My Beautiful Life

Let It Snow

2006-03-02T11:36:00.000-08:00

It's been a long wait this winter, but this morning finally there was snow. And lots of it too!! We just couldn't believe our eyes. It has been years since we had this much snowfall. You were up to your knees in the snow and you had a blast throwing snowballs and makin' snow angels. Boy oh boy what a wonderful day!

My Friends in English Course

2005-11-08T09:38:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday, November 8, was the last day of my second English course, Oral Business Communication. In this course, we learned how to speak in public; we practice how to prepare speech, speaking in public, impromptu speaking and others. My opinion that course is very good for us to develop our confidence when we were talking English.

I have new friends in that course, (the picture bellow is my friends).

From the left, It’s me and next to me, Dasha, she is from Ukraine, her English is very fluent. Then Michael, he is my teacher, he is from Iowa and he has a lot of experience teaching English in China, for 9 years. Next, Ania, my pretty friend, she is from Poland, this year is her last year and on January she will go back to her country, to continue her study, Good luck Ania. Shumi, she is from Bangladesh, she was very active in class, from her experiences that she shared to us, she is a helpful person. Wilma, she is from El savador, she is charm and humble. One more friend, she didn’t come in the last day of course, her name is Viansca (I am sorry I don’t know exactly her spelling name), she is from Puertorique.
Thanks to my friends for being my friends. Wish sometimes we can meet again. Good luck for you all

Rissoles Recipe for my International friends

2005-11-07T11:13:00.000-08:00

Rissoles

Ingredients: 2 pieces of chicken legs, 100 grams carrot / potatoes, 50 grams scallions, 4 pieces of shallots, 2 pieces of garlic, 15cc sweet soy-sauce, 200 grams bread crumbs, salt.

Ingredients for Wrapper:
250 grams flour, 70 grams butter, 1 egg,

Methods:
Wrapper
Mix the egg with flour and butter
Form thin layer of squares - for wrappers

Inside
Remove the bones from the chicken legs, cut into small pieces
Skin carrots/potatoes, boil until half done, and cut into tiny pieces.
Cut scallions into tiny pieces.
Grind shallots and garlic.
Heat pan with butter. Put in shallots and garlic.
In a couple of minutes, put in chicken
Stir a little bit, and put in carrots, scallions
Mix evenly.
Add salt and pepper to taste, add sweet soy-sauce.
Cook until chicken is done.
Put 1 spoon of the result above into each square.
Wrap it.
Dip it in the 1/2 egg left, pour breadcrumbs flour.
Heat oil in a pan.
Deep fry the rissoles on medium heat until golden brown.
Serve with hot chili pepper.

Another Indonesian Recipe in English you can click
http://www.indo.com/restaurants/recipe.html#risoles

My first Eid al Fitr Day in US

2005-11-05T09:26:00.000-08:00

Eid al Fitr Day or Lebaran is the biggest moslem day. After we had been Ramadhan fasting for 1 month, we celebrated Eid al Fitr Day.

The night before Eid al Fitr Day, we turned on Takbir (moslem) song loudly in our apartment. I was overwhelmed, I missed my family very much. But anyway we were happy, Allah gave us opportunity to meet Eid al Fitr Day this year. At that time, I cooked ketupat and opor, my friend, sherly, came to my apartment and we cooked pineapple cookies (nastar), kastengel and tiramitsu.

On Eid al Fitr day, November 3, the weather was very beautiful, the sky was very clear and not too cold. This was the first time we celebrated Lebaran in US. Before that, I just think that Eid in US, we will be very lonely, and we just stay at home all day with my family. But I was wrong, after we prayed Eid in Maryland, we met many friends and all from Indonesia. My friend was very welcome and asked us to come to their house, ate ketupat, rendang, and all Indonesian food. All day in Idul Fitri, we went to my friend’s house, until we were full.
In Eid al Fitr Day, we have a tradition, to forgive each other for the mistake that we have ever done in the past.

On Saturday, November 05, 2005. There was Halal bi Halal invitation in Wisma KBRI Washington DC. We went there, and we met so many more friends in there, and again there were so many Indonesian foods. Hmm I just feel that I was not in America.
Many thanks to God, God gave me a beautiful Eid al Fitr day in here. Wish God still give us opportunity to celebrate Eid al Fitr Day next year. Amien

to Avery body

2005-08-20T11:14:00.000-07:00

Lee Sum Wan : Hello can i speak to Annie Wan

Mr Sori : Yes u could speak to me.

Lee Sum Wan : No, i want to speak to Annie Wan!

Mr Sori : You are talking to someone! Who is this?

