The Milk Bar

Thursday Thirteen - Happy Birthday Aaron

2008-08-07T15:34:00.001+07:00

Two years ago, Aaron's arrival completely change my life. There hasn't been a single day in the past 730 days that remotely resembled pre-Aaron life. Life is harder and there I times when I say things like "I wish I could just have 24 hrs to myself" but, I don't really mean it. So today, on his 2nd Birthday, here are the:

13 Things I Wish For Aaron

1) Good health

2) Good emotional health

3) A childhood that will be full of happy family memories

4) Strong family ties

5) A circle of loyal friends

6) A demeanor that is polite, respectful and kind

7) A sense of humor and the ability to be an optimist

8) The drive to pursue any dream he may have

9) The stamina to complete any project he starts

10) The confidence to be true to himself

11) The strength to face and learn from failures

12) A balanced life (I wouldn't want him to be successful but a workaholic.)

13) Finally, I wish that he will always have a special place in his heart for me.

The Haze is Back

2008-08-06T18:12:00.003+07:00

There is a lot of coverage on the air pollution levels in Beijing at this time. We're not quite as bad as that (yet) but the annual haze season has started in Indonesia.

During the dry season, the farmers clear their land by burning it. There are literally hundreds of fires burning throughout Indonesia at this time. The burning saves them money in terms of labor, equipment and time. Right now, there isn't any mention of this on the news yet because the air quality hasn't reached dangerous levels.

This same burning happens every year and its effects are felt throughout Malaysia and Singapore as well because the winds will carry all the fumes over there. It is such a common occurrence that people have become a little too complacent about it. The Malaysians complain about it but all they can do is put up with it. It doesn't make the headlines until those dangerous school-closing levels are reached. I have no idea whats really being done about it at the government level apart from yakity yak yak yak.

Here in Indonesia, the people around me don't even notice it. I get responses like "What smell?" and then "Oooooh Thaaat. Its the burning by the farmers". No big deal. In 2006, I saw some CNN footage of Palembang itself, with the haze so thick that it looked like there was a sandstorm taking place. Last year was an oddity and things didn't get so out of hand in Palembang because it rained more than usual.

I'm a little worried this year because it hasn't been raining much this week and already my eyes and throat are itching. I'm keeping Aaron indoors mostly but if it gets much worse, staying inside isn't really going to help.

Playing around with music

2008-08-05T13:12:00.007+07:00

I've been trying to teach Aaron how to sing and he's been making some good attempts. The tune is not always recognizable but he's learning the words very fast.

So what does he sing? Thomas & Friends, Wiggles songs, You are my sunshine and all the usual children's songs. I don't know what I was thinking but I thought it would be funny to have him move around like Barry Manilow. So, he also knows Copacabana. My father had one of his line dancing CDs in the car and the second song on there was 'If you wanna be happy' by Jimmy Soul. Aaron now refers to this as his favorite song. In case you don't know the song, here are the words to the chorus.

"If you wanna be happy for the rest of your life,
Never make a pretty woman you wife,
So from my personal point of view,
Get an ugly girl to marry you"

You can't imagine how funny it is to watch and hear a 2 year old sing along to these lyrics. I've got to try to get a video of Aaron singing this. Keep it for his wedding day maybe?

Today, I've been trying out various types of music on Aaron. We've listened to Elvis, The Beach Boys, Gwen Stefani, The Vienna Boys Choir, Rolf Harris, some Chinese songs and a little orchestral music. He's already familiar with some of the Rolf Harris songs so his reaction there was expected. For the other music, only Elvis seemed to get a reaction out of him. He actually got up and jumped around. He noticed the other music but it mustn't have been catchy enough to make him stop what he was doing.

I think I'm going to allocate set times during the day to play the different types of music. If he's not exposed to them all, they won't have equal chance of getting liked by him. I know some are naturally going to be more catchy (lets say Elvis over Schubert) but in time, I hope Aaron can appreciate it all.

I finally feel at home

2008-08-04T14:58:00.004+07:00

This is going to sound strange but for the first time since moving here in February 2007, I actually feel at home. Normally, after a trip away from Palembang, I find myself complaining about how inconvenient this house is and how 'difficult' it is to live here. This time, I actually have an unusual feeling of familiarity.

