Early childhood, Before high school : English language proficiency

When the time came for Rania to enter primary school, my husband and I chose to enroll her into Al Jabr Islamic School, a bilingual school (Indonesian - English) which adopts the IB curriculum.The school currently consists of Pre-Kindergarten, Kindergarten, SD (Primary school) and SMP (Junior High School). Its location is in Pondok Labu, Jakarta Selatan.

Just in the first two months of school, I was already prompted twice with a question about my expectation with regard to Rania’s education.  On the first occasion, which was during the school admission interview with the school master, I answered  that I wanted my child to :

• be able to speak English fluently like her sister (Ninta) who sat in year 11 in an international school at that time 
• be a good moslem
• be a good child just like any other child who could play along with friends, obey rules, etc.

The second person who asked me similar question was the school owner (Mrs. Hjh Uchu Riza)  whom I met by chance while I was sitting in the school entrance area recently. I automatically answered to her that I wanted Rania to be able to speak English fluently.   

Why did I have to put emphasize on English language? Mrs Uchu herself spoke up for me. Later on that day, she confirmed to me that English language proficiency was essential so as to have a good career path in the future.

I had another chance to conclude goals for Rania. Yesterday, Rania - both of her class teachers – and I participated in a three way conference held in the school main hall. I listed four areas for Rania to put focus on for a year ahead :

• English daily conversation skill 
• Making up story skill in Bahasa Indonesia
• Memorizing one short surah every month
• Practicing the five-time prayers.

Al Jabar School is quite far from our house. In order to  get to there, Rania and I must start driving before 6.30 am and since the traffic around Pondok Labu is quite crowded (well…so is all around Jakarta, isn’t is?), I don’t return home after dropping Rania off. That means I have approximately seven hours before the school finishes at 2.00 pm. How do I spend my time aside from doing groceries and enjoying some rare occation like eating out with old friends ? I choose to :

• read various interesting books
• read and answer incoming emails
• do some crochet work 
• write blogs' posts
• and the most important task : prepare worksheets on numerous grade 1 and grade 6  subjects for Rania as well as Aqmal to do every night ........ especially on English subject !

Developing a spiritual life: It's a complicated world

It's a complicated world. Illegal things could happen right in front of our eyes and there's nothing we can do except pray.

Rania wasn't born yet when I worked for a small group of smart people led by someone whom I knew  very well. Their office was located not far from where I lived.  They also offered flexible working hours. So it's supposed to be a very convenient job. What I had to do was coordinate activities of purchasing firms that were targeted by clients. It wasn't a very difficult task, but I realized later on that  this kind of business, which involved big amounts of bribery, was illegal. Luckily I didn't stay there for long, not more than two months. I didn't even want to think about cashing the cheque they gave me.
It's a terrible world ...particularly before the Corruption Eradication Commission / KPK was formed!

Years later, my husband and his only sister inherited a piece of  land from  their late father, a  kindhearted person whom I respected very much. That land was located in Pekan Baru, Sumatera, a very far city  located on a different island from where we live now. My husband's family used to live there but it was a very long time ago. It became an abandon land though there was a small family whom was permitted by my late father-in-law to raise a little house and live there for the time being.
My husband's family wanted to sell the land. A difficult problem arose as that family refused to leave. I already watched enough TV news about policemen expelling people from the land that they illegally occupied by force. So when my husband had a thought to hire policemen for the same purpose, I had to speak out against it.
At the end, a better solution was agreed by donating of a portion of the land for those illegal inhabitants. It didn't stop there. That family still demanded for a slightly wider piece of land. What a crazy world!

I wrote this post at midnight while I couldn't sleep and really needed to pray. I would pray for a better world for my children to live in. I would also pray a special prayer for Alanda Kariza, a very young, brave and talented Indonesian girl whose mother was facing financial difficulties as well as a very serious lawsuit .

The following paragraph, which was quoted from her blog, made my tears drop :
"......I can live with that. I’m willing to work part time, do internships, and work my ass off to publish more and more books if it would help my parents, especially my mother. Although I don’t have my own car and I can’t shop luxurious stuff just like my friends do, I’m happy, and I’m willing to live like that....Even if I have to let Indonesian Youth Conference go, even if I have to work hard 24/7 to live without having to ask for allowances from my mother… I’m willing to do so ..."

Get prepared my children, be a very cautious person. Be tough too. It's a really complicated world out there...

Early childhood: A simple way to teach young children to read

Rania had known the alphabets since long (click here to read previous post about "Alphabets and Numbers") and at around the age of five, I began to teach her to read.

She had many books, including some free books from a publishing house located in my neighborhood:

"Membaca cepat dengan metode fonik" (= learn to read with Fonik Method)

Author: Sumarti M Thahir

Publisher: Aku Anak Saleh

We used the above books for a few times. The way I taught my little girl reading was far from formal. I didn't set  a strict schedule. Whenever Rania asked me to read a book, then that's the perfect moment. 

I also looked for easier ways to teach my child reading. One technique that we implemented more often was by using her favorite story books : the princesses story books. Rania demanded me to read  her the books several times a day.  She decided which one to read. Then we sat together side by side on the floor.

While I read her the story, I took a few simple syllables from each page. I  pointed at them, spelled them, read them and asked Rania to repeat after me loudly:

P     A      :    PA 

D     A      :    DA 

S     U      :     SU

This method appeared to be more interesting for her and we continued such simple reading activity every day for several months.

I set a regular study schedule once Rania was five years old and  four months. From simple syllables, she could easily read various words with four-letters such as listed below. She started to learn to write too, firstly by writing her own full name in capital letters.

Papa

Mama

Bibi

Mimi

Titi
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Mami

Papi

Sapu

Bisa

Kota

Her daily exercises within the next two months were to continue reading different words such as the above and write them in a combination of capital and small letters.

At the beginning of December 2010, unfortunately I became very busy. The Taxation report 2010 for Syamsi Dhuha Foundation had to be processed. My maid also planned to get married very soon so she stopped working and went back to her village. Therefore I decided to take Rania  to a nearby writing-reading-counting course (kursus calistung) for two months. Rania attended a one-hour calistung course every day from Monday to Friday and showed a lot of progress. Her reading lessons were:

•  words with five-letters:

Pohon

Sawah

Lutut

Salah

Mohon

Pisah

Susah

Lebah

Rumah

Kasar

• words with "ng" and "ny" :

Buang

Siang

Bunga

Singa

Pelangi

Menyanyi

Menyiram

• More complex words and sentences:

Membuang

Memdorong

Membungkus

 Merangkak

Ayah pergi ke kantor

Paman suka membaca

Ibu membeli sayur

By the end of January 2011 Rania was already five and a half years old. She was able to slowly read almost all Indonesian words. Her writing and counting skills also improved. What I had to do next was to give her daily practice of reading and writing not only in Bahasa Indonesia but also in English at home.

