100 Days of Happiness – Day 42

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What a full day we had today filled with lots of gorgeous children and lovely new friends. First stop was at Chipmunks play centre at Colony in Kemang to meet a group of expat yummy mummies, all of whom are married to Indonesian men! –… and their gorgeous children.  As soon as the lift doors opened we felt like we had arrived in baby wonderland! It was so colourful and looked like a magical place for kids to play and use their imaginations.  It ended up being hours of entertainment for all the kids, sliding down slides, playing in the ball pit, wobbling around on the circular water bed and making music with the piano mat.  It’s a little difficult to have long conversations while chasing kids around, but this was such a warm and welcoming group and Samudra left tired and happy, and so did Putra and I.  I hope to have the chance to catch up with everyone again soon.

We stopped in at home so Samudra could have a sleep before we set off to our next destination, Lestari Sayang Anak (Forever Loving Children) which is a lovely nonprofit orphanage out in Cipete, and run by an amazing Dutch lady, Ingrid.  I first visited Ingrid and the kids back in 2011 with Treen, and since then they have recently moved into a much more spacious home with a garden out the back and a playground at the front,  which was donated by some generous individuals.  When we first visited all those years ago, the children were younger and much more reserved around us, but today they were filled with love and smiles and kisses for both us and Samudra.  Ingrid has two gorgeous little girls which she has adopted, and the orphanage was always filled with little boys, but now they have their first girl in there too who is super sweet!  There is also a little boy, Joshua, who is the same age as Samudra (7 months) and has been living there since he was only 1 week old.  I am so happy that he, and all the other beautiful kids, are in such a loving environment and they all seem to get along so well, like a big happy family.  I can’t tell you how happy I was to see all their gorgeous smiling faces, and to know that if their parents weren’t able to look after them for whatever reasons, that they are now safe and well looked after in a beautiful environment.  We brought them all a little afternoon snack and drink and little toys in chocolate eggs which they seemed to enjoy, but of course they would appreciate any donations from caring souls as it’s not cheap to raise so many children, and to also pay the staff that work there 6 days a week, helping to look after the kids.

Most of the kids are now reaching the age where they will be attending school, and it is Ingrid’s priority to get them into good schools where they will receive a good education.  Already her children can speak Indonesian, English and Dutch and are very confident and beautiful souls.

I really enjoyed our visit today and left feeling so happy, with all those smiling faces and giggling children waving us goodbye.  If you, or anyone you know, are able to make a donation, whether it be small, or a regular annual sum of money, I know that Ingrid would really appreciate to hear from you.  They can always do with help for the running costs of their home, money towards schooling and health funds, etc, and of course they would welcome all visitors with open arms if you would like to make an appointment time to visit.  I’m sure your heart will melt with happiness if you surround yourself with those beautiful children! You can get more information at www.lestarisayanganak.org

To top off a perfect day we met with kakek at Raja Rasa to sit outside in one of the private glass walled eating rooms and watched the fish in the pond as we enjoyed our sayur, tahu and tempe! enak!

I hope you had a beautiful day too wherever you are in the world.

Day 42: Samudra loving the circular water bed! Happiness.

Day 42: Yummy mummies and kids at Chipmunks, Kemang. Happiness.

Day 42: Beautiful Memey. Happiness.

Day 42: Martin. Happiness.

Day 42: Roby. Happiness.

Day 42: Benny. Happiness.

Day 42: Rizky. Happiness.

Day 42: Harry. Happiness.

Day 42: Jimmy. Happiness.

Day 42: Ingrid, staff, and the beautiful kids at Lestari Sayang Anak. Happiness.

Day 42: Baby Joshua. Happiness.

Day 42: Samudra getting some loving from Martin! Happiness.