Lee Sum Wan : Im Sum Wan. And i need to talk to AnnieWan! Its urgent.

Mr Sori : I know u are someone and u want to talk toanyone! But whats this urgent matter about?

Lee Sum Wan : Well just tell my sister Annie Wan thatour brother was involved in an accident. Noe Wan got injured and now Noe wan is being sent to the hospital.Right now Avery Wan is going to the hospital.

Mr Sori : Look if no one was injured and no one wassent to the hospital from the accident that is'nt anurgent matter! You may find this hilarious but i dont have time for this!!!

Lee Sum Wan : You are rude. Who are you?

Mr Sori : Im Sori.

Lee Sum Wan : You should be sorry. Now give me your name!

Mr Sori : Im Sori!!

Lee Sum Wan : I dont like your tone of voice Mr and idont care, give me your name!

Mr Sori : Look lady, I told you already Im Sori! ImSori!! Im SORI!!! you didn't even give me your name!

Lee Sum Wan : I told u before i'm Sum Wan! Sum Wan!!!You better be careful my father is Sum Buddy. And my uncle holds a very big position in the company. He is Noe Buddy.

Mr Sori : Oh i'm so scared(sarcastically). Look i dont care about yr uncle he's a nobody. Everybody think shis top dog and holding an important position in the company.

Lee Sum Wan : No, Avery Buddy just married my aunt.And Avery Buddy doesn't work there.

Mr Sori : Like i said i dont care which one of yr aunt screws everybody and i also know that not everybody works here! Jeez!!!

Lee Sum Wan : Wheech Wan is my sis!

Mr. Sori : I don't know which one is yr sis! Why in gods name u think i do!? Look i got work to do and if i'm feeling mischievious i'll broadcast it on the P.A system saying.

"Attention, someone called and said that anyones brother just got involved in an accident. But not to worry no one got injured and no one was sent to the hospital.But everyone is going to the hospital anyways. The father maybe a somebody but if u're their uncle, u'rea nobody."how about that!?toot..........toot.........toot.......

remember to repost this to AVERY BODY again....haha......dun be too sellfish to share ur joke with AVERY BODY....wahahaha..

The last day english course

2005-07-28T07:33:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the last day of my English Course. We had a small party in the class, everybody brought the potluck dinner. I made 'Fried Pastel' by myself and hope my friends like it.

We had a lot of delicious food from another country. I forgot all of the name of food because , I thought it’s difficult to remember. And of course I tried all of them, until I was full.

My teacher, Mr John Carlson made the food in the class, it just took a couple of minutes, and the food was ready to eat. hmm..yummy..

We took a lot of picture, and this is all of my friends. I will introduce all of my friends, from the right is Man-Keun Lee from Korea, Rebeca Jara Castro from Peru, Marvin Guzman from Peru, My Teacher is Mr John Carlson from US, Myself from Indonesia, Yenny Valdivia from Peru, Larissa Vassilkova from Rusia and the last but not least Martha Rivas from Mexico. Thank you all for being my friends.

I have a lot of fun during my course, and thank you Mr Carlson for being my teacher and for encouraging me to do my best.

I still remember the jazz chant that you taught us

Try a little harder, I' am doing my best.

Don't say can't. I won't, I won't but I'm doing my best.

I'll try, I'll try .

I hope someday we can meet again. God bless you all.

2005-07-07T07:20:00.000-07:00

Dear Our Lovely Daughter
The day you were born, a dream come true.
And from that day forward you've brought so much joyto those whose lives you've touched
On this day we celebrate the beautiful person you have become and gift thanks for the gift of you.
May all of your wishes come true
Happy Birthday Acha
We love you
Mama & Papa

My feeling today

2005-07-06T15:23:00.000-07:00

Today the weather is mostly cloudy; seem the sun is shy to appear.
Hmm.. doing ordinary things make me bored but doing nothing is impossible.

When I was cleaning-up my bookshelf I found the VCD of my friends in AMDI. And I don’t know why, I was willing to watch that again. Acha accompanied me to watch, and she was happy when she heard her name saying. When I was watching that and listening what they thought and said about me, I felt my heart was up and down. God I really miss them. I just think that I haven’t done anything good for them yet and 10 years was not enough for me to make a big contribution.

After that, I browsed internet, just wanted to know the current news about Astra International and wishing that Astra is still a good company. Astra is a big company and I grew up and being matured in there, from nobody and then being somebody. Through my job in Astra, I could express myself and share my knowledge and experience with others, although it could be stress, but it made my life more dynamic and meaningful.

