yang mau jadi pengamen.
Unemployment has become a big issue in this province in the last few years. Many factories have to fire their workers because they loss more and more each day.

Pengangguran sudah jadi masalah besar di provinsi ini beberapa tahun terakhir. Banyak pabrik terpaksa memPHK karyawannya karena terus menerus merugi.
It needs tons of courage to stand there in a bus and sing. Not only because you have to stand in a shaking running bus, strumming guitar and sing. But you have to compete and deal with the boy ones.

Butuh kekuatan besar untuk jadi pengamen di bis bagi seorang gadis. Bukan cuma karena harus berdiri di bus yang ngebut dan berayun, memegang gitar dan bernyanyi. Tapi juga harus bersaing dengan pengamen-pengamen laki-laki.
Competition in street lives is sure so hard...

Persaingan hidup di jalan pasti sangat keras....

Settle down

I've been feeling so lazy to write anything these last few days. Many things happen, but mostly things I can't tell. Heart and head are full of thoughts. Confusion.Fidgetiness.
I just learned many things of how I should live alife. Things I never really cared.
To be patient.
To understand people, and not always ask people to understand us.
Not to rush.
To control our selves.
Not to determine a thing.
To flow like water in the river.

Happiness and sadness come to make our life colorful, and there's nothing to worry about.