100 Days of Happiness – Day 41

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Today was a pretty chilled out day again, a nice lazy Sunday, as it should be when it is pouring raining outside.  Putra and I FINALLY made it back to the gym again and it felt good to power along sweating on the treadmill while watching some hysterical tips on the local tv news about how to cope in the rain.  Apparently women should wear thongs and keep their good shoes in plastic bags inside their waterproof bags, and also wear a short raincoat, while men are advised to wear gumboots, a raincoat and waterproof pants… Also you should dry your wet clothes with the hand dryer inside your office toilets, then drink a cup of tea! What the?

Seeing as the weather wasn’t great, I decided to make a quick trip into Kemang to check out dvd’s and decided to take Samudra and Daffa with me.  Our taxi driver was laughing asking why I had one Indonesian baby and one foreign baby… do they have different bapak’s? I decided to just leave him pondering as usual, but we did receive so many strange stares as we entered the building in Kemang. We ended up buying some dvd’s, eating ice-cream and heading home again while Putra had the studio upstairs filled with people for a meeting.

I didn’t take the camera out today, just snapped a couple of pictures of Samudra on someone from the meetings vespa in the garage!

I hope you had a great day wherever in the world you are too.

 

Day 41: He only stopped jumping up and down in excitement on the vespa for 1 second for this photo. Happiness.

100 Days of Happiness – Day 40

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This morning while lying in bed I could hear lots of noise and laughter out on the street so decided to have a quick look over the fence with Samudra and I saw what looked like the colourful tops of ondel ondel (large puppets used for folk performances).. so I ran back inside threw a tshirt over my pajamas and grabbed the camera and baby sling and ran to the front door.  By the time we got there, the procession had already disappeared down the alleyway and there were hundreds of kids around laughing, while guests arrived dressed in their finest clothes and carrying large offerings of food.

Due to the fact that my Indonesia language skills are still at an embarrasingly basic level, I couldn’t understand what was going on, but I guessed it was a Betawi engagement party as I happened to see the crocodile shaped bread on a platter being whisked past us.  I got distracted by mothers and grandmothers wanting photos of themselves with their children, so by the time I entered the alleyway, out came a guy carrying the colourfully decorated ondel ondel sticks and madness broke loose with people jumping and screaming trying to reach them.  It was only once I had checked my photos that I realised that there was money and lollies attached to the end of the sticks and that’s what everyone was after. I also noticed from my photos that one guy managed to take almost all the sticks with money in one foul swoop, leaving the little kids with the sticks that had nothing on them! I’d say he had a very unfair advantage being so much bigger than everyone else!

I walked home with a camera memory card filled with faces of kids and parents from the alleyway and am now wondering whether or not it would be a good idea to print them out and give them to the people in them.  Last time I started taking photos of kids in kampungs and printing them in large size for them to keep, word spread quickly throughout the neighbourhood and soon I couldn’t go anywhere without bajaj drivers, satpam, warung owners, etc all asking me to take their photos and print it for them.  I’m not so sure I am up for that kind of chaos once again, as last time it left me not wanting to leave my room some days, but at the same time, it’s for people who wouldn’t normally own such possessions.

A visit to Lippo Mall and an afternoon of clearing out Samudra’s overflowing clothes cupboard, and donating a HUGE bagful to Iyah’s grandchild, playing and then the day was over again! It ended with some baileys on ice and a dvd… and the weekend had come and gone so quickly yet again.

I hope you had a beautiful day too wherever in the world you are.

Day 40: A gorgeous little girl arrives at the party in a matching outfit to her mum and sister. Happiness.

Day 40: This guy turned to head down the alleyway with the ondel ondel sticks….

Day 40: ..and 1 second later this guy swipes all the money sticks!

Day 40: ..and everyone battles for the remainders…

Day 40: Madness! Happiness.

100 Days of Happiness – Day 39

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This afternoon we took the jeep out for a drive to Citos to meet Treen.  It was Samudra’s first time in the jeep and he was loving it but quickly fell asleep with the sound of the engine and bumpy ride.  The jeep is the same one that Putra’s parents used to drive him and his sister around Kalimantan in when they were growing up so it was funny to have the next generation in the car today and I was imagining how much fun it must have been to go on adventures in it as kids.