Instead of grimacing at the wet bathroom tiles, I enjoyed my cold mandi and marveled at how smooth the water felt. Now this is particularly strange because the water in Palembang is so dirty that if you let your clothes drip dry, they'd be able to stand up all on their own from all the impurities that came along with the water that washed them.

There have been some 'casualties' in my garden but it sure felt great to be playing around in the garden with Aaron again this morning. We'll have to do some major replanting and repositioning but I'm looking forward to that.

I did enjoy lots of Malaysian food during the break but I find myself enjoying my mainly vegetarian diet here just as much. I missed the simplicity and supposed healthiness of it all.

After a year and a half here, we were the people welcoming two new families to our neighborhood yesterday. Both had young children and both the women I met spoke English. Yay for me!

So, after telling my friends and family in Malaysia that Palembang is the most boring place in the world and giving them the impression that I'd rather not be living here, I now have a complete change of heart and feel that I can almost call it a great place to live. I know the lack of activities here will get to me soon enough but apart from that, I LIKE IT HERE.

Holiday Recovery

2008-08-03T11:00:00.004+07:00

The past week has been a blur. I didn't even have time to sleep let alone blog! After last Monday's post, we made a snap decision to drive to Penang on Tuesday, just for the day. Then, there was only Wednesday and Thursday left for all the last minute shopping, spending time with the grandparents and trying to stuff everything into the one bag I had. And of course, there was all the last minute eating to be done. On Friday, my parents, brother and I drove down to KL. My brother was leaving on Friday night and we had a Saturday morning flight.

All the last minute eating left me with an upset stomach. Thankfully, things settled down by the time I had to enter the departure hall alone with Aaron. I don't know how I would have managed running to the restrooms while pulling him AND my hand luggage along.

Once again, he surprised me by being a very peaceful and still toddler as we waited in the departure area. Maybe he was tired too. All he did was stand around me and talk about the planes. The final feat of physical exertion came when it was time to board.

I've mentioned before that walking across the tarmac from the gates to the plane is like dealing with a stampede. I paid extra to board before the herd but still, its a looooong walk when you have 8kgs on your back and 12 kgs of Aaron in your arms. He would have walked but I didn't want to risk the herd catching up with me. After the climb up the steep stairs to the plane, I flopped down, nursed Aaron for a little while and he went straight to sleep until we landed in Palembang.

Today, we're staying at home and sleeping off the effects of our too tiring final week of holidays.

Aaron's first trip to the barber

2008-07-28T19:16:00.004+07:00

It only costs RM 5 (USD 1.50) for Aaron to go to the barber here in Ipoh. This is my father's regular guy and for adults its RM 12. My brother also stopped by here for a haircut last week. The both of them came back looking decent so we all went along to let Aaron have his first haircut by a professional.

He was as still as a statue as he observed everything. Didn't even blink his eyes. That lasted for exactly half the haircut. The second half was all about exploration. Trying to see what the barber was doing, trying out all the other chairs, looking in the mirrors....you can imagine. The end result wasn't too bad, only a little lopsided.

I saw this at the side of the mirrors. What do you think its been brushing?!

Ipoh's Limestone Caves

2008-07-27T20:12:00.010+07:00

After the beach and the mountains, Mike left a comment last week that caves would be the next place we visited on the weekends. He was right!

Ipoh is actually situated in a valley and is surrounded by limestone hills and caves. There have been temples built into several of the larger ones and they are always interesting to visit. For those more adventurous, there are hundreds of other non-temple caves that can be explored. Some of these were used as communist hideouts in the early 1950s.

I'll take Aaron on one of the adventurous cave visits in a couple of years but for today, we took the easier route.

This is the first temple we visited:

Here's one of the many depictions of hell that this temple had lining the walls of an inner cave.

This is from the second temple we visited. These caves definitely should organize some guided tours so that! Anyway, I think these are Taoist deities (?). Malaysia's Buddhism is very mixed with Taoism and the people often pray to both sets of deities even though they are distinct religions.

And here's the third and largest cave temple of the day.

This is a view of the beautiful 'backyard' that the temple had. Its an exercise park with jogging track, two ponds and lots of beautiful green grass for Aaron to run about on.

