HANZKY

We went to Waterbom last Saturday. It was a fun day. A day at a waterpark will always be fun. It was especially special to me because Jehan could swim by herself with her little life saver jacket :).




  At first, she was too scared and would hang on to my life for dear life when we were at the deep side of the pool. I've kept reassuring her that she wouldn't be drown because the life safer would help her float. She still didn't believe me so I had no choice but to step away from her :D. She looked scared for a second but then I convinced her that she can do it. She just needed to be calm and keep on stroking her hand. Then she smiled and looked amazed. After that, she didn't want me to hold her anymore as long as I was within reach. But then she went farther and farther until she told me she was going to the other side of the pool by herself. She didn't want me to follow her and instructed me to stay where I was :D. So I just sit there by the pool looking proud of my little girl.

The one part from Life of Pi that leaves a deeper meaning for me is the part when Pi said Richard Parker actually kept him alive. Because of Richard Parker, Pi had to find away to feed him so he didn't become Richard Parker's dinner. He needed to think and try hard to fish. He needed to make sure the Bengal Tiger was always full. The whole ordeal stimulated him.

Being busy taking care of Richard Parker kept him from thinking too much about his family and the tragic incidents. Tending to his needs kept him going because he didn't want Richard Parker to die. He needed him, he needed the companionship, the thing that kept him alive.

It reminds me again on how helping others, putting others first and thinking less of ourselves help us find meaning and purpose in life. I'm sure every one of us have our own version of Richard Parker in our life.

Today, while waiting for all kind of handymen to come to the office, Nopai and I was somehow engaged in a discussion about religion. I forgot how it ended up there but it did. Long story short, we came to a conclusion that whatever your religion is, it guides you on many fundamental things in life. It shapes your perspective. It builds your character. It gives you pointer on how to navigate things. It helps you through many stages of life. 

From my own experience, I can see how mine forces me to learn about self-discipline and time management through the five mandatory prayers. I learn about the power of delay gratification through the fasting moments. I discover the beauty of sharing through the obligatory zakat. I developed self control through avoiding things that are not allowed. And of course, acknowledging there's the master up there who help brought me and designed my existence led me to a state of true humility.

And those are just some of the general ideas. There are also things that I learn not through religion but in the end realized that it's been suggested all along, such as the importance of reading, the beauty of being modest, the benefit of being grateful and so many other things. If you look further, the teaching also goes into a very detailed suggestions from raising kids to managing money.

Of course, there are times when I fail, but it's nice to have something to bounce back to. True that we can learn all of those from other factors too; family, friends, books, movie, anything. Some have figured it all out effortlessly. Some took quite a while to grasp the idea. Some learned about it the hard way. And some unfortunately are still clueless.

Thanks to Syita, who had been relentlessly begging us to go on an outing trip, we finally took two days off to Bandung for the company's first outing. It was super fun, two days full of laugh with the whole team. I couldn't be happier :).


During the trip:

Seminggu yang lalu ketika bangun tidur Jehan langsung bilang..

"Mommmyyyy aku mau ke Mekah lagi"

....sambil matanya masih kriyep-kriyep. Langsung doong ibunya mengharu biru anaknya pengen ke Mekah lagi. Bukan ke Universal Studio, Sydney, Paris atau London lagi tapi Mekah!. Saya jawab "Iya nanti ya Je kita ke sana lagi". Yang langsung disambut dengan "Kapan mommy? Hari apa???" :D



Beberapa hari kemudian ternyata Jehan masih tetap menagih kapan akan ke Mekah lagi. Daaan....dia langsung packing dong :). Satu backpack Hello Kitty-nya yang berukuran lumayan besar sudah terisi dengan baju-baju yang katanya untuk umrah.

Lalu dua hari lalu sempet ngobrol sama Oki pas lagi berangkat pagi bareng, "Taun depan kita bisa jalan-jalan ke mana yaa", kata saya. Jawabannya..."Pengen Umrah lagi sih". Whoaa ini ternyata sekeluarga lagi kangen sama tanah suci.

I have a special notebook to write all the things that I'm thankful for everyday. Why don't I write it on my blog? Well some of them are very personal. Plus, I like the idea of closing the day, reflecting and writing it old style; with pen and paper (with my Hermes Ulysse notebook to be precise, LOL).

Last Friday was an exception though, it was indeed a happy Friday like I projected in the beginning of the day. I remember I tweeted something like 'Jumat ceria' :D. Here are the things that happened last Friday.

1. I woke up relatively early. I always like it when I wake up early and not have to pray, take a shower and get ready in a flash. When I can take my time like that, I feel like I'm setting a good foundation for the rest of the day.

2. I drove Jehan to school. Since we left early, we had time to stop by at Starbucks. We always love to share our love for Starbucks Iced Grande Latte :).

3. Bouncy hair! I went to Haircode after dropping Jehan to school. There's nothing that can make you feel good instantly as a good bouncy hair.

4. Interviewed a candidate for Fashionese Daily Editor. Hiring means we're growing, right? :)

5. Meeting with a Japanese company. Lately, we found ourselves meeting with people from all over the world, even as far as Silicon Valley :-).  It's good that even people outside of Indonesia notice us.

6. Tumpengan. I have decided that I'm now ready for that fancy CEO title :D. This deserves a separate post that I'll do one of these days. Nopai announced this last Wednesday and there's the 'Makan-makan!' request for every congratulation email I received from everyone in the office. So I guess I had no choice :). Plus, Vanya said it's customary to celebrate it with tumpeng when we have just been promoted. So I ordered one from Koko Bogana. Before the lunch, we had a quick doa/wishes for the company. And the food is goood!