We met Treen at Citos and everyone was starving and we ended up at a Thai restaurant which wasn’t the best food I have ever eaten in Jakarta, but the fried tofu was really tasty as always.  The waitress picked up Samudra and seemed to disappear within a minute of us sitting down and we had to ask for a high chair just for her to bring him back.. not that he ever sat in it with all of us holding him..  We then went to a really sweet cafe/bar which was about the only non-smoking venue we could find, and sat on some lush couches and enjoyed strawberry smoothies and it was the only place I could find to discreetly feed Samudra, tucked into a corner up the back.  I wish I had taken note of the name of the place as I loved the old art deco decorations and chilled out atmosphere in there.

I hadn’t been to Citos in such a long time and always forget that it is there.. this mall is over two levels only and has music playing throughout and has a fun atmosphere as there are always events happening.. today was the grand opening of Golds Gym so there were colourfully dressed girls walking around and some seriously buff males. It is a rarity to see excessively big muscles on guys over here so I always find it funny as it somehow doesn’t seem right to see t-shirts stretched across huge biceps on petite Indonesian men, except for the famous muscle man, Ade Rai, splashed on the sides of buses and billboards throughout Jakarta.

We stopped in at Matahari and were quickly surrounded by all the female staff… it was like bees to honey! This department store has to be one of the most over-staffed chains in Jakarta.. it seems to be 1 staff member per rack of clothes and they seem to follow us around everywhere these days pinching Samudra’s cheeks and playing with him.. I find it very bizarre!

The rest of the afternoon was spent laughing and playing as usual and went far too quickly…

I hope you had a beautiful day wherever in the world you are too.

Day 39: Just before Samudra attacked my strawberry smoothie! Happiness.

Day 39: Funniest photo of Samudra devouring Treen’s lemon water like a puppy! Happiness.

Day 39: Laughing hysterically at bapak’s massage! Happiness.

Day 39: This is what a trip to Matahari Dept Store looks like these days.. Happiness.

100 Days of Happiness – Day 38

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Today was Daffa’s 5th Birthday and he was so excited! As expected he ripped open his present in one rough scoop, which made me laugh as we had watched the lady take almost half an hour to wrap it last night at the store. Yes, it looked beautifully wrapped, but seriously, Matahari gives their staff a two day training course on wrapping kids gifts! I have never known a child to appreciate the wrapping of a gift, perhaps the perfectly folded pleats made it 1 second more difficult to pull apart with all the tape, but it was soon thrown on the floor and he ran away to show his mum his new gifts while screaming in happiness.

He came back and spent the morning playing with Samudra before we joined his family and friends at KFC in Cilandak for his birthday party.  Well, I know that Indonesians have big weddings, but it seems they also have big kids parties! There were his 40 classmates plus their parents, and lots of kids from the neighbourhood with their siblings and parents too.  It was SO LOUD and funny!  Daffa had to sit up the front while everyone sat in rows facing him, singing and giving out gifts… and his present table was overflowing. The kids didn’t run around playing together, instead there was a lady on a microphone talking very loudly and giving each child a present and holding some competitions, one of which was to see who could scream Daffa’s name for the longest into the microphone!!  Poor Samudra wasn’t coping too well with the super loud noise and all the attention of ladies wanting to hold him so I had to keep wandering out into the mall for a little quiet time, before he had absolutely had enough after Daffa blew out his birthday candles and we had to catch a taxi home.

What a funny experience, a kids birthday, Indonesian style!

I hope you had a fun day wherever in the world you are too.

Day 38: Daffa and Samudra playing all morning. Happiness.

Day 38: Daffa getting excited about his party. Happiness.

Day 38: Transformers Birthday Cake. Happiness.

Day 38: Daffa’s school friends. Happiness.

