Pieces of me in letters

My husband and I went out to lunch today, and he made me drive (by simply sitting on passenger’s seat and saying… it’s your car, so you drive). It was my first time to drive on highway here, and I was so very nervous. My heart was beating so fast (should I say… doki doki!) and then I realized that I had never been driving that fast… nearly 120 km/h! Waaaa!!!!! So anyways… we made it to the restaurant safely (thank God!) and my husband was just laughing when I told him my heart was still beating so fast even after we got there. He said I was doing well. Yay!! (^_^)v

We had very good seafood for lunch. Fresh oysters for appetizer (very yummy!), and I had grilled mahi with lemon caper sauce and sauteed zucchini on the side, while my husband had shrimps with rice and somekind of thick seafood stew (forget the name) on the side. After lunch, my husband made me drive again. But I told him I didn’t want to drive on highway. I had too much doki doki for one day. So we went home via regular streets and it was rather fun for me

Conclusion:
I think I am doing alright driving here. I got scared at times, but I suppose it’s only normal. Hopefully I can get over that completely and start driving around to go to different places by myself with much confidence. Soon, I hope! 

I didn’t realize that I hadn’t made any posting for more than a month. Oh well… I guess it just happens. Blog posting is not exactly one of the most important things you need to do in your life. But I do want to tell stories about my life. So here it is.

More adjustments in this new city. My husband bought me a car, and that’s great. I just wanted a decent small car. I was thinking of a small city car… like Honda Fit, Toyota Corolla or Yaris, VW Beetle and Mini Cooper. The last one is the most expensive, and I didn’t really expect that I would get that. I mean… I would be happy with just about any decent car. And as much as I like the idea of having a nice car, deep down I know that a nice car means heavier responsibility (eeewww…).

Then it just happened about a week ago. A metalic grey Mini Cooper on our driveway. So-called my car and I named it Kawaii (did you see that coming? ). So far I’ve driven it twice. The first time was just fun. We went to a baby shower just a little outside the city, and on our way home my husband told me I should drive. And so I did drive a little, and it was fun… and weird… and scary… and exciting… all at the same time. I only have driver’s license from my home country, and at that time all I knew that I was doing something illegal: driving without local driver’s license. But then later on I found out that my current driver’s license is actually valid in this country for up to a year. And so I decided to get myself used to driving in this city. Today was my second time to drive Kawaii, and it wasn’t as fun as I thought it would be. Perhaps my expectation was too high to begin with, but anyways… I did learn a few things:

One:
Every wife probably knows this already (and I do too!): your husband is not exactly the best person to teach or assist you driving. He may be the best driver you know, but it’s better (for everybody!) to ask somebody else to teach and assist you driving. I knew my husband was just trying to give me directions and to make sure I was driving safely according to local laws, but to my ears, sometimes, he just yelled to drive me crazy!

Two:
In my home country, we drive on the left side of the road. I went to driving school there and was taught to do so. My driving teacher told me to always pay attention to what other drivers do on the road and to adjust my driving accordingly so not to hurt myself and other drivers. But apparently, it just doesn’t work that way here. I just have to make sure, at all times, that people – who my husband said mostly very ignorant – don’t hit me. It doesn’t matter even if I do the right thing according to the law. Eeeewww!!!

Three:
Drivers are alot more impatient and selfish here (although the driving guidance published by the government tells people to do the opposite). So I really need to be careful. I don’t want to hurt myself or other people. Don’t want to break my Kawaii either!

I really need to drive simply because publlic transportation is unreliable here. If it was better, I would opt to just use them and drive only occasionally. I thank my husband for the nice car, I hope I will be able to drive it more in a more relaxed atmosphere and actually enjoy it. Afterall… Mini Cooper is a fun car (so I’ve heard ).

It’s December 31 2008, a little past noon. Year 2009 is coming in less than 12 hours!

I am in a pretty good mood now. The sun shines, clear blue sky… listening to Alicia Keys and thinking I want to just write something light on this posting, about my daily life as a housewife :)