By next Saturday, we'll be back in Palembang so, this is the last of the wonderful weekend escapades.

Photostory Friday - Bold Steps

2008-07-25T09:28:00.003+07:00

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

We're getting there. Slowly but surely, we have had progress with the toilet training. This week, we have been taking bold steps out of the house - diaperless. A couple of times, it was because the mother was a little forgetful and forgot to put one on the toddler. However, the important point is that there were no accidents (until this morning).

Aaron has been able to call out for all his No. 1s so far. And, he has been willing for other people, apart from me, to take him. He's gone to the mensroom with my father several times now and has taken to calling himself a 'Good Man' after each successful visit.

This photo was taken at the exact moment that a No. 2 accident was taking place. Usually, I can tell by looking at his eyes that something is about to happen but because of that too-big-cap, I didn't see it coming. Thankfully, we were the only people at the park. I'll spare you the details but I do have to mention that the two of us were a perfectly calm team in the aftermath cleanup operation.

Have you ever seen this much Lego?

2008-07-23T21:00:00.003+07:00

I certainly haven't. This box was generously given to Aaron by one of my cousins. It is just one of 3 boxes of Legos that I'm going to 'ration' out to him.

He was pretty hyped up about all the little bits an pieces in here. The surprising part was that I was even more excited than him. I'm going to have so much fun building stuff. I think my lack of interest as a child could have been because there just weren't enough pieces to be mixing and matching. I know, Lego sets are expensive and its not that I needed any more toys when I was growing up.

This huge present from my cousin is going to save me THOUSANDS of Ringgits and provide Aaron and me with hours of fun. I'm even looking forward to sorting all the pieces out. Y'know, trying to work out which ones were originally part of the same set.

Today has been a great day. We got to the box of Legos at the end of the day and had so much fun with it I really didn't want to put him to bed. Earlier in the day, we spent some time shopping with my mother. Aaron was super energetic the whole time but we had an incredibly enjoyable time at the mall. He's really becoming a little companion that I can have conversations with and enjoy things together with. We did use the Naughty Square once today but there were no hard feelings. He went to bed after giving me hundreds of little kisses and cuddles mixed in with sighs of contentment.

The Naughty Square

2008-07-22T20:40:00.003+07:00

I think I've mentioned before that Aaron seems to have sudden spurts in his development each time we go on a holiday. This trip is no different and I'm of course the proud mother, marveling at all the new things he's learning.

I'm also fast becoming an exasperated mother because he seems so much more uncontrollable here than in Palembang. Our routine in Palembang never changes and I guess he just knows what to expect next. And, also knows whats expected of him.

Over here, we have different routines daily, we meet different people and are in different places throughout the day. He has had several mini tantrums and has developed an annoying habit of ignoring instructions. This is especially true if there are other people (like my parents) around. He's still manageable 80% of the time if I'm alone with him.

So today, we have started to give him a 2 minute Time Out. There is a dedicated 'Naughty Square' in the house and we tried it out for the first time today. I'm not sure if he understands the whole concept but he definitely got more upset after we kept putting him on that square. I don't know whether to interpret this as him learning a lesson or just him getting very confused, hence upset.

I keep hearing about the infamous 'Terrible Twos' and felt I had to do something to prepare for it all. I believe that my parents smacking me did me some good but I'm going to try not to do that with Aaron because he has already smacked me back once when I did something he didn't like. So, the Time Out seems to be something that many parents claim to work (and about the only thing I remember from Supernanny episodes). Of course, I have no idea if it actually works at this age but its worth a try.

Inevitable Old Age

2008-07-21T20:16:00.004+07:00

We had a stay-at-home day today. Well, part of it was at my parent's home and the other part was in my grandparent's.

My grandfather (89 years old) and grandmother (85 years old) live 5 minutes walk away. He had a mild heart attack a couple of weeks ago and she's really too old to be nursing him back to health at her age. Each morning, my mother, Aaron and I have been walking over with some Chia Seeds. I've also been trying to cook them part of their other meals each day. This is what I stayed back in Ipoh to do. The both of them are healthy but old age and a general lack of interest in food seems to have slowed them both down significantly in the past 6 months.