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High school: Leadership

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Since two years ago, whenever I remember Ninta, the word leadership appears on my mind constantly. I've really wanted her to develop her sense of leadership.

As we all know leadership is associated with being responsible, being accountable, having compassion towards others and a capability to inspire people, but to me, there is another leadership quality which is more important, namely "taking action". Why do I have to put emphasize on this feature more than the others? Other leadership qualities can wait and develop later, but  this one cannot!!! I guess, parents with teenage children elsewhere could understand the reason why.

Youth is so precious. It's the phase when our vitality and brain power develop rapidly. We  surely don't  want our teenage children to waste this period or fill it by  merely focusing on their physical appearance.  They have to take more actions. There are lots of productive things to do out there! Things that will make them smarter, wiser and more useful people later on.

After her essay passed the first elimination process, Ninta had to go through further steps of  Paramadina Universitas and the Jakarta Post  Nationwide News Article Writing Competition 2010  which consisted of a two-day writing workshop and an interview. Her other articles were also published on Student News Action Network's site and  the Jakarta Post. She also registered herself for the International Award Challenge through her school, besides continued maintaining her blog and another website dedicated for abacus arithmetic teaching. Later on, her teacher scheduled her to attend a writing seminar. It could help Ninta fulfill her CAS hour requirement and was also useful for networking purposes as explained by the teacher. Unfortunately that seminar coincided with one of IFL's activities. Ninta started to join IFL (the Indonesian Future Leaders) a year ago when she was still in year 10 (kelas 1 SMA).

"So, finally you've chosen to attend  the plenary meeting of IFL and not the writing seminar proposed by your teacher this coming Sunday?" I said to Ninta once we met. "Yes, IFL is more potential and it includes leadership", she answered. That made me feel relieved.

Ninta's still very young and she doesn't live with us but there's nothing to worry about. I know that she's on the right direction!!!

Good habit : Keep antioxidants handy at home!!!

Ninta's school is far from our home, about 19 km away, but close to my parents' house where she has been staying since July 2009. It takes quite an effort for me to get there, in terms of all the preparation that has to be made very early in the morning.

The school held a parent information meeting on a course in the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program called Theory of Knowledge yesterday. I had to wake up earlier than usual to iron my clothes, cook a small portion of meal for Rania, serve antioxidants for the family and start driving towards the toll road at 6.15.  

As always, I felt grateful for being able to get up that early and enjoy the fresh morning air. I  would never stop hoping that someday Jakarta's air could be this wonderful all day long. A ridiculous dream?  Most probably yes. That's why I have to arm myself  and the family with powerful antioxidants to fight against pollution.

My choices are always cheap despite their excellent health benefits:

• We consume juice of a half lime dilluted in a glass of water first thing in the morning which is good for:
• Preventing mouth ulcer formation. Unlike most animals that can synthesize their own vitamin C (an important antioxidant), humans lack an enzyme necessary for such synthesis and must obtain vitamin C through their diet. Limes (Citrus angustifolia) are rich in Vitamin C and  available all  year round. In Indonesia, they are more expensive than lemons.   
• Maintaining a healthy liver. Lime juice in a glass of water can help cleanse the liver. There are many on-line sources that explain the benefit of lime juice in reducing the level of toxicity in the liver.
• Crackers with tomato paste spread in the morning and evening. Lycopene in a tomato gives its deep red color and is responsible for its antioxidant property. It is good for maintaining healthy skin, besides reducing the risk of cancer and strokes. Lycopene in tomato paste is four times more bio-available than in fresh tomatoes.
• Spinach soup. Spinach is rich in antioxidants (vitamin A, vitamin C and vitamin E). It is good for your eyes. It also contains high fiber which is necessary in order to avoid constipation.
  
• A cup of green tea
• Soybean powder drink
• Turmeric herbal drink. This is one among many Indonesian traditional drinks (jamu), made of tumeric and palm sugar. Turmeric has other health benefits (preventing alzheimer's desease and certain types of cancer) besides its antioxidant property.

Turmeric (kunyit) herbal drink from Serambi Botani

Fresh turmeric leaves and rhizome are widely used as cooking spices in Indonesia. The rhizome is also very effective for cleansing raw fish before cooking in order to get rid of its fishy smell. What about  jamu? Various kinds of jamu were initially consumed only by the Javanese royalty at the Hinduism palaces in Surakarta and Yogyakarta more than a thousand of years ago. Now, jamu has widespread and we can find jamu sellers - women only - carrying a pack of bottles on their back around streets of Jakarta. They usually wear kebaya and batik. However lately many of them prefer casual clothes and go around on bike. Instant jamu from various leading brands are also available in many shops.

My favorite turmeric herbal drink is the one produced by Taman Syifa for Serambi Botani/IPB, certainly not because I'm an IPB alumnus. This jamu has a unique sweet taste unlike the taste of jamu anywhere else. It uses special sugar, not the ordinary palm sugar we keep at home.

High school: New York University Abu Dhabi

My husband and I came to the Indonesian International Education Foundation at Menara Imperium (Kuningan - Jakarta) and enjoyed a comprehensive presentation on New York University Abu Dhabi last  week.

It was the first day of the fasting month. We came with lots of curiosity and got back home with all the answers we needed.

Here are some important notes about NYU Abu Dhabi which may be helpful for high school seniors who will graduate soon and are looking around for college information :

• in November 2009, John Sexton (the fifteenth President of New York University) was named as one of  10 Best College Presidents  by Time magazine.
• NYUAD is the first comprehensive liberal arts and science campus in the Middle East to be operated abroad by a major American research university
• NYUAD awards the Bachelor of Arts and the Bachelor of Science degrees.
• English is the language of instruction 
• NYUAD curriculum offers 19 majors in Arts, Humanities, Social Science, Science and Engineering, five multidisciplinary concentrations, core curriculum and capstone projects. A minimum of 36 courses in total is required to graduate.

