Wina & Mbak Rinda

It's been 3 months since we left Hong Kong. Yet, Wina still remember Mbak Rinda, our helper in HK that was so close to Wina. Wina was so close to her, although some of the other job wasn't done as I wanted, we kept her till the end. We won't get another 'Mbak Rinda' in Jkt, becoz our helper now doesn't speak English (although I taught her some simple word).
Wina still speak English here, I try to maintain it in her, so that she speaks it natively. While it's fun for her to communicate with us and watching English children TV programs, it's also a barrier for her in making friends, coz her cousins and friends at school doesn't speak English in conversation.
Life is never been easy. If I speak bahasa with her, it won't been long till she forgets her native. If I speak English, her bahasa won't be perfect till she get a formal education. Which one to choose? Can't decide....

Back to Mbak Rinda, She also won't get another Wina. No child is nicer than her in attitude. She's a fun girl to take care, right Rin? Wina has has been asking to go to HK. I wanted that too, but the amount of people going to HK this Lebaran holiday are CRAZY. All the flights are full, even the business class. We're still in the waiting list for both classes.

Anyway, she's married now, with the man of her dream. We wish you happiness ever after, mbak Rinda!

Happy 3rd birthday Wina!

la la la... wina is 3 years old now! Horrraaayyy......

It's not the perfect birthday so far. Ayah wasn't around, Wina keep tangling on me becoz of the new room mates at home (mama*her grandma* and nenek Ayu), and it's a little bit raining here and there.

So, first i planned for a barbeque birthday party in our club house. Uda rejected the idea, becoz he didn't want to spend HK$2500 for a party that he can't attend. Plan B, we can rent a school playground for HK$1000 (cake not include). I like this idea, but again, a lot of money for a party that Ayah cannot attend, will he let us? Naaaaahh.... no way!

So finally we settled with having the birthday party at her school. Wina go to 2 schools, so we celebrated her birthday twice, with 2 different groups & different cakes. With the cakes and the take away gifts, still much more to save than the first 2 plans.

I thought, kids would LOVE birthday parties. I haven't seen any kids that's not happy with a birthday. And now i do. Wina cried all along in her celebration, both! It was disasters. Every time she saw me, she cried, holding my skirt tight, won't let me go even for a sec (and i was the cameraman). Uuuurrrgghh, it was so annoying! I almost lost my temper. If i walked just a little bit, she blowed her tears right out. When everybody finished singing the birthday song, she cried even louder! haha, i can't hold my laughter here... She won't blow the candles, didn't eat the cake, no smiling, full of tears, she wasn't happy at all. OMG, it was horrible.

So, let this be a memory to remember : "Wina's Crappy 3rd birthday"

Kennet&friends are here!!!

Finally Manet (Wina's name for Kennet) visited us in HK. Kennet is my little brother. I was afraid that he's not gonna have a chance. He's a bit different. Anyway, we wasn't so sure that he's coming or not, becoz he didn't let us know weather he was gonna come or not..... until the last day!!!!! Uuuurrggghh, if only he's not my brother.....

Wina was so happy and shy to meet Manet, hahaha.... it was so cute to see her that way. I know that it's kindda rare to have the chance for holiday with friends, so i thought that Kennet & friends will make the best out of this trip. Unfortunately, i was wrong. So, the day they arrived, Saturday night, they went for a stroll around Causeway Bay. On Sunday, we went to Ocean Park. Monday, shopping from morning to 7pm, then tested our breath to get to Victoria Harbour as fast we could, which we couldn't. We were too late. Symphony of Light has already finished when we got there. But they had fun taking picture along the harbour. Tuesday, shopping from morning till the end of the day. Pheewww!!! Shop till you drop! What's with all the shopping? Like there's no tomorrow, or it's the last time going overseas. That's just too bad, trip with friends turned out to be trip for shopping and buying gift. There are so many places and attractions that they could go to, yet they didn't take advantage on that. I mean, it's not like you can take a trip with friends overseas as often as you are with your parents, right!?