I am talking to myself that I should to be more patient and always keep in my mind that I have a big dream to go back to campus and being knowledgeable. I wish that someday, I can make it happened and I can contribute my knowledge to my family and my country. I still remember my best friend in AMDI, Mbak Ida Rotua said something good in my farewell party “Never give up Dyan, If there is a Will, there is a Way”. Hmmm.. wish Allah always bless me & my family.

4 th of July

2005-07-04T22:00:00.000-07:00

Today is 4th of July holiday, we have a plan to go to gathering event in my friend's house in Maryland. We go there at 2.00 PM, and we meet many new friends in there. All of them from Indonesia, they are very welcome and warm. I feel that I just meet my relatives in there.

At 8.00 PM, after we eat dinner together, we go to Naval Academy Bay Bridge in Annapolis to watch fireworks because today is Independence Day of America. We already prepare everything, such as mattress, folded chair and snack. To go to the bridge, we have to walk and look for a place that is comfortable to sit.

And after dark, the fireworks start. And wow...its beautiful, the colors like American flag, blue and red. That fireworks live for about 15 minutes.

What Dads are made of

2005-06-02T07:14:00.000-07:00

Through this blog, I want to share an article that I read yesterday The Reader's Digest. It is about 'The three unique ways fathers contribute to childhood development'. I think it is a good article, because the most articles that I have ever read just explore the role of women as wife or mom.

The article said that Dad is a mess-maker, rule breaker, risk taker. In general, he's the opposite of Mom, the master nurturer, creator of law and order. But Dad is doing something quite right, because his interactions with children will significantly contribute to children's social skills and success in school.

The pediatric researcher found that two month old babies showed special signs of excitement when their fathers approach. So now I know, why my children get very excited when their father comes home. Fathers tend to be arousing and unpredictable with kids from the get-go. I can see how my husband hangs around with my children on the floor play, how he pretends to be an airplane and lets my children sit on his neck and when I see this I just say..."be careful..be careful!". Research shows that this kind of daddy-style play builds cognitive skills and helps children acquire social and emotional experiences that prepare them for school. The Article says that "Mom equals security. Dad equals excitement and stimulation.

I still remember when my son (two and half years old) was playing with screwdriver, I just yelled at him "Put it down, this is not a toy!!". Once when my husband was repairing a chair, and my son played with a screwdriver beside him, my husband just watched and let my son help him. And another situation I watched how my husband taught my son how opened the door with a key. Hmm..I just wondered why I didn't think like he did. This article talks about how dad tend to stimulate curiosity and problem solving skills by letting the children notice the sights and sounds around them. And Moms prefer holding their children close to them.

Dad as unique teacher. I see how my husband choses a book for my children to read. He is more likely to choose non fiction over fiction. He might select a book about airplanes, train or kid's discovery. And According to a Michigan study, the children whose fathers read to them, show much higher verbal skills. Hmm... I am not sure, if my husband has noticed about that :-).
Other advantages mentioned in the article: When fathers teach how to build with blocks or throw a ball, they're constructing large and small motor skills, sensory pathways and body awareness.

So in conclusion, Moms and dads are indeed different, but their distinctive styles caretaking complement each other perfectly to the advantage of children.
Father's Day in US is on June 19 . The first time I heard about father's day I wondered, because in Indonesia we just celebrate Mother's Day. But now, I know that the involvement of fathers to develop children is very important. So..Happy Father's Day...

Firework in Wolftrap Park

2005-06-02T07:09:00.000-07:00

On May 29, my family went to Wolftrap Park. We saw the information from internet, there would be marine band and fireworks. We went there at 7.00 pm. When we were on the way to go there, there were a lot of cars lined up in toll road to go through. We stucked and we had to wait for 30 minutes to enter Wolftrap Park. Wow..so many cars parked in the road, we just worried we didn't have a space to park. But thanks God, finally we got a space and it was far enough from the park, so we had to walk. When we walked, I saw many people brought mattress and snack box. Hmm...It was a good Idea, but you know that, we didn't bring anything.

In Wolftrap Park, I saw a marine band on the stage, but I couldn't watch better because so many people were sitting around the stage. I just could hear but it's fine. At 10.00 pm, I heard the announcement that the fireworks would be started at the meadowpark in 15 minutes. So we had to walk there quickly.