• Students  must complete courses in their major field.
• Students can choose one among five multidisciplinary concentrations (i.e Interactive Media and Technology, The Ancient World, The Arab Crossroad, The Environment, Urbanization) no later than the fifth semester and are required to take 4 courses. Multidisciplinary concentrations are one of the ways the curriculum supports work across disciplines and engages students to think about complex subjects from multiple perspectives.
• Students are also required to take 8 courses in the core curriculum which is divided in four areas: Pathways of World Literature; Structures of Thought and Society; Art, Technology and Invention; and Ideas and Methods of Science. The Core Curriculum includes one Writing Intensive Core course and will provide in-depth focus on oral and written expressions.
• Students are also required to take 2 courses in Physical Education and can choose from a variety of individual or team sports at the intramural or externally competitive levels (depending on skill level), lifetime sport instruction (such as golf or tennis), or fitness classes (such as aerobics or Pilates). The Physical Education graduation requirement includes the completion of two 7-week sessions of participative athletic activity. Students will complete this requirement within their first two years.
• During the fourth year, students will produce a Capstone Project, which may be either an individual or team project. The capstone project is a demanding, year-long endeavor aiming at a significant piece of research or creative work-a historical narrative, musical composition, performance, invention, documented experiment, scholarly thesis, or other form appropriate to the student's goals. The capstone project maybe completed in either the multidisciplinary concentration or the major. At the end of the school year, the students will present their capstone work at a university-wide celebration of their creative achievements, as they prepare to graduate from NYUAD.
• Students are also free to choose general electives across the curriculum, including up to 3 courses in seven pre-professional tracks (i.e Business and Organizational Studies, Education, Journalism, Law, Leadership and Social Entrepreneurship, Museum Studies, Premedical and Health Studies) and elective courses outside the NYUAD majors.  These courses provide students significant opportunities to take courses outside their majors and are often taught by scholars from NYU New York who specialize in areas not offered as majors at NYUAD, such as anthropology, linguistics, and religion.

• NYUAD drew more than 9,000 applicants and accepted fewer than 200 for its new 2010 class 
• Admission to NYUAD is highly selective. Students will be admitted based on the overall strength of their application, including academic excellence, extra-curricular activities, recommendations, and a demonstrated interest in global citizenship, service, and leadership.
• The NYUAD admissions process is "need-blind.", which means that admissions decisions will be made without knowledge of a student’s level of financial need.

Early childhood: Learn from the animal world

God create animals for the benefit of human beings. We can get inspiring teaching methods derived from the animal world too. One easy way is through animal story books and films which are very easy to find.  My  children know almost all common animals, other than cats, dogs, chickens, birds, house lizards and certain insects that are many in our neighborhood, from books and films too.

Ninta was quite 'lucky'. When she was small (Aqmal and Rania weren't born yet), our family was like those typical new families with small children who believed that family outings were the best way of introducing new experiences to the children.
We took her to Taman Safari Indonesia in Puncak several times where there used to be a polar bear in a transparent water pool with its  icy surrounding.  I can still remember  vividly that Ninta stood not far from me while I carried  one of her younger cousins right next to the high transparent wall of the pool to see the big animal swam around.
We frequently spent a night at Anyer beach and of course swam there too.
We let Ninta rode on horse back in Bandung and visited Ragunan Zoological Park and Bandung Zoo.

Aqmal's only visits to Taman Safari Indonesia and the Ragunan Zoological Park were during his school excursions when he's in 4th grade (every one else in his class had already been to those places before)  cause we didn't go out  much anymore, except for a trip to Bali and Lombok once.

Rania has never been to any of those places even until now. My husband and I are getting older and hence non-adventurous destinations are more suitable for us now.  Luckily, we have a lot of books at home.

"Nature in Danger" of the Childcraft series is one of Rania's favorite books. I keep the book (along with the others within the Childcraft series) with special care and let Rania take it whenever she wants it. She will then bring  the book from one room to another, open its pages and ask me to read it together several  time every day.

I find the book - together will Rania's other animal story books - very helpful in explaining various topics :

1. animals under threat of extinction
2. mammals
3. animals that lay eggs
4. their food
5. their habitats: rain forest, savanna, dessert etc
6. how to avoid certain animals from extinction
7. sounds of different animals

I'm aiming not only at her intellectual and physical development but her social and emotional education  too, by focusing on  certain pictures such as pictures of a baby orang utan carried by its mother or a baby blue whale swims closely to its mother. I hug Rania closely in my arms and answer her queries promptly.

I sometimes continue the book reading activity with making an animal paper origami. Rania will play and talk with the paper animal by herself. This way she does not get bored with one specific book easily.  I made these two whales by following  an online origami tutorial 

Whale paper origami

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The animal world is full of fascination, especially for young children!

Early childhood: let the children control their emotion

 

- Ninta, Angkita and Jasmine were on their way home in a school bus. They were classmates in kindergarten and felt very happy cause someone had given them balloons. The three happy girls sat nicely. Too bad, it was not for long. Angkita caused Jasmine's balloon exploded accidentally. The latter burst into tears. She further tried to reach Angkita's balloon but Angkita avoided her and cried too. "I'll give you a new balloon tomorrow, but please don't take mine", she said. The two girls continued to quarrel and cry.
Being unable to take Angkita's balloon, Jasmine turned to the third innocent girl and grabbed her balloon away. -
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Ninta told me the story in a funny way ten years later and we laughed together. She further explained that she actually wanted to cry too once her balloon was stolen from her. However, she decided to hold back her tears. "I cried but only in my heart at that time cause I didn't want to be like my two friends quarreling and crying out loudly".

A little child is capable to control his or her emotion. I think, it's important that parents guide their children step by step to be able to think logically rather than crying when something unpleasant happen to them.

There were also some occasions when Ninta's little sister - Rania - requested for new toys which I didn't agree while we were in a mall. How did I stop her from repeatedly asking me to buy new toys for her?

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I once asked her to check together the price of the toys, then I simply explained to her that the toys were expensive. I kept on talking to her:

"...If we buy that toy, we will not have any money left..."

"...We still have to buy food for tomorrow, right?...."

and so on until the little girl finally agreed.

What's your life mission?

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All cells in our body undergo biological aging process at different rates and - in the end - death is inevitable. Our life spans have limits. The connection between telomerase shortening mechanism, aging process and lifespan limits has been uncovered. Death is not that mysterious anymore.

There are many spiritual books which also tell us that every human being has his own mission in this world. Once the ultimate mission is accomplished, then that person’s life is getting near its end too. That’s why I feel that I must identify my own mission too.

Because of the simple life I have now, my most crucial goal is clearer. I have three children to raise and guide to their own future.

Therefore, I’ve set my own lifespan: till the age of 65. That’s plan A and I also have plan B in case my above mission is not accurate and I die sooner.