I feel so sad seeing the both of them suddenly so old. My grandfather seems to have gone 60% deaf overnight and my grandmother can't remember things from one day ago. Just 6 months ago, they were both much more vibrant and my grandfather was still going line dancing several times a week.

Here in Malaysia, it is very common for old people to have live in maids to help them out around the house. For some unknown (and probably insanely trivial) reason, my grandmother won't have one anymore. She did have one a few years ago but when that contract ran out, she refused a new one. This really bugs me. I wish she would just tell us WHY so that we can work around it and they can both enjoy their old age.

Nothing much else to blog about today.

Fathers Guest House

2008-07-20T20:33:00.004+07:00

We spent the weekend at Cameron Highlands (about 1hr drive from Ipoh, up in the mountains) and stayed at the Fathers Guest House. This place was built by a French priest and has been used as the residence of Catholic priests in the area. Sometime during the past ten years, the last priest of that order retired and there are now no priests left in Cameron Highlands so the church leased the place out to an enterprising couple who have converted it into this guest house. Occasionally, visiting priests will still spend the night here but they usually just come up to say a single mass and then go back to their own parishes.

My photo is of the ex-chapel area, where our rooms were. There is a much nicer photo of the entire are here.

Just like Pangkor, this place also brings back memories from my childhood. We stayed in this house a couple of times when I was about 8 or 9 years old because my father is friends with the last priest, Fr Surmon. It was here that I first watched Raiders of the Lost Ark and was so scared I couldn't sleep for nights. It was that scene when the priest pulled the beating heart out of the man that kept replaying in my mind. It was also here that I first heard of Nostradamus, thanks to Fr Surmon. Something else, that kept me awake at night. In fact, the 'stories' that he told about Nostradamus gives me the shivers till this day and I avoid hearing anything about that topic.

So, last weekend we were at the beach and this week we were in the mountains. I wonder where we'll be next weekend?

Pangkor Island with the Family

2008-07-18T19:42:00.004+07:00

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

This was taken at Pangkor Island, Malaysia where my family had 3 wonderful days by the beach earlier this week. My parents, brother and I spent many weekends at Pangkor when we were growing up. Memories of camping there are some of the most vivid I have of my childhood.

Now, both my brother and I are married. And, there is a grandchild in the family. We no longer camp but this small motel by the beach provided just as much fun (or even more) than the tents. I'm just waiting for my brother and his wife to add another grandchild into the picture and this family will be even richer than it already is.

1 Wedding, 2 Birthdays and 5 serves of Calamari

2008-07-17T18:42:00.006+07:00

Has it really been 1 week since we got back to Malaysia? This holiday zoomed past even faster than usual. We've been to Ipoh, Penang, Pangkor and then back to Ipoh again. I've decided to spend an extra two weeks in Ipoh but Richard is already back at work in Palembang. My brother and his wife were back for the wedding but they too have headed off to Philippines already. It has been HECTIC!

We went to Penang for my cousin's wedding. He's half Greek/half Chinese and his wife is a Chinese from China. So, there was a church wedding, followed by the traditional Chinese tea ceremony and then the reception at night. There was Greek dancing, disco, weird wannabe ancient Egyptian struts, and just your 'normal' dancing that night. The youngest there was about 1 and the oldest (my grandmother) was 92. EVERYBODY had fun. Here's a photo of the bride's beautiful dress. This was at the room where we had the tea ceremony.

The day after the wedding, we had a surprise birthday brunch for my father and Aaron. My father didn't expect it at all and was so confused he said "I forgot it was my birthday" when in fact, his birthday isn't until September. We were doing it early because all his siblings were back for the wedding. I wish I had a better photo but there was just too much excitement with the two of them blowing the cake.

After all the celebrations, we went to Pangkor Island for a couple of days by the beach. The beach was more for Aaron. The rest of us enjoyed the food they had there. We had this deep fried calamari dish a total of 5 times in the 3 days/2 nights we were there!

The rest of my time here is mainly going to be spent with my grandparents. They are old and not as healthy as they used to be. Time is precious.

I'm Packing My Bags

2008-07-08T19:47:00.004+07:00

Very often, people pride themselves for being very light travelers. They carefully select each outfit so that it can be mixed and match as efficiently as possible.

