2018 - A Year of Strength & Love

My last post was about a year ago. I have too many social media to maintain. Not necessarily mine. It was one of the work I do now. So I really find no time to maintain this one.

Anyway, some important moments are recorded in Instagram, so that one day I can look back and be reminded on that particular day, special and important days.

2018 has been challenging for Henki and I. But I would say we come out of it stronger than ever.

March, Snorkeling under the Majestic Mt Agung 

It was a life changing year to both of us. I can't even judge for myself how it really had been.
So we are starting the Jan 1, 2018 in Japan. In Shibuya to be exact. That night no fancy dinner, we had had almost 8 days of Japanese meals by then and we finally found ourselves inside McDonalds, eating its burger, facing the window, looking out to the Tokyo street. Nothing sorry about it. It was quite a good meal. And a memorable one. We even thought about having McD again in Bali last 31st Dec 2018. :p

Going Back to Routines
We went back to our routines. Henki at his (old) office, swamped with works and tackled it well there but always drained coming back home. I (master) juggling in between "Office" works and housework. Enjoy both and am getting much better at both now.

Proudest Ama

We did our trip to our hometown for CNY. I spent longer time with Grandma and decision that I made scarifying all the meet up with friends in Medan, but will do it all over again. Because that was my last time holding her hands, sitting on the floor beside her bed, accompanying her sleeping, while I did my work on my computer. Helping so little to ease her suffering from lost eyesight and movement ability. She passed away in June 24, 2018. I didn't make it home for her funeral. I cried my heart out every single day until her funeral day, but no regret at all. Because when she lived, I have been there, as much as I could, as a married granddaughter should be, be in service to my own family like she always did and I know she understood.

About a month before that Henki has lost her a po too. I had never gotten the chance to meet her. We lost both our last grandmas.

Then the new routine...
Life was as normal as it can be until one day in May, Henki came back home late, looking sad and never to return to his (old) office for a real work anymore. He resigned, decided to reject all the offer that the company tries to give him. Just like that the year that he thought his team will bring the company to achieve its budget, Gone! His team threw a  farewell dinner for him. The team that he is super proud of, not only for the job well done, but for all the goodness in each one of them that he can now call friends. When it is official, I cried, angry, not sad. As I think he deserved better. He stayed strong, at first.

From here I learnt, Good? Bad? Who knows... Life keeps moving forward. We learnt so much during the 7 months he was home with me. I hope the lesson stayed with us, forever, because it is so valuable. Looking back, I don't see it as a total bad thing, I have never lost my pride in him, nor respect. Of course there are times when it was super hard, when I was tired, hormonal changes in certain period of the months, but we got through it, loving more than ever. I think.

He got the chance to rest after a long 5 years working like a cow and a horse (... as the Chinese saying) for someone and an institution that I have long thought do not deserve him. In between my feeling of insecurity at first, I find peace and I find so much strength in me. I am my parent's daughter. No Doubt!

Life Changing Moment
If that was not life changing enough, we encounter another life changing moments in the last quarter of our 2018. Only those who love us enough know how we struggle through it. You who do not know, might not strong enough to handle this news. =p As usual, I don't stay long dwelling in misery. My reaction is always stronger than Henki, but I recover much faster too. Henki recovers from this too, eventually. We would like to thank all the people who stay loving us during the hardship and shines the lights at the end of the tunnel in driving us out of the darkness. It was not God. It is those People who has Godly characters in them. Who loves us as we are. They are family, they are some great friends.

Christmas Breakfast 2018

To say that those are life changing moments, I also would like to be reminded that life is always changing, no matter how small no matter how big the event is. 2018 has not been easy, but again as Ajahn Brahm said "Pushing the wheelbarrow is easy, Thinking about it is the hard part." This year I put that into use so more than ever, never losing sleep to worry, but to excitements towards ideas and of course some back and body ache because of hormonal change during the menstruation period. Blah!

To Summarize 2018, I felt loved than ever (not that I was not loved before, I have never lacked of love, NEVER, so full of it!!!) But this year, I have seen how our families and close friends been there always for us. And I have been proud to both of us.

Henki has started new challenge and I am sure he will conquer it, like he always does.
I, just living my life. Super busy and in need of vacation (going to get it in Feb) and grateful of all the opportunities offered this year and still coming as the 8 changes to 9.

Both of us are not religious, spiritual in some ways, but this year a few quotes had made the journey much easier for me, hope it will for you too:

- "Good? Bad? Who Know."
- "The devil says 'I kill just one. Fear kills thousands.' Fear NOT!
- "Know your worth and others' too..." You are not more and you are not less. Be respectful.

My dad and mom have super wisdom too for their almost 140 living years, combined, They said: "Human will not always be on top, there will be the time that we are low at the bottom. Don't have to stress it out. Have to keep being happy." So much love.

I hope you all will have a wonderful 2019, like I believe we will~

Til another new year?! =D

#2018to2019

Pendidikan!

Happy New Year ALL!!!

Telat yah? Tahun in nothing to recap, no grand resolution, kita jalani saja yah... 

Kemarin partner ku bertanya, “Kamu rasa mana yang paling asik, Setelah pernah bekerja di dunia medis, perhotelan, spa, restoran…” Sebelum dia menyelesaian pertanyaannya, aku langsung mau menjawab “sama saja...” Tapi begitu dia berikan pilihan terakhir “dan edukasi?” Jawabanku langsung berubah. “EDUKASI!” In tidak diragukan lagi. Personally, Aku senang berinteraksi dengan anak-anak yang pada umumnya masih polos, tulus dan tidak penuh politik (walau sekarang banyak juga yang sudah ter”polusi” oleh content-content di dunia maya yang mereka tonton).

Kenapa edukasi? Banyak sekali alasannya.

Mungkin pengaruh paling besar adalah dari Orang Tua. Mama ku yang sekarang sudah berumur 67 masih juga beranggapan kalau dulunya beliau diberi  kesempatan yang sama seperti saudara-saudara laki-lakinya, beliau percaya kalau akan lebih banyak kesempatan “emas” yang mungkin akan terpapar kepada nya, again who knows apa yang bisa terjadi pada manusia kan? Tapi memang banyak kebenaran didalam “kepercayaan” itu.