I picture my three children by the time I reach 65 years old as follows:

1. Ninta, whom will be 35 years old, will most probably already be a wife and working mother
2. Aqmal , about 30 years old, will already have his own life and career
3. Rania will just have graduated from university ... and that's it....she's my final mission.

Plan A is not a secret. Ninta and Aqmal know it. They have to understand facts about life and death and I want them to be able to step by step identify their life missions too.

What's plan B?
This blog is a part of it. I've told Ninta to refer to this blog whenever she has a problem in her future life. I hope she will advise Aqmal and Rania the same thing when they have grown bigger.

I use a different approach for Aqmal as he is still very young at the moment.
That time in December 2008, Rania had been ill for more than a week and I became sick too, most probably due to lacking of sleep. I had high fever. How did I feel? Did I feel miserable? No, I enjoyed my condition. It's the perfect time to give my son, Aqmal, a lesson.
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Aqmal was playing a computer game. I lied down on the bed next to him.
I said : "Aqmal...I'm sick...very sick..."
Aqmal: "Hmmm..."
I replied: "Mal...I think I'm dying..."
Aqmal: "Hmmm..."
I replied: "I'm dying..."
Aqmal: "No, you're not ...you're just sick, but you're fine..."
I replied: "I'm dying..."
Aqmal: "But you said you'd die at 60's"
I replied: "I'm dying now...Please promise me that you'll take care of Rania and not make her cry anymore..."
Aqmal: "Hmmm..."
I replied: "Aqmal...I'm dying...Will you take care of Rania, if I'm not around anymore?"
Aqmal (finally): "Yap..."

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The high fever lasted for three days and gave me a change to repeat the same dialogues with Aqmal for several times. I needed to make sure that he got my message. I wanted him to be a good brother for Rania...in case I die young...!

Early childhood: I'm defensif about not sending Aqmal to kindergarten

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Aqmal, my second child, approached someone and asked a question:"Apakah Bapak kenal Bp Iwan?" (Do you know Mr. Iwan)
Mr. Adhyaksa Daud (the Minister of Youth and Sports of Indonesia at the time) answered:"Ya, kamu siapanya Bp Iwan?" (What's your relationship with him)
Aqmal answered:"Dia bapak saya" (He's my father)

The above conversation happened when Mr. Daud came to pick up his daughter, Fahira, a few days ago. Fahira is in the same class with Aqmal in grade 3. Mr Daud and my husband were also classmates while they were still in junior high school in a different school.
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I didn't send Aqmal to kindergarten. Some friends told me that if Aqmal didn't attend kindergarten, he wouldn't have a chance to socialize with other children around his age and it might lead to a social interaction problem in the future.

I have my own reasons :

1. Some children are not easy to wake up early in the morning. I let little Aqmal sleep as long as he wanted. He would then wake up by himself happily, and was ready to explore another exciting day with me.
2. I never left him alone. We played toy cars, three wheeled bicycle and even barbie house collections. We cut and pasted pictures. He asked me to make drawings. We watched animations films together. I fed him while he played computer games.
3. I showed him the normal interactions between (adult) people. I took him to meet my friends. I brought him along to Ninta's school. We visited my parents, my parents in law and other relatives. I was invited to wedding parties, birthday parties, family gatherings and he came along with me.
4. I created warm and joyful atmosphere at home. Our home was never quiet even though there were only two adults (the maid and me) and two children (Aqmal and his elder sister) before my husband came home at night. Luckily, the maid was a type of person who loved being around young children. The maid and I often sat together on the floor to watch TV together while the children run and jumped around or lied down to rest on our legs.
5. I collect books including children's books and keep various toys properly. As we all know books and toys are good for stimulating young children's mind.

The above conversation between Mr. Daud and Aqmal was a proof that Aqmal is no different from other children. I'm also happy that I have lots of sweet memories about Aqmal's childhood, the ones I barely had with Ninta. I'm having another set of beautiful life episodes with Rania now. I will enjoy my time with her as much as possible and most likely not send her to kindergarten either.

Preserving our culture, Supporting the community, Good habits: Choose local products, not imported ones

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I envy countries where peaches grow. I enjoy the soft, juicy and fresh taste of peaches while my mind takes pleasure in relating their bright yellow color with the benefits of antioxidant.

This kind of fruit is also exported to Indonesia, immersed in liquid syrup and packed into can. However I just can’t consider ‘canned fruit’ as fruit any more nor I will spend money on imported fruit whereas I have alternative products grown by local farmers.

As a matter of fact, there is a far better option: mango. It is everybody’s favorite fruit and has its own place in our culture.

At this time of year, mangoes are piling up every where!!!

All varieties of mangoes: harum manis (yellow, juicy and tasty flesh), gedong gincu (orange color, irrisistable smell plus superb taste), golek (less juicy, mild taste), kweni (smaller shape, mix taste of sweet and sour), indramayu (dry flesh that makes it good for ‘rujak’).
Rujak is a part of our culture, which is a traditional dish made of all sort of different fruits, sliced or coarsely smashed, served with sweet and spicy peanut gravy.

There were also a few times when I planned to make mango pudding like the one my grand mother used to make, but my husband always disagreed. "It’s better to eat the fresh ones," he always said.

Just before the end of year, still in the rainy season, mango will be replaced by other famous seasonal fruits: rambutan and lengkeng.

Rambutan is famous because of it’s rambut (=hair) and also its fresh taste and richness in vitamin C. It’s also cheap cause it has to be sold fast. Why? Unlike mango, which is usually picked before it ripes, you may not harvest rambutan too early and once rambutan already arrives at local markets, it will last not more than five days before its beautiful red hairy skin turns to awfully black.
No wonder we are also attracted to buy rambutans in bulk. This way we can enjoy eating them day by day. However on precisely the third day, we are forced to finish the rest of them otherwise they will all be rotten.

We are also blessed with all species of unseasonal fruit through out the year.

The most popular one is banana (pisang). My parents in law’s big familiy loves pisang raja (first rate banana variety with green skin; raja means king), my eldest daughter prefers pisang raja serai (has a very mild sour taste), meanwhile my choice is pisang ambon (netral taste, yellow skin).
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pisang raja

Sometimes I also buy pisang nangka (becomes very sweet when it ripes while its green skin turns black) for making pies or simply dip it it boiling water to get healthy breakfast.

Sudden guests arrive? Just serve banana fritters : whole pieces of banana or cut in two, dipped in flour batter then deep fried. The key lies on the flour batter. Good flour batter makes good coating, when combined with the sweet taste of pisang nangka and served while still warm, hmmm….!