I'm quite the opposite. My last job required a lot of traveling and yet, I was still known for my big bags. Nobody can forget how much I carried with me when I went on a trip. Am I proud of this? Yes. I had more than enough of anything and never once got charged for overweight baggage. I could try on one outfit, decide I didn't like it and try on something else.

I still have the same style of packing now except that I pack Aaron's stuff before my own. So, he's getting the benefit. He's such a little guy but we need double or triple of everything just because he gets them dirty so quickly. Then, there is always the need to pack the most likely books or toys that will keep him entertained while away from all his other toys. So in the end, I just throw in more than enough for him just in case I picked the wrong things. I'm always left with just a small corner of the bag to fit my now efficiently selected clothing.

So, I'd better get back to the packing. We're leaving for Malaysia tomorrow morning and there are some tough decisions to be made.

Its going to be a big family get together week with a wedding and a birthday party thrown in so I probably won't get a chance to blog till next week. Till then, have a good week!

The Indonesian Rupiah

2008-07-07T16:55:00.006+07:00

Today's post was inspired by the horrible stench that attacked me when I unzipped my purse a short while ago.

It only happens when I've got an especially dirty batch of notes in there. The worst notes are the smaller denominations. They get so grubby and smelly that your hands stink after touching them for just a few seconds. Those were the culprits in my purse. Obviously, the larger denominations (RP50000 and RP100000) tend to stay much cleaner. I always carry a bottle of hand sanitizer to clean off that smell after each transaction.

The photo doesn't really do justice to the filthiness of the top two notes. And if they had some smell mechanism embedded with the internet, you'd all be knocked off your chairs.

In case you were wondering about the pictures:

RP1000 - Captain Pattimura who led a rebellion against Dutch forces.

RP5000 - Tuanku Imam Bonjol. Another hero against the Dutch.

RP50000 - Beratan Lake in Bali.

RP100000 - Sukarno (the first president of Indonesia) and Hatta, (vice president)

In the end, money is still money, so no matter how much it stinks, we're still not going to be throwing it out or giving (too much) of it away.

Would you like to come over?

2008-07-06T19:50:00.004+07:00

This weekend has been very enjoyable for the whole family. The theme was 'New Friends'. We invited some new friends over on Saturday afternoon and they brought along their 4 year old daughter. She was a little shy at first but eventually, we found out that she shared a common interest with Aaron; The Wiggles. Later, we all went for a walk and let the kids play around with Aaron's tricycle in the basketball/soccer area in the neighborhood.

Along the way, Aaron stopped by his new friends house to ask them out to play. It was funny to see this little (almost) 2 year old standing on his tiptoes and pressing his face through their gate. He called out in Indonesian for the girl (Pani) and her brother (Fredo) to come out to play. Later on, he invited them (un-prompted) over to his house to play. He has done this for several days this week now. Soon, he's going to have to learn to ask me first but for now I'm still thinking its cute.

This afternoon, we went over to our Korean friend's house. Their 6 year old daughter wasn't home but the 1 year old boy was. It was so cute to watch the two little boys. On the way out, Aaron, again, tried to invite the little boy over to his house. We'll have the whole neighborhood over in no time :)

Well, 1 year olds are still too young to follow 2 year olds home. But, when we got home, Pani and Fredo were waiting at the gates to play with Aaron. I'm not sure if its Aaron they're interested in or the stash of new toys they have discovered.

Project Aaron : Week 100

2008-07-04T17:24:00.005+07:00

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Here he is sometime in Week 1.

I can't remember what we were trying to do to him on that day! We thought we had this really quiet baby who didn't like crying. That all ended at the start of Week 2 (I think).

And here he is today, in Week 100. I bought a pack of face crayons.

I can't believe how fast all these 100 weeks have gone by!

Thursday Thirteen #17

2008-07-03T12:57:00.007+07:00

13 Strange Searches That Landed People Here

1. What clothes go with yellow shoes?
If you're an adult, I don't think ANY clothes go with yellow shoes.

2. i am looking for denim skirts that are orange and green
I'm sure this person must have a good reason for wanting something like this.

3. bar girls in malaysia
There were multiple searches with these words even if they were sometimes in a different order. They must have been disappointed when they clicked on "The Milk Bar"

4. dog grooming in sitiawan
Sitiawan is a very small town near my hometown of Ipoh. I didn't think that people there would look for dog grooming services.