Aku adalah contoh paling dekat, lahir di kampung kecil, aku bangga dan berani bilang “masa kecilku bahagia”. Waktu dengan orang tua dan kerabat dekat itu tidak pernah kurang, dari sana aku belajar tentang arti keluarga.

Aku mulai masa Taman Kanak-kanak ku karena aku minta. Moving on sekolah dasar dimulai diusia lebih muda dari teman-teman lainnya, dimana aku sempat ditolak karena usia “belum mencukupi”. Tapi orang tua yang fight agar aku bisa jadi “anak bawang” saja, akhirnya aku diterima, aku habiskan tidak memusingkan masalah pelajaran, tapi practical life skill untuk anak-anak pada umumya, misalnya bersepeda, memanjat pohon, membantu orang tua, bersosialisasi dengan teman-teman yang berbeda suku dan agama (pertama kali aku belajar untuk tidak minder walau suku minoritas), dan juga menyelesaikan masalah anak-anak pada umumnya.

Tingkat selanjutnya, sekolah menengah aku lalui di sekolah baru di kota kecil tetangga. Adaptasi pasti, tidak hanya pada tingkat pelajaran yang lebih sulit, tapi juga belajar beradaptasi pada pandangan orang-orang kota kecil ini terhadap “anak kampung”. Ini tahap kedua aku belajar “bangga” karena anak kampung tidak ‘kalah’ dengan anak-anak kota dan yang aku sering bilang ke penghina “Kenapa? Emank nya air joman berutang pada kalian?” So much pride in that rhetorical questions. Tapi disini juga aku betemu lifetime besties! Blessed~

Selanjutnya pindah ke kota besar Medan untuk jenjang pendidkan lebih tinggi, percaya atau tidak orang memandang sebelah mata karena kami “orang kota kecil”, bahasa ku memiliki aksen “kampungan”, cara berpakaian kami tidak cukup stylish. Pengaruhnya ke diriku, tidak banyak! Masa kecil yang super, loving family and friends dan focusing on doing well in education, membuat aku tidak pusing dengan  pandangan rendah orang. Peduli amat! Aku sibuk dengan hidup ku yang banyak harus ku syukuri.

Moving on to Kuala Lumpur, for a better education quality, banyak juga tantangannya. Yang tidak bisa lepas adalah saat negara lain memandang mereka lebih tinggi, itu sudah pasti. Aku sudah tanggap menghadapi masalah ini, sudah dari dulu soalnya, kalau orang kisaran memandang rendah anak kampung, orang medan memandang rendah anak kisaran, orang jakarta memandang rendah orang medan, orang Malaysia memandang rendah orang Indonesia, apa yang kamu lakukan? Peduli amat, Proof them wrong. Di masa-masa ini aku belajar rasa nasionlisme, campur aduk akan "rusak" dan "indah" nya negara kita.

Untuk pendidikan lanjut, pada saat itu memang Malaysia bukan tujuan utama, pengennya Australia, tapi karena financial status yang hanya dalam kategori “CUKUP”, I grab that opportunity. Mom and Dad had to sell our car to get me my education! Sad, but I just have to be out from Medan. Oh.. jangan salah sangka, Medanese punya banyak kelebihan, kekeluargaan adalah salah satunya, tapi layaknya manusia, Medanese juga punya kekurangan.

Ke Kuala Lumpur, travelling sendiri dengan strangers dan tidak diantar orang tua. Wah, banyak sekali air mata yang bercucuran dan lebih dari itu Courage adalah yang aku banggakan.  Keeping my eye on graduating well, 2 tahun enjoying learning dan friendships, I graduated with first degree with honour and awarded as an outstanding student untuk major kami pada saat itu. All of those things for my parents. Masa kuliah itu, susah banget, banyak kentang dan wortel yang aku konsumsi karena mau hemat. Haha… Kerja part-time di mall jual sausage berdiri 8 jam sehari. Tapi dari masa-masa itu aku belajar juga tentang rasa syukur untuk teman-teman yang membantu, yang meminjamkan laptop baru nya agar FYP ku selesai sempurna, yang meminjamkan uangnya karena kiriman ku dari orang tua belum datang, oh.. banyak tenan yang membantu. Terima kasih.

Moving to Singapore, mencari kerja. Ini juga journey yang penuh air mata. Masa aku graduate adalah masa economic downturn, 2008. Traveling to Singapore dari Malaysia dengan bus dengan seluruh barang bawaan yang berat (I wonder how I did it), tapi disana juga banyak strangers yang membantu, offering to help me carry. Cried myself to sleep and woke up focusing on using what I have learned and earned di Kisaran, di Medan, di Kuala Lumpur untuk get me a job opportunity. 3 bulan dan akhirnya I landed ditangan yang benar, company yang benar, boss yang benar dan kesempatan belajar yang benar! Disini juga aku realize my dream untuk berilmu hingga ke negri Cina. I fund myself to have a taste of China. one of the BEST time of my life!

From then on, the education continues, in the people I met, in the places I visit, in the film I watched, in the books I read, in the problems I solved, in the problem I didn't solve, in the heart break I felt, in the positive feedback I received and so on. 

Untuk diriku Pribadi, pendidikan ku starts dari rumah, dari keluarga, gimana cara respect orang tua, gimana kita sayang dengan anak-anak tanpa memanjakanya, lalu ke society, gimana berdiri kukuh tidak memandang tinggi tapi juga belajar tidak rendah diri darimana kita datangnya karena pada dasarnya manusia semua adalah sederajat, belajar kalau diatas langit masih ada langit, dan belajar seperti kata papa hidup kita adalah roda kadang diatas kadang dibawah, belajar bahwa there is so much beauty in all the struggles that we conquered, dari keadaan sulit belajar untuk tidak pahit pada kehidupan, oh.. masih panjang pelajarnnya.

Balik lagi apakah semua hardwork itu berguna sekarang? I am not even “working” now.