Don't forget about our other traditional meal: kolak. Which banana is best for kolak ? Pisang tanduk of course! This variety looks like a long horn of an animal. Send a bowl of kolak (cuts of banana and sweet potatoes in coconut milk and palm sugar soup) to neighbors! A simple way to preserve our culture and to be courteous as well!

What do I make for close relatives? There are still countless unseasonal fruits available for this purpose. I usually add slices of jackfruit into the regular recipe of klappertart (a pie filled with sweet dough and slices of very young coconut flesh). I will also prepare fruit cocktail (small round cuts of almost all kinds of fresh fruit served in simple syrup). They require quite a lot of work but never fail!
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There are 46 million farmers in Indonesia. Half of them still live in poverty. Let's pay more attention to them, our own community, by choosing local products!

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No home without good meals: Salmon soup, Baked omelet, Meat in sauce ala Padang

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Each of us in the family has different ideas about tasty food.

My husband cannot consider a meal with minimal herbs and spices as appetizing. On the contrary, Ninta enjoys simple but healthy menu very much. Sweet and non-rice meals are more Aqmal's favorites, meanwhile Rania has become a picky eater lately and caused me slight headaches. That makes me the only one in the family who eat everything.

It's especially hard to satisfy everybody during ramadhan (the fasting month). After 12-14 hours of fasting, you want something that tastes perfect in your mouth, not just an ordinary meal.

I've selected three easy-to-make main dishes for a day:

This Salmon soup is for Ninta (and Rania as well):

Ingredients: salmon fillet, 5 pieces of lemongrass, 5 or more lime leaves (tear them up), salt, 1 teaspoon of sesame oil.

How to make:

• boil water in a pan
• Add lemongrass and lime leaves. Keep the water boiled for another 2-3 minutes
• Add fish, salt and sesame oil
• Serve it with warm rice.

Can other types of fish be used for this recipe? I don't think so. Salmon has unique meat texture: very tender so that you can feel it melts on your tongue. Other fish requires stronger mixture of herbs.
For Aqmal: Baked omelet


Ingredients: 6-7 eggs, 250ml plain milk, 5 slices of white bread, 2 tbs sugar, 2 tbs strawberry jam, 100 ml strawberry milk

How to make:

• mix white egg until stiff
• using a mixer blend yellow egg with sugar, then add milk
• cut bread into small cubes
• combine the above ingredients in a shallow pan, then bake in the oven
• strawberry sauce: heat strawberry jam and strawberry milk over low heat until smooth
  
• Pour the sauce over the omelet.

For my husband: daging saus padang (meat in sauce ala Padang) :


Ingredients: 250 gr of sliced meat, 8 pieces of shallot, 4 pieces of garlic, 1 - 2 tbs chili paste (cabe giling), a small portion of ginger, salt, a small portion of tamarind, 2 cups of water and 1 cup of light coconut milk.

How to make:

• mince shallot, garlic and ginger, then saute them.
  
• add water and let it boil
• add meat, chili paste, tamarind, and salt
• cook the meat until it becomes tender
• add water if necessary
• add coconut milk at the very last step of cooking and let it boil
  
• serve meat with warm rice
  

High school: Choosing a school overseas event

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Part 1

Ninta's school offered its year 10 students several outing events for the year  of 2010. We had to decide which of the programs was the best for Ninta :

We narrowed down the choices into two :

• A tour to China
• A four-day congress in Singapore

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A decision was made quite easily. Ninta's focus was not merely on a pure pleasure trip, neither was my husband's nor mine.

On Jan 14th 2010, Ninta flew to Singapore to attend Harvard Model Congress Asia. It is a global conference where international students from various Asia countries learn and experience government while acting as officials in the United States government. 

Ninta was certainly not traveling abroad alone. Five other students (out of around 80 students) plus a teacher were going too.

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These were what the whole family prepared before she left:

• reading materials about Argentinian trade. Ninta's grandfather worked hard to help her understand the basic concepts that she needed to know and supplied her with relevant articles.
• 3 pairs of women suit (blazers, shirts and trousers)
• traveling iron
• some extra money

My husband and I had simple hopes. We wanted that the congress would give our daughter:

• new learning experiences
• closeness with those of her five school friends (Ninta was still a new student after all)
• new friends from various countries

Part 2

Ninta chose to go to the Model United Nations at Georgetown University in Qatar the following year. This time she went with four other students and a teacher.

We gathered together at a fast-food restaurant at the Soekarno-Hatta airport : Ninta's brother and sister, my husband and myself, the teacher, the other students and some of their parents. Ninta had seemingly become a young girl with great self confidence. Nothing appeared to bother her although she stayed up all night long to finish an assignment, fell asleep at dawn for several hours, began packing at 12.00 noon, then left the house at 14.00. 

Ninta's luggage nearly reached 20 kgs. That's why I advised her to write down stories of  her five-day journey as a souvenir for me, instead of buying me a scarf as she previously planned.

Have a nice trip!

Early childhood: Alphabets and numbers

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Young children around me whom I know quite well, learn the alphabets and numbers without difficulty. The little girl, who lives across from our house, managed to recognize letters from A to Z when she was still two years old. So did Rania.

Special thanks to Ayuta (my nephew) for giving us such an entertaining way to learn the alphabets. We inherited a little desk from Ayuta and it has been in our house for 15 years now. Ninta was the first one who inherited it, then we passed it on to Aqmal, and to Rania subsequently.

What's so special about the desk? It's just an ordinary bench with a table, but it  also has a list of alphabets and numbers on its top surface.

When Rania was about two years old, she used to climb up the  table. Her little fingers would point to each of the letters and numbers, then asked me to spell them. She would do it again and again every day.
A few days later, I tested her. I spelled an alphabet or a number first then asked her to show me which one it was. She passed!!!

Two years afterward, Rania still loves her desk though she never climbs it up anymore. She sits on  the chair nicely. I often sit next to her and use the desk together to do our home learning activities. We color, draw, play, paste stickers or read.

We also listened to the The ABC song. It became Rania's favorite song and can be downloaded from youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XEN4vtH4Ic
or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fw3l1z9CUQ&NR=1

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Indonesian food: vegetable soup and fried tofu

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Vegetable soup and fried tofu are most common homemade meals in Jakarta. We often have these meals at our home too.

The soup has carrots, potatoes, cabbage and snow peas in it. Lots of people also add cauli flowers, broccoli, green peas, tofu, mushroom or meatballs (bakso). That's why this food is ideal for small children.

We also need beef or chicken stock besides vegetables. I prefer lean meat, but my mother usually prepares meat with more fat every time her grandchildren come to visit her.