Day 38: Such well behaved kids. Happiness.

Day 38: Singing Happy Birthday. Happiness.

Day 38: Gorgeous super friendly little girl. Happiness.

100 Days of Happiness – Day 37

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This morning was another one of delirium and getting up super early as Putra had to leave for work at 4.00am, so after a quick walk around the block with Samudra wide awake, we got home and went straight back to bed and watched dvd’s and slept until 10am!

I didn’t get a chance to take photos of our adventures today, as we went to Pondok Indah Mall to meet up with Putra and the crew filming a new advertisement in the Street Gallery.  Samudra was loving getting so much attention from all the girls and jumping up and down sitting on a super cool blue motorbike in the cafe.  I was surprised to look over the balcony and see there was what looked like a 50 metre huge pool and a Waterworld park outside. I so wished I could jump in as it was steaming hot in the cafe and then thought to myself that swimming in that pool would be somewhat of a nightmare unless you enjoy being watched in a pool by people dining.  Maybe I’m just too shy, but how is it that Indonesians seem to have so much confidence in themselves, that such a thing doesn’t bother them? I don’t believe I know a single self-conscious Indonesian.  Everyone seems happy to get up and sing karaoke, without a drop of alcohol, get up on stage and make everyone laugh, talk infront of a tv camera, anything really.. and I guess swimming while being watched doesn’t phase them either. I need to get myself some of their confidence!

Next we had a mission to find Daffa a birthday present for tomorrow, so we left the crew, and got stopped several times by people wanting to say hello, before I did a quick detour into The Goods Dept. I LOVE THIS SHOP.  Stocked with clothes, jewellery, homewares and gadgets from young Indonesian designers, it makes a refreshing change from being surrounded by Zara, Topshop etc in every other mall around Jakarta.. and you can find some new and unusual pieces in there.. It’s great to be able to support up and coming designers.  Two minutes after arriving in the shop with some mellow tunes playing, Samudra tucked his head into my arm and fell sound asleep.  That was it, I had to get out of the store and find a Toy Store quick smart!  I did a scan of every level and found absolutely none and my arm was about to break from the weight of Samudra so we headed to the taxi stand and off we went.

We spent the early evening watching the dvd ‘One Chance’ about the opera singer Paul Potts who won England’s Got Talent… I really loved this movie! Thank goodness for pirate dvd’s as we get to see so many awesome (and many terrible) movies here. My collection grows on a weekly basis!

Putra and I headed to Pejaten Village to buy Daffa’s gift on the motorbike and I had a heart attack to find a huge cockroach crawling around his helmet as we drove off! aaaaaaaah! We are lucky we didn’t have an accident with my reaction! We ended up eating there too at Kopi Legit which I had never seen before, tucked away in a back corner of the mall. It seems to be the most popular place to eat in Pejaten, and no doubt because it’s a smoking venue! It looks really cool and the vegetarian nasi kampung was enak but I’m not sure I will return because of the smoke.. Once upon a time it wouldn’t have phased me and I would have been smoking like a chimney in there, but now I see just how awful it really is.. thank goodness for that!

I hope you had a beautiful day wherever in the world you are too.

Day 37: Modelling his new ‘Mudra’ t-shirt. Happiness.

Day 37: Precious bubba. Happiness.

100 Days of Happiness – Day 36

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It seems that I am falling further behind every day with updating the posts! I won’t give up though, you will just have to bare with me while I try and find a minute to myself to sit at my computer.

I was up since 2.00am this morning as Samudra was crying and then I couldn’t get back to sleep until Putra left for work at 4.00am.  Between a crying baby and snoring partner I feel like my head is going slightly coo coo… I spent the whole morning playing with Samudra at home and listening to him giggle hysterically as I sang the ABC song to him… he really does brighten up every day with his cuteness and I do feel blessed that I get to spend so much precious time with him.