Pendidikan untuk aku sekarang mungkin lebih dari bangku sekolah. Yeah, those are ‘fine’ time where we would be tested untuk lihat apakah kita menyerap atau hanya going through with the motion? Tapi bangku pendidikan formal itu tidak menunjukkan jalan untuk diriku, bangku pendidikan formal kalau di jalani dengan benar, itu sparks interest, memberikan sedikit rasa untuk begitu banyak hal didunia ini. Kalau you are fortunate enough, well-educated parents might know how to guide you towards one goal and one goal only. Tapi kalau seperti orang tua ku yang tidak begitu fortunate untuk mengecap pendidikan tinggi, yang mereka pun hati yang besar dan pikiran yang terbuka, mereka open enough to let me taste what they never had. Aku tidak kalah beruntungnya, karena aku diberi kebebasan untuk memilih. Even kadang salah jalan pun, tetap aja ada mereka di belakangku, ini karena mereka tau “Pendidikan (dalam segala bentuk) itu Penting”

Where was I?

Yeah… Aku masih milih dunia pendidikan sebagai yang terbaik yang pernah aku jalanin (dan akan aku jalani lagi), for all of the benefits it has for me and will have for me in the future. I want others to have their life changed because of “positive” education experience too.

Sekarang pun, doing marketing, tujuan utama ku adalah “edukasi”. Mengedukasi customers untuk think smart, buy smart and consciously make smart purchasing decision. (Maybe, that’s why I am a bad sales person!) =D 

May you have a blessed Sunday ~

#Ocehan

Teaching Mandarin to Children below 7yo

This is going to be one long post. I am not teaching or providing guidelines how to teach children, but I am sharing my experience. I have no degree in education or early childhood education and am no longer dealing with kids now, so you can say I might not be the most credible source that you can get, but here I am sharing my experience on what worked and what not, sharing my "brilliant ideas" and those ideas that I had to flush down to the toilet, sharing my love and frustration when dealing with those little creatures, particularly in teaching Mandarin. 

For teachers
1. Know where you want to be.
For teachers, it is important to be aware of what you are good at and what you are not very good at. I myself not good in a corporate setting, I can't deal with 'politics' in general, thus private settings are the best for me, because sadly I noticed that even at school, politics exist among the teachers. How many times in the past one and half years I was offered to go back to teach in school, I had to heavy-heatedly turned them down. Unhealthy, because so much of energy is wasted on that rather than preparing better materials for the students. That's just one of the reasons for me not to go back to the schools (might change in the future, who knows?). 

The other reason is that I might not be the most cooperative teacher in executing what's the schools/government have decided to do for the kids. Let's not talk about the curriculum in general, let's just talk about the choice of books used. Some schools did choose great books (in my opinion), but some others made the very bad choice, the first time I came back and started teaching, I was book hunting for reference books, but I am so disappointed and amused at the quality of the books published here in Indonesia. So many basic errors in the books. Just a few days ago, a neighbor showed me a book used by her kid, the title of the first chapeter is "你家的电话号码是多少？" I am not going into explaining the mistake, but for those who understand it is more appropriate to ask "你家的电话号码是几号？" The only difference is in the last 2 characters. This is just one of the mistakes in books that I have seen so far, we have so many more. Sad... 

I am one of those people who will want to set things right when they are not right, I do not like to bow down to people because they are my "boss". Not many people can take this, those who can have real big hearts to accept me. With that "bad" characters, I make sure I am doing my best in things that I am doing. When I say I teach, I will teach for the benefit of my students, not to help the schools to make money. Thus, again, private setting is the best for me, FOR NOW. Yeah, I am not very flexible and not grown up some people might say. That's fine. 

2. Know Your Strength
In general, I am bad in memorizing things. In Mandarin, I am bad in writing and memorizing thus beautiful idioms and proverbs. Thus, my Chinese isn't those "hi-tech" Chinese. It is very simple and conversational Chinese, layman Chinese. 

The report that I wrote and chosen to be presented when I was in China titled "美丽的上海", no fancy title, no fancy content, good enough to convey my experience and feeling, particularly

However, I am very good in "rationalizing" what others are saying, so listening is not an issue for me. I also have the benefit of early exposure to the language thus my tongue has no problem pronouncing words in Mandarin properly. I  also have to boast a little that I am very creative too (very useful with kids), but not very patient in certain circumstances (bad quality to have). Lastly, I  am childish, in both positive and negative ways. If I want to look it more positively, I can play like a child, thus this works well with kids. I like to play with playdough (which most kids like too), I like art and craft (again, most kids love crafting too), and if you ask me to play hide and seek I might be enjoying it too. Hahaha... But again liking is something, being good at them is another thing. That's fine! 

Contrary, in negative ways, I sometimes very emotional in childish way. There were two times that I can recall, I cried teaching my students, feeling disappointed and hopeless. Some other teachers might be able to handle the situation better than I was, and I admit that and learn from it. Realizing this make me realize that teaching children with special needs might not be my strength. 

In teaching, I think I am quite good with both kids and working adults. Somewhere in the middle, I am not quite sure as I do not have much experience here. 

Knowing my strength help me to perform better at what I CHOOSE to do. Now, I learn not to spend my time reading those books about how to master public speaking. There are only two ways in doing good in speaking in public (including teaching); 1) know your materials, 2) do it more often. All things get better with times. Listen to constructive feedback not those negative downgrading criticisms. I am learning to filter things more now. :)

Knowing your strength means to acknowledge things that we are not very good at certain things too. I know that we are all trying to make a living, better in doing the things we love, but please if we are not very good at it, admit it. I am not good in writing (as in writing the characters using pen/pencil, but typing and forming sentences, beautiful ones, I have no issue with that.), I will make it known in advance. 

By doing this, I think I am doing myself a favor, less upset tummy and stresses when I took up the job! I mean yes, we all can learn to be better, I can be better in my writing if I spend more time practicing, but I don't see the need for that now, as we type so much. But don't get me wrong, some others, depending on the nature of their works, might need to be good at writing. So again, depend... 

What I am saying here, if we are teaching conversation, please make sure we are good at it. Here, I'd heard a radio advertisement of one of the schools in Bali and no matter how many times it played, I would still laugh and feeling amused at the ads. The student speaks better Mandarin than the teacher. I firmly believe that is not the radio announcer, that's the staff/teachers from the school. I am feeling sad about this. 