Meat with fat will of course make a more delicious soup. My mother will only need to add chopped and fried garlic, crushed white pepper and salt. My recipe needs more than those three ingredients because of the lean meat that I use.

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I need a big cloveof garlic, half tea spoon of white pepper, a piece of nutmeg, four pieces of cloves, a piece of cardamom (kapulaga), cinnamon and ginger. I prefer fresh spices because they have stronger taste as well as smell. More white pepper can be used in order to have a more spicy and tasty soup, but don't forget to grind it first.

I have to boil 500 gram of beef cuts together with the above mentioned spices plus salt until the beef becomes tender. The amount of water should be just enough to immerse the beef and later on the vegetables too. Then, I'll add cuts of carrots and potatoes. The other vegetables follow afterwards. Finally, sprinkle the soup with chopped of fresh tomatoes, leek, celery and fried shallot.

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Fried tofu is prepared by deep frying slices of tofu. Choose good quality of tofu. We serve it with sambal kecap which is a mix of kecap manis (sweet soya sauce), chopped chili (rawit), chopped shallot and lemon juice.

Serve soup, fried tofu, sambal kecap while still warm together with white rice..

Count your blessing, Early childhood: Wonderful children are every where around us

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Is it difficult to educate young children? Apparently not, because I've seen wonderful children every where. They are my source of inspirations...

Someone I know very well, Akang, has two teenage children. He often visits remote villages in the mountainous area of Sukabumi (west Java), his home town. His mission is to distribute charity money that he has collected from a list of his close friends in his office. One day, he decided to adopt a 6 year old girl from one of the villages. The girl is very happy to be able to live with him and never wants to get back to the mountain anymore.

One day, the girl told Akang that she wanted to go to a restaurant, a place she’d never found in the mountain. It’s also one of the places where Akang visits once in a blue moon in his entire modest life. So Akang took the girl to eat out at a street food hawker. She enjoyed the food, took a time to look around and asked a question :” Is this really a restaurant?”. Akang answered: “Yes”.

A street food hawker

My son, Aqmal, was also such a wonderful boy during his pre-school years (I didn't send him to kindergarten). I remembered him as an independent young boy as he always managed to find something to keep himself busy.

At about the age of two, little Aqmal was crazy about toy cars and no wonder every one around him would give him a piece or two pieces of car miniatures. That's why he had a huge collection of them. He also liked to collect pictures of car accessories. I helped him cut pictures from magazines and pasted them over his 'cars'. There was also a time when he loved watching the film "Dare Devil" so much. He watched it over and over again and would ask me to draw the characters he saw in the film. At the age of four, he turned into computer games. It even made my trouble-free life with him a lot easier.

Aqmal entered a primary school at exactly the age of six. My husband and I found a new and promising school not very far from our house. The lady who run a psychology test on Aqmal wrote down on the test report (I read it a few days later) that Aqmal looked as neat as an adult.

On that same day, as the test was still being performed, the school director spotted Aqmal and gave a remark to the father that he could be certain Aqmal was a smart boy by looking into Aqmal's eyes. Then, surprisingly, he sent Aqmal together with the father to the enrollment room and gave an order to enlist Aqmal as their new student right away.

The school director also has a wonderful daughter. The two of them travel a long distance between home and school. The school is in Tebet (Jakarta) and their house is in Sentul area, about 50km away. The only vechicle they have is a motorbike. Every morning, the young girl sits behind her father, hugs his waist from behind and doesn't stop reciting the content of Quran that she has memorized all the way to school!

Count your blessing, Early childhood: A Madam who prefers to be a regular woman

Someone used to call me ‘Nyi’ (=madam) a long time ago.

Nyi is a Sundanese (west Javanese) language. I’m a true Sundanese because I grew up in Bandung (the capital city of West Java) and my parents as well as my grandparents are Sundaneses too. Though I feel like I’ve lost my culture ever since I got married to my husband, who is from Padang (west Sumatera). He likes only a few Sundanese food, understands a few of the language but cannot speak it, meanwhile I like Padang food but don’t understand the language at all.

That person, who called me 'Nyi', also demanded every one - except expatriates (we worked in a foreign bank’s branch) - to call him ‘Akang' (=brother).
Calling one another ‘Nyi’ or ‘Akang’ is certainly very common all across west Jaya, from small towns along the coastal area of the Indian Ocean in the south like Pangandaran and Sukabumi, to bigger towns in higher land such as Tasikmalaya, Garut, Bogor and Bandung. However we weren’t in one of those towns. We were outside Sunda and our office was located in one of the high and modern buildings on the busiest street of Jakarta where genuine Sundaneses like both of us were very hard to find!

That’s one of my sweetest memories from working time.

I was still working when Ninta attended kindergarten. I quit and stayed home with my two children when my husband asked me to do so. That was when Aqmal was born. However I still left home twice a week to do some other business (I worked voluntarily for Syamsi Dhuha Foundation). After my third child, Rania, was born, I decided to become a full time mother and wife. I have done nothing else except caring for the family and doing the bulk of household chores.

My best friend, Dian Syarief (the founder of Syamsi Dhuha Foundation), could not accept my decision to stay home. She kept on warning me that if I merely stayed home I wouldn't be able to keep myself  presentable  and updated with latest issues about daily lives. 
There's a huge misunderstanding between us. Why would I change into a very different type of person if I stayed home?

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Broadly speaking, yes it's true, there's a misleading opinion about stay-home-mothers. What make us, devoted mothers, not as special as working mothers?

I have come to a point that I feel like I have experienced almost everything in life. From being a plain small kid, a teenager with an exciting life, a student with challenging chores, a university graduate finding a job and adapting herself to a whole new work environment, to a career woman who was as busy as a bee trying to balance between work and family tasks.

Now, although my life seems so plain, it is very significant. My only aspiration is to care for the children so that they have a better life in the future. In order to accomplish that I have to keep my self updated (especially on parenting issues) just like every one else. I  have to show good way of behaving in front of the children. I have to encourage lots of communication among us. I have to create joyful learning activities at home. In addition,  I must always remain active and keep myself passionate to learn new knowledge.  There are a great many other things that do not differ me from working mothers.

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I have an option to offer the child care job to somebody else: a babysitter or a trained-maid. I used to take this option when I was still working outside the house, but not now for I have become a much suitable person to do the parenting jobs myself. I am happy and I can see that my children are thriving.

With the help of the technology, I will be able to do almost everything from home. I have a lot of things in my mind, things that I will do when children, especially Rania, have grown bigger. No worries at all. The decision to stay home has turned out to be a blessing for me.