Anyway, most of all i feel bad for Kennet, coz this is his first visit to HK and he's waisting a lot of precious time accompanying friends for shopping, while actually he could use his time for visiting The Peak or Ngong Ping, for instance. That's just an immature dependency, that i find a lot back home. It's gonna be a loooong time for him to step his feet back in HK. At least he had a one day with Wina from all the five days in HK....

Cheung Chau Bun Festival

As the birthday of Buddha falls on May 24, so nobody went to work that day. So i spurged myself and intended to take part of the festivities, wondering how the locals celebrates Buddha birthday. There was a lot going on that day all around HK, birthday of Buddha, Cheng Chau Bun Festival, Birthday of Tam Kung (fisherman's saviour). Most of the temple in HK are called Tin Hau Temple. So don't be mistaken if you get to HK and want to visit Tin Hau Temple, there's more than one, from small to big. But the temples here are nothing compare to China's(i mean small). So if u ever visited China, don't bother to go to the temples here, a lot of better attractions to visit here. Even i didn't go the temple near Giant Buddha(we just took pics upfront). Talking about Giant Buddha, must be crowded there this time of day. But i preferred that we go to somewhere we've never been, Cheng Chau Island!

Cheng Chau is a small island that's about 1 hour slow ferry ride from Central Pier. As you get closer to the island, you can see modern dan traditional boats 'parked' in rows. It's a very beautiful view. Cheng Chau Bun Festival is an annual six day celebration of Buddha birthday that offers colorful event that hits off on May 24 where children & teenagers dressed as mythological figures, held aloft on hidden rods appear to float above the heads of the crowd. The parade starts from Pak Tai Temple walks around the villages streets and ends back to the temple where tall towers covered in sweet buns have been placed and towered. Ther are a lot of bun towers. Wina was excited to watch a historical Chinese play. It was very crowded that day, policemen were guarding all the parade streets, blocking the way to cross over. Heck, we were stuck in this tiny street no shortcut for almost 40 minutes. In the end we couldn't see the parade, with so many heads and umbrellas blocking the view. And the street was so tiny, u have to fight to get a peep. So enough with the parade, we went straight ahead to the temple where bun towers piled up. We could find and see buns everywhere. The only thing that can beat the amount of buns is the people. Loads loads of people all over the village, pheww!! Bun scrambling competition started at midnight, wow! that must be exciting.

Cheng Chau is a notorious fishing village, with clean & white sand Tung Wan beach, & delicious seafood eatery spread over the island. Found some very cute accessories in the local souvenir store. Definitely gonna be back to taste the beach and more shopping! Quote Wina, "Aah, i'm so tired i want to go to sleep!" Hahaha... it has been a loooong hot day, time to go home!

Discovery Bay Beach

I'm all tanned after today! But no sexy tan, just the malay skin tan, urghh... Today we head off to Discovery Bay/Dbay for a relax on the beach. It's about 30 minutes ferry ride from Central Pier. ON the MTR station, we passed by Disneyland Line which had a huge Disney Wallpaper. We almost couldn't leave coz Wina kept lying on the wall.We went down to the beach with Erica & her son Connor, and Annie. Last time she played at the beach was in Bali 2 years ago(OMG, that long?!!). Wina totally forgot about it. Didn't wanna get in the water, afraid of the small wave. Hah! So she just played with the sand, covering her leg... while Connor running around in and out of the water. Connor was so full of wet sands, Erica had to take off his undies. Hahaha, Connor rules! But i can tell, she's having fun! By the time we finished and i asked her to wash, she said, "No!" strongly, hehe. The weather was great, i would stay all day.

Majorly expats live in DBay, so i didn't see a lot of locals there. It's like we were in another country. Before we head home, we had mexican for dinner. Wina was running around with Connor. Lovely! I think we will go back to Dbay again, pretty soon.

Just the two of Us!