15 minutes later, the fireworks started. Wow...there were amazing..awesome...I have never seen beautiful fireworks before, there were so huge. I saw the fireworks were dancing in front of me...Wonderful. And we heard the romantic backsound "What a wonderful world" by Louise Armstrong

I see skies of blue and clouds of white

The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night

And I think to myself what a wonderful world

Meadowlark Garden, VA

2005-05-23T05:44:00.000-07:00

I heard from my friend in my english course, Larisa, there is beautiful park in Virginia name Meadowlark Gardens. And last weekend, my family went to there. The place is not far from my home, It just take 15 minutes by car. My lovely kids had a lot of fun in that park; they spent their energy by running around and they fed fishes and ducks in gazebo.
In addition to know about Meadowlark garden, It looks like botanical garden which is located three miles from the heart of Tysons Corner, Virginia. The mission of Meadowlark Garden is to collect and display plants native to the Potomac River Valley and plants from around the world. Spring season is the best time to go there.There are so many kind of flowers bloom and we can hear the birds sing. Hmm It is a lovely place to visit.

Happy mother's day

2005-05-11T22:14:00.000-07:00

Being a mother is not an easy thing. It takes courage to be a mother. There is not any other job on the face of the earth that requires more courage than being a mother. We can say, it looks like a routine job, but raising children is a responsibility and I think it is also a challenge how to raise the children, to give them time, attention and direction, to help them becoming a good human being with good values.

Being a mother is fun and it also makes you tired, because a mother has to work 24 hours to take care of her family. But I think it is going to be fun, when I was playing and having fun with my kids. Watching how they are growing up is an amazing. Amara is now a big girl, she can do everything by herself, she helps me taking care of her brother, sometimes she makes us breakfast. It is lovely. And Hafiz, he is starting to talk and sing. His favorite song is twinkle2 little stars. In the middle of the night, I like watching and kissing their innocent faced when they were sleeping. Sometimes I cry and feel guilty because I shouted to them once. And I speaks in a whisper to them that I love them so much.

Being a mother is a work that makes me proud of myself. I realize that I am not a perfect mother, but at least I will do my best for that. Everyday, I always try to express how I love them so much by hugging and kissing them and also I often say I love you to them. And It made me proud, when they are doing the same thing to express their love to me.

This mothers day, I want to say thanks to God, for giving me opportunity to have healthy and nice kids. And this special mothers day, I want to say thanks to my lovely mother who gives me loves and cares until now.

In this mother’s day I want to share a beautiful poem that I found in website The title is Am I Just A Mother by Jean M. William

Am I Just A Mother

Am I just a mother, how can that be

I was chosen by the hand of God to carry a legacy

He created me with greatness and with purpose I became

He created me with a womb

Life would never be the same

I was chosen to nurture the seed of life

---though created from the dust

Ask yourself mother---

How can such greatness be preceded by the word just

As if it were a prefix added to my name

I was created with purpose

Life could never be the same

I was given responsibility unique to that of any other

I was chosen to nurture, guide and protect

I was created to be a mother

A higher calling of love unlike any other

I was never meant to be just---

I am a Mother

Jean M. Williams

How to improve your english

2005-04-26T22:39:00.000-07:00

I think learning language is a never-ending story. The important thing is practice, sometime theory just make you confused. I have been learning English for many years. And I am still learning, learning and learning. I thought that when someone went overseas, she directly can speak another language fluently…oh that’s a silly. That condition will help you to practice English yes, that’s true. But again, you must practice and always try to communicate in English. So another important thing, you must have self confidence to talk in English, I mean be active to use english in conversation.

I have a friend, he took MBA in US for about 3 years, but when he came back to Indonesia, he still couldn’t speak English well. He said that he was talking English passively. He talked when he needed; he never tried to make conversation. Oh, I don’t want to be like him. I think living in US is opportunity for me to improve my English. The simple thing that I am doing right now is talking in English daily with my children. It’s fun, sometimes they didn’t understand but after that they learn faster than me.

I think this blog also help me to practice my writing skill. So if you feel confused when you are reading this blog, It’s not about you. It’s absolutely about my skill. ;-). I have a good link about tips on learning english ; just click this site http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/learning ; http://www.englishpage.com/

Cherry Blossom

2005-04-11T21:23:00.000-07:00

On 9 April 2005, we went to Smithsonian in Washington DC by Metro Rail (subway). I saw a lot of people walking along washington DC with their family and some people with their dog :-). I think mostly American People went over there, because the cherry blossom festival ended that day. We walked along Jeferson Drive until we saw beautiful cherry blossom trees. When the first time I saw those tree, I had just wondered why so many cherry trees planted in DC and they grew around the lake. The Flowers look like SAKURA, a kind of flower from Japan. And finally I found the answer from the pamphlet about cherry blossom story. The Cherry Blossom is a celebration in remembrance of 3,000 cherry trees given to the District from the Japanese in 1912. The gift was a symbol of the growing friendship between the United States and Japan. This event usually comes when the season transitions from winter to spring… Wow, I didn’t want to miss that moment. I took a lot of picture with my family in there.