In the late afternoon we ventured to Dia.lo.gue Artspace in Kemang after Putra finished work to eat some feta and basil pizza which was so delicious I could have eaten several more.  I restrained myself as I seem to catch myself eating so many pizzas these days and we haven’t managed to make it back to the gym for quite some time now as Putra is flat out with work.  The cafe was completely full today and there appeared to be a creative workshop going on in the back room so there were lots of people around today.  I must remember to try and find out when all the workshops are held and whether there are any I may be able to attend in future as I need a little creative brain stimulation.

I checked out the little shop in the front of Dia.lo.gue and as usual saw so many things I would love to own made by local designers, everything is so colourful that it makes me want to take it all home.  There was also an exhibition on in the gallery by three Bandung artists titled ‘the weight of weightlessness : rhymes and rhythms of paper’ and it runs until 31 March.  There were some great framed paper shapes and an installation of what resembled paper clouds hanging from the ceiling which looked lovely in the dim light.

All in all it was a lovely day and I didn’t manage to stay up too late as I couldn’t keep my eyes open, I put on a dvd and think I must have fallen asleep 10 minutes later.

I hope you had a beautiful day wherever you are in the world too.

Day 36: Sitting by himself in a cool high chair. Happiness.

Day 36: Samudra reaching for the paper clouds with his bapak. Happiness.

100 Days of Happiness – Day 35

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Today I had planned to be productive and finish a design I have been trying to get onto for the past few days, but as it was only Samudra and I at home, all efforts to sit at my computer quickly went out the window, as he needs my undivided attention or else everything goes awol!

Once Samudra had tired of playing with all his toys, and slamming down the keys on the piano, I was starving and at a loss of what to do as it was far too hot to go walking outside, and he seemed restless just being carried around the house. We ended up at Black Canyon coffee in Kemang for some lunch and a drink and so Samudra could happily interact with strangers as usual.  I used to visit this cafe almost every day, sitting editing photos and using it as my office space to design while drinking copious amounts of iced lemon tea and smoking ridiculous amount of clove cigarettes! How life has changed and I am so thankful for it.  The space there at Codefin has changed so much too, the markets from downstairs have all gone, and upstairs has been transformed into little boutiques, but the pirate dvd shop is still there, so of course we had to make a visit.

Once the sun had lost some of it’s sting in the late afternoon I put Samudra in the sling and intended to do a 5 minute walk on the road around the house.  It ended up being more than an hour as we stopped and chatted to people and detoured off my chosen path. Lots of happy kids and curious mothers, questions about why my white baby has an Indonesian nose, watching kids on a horse and cart ride, and we finally made it home, dripping in sweat.

Putra and kakek arrived home just as I finished giving Samudra a bath and out we went to Cali Deli for some dinner and a quick visit to Ace Hardware before collapsing into bed early!

I hope you had a fun day wherever in the world you are too.

Day 35: I love this little chook and bell hanging above the entrance to this home. Happiness.

Day 35: Some of the beautiful people we met on our walk today. Happiness.

 

Day 35: Another new friend for Samudra. Happiness.

Day 35: Being sung to. Happiness.

Day 35: Enjoying a ride around the complex. Happiness.

Day 35: Cute girls enjoying the ride. Happiness.

Day 35: Sweetness sitting on the steps near home. Happiness.

100 Days of Happiness – Day 34

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YAH! Today Putra returned from Bali at last… we were up so early and ready to greet him but he was in and out the door so quickly that we barely got to say hello before he had to leave again.  We got a quick flash of his suntan and off he went for meetings and checking locations for filming tomorrow.  Samudra and I made a quick trip into Kemang and stopped in at Antipodean Cafe near Hero Supermarket for a drink as it was incredibly humid outside.. Another new trick day for him, sticking his tongue out and fake coughing to catch attention of two beautiful girls sitting opposite us! I never knew babies started so young with the flirting!