I cook almost everyday and I can proudly say that my husband is the biggest fan of my cooking Having plenty of free time in my hands, I cook many different things, experimenting with new recipes or just trying to use the tips I got from that cooking channel I watch on TV. I baked dinner roll, and cinnamon rolls for breakfast (and no, I didn’t use that store-bought dough or cinnamon-rolls-in the-canister thing. It was all from flour, yeast, milk, butter, etc put together). Cooked different kinds of Indonesian food (my husband loved my springrolls and spicy shredded chicken with kaffir-lime leaf) and I recently invented my own asian-noodle-and-turkey-meatball-soup-with-Italian-twist. Got very good fresh Chinese noodle from Asian supermarket, very flavourful turkey broth and some left-over dinner rolls that I both made, and some ground turkey that just happened to be in the fridge… and voila! My husband had almost never eaten the same thing for dinner two nights in row, but he happily ate noodle-and-turkey-meatball for dinner two nights in a row And last night I made my first Indonesian beef curry ever, from all-fresh ingredients (except for the coconut milk, I used canned ones… made my life ALOT easier ). The curry is called kalio, which is actually rendang but not as dry. It contains alot more thick sauce like regular curry. I cooked it for a couple of hours on the stove, then continue the cooking process in a slow cooker for about 5 hours. Also added mini potatoes (about quail-egg size) because my husband and I love potatoes. The result was amazing! The beef and potatoes held up their shape surprisingly well against the long cooking process, but were very very very tender. And the sauce was just great with white rice (probably good too with some rustic bread or pita bread too, I think). YUM-O! Both my husband and I had a second of the curry (couldn’t help it… it was just so yummy!). I guess now I have to admit that my husband was right when he said I made him fat (in a good way)  

I wish everybody a very happy new year! (^_^)

Paulo Coelho is my favourite author. Possibly you know that already from my previous posting(s) about him. I went to the book store last week to get his newest novel “Brida”. It was my first time to go to a book store in this city, and I was kinda excited. Went straight to the “Literature” section, and looked up for the novel. Not one Paulo Coelho’s book was there. Not even his most popular book “The Alchemist”. How strange! But then I thought… maybe I looked in the wrong section. Maybe Paulo Coelho’s books were displayed in “Novel” or “Fiction” section (although thinking about it made me feel a little disturbed…). So I looked around… but no “Novel” or “Fiction” section in the store. Went back to the “Literature” section and checked the books displayed there. Just what I thought… novels! But why Paulo Coelho’s books were not there???

I told my husband that I couldn’t find the book. He looked at me in disbelief and asked if I had looked in the right place. I said I couldn’t find it in “Literature” section and I didn’t know where else to look for it. We found a computer and looked up for Paulo Coelho in the book store database. It did come up… and none of us could believe what we saw. The books were displayed in the “Methaphysics” section!!! 
Although we were both thinking the database might be wrong… we decided to go look anyway. The book store clerk showed us the “Metaphysics” section, apparently a small section in the far corner of the store. And… the books were all there!!!! Waaaa…….

Paulo Coelho does write about spiritual journey in most – if not all – of his books… but I don’t think it’s suitable to be categorized as “Metaphysics”. His books should be displayed in the “Literature” section because of the beauty of Paulo Coelho’s words and sentences, and the stories that inspire people.

I am still reading “Brida” and so far so good Will probably tell you about it when I am done.

A little over two weeks since my last posting. I can happily say that I have made progress in adjusting to this new city

The most important progress: I’ve made new friends! Yattaaaaa!!! I feel extremely lucky because it’s almost too good to be true. It was all started when I sent an e-mail to local Indonesian community association  mailing list, asking where I could purchase Indonesian herbs and spices. Many kind replies, but one reply was more than kind. She said she knew good stores to get everything I needed, and in fact she would be very happy to take me to those stores! Waa!
We exchanged phone numbers, and made plan to meet up. I suggested that we meet up somewhere near a train station downtown (habit from Tokyo!). But she said she would just pick me up because she had some work to do near my neighborhood anyway. And so she did, and she took me around the city and to her house to see her husband who worked from home. Irma, my new friend, is a very talkative and very genki Indonesian girl. Her husband Anthony is from Greece. They just got married about 7 months ago. A relativey newly wed just like my partner and I. When I arrived at their house, I saw a boat in the garage. Later I found out that Anthony and my partner have quite a bit in common. They both have a boat, they like fishing, and they both have a jeep to pull their boat
Later that day Irma’s friend Lorein came over and three of us went to have dinner in China Town. Food was great, and we had so much fun together. Like Irma, Lorein is a very talkative and genki girl. She is hilarious too!
Last weekend Irma threw a pot luck party at her house, for her friend Carlos who just finished his first marathon ever, and for me (^_^). Food was great. Indonesian, Mexican, Greek, Indian, and so many other things! So much fun!
Thank you Irma… for everything!

Apparently there was no need to show ticket to ride the train. The old mas asked me where I was going, and told him I wanted to go downtown. Fortunately he was also heading downtown, and so we got on the train together.