Do you know why? I learn from my sister and niece that children do look up to their teachers. So there are times when teachers make mistake in class and do not bother to correct it, then it will affect the children too. There was one time my sis was correcting my niece's English, my niece insisted that the teacher said it's the other way and what the teacher said is RIGHT. After that I have to lecture my niece about think for herself about what's right and what's not. I am the tiger aunt after all. 

So, as our moral duty, if we are not good at certain things, admit it and learn from it and don't afraid to say "I am not too sure. Let me look it up for you about this." then Look it up and get back to the students. I have positive experience about doing this with my students, both children and adults. However, if there are some people who looks for the perfect teacher who knows every single things, remember that they have the right to do that too. Don't take it personally. 

That's for teacher. Now it's for parents.

For Parents
Parents have to understand that learning is a process, especially Language. For me it is a lifetime journey. If you realize even for our first language, we always get better with times, needless to say a foreign language. I always remember that when I was in China our home class teacher is one of the most respected on in that uni, he came in to the class with dictionary. When he wanted to give better explanation, he checked the dictionary. I respect him for that. He is our 黄老师。So while your kids makes a bit of progress in foreign language, don't feel hopeless. Remember that a professor and a native is still so humble to always bring a dictionary with him.

Parents have always one thing and one thing only to do that is to realize that Home is always #1 school for your children. 

Parents, sending your kids to school, to tuition doesn't mean that your responsibility is fulfilled. I owed it to some of my good teachers (at school, at work and in life) that I turned out well enough now as a person. However, the best teachers I have is still my parents, my home! 

Teachers of Life

Be more involved in your children's learning process, even in the things that you are not familiar with. For example, parents who do not speak Mandarin helps the kids in learning Mandarin. The best way to be involved is to give and get feedback from the teacher. Do it "moderately." As a teacher, I like getting feedback from the parents, I like when the parents said "she/he speaks to us in Mandarin and none of us understands" or when parents said "she/he is so scared every time coming to Mandarin class." I can work with those feedback. The first feedback means I am doing a good job and I have "easy" kids to deal with. The latter feedback means I need to adjust something in my way of teaching for that particular kid. The tips for parents, when giving feedback to the teacher is to be  as diplomatic as possible. Teacher is human too "Guru juga Manusia". Don't keep on criticizing, praise then gently criticize. We teachers take it better that way, or at least for me. =D 

This is  from one of the students who were "scared" when it's Chinese lesson. With parents' feedback and cooperation, she has done so much better at the end when I leave Medan for Bali. 

I learn this from my 3 years of teachings kids (not long but very valuable lessons I got), that the parents who are involved more in the learning drive me as a teacher to do better for the kids and in turn the kids perform better. Those parents do not care as much, shows less progress. At home,  always look for progress in your children and acknowledge that, even the slightest one. I have to learn this the Buddhist way, "Focus on the good and it will grow!" Be aware not to over praise though. There is trick in praising too. Some praise encourage, some other praises discourage the kids to do better. You need to understand the kids and the "right" way for them. Often, it needs to be customized from one kids to another. Parents might have a better understanding on this better than I am.  

Focus on the good qualities in each kid

Narrow it down to things that I have done in the past for kids under 7 years old, pick those that are suitable for you. Remember that "There is no exact science in teaching. Teaching is an art."

1. Write or Not to Write?
My interest in this was intrigued by a parent. I did my research and since then think logically for myself that I won't be focusing on teaching the kids under 7 to write , definitely not under 5. The most that I will do is to color (lots of it), while they color, we teacher can talk to them about anything, in Mandarin, training their listening skill. Don't think they don't understand, children understand all things in life better than us! (exaggerating :p) 

Coloring and teaching the names of objects, from here we learn about which kids have that artistic side, which kids are not. 

However, expert can say all things that they want, studies can show all the findings, but teachers and parents have to adjust the fact to the kids. If they want to, why not? But if they do not want, don't force. Especially teacher, do not threaten the parents about not advancing the kids to the next level because he/she can't write. This happens to my nephew. He is smart in so many ways, but not the kids who sit still and listen to "boring" talk of a "teacher". My nephew was still 5 then. Oh yeah, I was pissed! 

About writing, have you seen anyone who have been to school and can't write alphabets? You haven't right? Even those who have not been in school, when they are in the age when they have better motoric skill, they can copy every curve of the letter just fine. So don't worry about it. 

Forcing kids to do something make the kids hate it in the long run, and it doesn't benefit teacher nor parents and definitely not the kids. I learn this the hard way, I was a tutor before. Tuition is seen as a mean to complement the schools. Thus, I was trying very hard to prepare the kids to catch up the materials in school, which I personally despise. Then, I have a few kids whom I can see transform from loving to liking then to almost hating the subject, Mandarin in this case. It is something upsetting to see. 

If you are in school setting that provides you with books that need to be completed and there are writing elements in it, be prepare to fight! Know your subject and crystallize your goals for the kids and make it known to the school management/principal/head of department. Especially in Bali, Mandarin as one of the subject in school is just a way for the school to PROMOTE their school. Once or twice a week, half an hour session, for me it is good but FAR from enough. Especially for those kids who are still young, calming then down, warming them up for the session might already takes fifteen minutes, especially you are alone in charge of 20 plus kids. GOOD LUCK! 

But when come to the time they want to write, you can start from the very easy characters. Then tell stories about the Chinese characters. Stories always a good medium for kids (even for me) to learn things and remember them better. For this you can do research on the origin of the characters (as all Chinese characters are from logogram) or you can just make up your own to generate interest. For example, I sometimes describe 四 as a window with a curtain. The story evolves depending on the kids' interest. But some of the story must stay true and factual, especially those characters that will be used as the radical or known as 偏旁。So that your story is consistent and continuous to avoid confusion. 

Or for each characters you want them to write prepare some activities to go along with it too. Writing activities don't always have to be on the book, kids like to imitate the teachers. Ask them to step to the front of the class and write on the whiteboard with a marker, just like what the teacher (you and I) are doing. I bet they must be very very very proud and willing to do that. At first might not all are enthusiast about this, but I bet, when one starts, others will follow! 