In the late afternoon we went along with Putra to his old campus at University of Indonesia so he could check some locations for tomorrow. New location day for us – out west in Depok! Wow, it was so green out there and the University had a big forest we walked through to a lake where there were a few people fishing.  It was so lovely to be out in nature, even if the path was a little muddy and slippery, in the late afternoon sun and it was surprisingly rubbish free too!  We even managed to get some photos of the three of us along the walk which is a rarity, hence the overload of family photos today.  The campus is huge and I’m not sure I would ever find my way around there alone and you would definately need your own transport to get around.  There was also another huge lake which was really lovely and serene, with a few photographers and fisherman enjoying the last hours of light of the day, while other students jogged around, or sat nongkrong (hanging out) smoking on the side of the road.

To end a refreshing afternoon in nature, we headed back home and ended up at Raja Rasa on Jl. Ampera Raya for dinner. I have passed this place every day for over a year now and was never interested in entering for some reason and tonight I realised what I had been missing out on! It is so beautiful in there!  It is a Sundanese and seafood restaurant, and a little more upmarket than most places we ever eat at, but as we are vegetarians, it was very reasonably priced and the food was delicious.  Inside the entrance is the biggest table I have ever seen made from one section of a seriously huge tree trunk. Perfect for a group of Indonesians considering how much they love to eat and the table could be filled with loads of different dishes. Downstairs is another beautiful dining section, and then when you step outside, it is just so lovely with the fish ponds, trees, and separate dining rooms with glass walls, low tables and cushions on the floor to sit on.  I highly recommend this place for somewhere different and a bit of a treat for yourselves, just for the setting itself.

I hope you had a beautiful day wherever in the world you are too.

Day 34: Out in nature with my lovely family. Happiness.

Day 34: Out in the forest with Samudra. Happiness.

Day 34: Afternoon happiness.

Day 34: Family shot at Putra’s old campus. Happiness.

Day 34: A huge lake surrounded by trees at the University. Happiness.

Day 34: Welcome home bapak! Happiness.

100 Days of Happiness – Day 33

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Samudra and I met up with my friend Alonda today at Ragusa Ice-cream and it was the perfect day for it as it was so hot and sticky outside.  I haven’t visited Ragusa for such a long time, but it’s still as popular as ever with long queues of people waiting for seats and the preservative free ice-cream is delicious!  It’s a funny place to visit, as you can order food from the little street vendors out the front but you can’t really stay too long before the line of people are glaring at you waiting for you to move on so they can have their turn.  Ragusa has existed since the Dutch colonial era in Jakarta, and was first opened in Batavia in 1932 by two Italian brothers, Luigi and Vicenzo Ragusa.  In 1947 they opened the shop we visited today which is also the main ice-cream factory.  The old photos on the walls show the place as it was originally, when no Indonesians were allowed inside.  They are certainly making up for it now as it is always busy with a high turnover of happy customers.

Across the river beside Ragusa is Istiqlal Mosque so we decided to go back for a visit as it’s also been so long since I last went inside.  This is the biggest mosque in Southeast Asia and can hold up to 120,000 people over several levels.  It is absolutely amazing to see when it is full during Ramadhan, but today was much quieter, so we sat on the cool marble floor on level four and enjoyed the cool breeze, until Samudra decided to start squealing in happiness and I thought we better quickly leave so as not to disturb people praying on the ground floor.

In the taxi heading home again I was tempted to get out at Monas as there seemed to be so many people out and about and I rarely get out that way these days, but luckily I resisted as Samudra fell asleep quickly after another afternoon of adventure.

I hope you had a happy day wherever you are in the world today.

Day 33: Catching up with Alonda in Ragusa Ice-cream. Happiness.

Day 33: The famous ‘spaghetti icecream’ at Ragusa. Happiness.

Day 33: I love the huge open space at Istiqlal Mosque. Happiness.

Day 33: Santai in the mosque. Happiness.

Day 33: Thanks for a fun afternoon Uncle Alonda. Happiness.