faraway

On 27 May 2006, Saturday, we were still in Sanur Bali. We woke up early that day because we, together with Leanna and Jo, were going to Ubud in Bali which took one hour to get there from Sanur.

At 7am I turned my cell phone on and got a text message from my brother in Yogya, Edo. I can not remember what time he sent it to me, but I think around 6 am.
He said “Kak, barusan ono gempa gedhe!” (sister, there were an earthquake this morning).
I replied “kuwi kan lak biasa tho .. ning Yogya kan wis kerep gempa” (that was usual, was not it? Yogya often had earthquakes).
“yang ini gedhe tenan Kak, air kolam kita yang gedhe sampai muncrat ke atas dan tinggal setengah!” (this time, the earthquake was very big, our pond water was lurching up and leaving half) he replied.
Suddently, I thought about my parents and tried to call his cell but could not get through. Then I sent him a message again “kok telpon omah gak urip seh. Piye Bapak Ibu dan adik2 yang lain, lan piye omah?” (Why the phone at home is not working? How is our parents and brothers, how is the house?).
He replied “Listrik mati dan HP juga gak bisa dihubungi. Ortu selamat dan rumah juga gak ada yang rusak cuma bbrp barang terutama koleksi keramiknya ibu yang pecah.” (The electricity was dead include the phone. They are all fine, the house are also fine. Just some stuffs broken but nothing serious).
Whew, I felt released …

Then, I turned on the TV but no news about it yet. We thought maybe because it was very early and no news about the eartquake yet. I tried to call home in Yogya but the line was cut off. Tried to call my parents’s cells were also no network.

We decided to have a breakfast and try to call them again later.

In Ubud, I kept trying to call my house in Yogya and still did not get through. Eventhough I was not very worried about them but I wanted to hear their voices and made sure that they were fine and were not traumatized. Finally at 2pm, I could talk to my Mom and Dad. They were fine, they were happy after talked to Zach (for my parents, a call from their grandson can brighten their life). My Dad told me about the earthquake, which buildings were destroyed, how many victims in Sardjito Hospital. We also talked about the relation between earthquake- tsunami-Merapi Mountain. This earthquake has predicted by the scientists since the tsunami, but ironically, everyone has been watching Mt. Merapi.

I was thinking, how many richter scale was the earthquake. Was it same with tsunami? How many number of people who were affected, whether as many as tsunami? How were my friends and their family in Yogya?

Then, I tried to call my friends in Yogya but nobody picked up their cell. So I decided to send them a text message and waited for their reply.

At night in the hotel, I called Dodok, my friend in Yogya. I asked him about the condition of our friends. He said that everybody was fine, just many of our friends’s relatives were died. I felt very sorry to hear that.

Until now, I do not do anything yet. I really want to go to Yogya but the situation is still unpredictable. The condition is not appropriate for the kids. I felt sad because by my limitation, I could not do much for them yet. I am just helping a few organizations in Yogya to collect the donations.

Yogya is my home, a place where I grew up. A beautiful place! But on 27 May 2006, in early morning, an earthquake with a strength of 5.9 on the richter scale has hit my hometown. The number of people who were died around 6300, injured 46.000 and homes damaged or destroyed 139.000. This numbers are still continuing to rise. Yogya needs our help. I am urging to all of you, wherever you are, to help them by doing whatever you can do ….

Galuh
Thank you for all of you who had called or sent me a text message to find out about my family in Yogya. They are all fine.

Yesterday was Jerome's Birthday. We were not doing anything special yesterday. I just made a wonderful breakfast in the bed and gave him some nice presents including coffee-makers, next shirt dan framed family picture. I asked Zach to make a hand-painting in the framed family picture and wrote Happy Birthday for Daddy. Jerome brought the framed family picture to his office and showed to his colleagues, everybody was very like it. I got so many compliments from them.

We are going to Bali tomorrow and will meet Leanna and Jo there. Bali trip is for Jerome's birthday too.

For my best friend and husband, Happy Birthday Say. Hope you had a good day yesterday. We love you so much. Thank you for being a good husband and the best daddy in the world. Thank you for these wonderful years together. Love you ...

Galuh

Three days ago, Jake was six months old. That means I was successfully finished my exclusive brestfeeding. Whew, I felt very happy that I could achieve my mission. To achieve this mission, I had to give up my job so that I could get a longer maternity leave since in Indonesia the maternity leave only for 3 months. Also, I was happier because my butterball is a healthy boy. His weight was 9.8kg (my ex-boss called him as a giant baby).

Yesterday, I started to give him a solid food. A baby-cookie mixed with formula. But he did not like it, he cried. And then I gave him cereal mixed with formula, he did not like it either. Everytime I put the spoon in to his mouth, he tightly closed his mouth and did not want to look at me. Well, I gave up and would like to try the next day. Today, in the morning I made a mixed-fruit puree (apple, banana, and orange). When I gave it to him, he still closed his mouth but I kept putting the spoon into his mouth, meanwhile Jerome tried to make him laugh. And it worked, he ate it eventhough only for 6 small spoon. But we were happy, well done for us as a team work!

In the afternoon, I tried to give him a solid food again but he did not want it. He cried very loud. I gave up and just gave him breastmilk. Well, it will be a hard work. I remember when Zach was eight months old and I started to give him solid food and formula. I need at least two months to get Zach's appetite in solid food and drink formula.

Wish me luck!

Galuh