Write and then do some activities

2. Listen, Kiddos!
They said even when a baby is still inside of a mother, they are already listening. Thus, some mom-to-be exposes the baby to classical music and say all the loving things to the baby.  

Language skill (not speaking ability) can apply the same thing too, in my opinion. Teacher should speaks more often to them, especially if the teacher is the only person who interact with the kids in Mandarin. Remember to use proper Mandarin.  

I am a firm believer of gathering as many vocabularies as possible for someone to be able to be good at one language. We can be super in memorizing the use of grammars, etc, but when you don't have the words to describe your feeling, all those grammars are at no use. Again, my personal opinion.  I personally like to repeat things I say. 

When I say "Zǎoshànghǎo" (good morning) to kids who first started their Mandarin lesson with me, I will repeat it a few times and translate and explain it to the kids first language. And as all greetings, I will want the kids to respond to my greeting too. This is where a bit of moral lesson is introduced. First you might not get what you want, it might take you a few tries if not a lot before you succeed. The key is to repeat what you want them to learn as much as possible, as early as possible so that it form a pattern and the kids will get it somehow. Thus it is important to introduce good things from the very beginning before the bad habits formed.  

For example, when I want them to learn to keep their own things in the bag, I will say "把书收在书包里”， I will then say "书包" and show them the bag, for them to make the correlation between words said and the object. This will NOT work just one time, do it every time you see them, it will apparently register. Warning: there are times when some kids do not even know how to put things in bag and zip them up properly, be patient. That’s another practical life skill lesson that you can help the kids with. So teaching Mandarin is never about just the language, at least for me. 

A bit of Science in Mandarin class. I too learnt here... 

To "shorten" the learning process, I often translate the words to the language that they are familiar with. "书包" = bag/tas. Again, say it a few times, especially when you first introduce it to the kids. Then REMEMBER to use that words you taught again in the next meeting, as often as you can, do it for about a week or a month (depending on the kids, the frequency of meeting) then observe. If they have gotten the ideas, use it as necessary only and you can do a review every end of the month or every other weeks, or whenever you think necessary. REPETITION is the key. It is teachers' job to decide how much you should repeat.  Other ways of learning more vocabularies are through songs and story telling or in Chinese we have 儿歌. In doing this, I am the kind of teacher who is very expressive, HEBOH in Bahasa Indonesia， both in my facial expression or in the volume of my voice. I am trained to "scolding" my nephew and nieces, so I am very LOUD. However, I need to acknowledge that some teachers can do it calmly, and still manage to convey the message and get the kids to learn, so find what works for you.

Every interaction with the kids are "extraordinary" for me. When I praise them with the word "wow" I don't just do "WOW", but I do "WOOOOWWWWWWWW!!!!" with both eyes bulging, in good kind ways. Oh I have seen some teachers who encourage with a very gentle "wow" and get the kids blushing and more encouraged than ever, so again personal style! Remember an art not an exact science.  

Start by focusing on those words that we might use daily. Forget about the kids must be able to count 1 - 10, must be able to recognize colors, etc. For, me, I first teach about whatever objects in their schoolbags, the things they wear, the things they need to say when they want to use the bathroom, the dustbin (kids need to learn not to litter), about the birds or butterfly that stops by in our house's garage or even the type of weather, or sometimes, I take out the content of my fridge and start teaching. 

If you insist want to teach color, then do it more creatively. Use all the things you have in hands. You can also ask the children to stand up and find things around the class/room that is in color that you are currently discussing. Children who do not sit still are normal! I am not patient about it at times too. But we just have to learn. But again, we can be firm about certain "rules" in class" and for all the "rules" followed, reward them with FUN activities! 

When the kids are not in the mood at times, I sometimes let them choose on what to learn, limit your option though, be firm about certain things, this motivates them and teach them to be responsible to what the things that they have chosen to do.  

In listening, better to have props to draw attention. I once was overwhelmed by a class of crying babies as the parents started to leave them by themselves in class, when I sang no one was interested. So, I get the idea to make a felt finger puppet, that are thematic and suits the songs. For example, I sew a few tiger finger puppets, one without eyes, without tail, etc to accompany the song "两只老虎”. As I took out the finger puppets, the kids are started to get interested, then promise them to play with it (and let them play with it, keep your promise), if they sing together with you and before I know it, they were singing louder than me!

I am not against gadget to aid learning. But I make sure I guide the use of gadget and limit them as necessary. When I want to show them a story, I make sure I don't just let them watch, I pause from time to time, then put the story in a simpler language and highlight on certain vocabularies in it before moving on to the next part of the story. Often I ask them to repeat the story for me, ask them about the meaning of vocabularies that I highlighted before. Repeat this until you think you no longer needs to pause the video, it's the indication for me that I am done with that story and need to find something else new. 

The pace of teaching is varied from one kids to another. Thus, even kids on the same level might learn different things in my class. This is a challenge for school teacher. Observe and see how the pace of the majority of the students and always prepare "something extra" for those who are slower or who are faster. 

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Gosh... So long... To be continued... Not all those things are gonna work for every teacher and definitely not every kid. So we all just can be more observant and put lots of effort in implementing what might works and be prepare to drop it when it doesn't work as expected. Oh yeah, my first session with a 2,5 years old kid was embarrassing, running around chasing her to look at the book that I had prepared, under her mom's watch. But this parent is a great one, and that 2,5 years old is one of my success story, someone who has boost my confidence and teach me what I need to learn.

All the best!!!

Into a new place, call Home~

The past two weeks had been super crazy, both for me and Henki, for different reasons.