The old man’s name was Garland. When he knew that I was new to the city, he kindly showed me around an area downtown where there were museums, park, and cafes. We parted ways, but then somehow met again at train station. We got on train together again, and finally said good bye when I had to transfer to another line. He gave me a little hug and wished me luck.

I came home with a big smile on my face. My partner was already home from work, earlier than ussual. He was happy to see me happy. I guess he was worried to see me unhappy the day before.

Adjusting to this new city is hard. I only have my partner and his families. I have no friends here and I miss my friends so bad. I guess it’s part of the adjustment process. I am struggling now… but I am sure things will get better over time.

I had my own first adventure to downtown area two days ago. Feeling somewhat lonely and a little stressed knowing that the only thing familiar to me in this city was my significant other, I decided to go out there hoping to find other familiar things.

Subway station is about 10-15 minutes walk from home. I stopped by at nearby supermarket to get some juice and snack, hoping to find a nice park and a bench somewhere downtown where I could sit and eat under the sun. Walking from isle to isle looking for snack that can fit into my handbag… and I found Asian food section! And it just got better… because I found my favourite Korean instant noodle, Indomie, and Kecap Manis ABC on the shelf. Yattaaaaaa!!! I couldn’t help myself smiling from ear to ear, and just felt so very happy. Happy to finally find other familiar things in this city!

Bought a bottle of orange juice (and very happy reading the label that it was not from concentrate) and a canister of Pringles (the big one, because I couldn’t find the small one, which fortunately fit into my handbag), then went off to the subway station. There were four ticket vending machines, and all was out of order. Aaa!!! For a few seconds I didn’t know what to do because I saw no station officer or guard around. But then a police officer and an old man came, talking about the machines that were out of order. The police officer told the old man to just go ahead on the train, and get his ticket at the next station. Got used to train system in Tokyo, I couldn’t help thinking… how was that possible to just go ahead on the train and get ticket at the next station??? But the old man seemed to think that it was a good idea, so I approached him… hoping to get some help. And lucky me, he was very kind.

(To be continued…)

I should have made this posting earlier, but things had been so hectic that I couldn’t manage to sit down and write. I still have many things to do, but after taking a long walk today I feel that I should spend a little time writing about a significant step in my life that has just taken place for a little less than a week.

I met him a little over a year ago. It didn’t take too long for me to know that he was the missing piece of me that I had been searching for. We promised to be together for always. His home is now my new home. Thousands kilometers away from my family and friends. I started my new life here, in a land people often refer as land of dreams and opportunities, a few days ago. 

I have been spending about half of my time here alone… mostly trying to feel comfortable with my new home, my new life. “This is your home… our home”, he said. I could only nod with a little smile on my face. Deep down in my heart I knew it would take some time until I could honestly say to myself… “I am home”. This feeling of confuseness, loneliness, and somewhat isolated… is familiar to me. I felt it nine years ago, and I learned that the feeling would end… somehow, someday.

I am going to visit Tokyo again in two weeks! Very excited!

One night in Tokyo is definetely not enough, but I will get to see my old friends… so it’s all good After so much going on and changes in plans, I didn’t expect this to happen… that spending the night in Tokyo was only a slight possibility. But now… flights and hotel are booked, and Japan visa is on the way! Yattaaaaaa~~~

Plan in mind includes: dinner party with friends that involves sushi, sashimi, and all those yummy small dishes at izakaya, amazing night view of Tokyo bay with its colorful Rainbow Bridge, and perhaps onsen too! Oh oh… and my favourite Japanese snack ever… Jagariko!

Tokyo here I come!

I usually don’t care much (and even just plain ignore) people when they ask me when I am going to have a child. Parents… friends… extended families… doesn’t matter. I just ignore them all. But for the first time in my life, today, that question somewhat bothered me.

I had a medical check up today and the doctor recommended me to have a certain vaccine. I said okay. Then the doctor asked me if I had plan to get pregnant in the next three months. I said no, I have no plan to get pregnant at least for a couple of years to come. The doctor looked at me, and said… “What are you waiting for? You’re (insert my age here). It’s time.”

Yes, that question bothered me because it was asked by a doctor… nothing personal. It was asked based on his knowledge about conditions needed for a healthy pregnancy.

From medical perspective, perhaps, I am not making the right decision… for myself and for my future child. Maybe it’s a trade off with having a child when I feel mentally ready thus feel completely happy about it. Parents who are happy about themselves make happy children (well… most of the times anyway). Not an easy trade off… so I guess I should think about this more carefully.