5. "farter in heaven"
I hope this is somebody who read my post about Aaron praying and was looking for it again. Otherwise, I can't imagine why somebody would be thinking about farters in heaven.

6. lady boys in palembang indonesia
Maybe this person would have had more luck searching 'Banci'. I'm told thats what the Indonesian word is.

7. amanda balding
OK. Is there somebody out there who thinks I'm balding?

8. Indonesia husband
I've heard of mail order brides but never grooms.

9. husband punished wearing diaper
Er....all sorts of people in the world!

10. bar for eyelashes
I had no idea what this was until I searched it myself. Its a place where they sell eyelashes. Take a look at this example.

11. eyebrow bar brisbane
Initially, I thought this was strange but when I searched it, its actually a place where people go to get their eyebrows shaped. Still, it does sound funny doesn't it? Imagine saying "I'm just going down to the bar for a pluck/wax".

12. I had to pee during the flight
Can't figure out what this person could be searching for...

13. bilbo pregnant
Bilbo, I think this takes the cake for being the strangest!

Pempek Delivery

2008-07-02T14:34:00.007+07:00

I might have mentioned in the past that pempek is the food that Palembang is famous for. Its a sort of fishcake that is popular with almost everybody I meet here. Whenever we meet new people and they find out that we're not from Palembang, they'll almost certainly ask if we have tried their famous pempek.

Yes, we've tried it but its not something that we like. Its a little too fishy for Richard and me. So, because we don't eat it, I haven't had any photos of it until today.

Here's a photo of our driver, Iwan, with the door to door pempek vendor. Iwan is a self proclaimed pempek addict and was literally jumping up and down with excitement when he heard the pempek guy approach the house. The vendor uses a little gong to let people know he's about as he rides around the neighborhood.

I've heard a few people say that they have bad teeth because they eat too much pempek. Its not the pempek itself that they blame but the vinegar sauce that its dipped into. You can see the little red bowl of vinegar in Iwan's left hand. He drank it all up like a soup.

Here's a close up of the pempek.

If you've ever had fishcakes at a Thai restaurant, similar. Except a lot fishier and starchier.

There are no winners

2008-07-01T09:17:00.003+07:00

We finally got to the bottom of things last night and all the lies are out now. We thought we would be satisfied when we finally found out the truth but in the end, its lose-lose all around.

What did the truth bring us all? Disappointment for Richard and I. Shame for Aini. I think she genuinely felt very ashamed and very sorry. We were in no way harsh with her and simply said that she had to stop with all the lies. After all, we had no complaints about her work itself and none of the lies were to do with her work. It all had to do with a teenage crush and what it drives irrational teenagers to do.

Here's the irony: She risked her job to be able to hang out with this guy, while the guy (who was interviewing for a job with Richard yesterday) exposed all her lies in the hope of securing a job for himself.

I really treated her as a friend and enjoyed her company. A part of me wishes that I left the issue alone and just be more aware of potential lies in the future. But then, thats what I have always done in the past and it has always proven to just get worse when overlooked. I'm the sort of person that will forget a situation like this as soon as its 'aired', but, she couldn't be convinced to stay on.

There is no joy and definitely no satisfaction in finding out the truth here.

You know you've been watching too much CSI when....

2008-06-30T09:04:00.004+07:00

... you tell your husband not to 'contaminate the crime scene'.

... you leave the lights turned off and use a torch to look for evidence.

... you re-enact the supposed crime.

... you question a person from different angles and at surprising times.

... when you tell your husband to be the 'bad cop' while you're the 'good cop'.

... you try to see if a person's pupils are dilated or not, if they have their arms in a closed position, if they're scratching, if their pausing too long, if they're breathing too hard, if they're repeating your questions back to you, and the list goes on....

All this may mean that I just really need to get a life. Or its what happens when you no longer trust somebody.

Things have escalated since my 'Benefit of the doubt' post and now there are allegations of voyeurism and lots of he says/she says. Lots of drama. Tears. Accusations. Denials. A fake cousin who is really a boyfriend. Its like my very own live soap opera.

I hope we can sort it all out tonight.