We had been in a new place for almost two weeks now (since the 16th of July 2017). It's a place we now call "home" with extra bedroom where we can accommodate family and friends when they are visiting. This is another hobby that I think I inherited from my family. Every Chinese new year, when all the BIG family make the trip back to hometown to visit grandma, there is never short of rooms to accommodate all of those people. House is always designed with extra bedrooms for guests! ALWAYS! I am talking about 30 people visiting for two nights. Of course it is not that luxurious stay where everyone gets a room of their own, it is more like those family stay where everyone cramp together "comfortably". Getting people to stay and "sleep" in your guestrooms is always a competition among the family. Whoever got more guests staying in their house is the "winner". Grandma who is now staying with my third uncle always win! =D

We had been planing to find a new place for a few months, but could only do the search during the weekends, when Henki is available to do other things than work. Until about 3 weeks ago, I made a few appointment by myself during the weekdays and did a viewing of a few houses by myself, taking videos recording of the place and area for Henki to see and calculate the time and distance from the house to Henki's workplace (the last thing I want is to add his exhaustion with the extra miles spent on the road getting home and going to work) Then, I found this one. I texted him "I think I have found it!" He didn't even have the chance to look at the place until the day we have to sign all the paper. It's still renting, by the way.

Never pick them from the tree. Always those which are already on the ground

So, here we are waking up to a room full of light and have been having a super good sleep, not sure it's from the exhaustion or from the different "feng shui" as they said. But yeah... Things are going well so far with the house. The owner (crossing my fingers) is quite flexible and decently nice. Hopefully it carries on til the very end of our contract here. What I love about the house is the garden. I pick up the flowers that fall to the ground everyday and use them to decorate the dining table. The dining table is not properly placed due to the design of the house, but for 2 of us, we are okay with that for now. And the good thing with its current position is that, every morning after Henki goes to work, I will just sit there alone, doing my things accompanied by the nice morning breeze and the green leaves (when we were little mom always asked us to go out and enjoy the blue sky and the green leaves, good for our eyes, she said). I do that everyday now.

"Leftover" chairs from the owner, 

Gonna add a table and it's a nice hangout place in the morning and afternoon

Our bed room is good too. I love the natural lights! Super BRIGHT from early morning to about 6PM when the sun starts to set down. However, the living room is quite hot during the mid day. The only thing that I do not like.

Most of our Lives are not perfect. My life is not!

But I would like to see the good things in each day and be grateful about it. What better right?

Henki has been super busy with work (when was the last time he didn't?). So there are times when I was talking to the people whom I am working with and mentioned about Henki's work that require him to come home late and sometimes to work even during the weekend, the first thing that they ask me is "Does he bring you along during the working weekends? If he isn't, you should be suspicious." It's so low minded. The people don't even know him. Remind myself never to assume bad about people ever again! We never know how one's life is. Take care of your own!

As of me, I would like to learn from Mom. There was one time, when I was still in college, I was always home late. My aunt is super fed up with me, not sure what I am doing out there. She had good intention, she still cared for me. So she called my mom and said all the things that might make my mom worried. Then as you expected, my mom called me. Instead of scolding me, she said to me "I told yi ma (aunt) not to worry about you. I told him that you know what you are doing. You can take care of yourself. I trust you." How WISE! How can I betray that kind of trust, not asking, just trust. I treasure it! Until now!

So now, I would like to do the same with my partner. "Baby, thank you for working so hard out there. Don't let work consume you. Take care of yourself too. Take work as a game, we put our best in it, but still sometimes we win, sometimes we lose. That's the nature of life. Quoting Ajahn Brahm, When you can't do anything, do nothing. When you know you can do something, give everything you have got! I trust you and I love you."

That's pretty much about the past month.

I can't wait for September to come! I said "Wakes me up when September starts!" :)

New Hope,

Lin ^^

Henki & Linda's Second Quarter of 2017

It's 10:56 and I have done cooking a dish for tonight, It's the Bak Kut Teh. I have also got paper marked and lunch prepared. What a productive morning. =D

Today woke up early, as Henki has officially starting his "budgeting" months, it's gonna be crazy for him for the next two to three months. Hang on, Baby! This too will pass, it always does. a minute at a time, an hour at a time, then one day at a time.

So, although I have not been writing much on this blog, the least that I could do is to keep up the quarterly "report".

Can you believe that half of 2017 is GONE! What have we used it for all this while?

 

Work
For me, the 3 months since April, nothing has happened much, as usual. My ex-colleague and now-friend had moved to Bali with her husband and her 2 year old boy. And as she finds things to "do" in Bali, we agree to start something small. If everything goes smoothly, we will start somewhere in August or September. It is something for kids, I am going back to where I started (not a bad thing). I thought I have lost the passion towards it, as I do research and read more and imagine how it will be, I actually got excited. Is it really my passion or is it just my character that got easily "excited and passionate" about almost anything that I am thrown at. Anyway, whatever it is that's just me doing the best that I can.

Company training is still on going now, the classes have gone quite well, I think. I have a bit of downtime towards the end of June as it was Lebaran and Bali is packed with people who are travelling from Java island and also it's the Australian school break. Thus, the island is crowded, so do the hotels and restaurants. And because they are understaff, the class is postponed and there I have my break.

Last month I have quit teaching the college students for various reasons, and the major one is that so that I can make time to focus on something else.

I also signed a very short contract to help a spa centre in Bali monitoring their listings on Chinese websites. Something that I can do from home, in between cooking and cleaning the house. It is only a 4 months contract, as I requested, to see if I am still into this thing. It's been almost a month. I am still  hanging on despite the very irritating issue in "accessing" the Chinese website from Indonesia as well as a bit of company politics that they share with me, that if I am given an option care not to know.

Henki's work is FOREVER busy. He is under staff. He is in charge in Sales and Marketing but he is basically the Revenue Director too. That's the problem with big company, they exploit their worker to save cost (or whatever reason they have), demands a lot and giving so little. If we were ever be a business owner (finger cross), I hope we can be a better version of "leader". *Fingercrossed. Oh yeah, I am very hopeful.

Play/Food
We don't play much. >.< However, we enjoyed one another companion most of the time. There are times that we got bored too, of course, but many-many times we don't.