7. Pretty candid picture taken by Kila :D. My candid picture usually result in me looking jutek or lagi melongo!. Thank you Kila!

Me? Travel light? I'm actually not sure if I can categorize myself as one. But I was pretty proud of myself when I opened the suitcase as soon as we arrived in our hotel room in KL last week, because I just realized that I actually do travel light.

4 days 3 nights for 2 adults and 2 kids and we didn't even fill all the space. Granted the suitcase is a large one but it's a hard case so that means the opening is in the middle and we can still stack more items even higher.

Not bad, right?



We did bring a carry on, but there was nothing in it but my ipad. Oh and we also bring a foldable duffel bag. Just in case :P
 

Went to Bandung on October 20 with the kids by train! Oki was already there for work since the day before. So he picked us up at the train station, we dropped the bags at the hotel, went swimming for a little bit, then he had to go back to Gedung Sate and we came along. Decided to go to PVJ with Angkot from Gedung Sate. Mesti naik dua kali pula. Tapi nggak papa, the mission is to give the kids the thrill of riding angkot. So off we went. Naik angkot di Bandung pas lagi mendung, jadi terasa banget angin sepoi-sepoi sampe Jehan pun ketiduran :D
Mulai nguap

I'm not one who sweat the small stuff when it comes to relationship. Almost 10 years of marriage and I've never complained if the toilet seat is not down or the fact that he never put the dirty clothes inside the hamper (he put it on top of it, not inside :D). I also never care when Jibran doesn't want to get a haircut. I mean, it's just hair, right?

But when it comes to business, I am the total opposite. To the point where I've wondered myself whether I'm doing the right thing or whether this is healthy or not. When I mean by small stuff; pictures on the blog that don't line up perfectly, pictures that are low quality, comments that are unanswered, typos in the powerpoint presentation, AC/light that don't get turned off when not used, logo that is not properly located and so many other things. The recent launch of Clozette Daily has especially made me realized more and more of how meticulous I can be.

Now I have come to a conclusion that small stuff matters. And paying attention to the small stuff helps me understand the big pictures. I don't believe we can get the big things right if we ignore the little things that often make a big difference. In a recent article I read, it says that everything we do/ignore, no matter how small, will move our business forward or drags the business backwards, which is so true...in every successful company, there are people who never overlook the small stuff.

To close this post, here's my favorite story about Steve Jobs and his attention to detail:

Hari Rabu kemaren, ada 3-way conference di sekolahnya Jibran. Apakah itu? Basically sih pertemuan antara guru-orangtua-murid yang diadakan setiap awal term untuk mengevaluasi pencapaian anak pada term sebelumnya. Menariknya, and this is one of the things that I love about Cikal, si anak juga harus mengevaluasi dirinya sendiri. Jadi harus ceritain menurut dia moment terbaiknya selama term sebelumnya apa aja, yang paling menyenangkan untuk dia pelajaran yang mana, challengenya apa aja, ada nggak yang perlu diimprove dan apa yang akan dilakukan untuk menyikapi kekurangan itu?

Iya, di Cikal memang murid-muridnya diajarkan untuk reflective dalam kesehariannya, anak jadi lebih jujur sama dirinya sendiri dalam proses belajar dan tahu bagaimana mengukur kemampuannya.
Di akhir 3-way conference, ada kertas yang isinya semua yang pembahasan selama conference beserta langkah-langkah yang akan diambil oleh si anak - orang tua - guru pada term berikutnya, trus kita semua harus tanda tangan. So far, I'm really happy with Sekolah Cikal..adem deh hati ini selama Jibran sekolah di sana..and I can say this because I have compared and have done my homework as he has gone to 3 other schools here in Jakarta before, so I know what I'm talking about.

Nah, here comes the proud mommy moment :D. Jangan bayangin kalo momen membanggakannya adalah melihat deretan nilai-nilai bagus karena di Cikal nggak ada yang namanya rapot berisikan angka-angka. They believe that kids are more than just a number dan banyak hal-hal yang tidak bisa dinilai dengan angka. (Jadi inget waktu di sekolah Jibran yang dulu saya pernah protes ke guru dan kepala sekolahnya tentang pelajaran menggambar yang dikasih nilai! Helloo..the kids has their own perspective of the world and their surrounding, don't kill the joy of drawing by giving it a low mark. Anyway, that's a whole other story).

Recently, Mc Donald's launched its Champions of Play campaign. A campaign to make parents aware how important it is to get outdoor time everyday. It's popularized by the hashtag #MainDiLuarYuk in Twitter. Of course, I was excited to participate. Mainly because I'm a firm believer that kids need to have outdoor experience as much as possible. Kids activities now are so different than my generations, their activities are much more structured and they are more exposed to screen time, thanks to the growing of kids TV show, smartphones and tablets.

And unfortunately though, living in Jakarta doesn't give the kids as much as opportunity to be outdoor, which is a shame because we're after all a tropical country. But as parents, if we care enough, we just have to make the best of what is available, right?. Here's something to choose from..

For mall alternative, you can always go to Car Free Day on the weekends. Ragunan Zoo is also a fun place to be. Or how about Monas? Surprisingly there's so many things to do there. My kids also love to go to the fish market or to Barito to see pets and other animals. Visiting Taman Makam Pahlawan Kalibata is not bad either as kids can feed deers there.  Don't forget that we also have Senayan area that kids can run, play bike or rollerblading there.

Once in a while when you get to go out with family, pick a place where they have outdoor seating area, even if it's small and they can't run around at least it's something different.

I forgot where I got this quote as it's been on my notes for some times. Simple but powerful.