Photostory Friday - I'm his everything

2008-06-27T18:01:00.009+07:00

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

I took this photo yesterday morning. There is nothing really special about the picture but I wanted it as a reminder of what Aaron was saying and doing lately.

"Do like Mama"

Right before I went to get the camera, I was pushing the earth up around my little plants because they were falling over. Aaron was right there trying his best to be helpful. Before that, when I was picking up dead leaves from around the place, he was also helping me with that.

I feel so special to him right now. I'm his everything.

He wants to do everything with me.

He wants to be like me.

He wants to help me.

He wants me happy.

The other day, when he saw that I had finished my portion of the watermelon we were having, he offered me some of his. When he sees that I've accidentally knocked myself or cut myself, he tries to make it better. He is so sweet and so adorable.

I'll enjoy it while it lasts....

Thursday Thirteen #16

2008-06-26T17:12:00.005+07:00

13 Facts about our house and our neighborhood
(Bit of a long one this week)

1) When we have a power outage, it also means that we have a water outage because the pump won't be working to get any water into the house.

2) These beautiful lilies have been blooming around the house for 2 weeks now. I didn't plant them and there weren't this many last year. All of them are in little ledges of that stick out of the walls outside.

3) The bathroom next to the kitchen must have been what the original owner designated as the maid's bathroom. It has a squat toilet and no flush. The other two bathrooms are normal toilets that flush. Just another reminder of how some people can have such low regard for another person who helps them out 24 hrs a day with chores that they'd rather not do. Plenty of people like that around...

4) The drains in the neighborhood are filthy and mostly so bogged up that water flows nowhere. We stupidly cleaned the muck out of the drains immediately in front of our house but unfortunately we're now at a lower level than other places 'down-drain' so we have even more water stagnant. Still working on a solution.

5) These horrible drains have a lot of wildlife in them. In addition to the germs and diseases, there are also little crabs, fish and supposedly some sort of small eel. The eel is something that Richard told me about but I can't imagine that it really is an eel. Maybe just some big worm....

6) The neighbor's son recently caught himself a pair of doves and has been 'training' them. The doves are a craze amongst the kids this year. They're all walking around with a bird in hand. Last year it was kites.

7) I'm supposedly getting a new neighbor, two doors down, that is from Singapore. Don't know yet if its just a single guy or a family.

8) I live 200m from a mosque. Five times a day, when the prayers are broadcasted, a neighbor's dog howls his own prayers. He does this 5 times a day, every day. None of the other dogs are as disciplined as he is.

9) Directly opposite the mosque is a house inhabited by a Canadian man, his Indonesian wife, 3 daughters and about 5 maids. The man is oldish and has been in Indonesia 30 years. He's friendly with lots of good stories but its hard to chat with him long because he never wears a shirt (and has a HUGE beer belly) and his pants are always falling off him. One day, we drove past the house and were treated to a view of his entire behind. EEW!

10) All the names of the roads here are animals. We live on Bear St.

11) The clanging has stopped but the past few nights have been noisy with cats mating.

12) The housing area we live in is 'gated' and takes about 30 mins to walk the perimeter at a leisurely pace.

13) So far, we've only heard of 3 thefts in the 16 months we've lived here. Haven't heard of any other types of crimes in the area.

Pimped Up Motorbike

2008-06-25T14:37:00.004+07:00

We saw this bike while out for a walk in the morning.

Over here, not everybody can afford cars but most people have a motorbike. I'm not referring to those huge rumbling biker gang type motorbikes, just scooters (think vespas).

Anyway, whether a person here owns a bike or a car, most of them cherish it as their most valuable possession. And I mean 'cherish' as in 'loving and adoring' it every single day for its entire lifespan. Not just the first few weeks when its new. I'm always seeing people cleaning and polishing their bikes or cars. It doesn't seem to matter how old or new it is, they really take pride in its cleanliness and shininess. The only time when I don't see this behavior is when the person owns a truck. Those seem to always be left dirty.

I've no idea who the owner of this motorbike is. I do wonder if it belongs to a person who can't yet afford a car but has a bit of extra cash to splash out here instead. The bike looks a little feminine to me but I'm pretty sure that the owner (and rider) is a guy. Its only the guys who would put so much work into a motorbike. Would he then give it to his wife/girlfriend/daughter?