Within three months we only made it once to the beach. There I lost my dearest goggles and hit quite hard by the wave. Thus, due to much rest that Henki needs after all the hardwork during the weekdays, our play is normally food. =D

There are a few memorable weekend "culinary" experience that we had. One of them is at the Tony Roma's. I intended to write about it but find no time til now. The food is excellent, no doubt, considering the price. Hahaha.. What impressed us that night is that how "passionate" the staff seems like. It was someone birthday, so I guessed the girlfriend ordered a cake, the staff, 6-8 of them came out singing the birthday song, NOT the classic birthday song, where before the song ends, the singers' voice normally getting softer and softer. Hahaha. This is their version. I can't remember the tune, but I remember the feeling that I got from that song. It's very jolly! Then, it is not only one song, before the cake "reached" the table, there was another song. And what best is that the staff wasn't only singing, but some of them are playing a simple music instruments to accompany that song too...

And that's not the only best, a staff came out with Polaroid camera and took a picture of the couple with the cake and gave them the picture. And still, that's not it, another staff came out with a deck of card and entertained the couple n their table with simple magic trick. Imagine that! If you are not anti-social, I think you will find this experience memorable.

What impress us is not the 'entertainment', but how Tony Roma's manage to hire those staff that are very skillful and talented and passionate. That's just great!

Bad Month for anything Electronic
This month was bad for our phones (both of our iPhone got into the water). Mine still functions without any "treatment", Henki's dead, so he got it fixed. Then, my laptop started to make so much sound, but still functions well. So I am backing up files on Google Drive and Henki's laptop so that whenever it is dead on me, I am ready for it. *Finger crossed. Then, the car has broken down a few times. The car was "healthy" until we decided to get it "maintained" in an independent automobile repair shop. But after the maintenance, the car broke down 3-4 times before we called the Kia service center and get the necessary fixed. The car functions well now. Ahh.. these things really get me at times. However, as all things, these too will pass. :)

Life in General
The past three months was great. Oh yeah, End of April I was down for about a week with dengue fever, but I have recovered from it. Voila! Other than that, both of us have been quite healthy and happy. I hope I speak for him too =D

Someone said to me "You look so happy in Bali". I said "I can choose to complain about all things that are not going well, things that I am disappointing at, things that I wish for and don't get and dwell in all those negativity, but I won't. I choose another way of living, to be happy."

Of course, at times I "slip" and feel miserable too, but I don't let it get too far, too long, because it doesn't do me any good. So why continue to "slip" right?

加油
Love,
Lin ^ ^

 

Henki & Linda's first quarter of 2017

Can you believe that we have almost passed the first quarter of 2017? Time flies!

Here is an update of what's happening, nothing much but everything is good.

The first month, we did a trip back to visit both sides of the families in Jakarta and in Medan. We manage to get some paper done as well for Henki in Jakarta. Then, Henki stayed about a week in Medan before flying back to Bali to catch another flight the next day to India, Business Trip. I stayed back as planned for another week and happy to be home. They are still the best! I miss them now as I am writing this. But, I gain soooo much weight. Still trying to shed some more now.

The second month, February, Henki came back from India with a fever. Even with the fever he still went to work and half day after that I had to pick him up and sent him to the hospital. He was admitted for 4 days before coming back home and start working again. And a few days later, I was having fever (scared me to death, I just don't want to relive whatever happened at the end of last year), lucky with some rest I got better in 2 days and fully recover after a week or so. I was just too exhausted running here and there when Henki was hospitalized. But we are fine now :)

This month, March, for the first time since June last year, we got into the Ocean again, Henki as usual enjoying his time swimming far away from the shore, as for me playing by the beach side. I love the beach, I am not afraid to get dark, but I am scared too at the same time, as I always think that I am not good in threading water, thus.. fear has won over me there.

As for work, This month I have full attendance in each training group that I did. That means I am healthy. Yay! I am negotiating new contract too, hopefully get it done by early or mid next month. Finger-crossed!

Henki's work is terrible. I can easily say he dedicates a total of 60 hours per week for work. Although I can see in his frustration about so much things to do and the lack of human resource, I think he enjoys his current role in sales and marketing. He told me that he is more confidence and not hesitate to meet with people and get some deals done. Again in between his frustration dealing and managing the human within, he also enjoys dealing with some business partners and customers. I am so proud of him.

Oh yeah, something small and not important, finding things to do, I just started another Instagram account (@goingplaces_101) that features all the beautiful places that I had been and those places that I will be. Digging out old photos, gosh, it brings so much good memory back.

This year, I am anticipating 4 things as of now; getting our marriage cert done (Oops! Long story), friends visit in Sept 2017, our Japan trip in Dec, and lastly have dad and mom here in Bali again, still planning for a good time.

This morning we had a 6,4 magnitude earthquake shaking right underneath this small island. Fortunately, there is no serious casualty. I would like to thank family and friends who call me to check on me and Henki. We are fine. Bali is fine.

Peace,

Linda :)

Wrapping 2016 with Gratitude

 

Time passes real quick. It feels like yesterday when I was still in my parents' home busy preparing for our wedding early this year, then moving city and in 3 days, the year of 2016 is ending.

 

As usual, wrapping each year, let's look back and see how we have grown and start another year bringing a better person and forgiving a less "good" quality behind.

 

This year is definitely an important year for me. There are many changes in life since I got married. Early this year, I wrote about 2015 in a glimpse but didn't make any personal resolution for this year, because I honestly haven't figured out things for myself since I got married. It is no longer about me, it is more about "us" (Henki & I), as Ajahn Brahm said and supported by Mom and Dad.

 

Moving to Bali is a bitter sweet experience. I am super close with my family and relatives back in Medan. The bitter part is that I am now quite far from them (I joke that Medan - Bali flight is like flying to China, it takes almost a whole day), and I miss spending weekends afternoon, playing, catching up with my sis, niece, nephew and cousins. The sweet part is that I am here in one of the heavens on earth with my other half now, sleeping better, and playing harder. Also, living further from family makes me realized how I love and I am loved by my family back home. Early this month when my dad and mom made their visit to Bali, my grandma and aunties were buying me lots of good food from Medan. Everybody was busy shopping and preparing cooked food for me and Henki. Honestly, whose relatives are still doing that??? I am blessed to be raised in this family, aren't I?

