Taken by Byron
I cooked lasagna, salad, sweet-spiced squash, and pesto toast. Thanks to Parni (our housekeeper) who helped me to cook the lasagna. For the dissert, Court brought apple struddle. Unfortunately, I did not take the picture of my cooking. Ugh I can not show you how beautiful and yummy my cooking. Though, seemed that everybody liked the foods. At least, Court and Jeremy gave me a compliment for my cooking. Jerome also said that the squash was good with lasagna. He even wants to have another dinner with same menu as above for his other friends.
Also, Jerome opened his old wine. Fondation Barton&Guestier, Bordeaux 1990. Very yummy!Usually I can not finish my glass of wine but at that night I could finish it all!
Zach had a great time too because he got new friends, Frea (1.5years, Jeremy's daughter) and Settena (10 months, Byron's daughter). They played together at Zach's room. Zach and Frea run around the house and played nicely together. Meanwhile, Settena crowled around the house.
Galuh
Toronto Today
Afrizal as the facilitator
Upon arriving at the airport in Banda Aceh, Aceh’s provincial capital, I was struck by two things. First, foreigners were everywhere; something exceptionally rare the last time I was in Aceh during the 2002 ceasefire. Now the passengers descending from the aircraft sitting on the airfield were mostly foreigners, picking up their backpacks and laptops, looking for their rides – usually big utility vehicles boldly marked with logos and national flags. Over here was a friend who works at CIDA chatting with a couple of western men. Over there was Wakabayashi from the Japanese Embassy trying to organize his transport. After being picked up by a staffer, Anastasia, conspicuously wearing a head scarf (she is Catholic), we bumped into an old friend, Reza Primahendra from Indonesia’s biggest NGO, Bina Swadaya. Aceh, it is clear, is now the epicenter of a massive aid and NGO industry. It is like East Timor during the UN administration minus the bars and foreign military.
The second thing that struck me was how normal Banda Aceh seemed for Indonesia. The last time I was there, the ceasefire was breaking down and people were careful to venture out doors. Even during the day, the city seemed dull, quiet and dusty. As Anas and I drove into town, Banda Aceh seemed like any other Indonesian city: chaotic traffic mixing vehicles from various eras, the irrepressible Indonesian food stall, the warung is everywhere, crossroads festooned with countless banners, shops spilling with goods and coffee shops everywhere.
Anas and I were in town to run a workshop with local organizations to start planning activities for the upcoming local elections. Sometime this year – the date has yet to be set – Acehnese will finally be able to choose their governor and district heads directly in what we hope will be free and fair elections. NDI has been requested to assist local organizations to prepare to play a role as election monitors.
We stayed in a new hotel, on the edge of one of Banda Aceh’s main fields -- the one with the World War Two era Dakota aircraft which Aceh contributed to Indonesia’s Independence struggle. At night, across the field we could see Acehnese relaxing by the plane, chatting, meeting friends. Towards the coast, the effects of the tsunami are still obvious. He land here is mostly empty dotted by damaged buildings. A massive barge is still perched atop a house where it was deposited as the waters receded. Yet here and there, new houses are being build, land is being resettled. There are even a few warungs.
I also met some old friends. Some I hadn’t seen for years. Others were newly repatriated from Jakarta, having decided this was the time to come back and try to rebuild their home province. Others, of course, were just gone, like so many others taken by the tsunami. Despite the semblance of normality, the memory of the dead reminded intruded on me everyday. Some days, it is the sight of sad, empty fields where the unidentified bodies are buried en mass. Sometimes it is a suddenly remembered friend in the middle of nostalgic conversation. While chatting with old friend Afrizal Tjeotral, we abruptly thought of his lost colleague Maimul Fidar. Former teacher and human rights activist, he survived the war to be lost in the tsunami. On another day, I was having late afternoon coffee with friends from our meetings. At one point, one man looked around and joked, “it’s a gathering of widowers” as many of them had lost their wives.
On Friday, I flew to Jakarta, arriving home late in the evening. The boys were sleeping around Galuh. I bent to kiss her and gave thanks for the living.
Jerome
Today was a lovely day. We decided to swim at downstair and enjoyed the weather. We have not used the pool for ages.
Today is Jake's first swim in Indonesia. His first swim was at Jerome's parents's house in Toronto when he was two months old. At that time, he did not cry at all, he laughed a lot. Maybe because the water was warm. But here the water was colder, there is no heater. When Jerome put Jake's body in the water, he started to cry. Jerome tried to hug him and slowly they together went into water. After a while, he got used to it and started to enjoy the pool.
As usual, Zach enjoyed playing in the pool. He played with his noodle, and sometimes pretended to be a dinosaur.
I just watched all my men in the pool, read my newspaper, and of course took some pictures which you see here.
Galuh
Time flies, Jake is already 4 months old now.
I can still remember the whole pregnancy time that I had been through. Much of it was spent in various states of nausea and was admitted to the hospital for dehydration. And I can still remember how difficult the delivery process which Jake was very slow to come out because of the umbilical cord wrapped partly around his neck.
Now, he is growing a lot. He is a big boy. His weight is 9.15kg (20.1 pounds). His length is 64 cm. He is very chubby, sometimes I am afraid that he is getting too fat but the doctor said that nothing to be worried as long as the baby is still exclusively breastfeeding.
Jerome calls him “GUMEH” which stands for “sumeh” (smile a lot, even with strangers) and “gumoh” (spits up). Yup, Jake likes to smile to other people and he likes to spit up after he drinks his breastmilk.
Jake already can do many things at this stage. He can roll over in one way, grasp a rattle or other things held to backs or tips of fingers, follow an object, turn in the direction of voice, and keep his head level with their body when he is pulled to a sitting position. The thing that he does not like the most is when we do not involve him in the conversation or leave him alone either in his car seat or crib. If we attend or have a party, he does not want to sleep or does not like to leave him alone in his car seat. He wants us to hold him and be part of the party and can be awake until in the middle of the night.
He likes to put a thing in his mouth. He likes to stand up. He likes to mumble and say ah goo, ah, or dad de (sounds like Daddy) and other similar words.
Until now, he does still not like a tummy time. Maybe because he is too fat.
Galuh