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It's Labour Day holiday today. So Rinda (our helper) has her day off. Uda aka toni aka Ayah at Jakarta. That leaves just the two of us for the whole day. I woke up on the right side of bed this morning, feeling fresh and energetic. Wondering what should we do today, where we can go without having to bring her stroller.
First i thought of Lamma Island, i haven't been there: don't think so, poor Wina if she has to walk after 45 minutes boat ride & poor me if i have to end up carrying her. Then Tsing Ma bridge, it is said to be the longest road-and-rail suspension bridge with a main span: again no, coz it's just the two of us that means i won't be in the pictures and it's more beautiful to go there on sunset. Thinking and thinking, then we... i mean I decided for us to have a relax afternoon by the sea. So Central Pier here we come!

Central Pier gives a magnificent view of Kowloon or Victoria Harbour. With the uncertain weather HK have, so i grabbed our sweater just in case it get windy. After having lunch at Wina's favorite fast food in Times Square, she asked me for a lift ride, haha... so we went inside the Times Square panoramic lift to the 13th floor. Afterward, we jumped into the tram that took us to Central. Walked on the connecting bridge till we got to Central Pier. The pier is just in front of IFC, the tallest building in HK, which is also the airport express station. The weather was perfect. Funny thing, we went to the public toilet, as we went inside, tuns out t wasn't a seat toilet... you know the traditional toilet where you have to bent, and she cried out loud refusing to use it! haha... then we found seat toilet for disabled people, but the mood was gone. Total loss!

There are 9 pier with ferry destinations to all the island around HK. Pier 9 is the public pier, for some semi private jet, attraction ships, for sitting around, relaxing, and even fishing. We had fun today, taking pictures, running around, sitting down surrounded by the sea breeze and watching the ships come & go. Big hug to Wina, she's a good companion for walking distance, bravo dear!

Happy Couple Saeed & Aysha

It was such a happy day for Saeed & Aysha. Finally they tied the knot on Saturday, April 28th 2007. We had a great party that nite, wonderful place, delicious dinner, excellent wine, nice music. Saeed is one of Toni's good friends from the company here. Soon they're gonna be moving to Pakistan after honeymoon, might not be seeing them again in HK. But we're hoping to see them again, either in Jakarta or Pakistan.. or any other places perhaps. Best wishes on the new exciting beginning for both of you, congratulation!

Ballet Class

Today is Wina's first ballet lesson officially. Before she already had ballet trial TWICE (the school is so kindhearted). The second time was actually me taking her on a permanent class. But becoz we came at the second week, the officer told us to start at April and that time just do a trial. Yippie, free class!hehe... Wina enjoyed dancing so much, i wanted her to get a formal lesson. And she look adorable on her ballet outfit. Put the dress on, wear the tutu, tidy the hair (so hard to do with Wina's curly hair), and... "I'm ready, bunda!"

Wina can do it!

Update! Up to today, Wina can:

• ask for help & answer questions
• brush & hand painting (haha, who couldn't!)
• brush her teeth & wash her hand
• count 1-20 & point number 1-15 (Yay!)
• draw circle & connect lines
• design her own cookie (yummy!!)
• finish her puzzles
• hold her belongings
• know few letters
• make statement & question without leaving the grammar behind
• say sorry, please, excuse me & thank you correctly
• sing Twinkle2 Little Star, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Row2 Your Boat completely
• toilet trained

Good job Wina!

Dec 2005 : First time in HK

This is our first visit to HK. The weather was good, not warm but not too cold. Stayed in Park Lane, we enjoyed every moment taking Wina around. Victoria Park, Stanley Market & Ocean Park. Coz this visit was to checked on our future flat, so we didn't do a lot of exploring.

Snoopy World

We went to Snoopy World couple of days ago. It's quite far, at Shatin. We have to change mtr train 3 times to get there (it's in the new territories). It's the first time for Wina to know Snoopy characters. She kept saying "doggie, doggie.." hahaha. I thought it was something like a mini town that I went when I was little in London, but it's not the same. There's nothing mini about it.

Playgrounds

Places for Wina to play are A LOT here. There are many free big playgrounds that's safe, well maintained & have various rides (ini yg Jkt gak punya). Besides in the apartment playground, there's also in Happy Valley, HV Library, Victoria Park - the nearest to our home -. There's still bunch out there spreaded all over HK island.

---------- apartment's ---------------- Victoria Park's -----------------Happy Valley-----------