High school, Count your blessing : Middle Years Programme of IB

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Ninta is very grateful for winning a scholarship from Global Jaya International School (Bintaro/Tangerang - Indonesia). So are the rest of the family members.

This is going to be a quite long post about Middle Years Programme of the International Baccalaureate which is applied by Ninta's school. The terms "MYP' and 'IB' had been rather mysterious to me even when Ninta had already been studying there for a couple of months ... until the school gave an explanation about them at a meeting for new students' parents the other day.

So here it is...

Ninta currently sits in year 10 (we understand it as kelas 1 SMA) or in the final year of the Middle Years Programme.

MYP or Middle Years Programme is a part of the three programmes developed by International Baccalaureate, a non-governmental organization (NGO) of UNESCO, which aims at developing the intellectual, personal, emotional and social skills for students to live, learn and work in a rapidly globalizing world. To this end the IB works with schools, governments and international organizations to develop challenging programmes of international education and rigorous assessment.


IB develops three programmes of international education:

• Primary Years Programme, a six year curriculum for pupils aged 3 to 12
• Middle Years Programme, a  four year curriculum for pupils aged 11 to 16
• Diploma Programme, a two-year curriculum for students aged 16 to 19, which leads to final examinations and a qualification that is welcomed by leading universities around the world.

MYP is expressed through three Fundamental Concepts:

• intercultural awareness: MYP fosters students' tolerance, respect and empathy in term of multiple cultures and perspectives
• holistic learning: this concept encourages students to see the relationship between subject, subject content and the real world
• communication: MYP stresses the importance of verbal and non-verbal communication

MYP students are required to study their mother tongue, a second language, humanities, sciences, mathematics, arts, physical education and technology. Students study the eight subject groups through the five areas of interactions (as illustrated by means of an octagon with the five areas of interaction at its centre):

The five areas of interactions are:

1. approaches to learning: emphasizes the development of student's thinking skills, strategies, attitudes (How do I learn best? How do I know? How do I communicate my understanding?)
   
2. community and service: develop student's community awareness and a sense of responsibility through service activities (How do we live in relation to each other? How can I help others? How can I contribute to the community?)
   
3. human ingenuity: relates to human creativity and its impact on society (Why and how do we create? What are the consequences?)
   
4. environment: concerned with the interdependence of human beings and their environment as well as with sustainable development (What are our environments? What resources do we have/need? What are my responsibilities?)
   
5. health and social education: concerned with mental and physical health and the interactions between the students and community (How do I think and act? How am I changing? how can I look after myself and others?)
   

The eight subject groups available at Global Jaya International School are:

1. Language A: English and Bahasa Indonesia
   
2. Language B: English, Bahasa indonesia, Spanish and Mandarin
   
3. Humanities: History, geography and economy
   
4. Sciences
   
5. Mathematics
6. Arts
   
7. Technology: information technology, food technology, material technology, entrepreneurship (entrepreneurship begins at year 10)
   
8. Physical Education: physical education and health

Assessment of process and is carried out on a daily basis. Students are provided with opportunities to analyse their own learning as well as their progress, and to recognize what areas need improvement.
Summative assessment is the judgement made by teacher at the end of a particular task, unit work, or assessment period.
Assessment is both formative and summative. Formative assessment is an important part of the teaching and learning.

All MYP subjects receive final Grades in the range of 1 to 7. The general Grade Descriptors below indicate the achievement required for the awarding of each subject grade.

MYP General Grade Descriptors:

• Grade 1 (very poor): minimal achievement in terms of the objectives
• Grade 2 (poor): very limited achievement against all objectives
• Grade 3 (mediocre): limited achievement against most of the objectives of clear difficulties in some areas.
• Grade 4 (satisfactory): a good general understanding of the required knowledge and skills and the ability to apply them in a variety of situations
• Grade 5 (good)
• Grade 6 (very good)
• Grade 7 (excellent): a consistent and thorough understanding of the required knowledge and skills and the ability to apply them, almost faultlessly, in a wide area of situations. Consistent evidence of analysis, systhesis and evaluation is shown where appropriate. The students consistently demonstrates originality and insight and always produces work of high quality.

MYP students are also required to undertake Community and Service activities throughout their study in the MYP. A structure is established to organize and monitor students' activities. The structure is described in the journal (booklet) which should be kept until they have accomplished the final year of MYP. No grades will be awarded to students for fulfilling the requirements but an MYP certificate cannot be awarded unless the requirements are met.
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Year 10 students must also complete a final assignment called the Personal Project, which allows them to demonstrate the understandings and skills they have developed throughout the programme.

Indonesian Food: Pangek Gajeboh

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"Paying attention to corporeal matters like eating, exercising, and sleep can help you be happier" (Gretchen Rubin).
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Gretchen Rubin - a young woman, lawyer, writer, and currently working on the Happyness Project - lives in New York City.
My mother-in-law, an older generation, lives in Jakarta. She doesn't know her precise date of birth. Her parents wrote down all their seven children's dates of birth on a bedroom door. The door became old and then was removed. When the time came for my mother-in-law to produce an identity card later on, she had to pick a random date and so did all her sisters and brothers.

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Gretchen Rubin and my mother-in-law don't know each other, but the two of them share the same principal: eating is an important element of a happy life.
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My-mother-in law is an excellent cook and her big families enjoy her tasty food very much. She's originally from Padang Pariaman, a peaceful area that lies on the coastal side of West Sumatra (Minangkabau) Province. The later is very famous for its unique culture: matriarchal tradition, rumah gadang (rumah=house, gadang=big) and of course excellent cuisine.

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There are at least five different meals that my mother-in-law prepares every day. Assisted by two maids, she could easily make fish, shrimp, meat, lamb, chicken, tofu (soya bean cake), tempe (another soya bean based meal) and every thing else into fabulous meals. Allmost all of them are cooked in Minangkabau style: spicy, lots of herbs and often requires coconut milk.
The most adored one is of course rendang (listed as the world's 50 most delicious foods) which is made of meat cuts cooked and stirred for  at least four hours until the mixture of coconut milk, herbs, and spices become nearly dry and well blended with the meat. We need persistence, energy and extra time to make rendang.

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What Minangkabau food do I make for my husband? I prefer to make something simple and without coconut milk. Pangek gajeboh is the right choice.

I need two medium size tomatoes, four cloves of garlic, eight cloves of shallot, ginger and tumeric about the size of an adult's thumb each, and chili. If you want a more spicy taste, just add more chili. The original recipe also call for a piece of tumeric leave. Grind those ingredients, except tumeric leave and tomatoes,then saute them. Add tomatoes, tumeric leave, 500ml water, 500gr meat and salt. Cook until the meat becomes tender. It's just as simple as that.

I often omit tumeric leave because it's not always available in my kitchen, and prefer lean meat as opposed to sandung lamur (meat with more fat). Serve pangek gajeboh while it's still warm with white rice.

Developing a spiritual life, Pre-marriage guide: Becoming a leader in the family

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As Ninta grows bigger, I could shift the burden of having huge responsibilities being her imam (=leader) bit by bit. To whom do I shift it? To Ninta herself of course, though I  have to keep reminding her that she assumes more and more responsibilities for her own manner. If something goes wrong, no one else to blame but herself.

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Ninta asked me a long time ago, why I used to remind her to do shalat fardhu (the five-time-daily prayers), why only her, what about her father? I explained that as a muslim mother, I became an imam for my children. I was responsible for, among other things, their education, meaning if one of them had to go to hell as a result of improper education then I went there too. The father became the imam for the whole members of the family. He himself had the responsibility to keep the family on the right direction.

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I talked about the imam concept with my best friend, Dian Syarief, about three years ago. We were having breakfast at the Mercantile Club (Jakarta) early in the morning and discussing about many things including our friends who had divorced. Why were there so many parents split up? My opinion was that it became so much a reality that modern parents did not have sufficient knowledge about the magnificent imam concept anymore.

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Young, smart and independent wives are busy wives. They are passionate about their career that they have started long before they get married. The husbands are hard-working too. Who is the imam in the family? Nobody?

Or perhaps a different scenario: the busy husbands, assuming the imam position, ask their wives to be not that busy anymore for the sake of the family. Wives don't really get the idea. They feel like they lose their freedom and become unhappy instead of trying to be more creative at home and at the same time develop a lot more passion for the family. Unhappy wives lead to unhappy families.

Or perhaps a more complex problem. There is a new person in the office. That person is good looking, charming, amazing, exciting and so on. Everyone and everything else in the house, who and which are supposed to be on the top priorities, become dull and meaningless.

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If parents get divorce. What happened to the children? Raising children is a challenging task. Logically, it becomes a more difficult job if the parents get separated.
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My children, now you can see that it's very important to understand the imam concept since you are still young. It will hopefully unite your family together through difficult times in the future.

Preserving our culture, Good habit: I love Indonesian Products

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I love Indonesian products (=Aku cinta buatan Indonesia) and I'm serious!!!

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I always prefer local brands though I wear imported shoes too. There's an explanation for it.

These are what I have:

• some locally made sandals
• a pair of locally made jogging-shoes
• four pairs of high-heel-shoes from a European brand. 

Two pairs of the high-heel-shoes were bought 10 years ago. The third pair was a gift from my mother in law when she travelled to Singapore five years ago. The fourth pair was bought by my husband a few months ago. You can now see that I'm not a shoe collector. I choose that specific european brand because of it amazing durability, nothing else.

I've seen many people around me showing off their belongings which are imported from abroad: handbags, cosmetics, clothes, furniture, etc. Those imported things are, off course, look very nice and make people, who wear them, look splendid too.

What's wrong with Indonesian products? Many people would say that their quality are not as good as imported ones. I don't agree. In my opinion, those people are just not searching hard enough. I've found excellent and locally made handbags, cosmetics, clothes, furniture, jewelry, various kind of fruit even food supplement and one of my favorite places to shop is UKM Gallery: Preserving the Indonesian Heritage.
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April 24th 2009 was Aqmal's 9th birthday. We did not have a birthday cake. Why? It's because of the fact that Indonesia has to import flour continually in order to meet increasing demand on cakes, bread and noodles year to year. What's the alternative? Rice is the best answer, because Indonesia has a surplus in rice production and the government is proudly announcing the we are exporting rice starting this year.
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That day, we had a set of traditional meals : a lovely arrangement of nasi kuning (rice cooked with turmeric). As shown in the photo, it consisted of: nasi kuning (for 4-5 servings), gule ayam (chicken curry), empal daging (spiced and fried beef), sate udang bakar (shrimp barbeque), sate daging (beef barbeque), urap (vegetable sprinkled with spiced shredded coconut flesh), thin slices of telur dadar (egg), sambal goreng kentang dan hati (chicken liver and potato in chili gravy), perkedel (fried potato cake), sambal (chili sauce), kerupuk (crackers) and goreng kentang kering (spiced and fried potato). Hhmmm!!!

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I attended another birthday invitation earlier this year. Mrs Mien Soedarpo celebrated her 85th birthday and held a party for relatives and close friend in her house in Jl. Pegangsaan, Jakarta. Besides lunch, guests also enjoyed an exhibition of:
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1. Mrs Soedarpo's old collection of batik
2. Her kain songket collection. 3. Paintings and photos of her families

4. Her wedding bed (in Minangkabau style) which has surprisingly been well preserved for so many years.

All showed her great efforts on preserving our culture. I love Indonesian products!!!

Early childhood: Tantrum 2

Real life parenting is also about dealing with tantrum. How to avoid young children from developing tantrum?

I have some tips based on personal experiences:

1. Spend much time with your children in order to develop a close attachment with them.
2. Do always speak softly and show attention to them. Never ignore your children.
3. Follow what the children like if necessary. Once, we bought a pair of blue jean trousers for our three year old daughter. She loved it very much and insisted to wear it all the time. One day, she cried out endlessly for hours as she found out that the trousers were being washed. Therefore we bought some more trousers, exactly the same model.
4. However there are also limits. We may not always fulfill what the children want. Communicate well and make plans with them. We might tell them that they could buy another new toy not today, but next month, cause we have to save up some money first.
5. Be creative! Young children always need something fun to play with. Get ideas to entertain them. Try the internet, books and everything else. Once they feel happy, they will less likely to develop tantrums.

Another blog award

Thank you very much Budhe and mbak Fitra for this charming award. The award is being distributed among bloggers with an aim to encourage reading routine in our daily lives.

Ini PR/pertanyaannya :
1. seberapa sering anda membaca?
Reading is one of my hobbies. I read books and spend time to read informative websites every day
2. apa pentingnya membaca menurut anda?
Reading is a very important activity for everybody. It makes people smart.
3. seberapa besar pengaruh membaca buat anda?
I can't live without reading.
4. seberapa luas anda menyebarkan kebiasaan membaca?
I'm making sure that all my children also love to read and let my friends know which books are good for them to read as well.