 

About Married Life

 

Being married is not the end of a "happy" story. It is just the beginning of living LIFE in a more humane way in general. It is building a family after all. Some people asked me when I am planning to start a family, referring to "having a baby". Deep in side, I tell myself that I am already starting a family, by being married.

 

Being married, I learn about so many things, I think it is the same for Henki too.

 

We have to make lots of adjustment in our life and learning (yup! still learning) to accept one another. It is putting 2 different individuals and hope they are walking towards the same destination after all. First year of marriage is not really a honeymoon period, it is a learning period (a continuous one, in fact!). Lots of respect, patience, tolerance, forgiveness (at times) and of course the "never-give-up" attitude are needed to make things work. Those things are not cliché. Those things are REAL! You have seen lots of our happy moments captured on camera, you just didn't see those nights sleeping back to back, trying hard not to touch one another. I am glad we made it through those nights, reconcile and get a better understanding (hopefully) about one another. 

 

I am proud to say that we do start this family as those in the olden days did. We experienced those shopping for household items and making a place HOME with our hard earned/saved  money, not asking from anybody else. We started from the kitchenware, dining table, bed and lastly an old secondhand car for practical purpose. Looking back, there are some "soury" feeling to not being able to buy the things that we "want", because we want to save it for something more important and matter, but most of the feeling is Pride!

 

In this case, I really look up to some family and friends who can actually afford luxurious things, but choose a simpler way of living a life, with a super generous heart to those in need and things that really matter. They are my other role models (other than my parents). I learn from them not trying so hard to impress others with what we have, but instead of what we are as a person. This life value is easier for me to practice, because I grew up in a small town where people are more sincere, although not all, than those in bigger metropolitan city. From this, I learn too not to be impressed easily by people who talk big about what they can do and what they have, because most of the time, we can see through them. 

 

From here, I learn what kind of family that we want to build and what not. If lucky to have any, what kind of values that I want to teach my children in the future. Things are not always as comfortable as what some of other newly weds have, but dad and mom started simple too and if they make it works to date, I hope Henki and I can too. I hope we started right. Bless us!

 

Carreer & Work

 

One of the biggest adjustments that I have to make is in term of work. I tried a full time job as a school teacher, teaching Mandarin. It didn't work out well for me, as I am not 100% satisfy with my working environment, so I quit. On top of that, Henki had to sacrifice his resting time (due to my early work schedule) and work longer hour. Exhausting for him. Although he didn't complain. Thanks for those one full month, Baby!

After that, I applied for a part time job, and was having the power to bargain for work schedule as much as I think I want/am capable to handle, by giving house chores, my family, as my first priority.

 

I know it might sound silly to some others, but growing up one of the most important things that MIGHT contribute to how Dad and Mom turn out to be, for me, successful parents is that they keep those values that we youngsters deem as outdated now. For example, always making the time to eat, at least, dinner in one table together, how mom no matter how busy she was with the shop, she had never neglected the needs of her children. We are always her first priority, we had always had breakfast before we go to school, she prepared our snack to be taken to school, lunch has always ready when we got home. Those motherly chores might seem 理所当然 as Chinese put it or "as it should be by right", but those things are the things that we appreciate the most now as their children.

 

Those 'outdated' things are the things that I want to keep in my own family with Henki. Just during the visit, my dad told me (he is not a kind of dad who will sit me down and tell me all kind of life lessons, but he did this time), to prepare a glass of water when your husband is home after a long day of work. A more 'modern' part of me will tell myself that is the thing that he can do on his own, but there might be certain things that need not modernization, thus, I try my best to do as dad and mom told /showed me on how to be a good wife, hoping that my current family will work out like how Dad and Mom build their home. A home where I am very proud of and can't stop to brag about!

 

So, for now, work with the sole purpose to earn is a less important thing. I work to fill up my time and to keep continue doing things that I am passionate with. However, tell you the truth some part of me do fear that my value as a person is lessen because I am not able to support myself, to shop without feeling guilty and other petty negative feelings about being too depending on someone else.  That's my sacrifice. I hope it will be worth it, as they said.

 

That's mostly about my "work", not so much a career.

 

There are more to Henki's career though.  I know only certain parts of it, but I do know he works his "b*tt" of this year. He has his heart full at work when he is at work, and sometimes even when he is home from work.

 

He does make progress in term of career advancement, and I am a proud wife. Don't argue with me, I am a true believer that hard work always pays off, one way or another.

 

He decided to take a new role in his company this year, to be out of his comfort zone, from Revenue to Sales & Marketing, and I think he does well that he was trusted with a new property to handle, starting the very end of this year.

 

I don't know much about what's going on EXACTLY in his daily work life at the office, but I hope that he will learn to take care of himself better, after the 110% that he had put in at work.

 

"What's done is finish", said Ajahn Brahm

 

I kind of understand how he felt about "unfinished" work, but work will never finish, there are always things to do, if you do not want to stop at just being good or enough, things can always be better. However, that's a worry for another day. At the end of the day, our body is the only things that stay with us (yup! even people we love/love you, will leave us one day, hopefully not by choice), so better take a good care of our body, when we can.

 

I just want to let him know that he has done super good here!

 

Others...

This year is not a good year for me physically. I was coughing for almost 4 months and just got better about 2 weeks ago. I went for a consultation and being diagnosed with bronchitis and pneumonia (caused by bacteria called Pseudomonas Aeruginosa) and were hospitalized for almost 2 weeks. during the hospitalization period, I had measles and was isolated. After being discharged, I was still on antibiotic (lots of them) and not getting better until I stopped the intake of the drugs given and went for a second opinion in Singapore, just to be told that there might be wrong diagnosis and I am young and healthy. It might be just my body recovering slowly and for sure, the side effect of a month of antibiotic. 

 

Relief is the biggest feeling that I have, because I have been worried sick about the things that I was told that I had in my body (even search for the "mortality rate" for that disease, yes! I was feeling that terrible that it felt like dying). However, to think about all the stress that experience had put me through, I do feel disappointed at the medical care standard in Indonesia. There was a point that I was asked to go for HIV test to eliminate some aspects that might causes my compromised immune system (Is it even really compromised? Who knows!) It came out negative, but that was one stressful afternoon. My mom was tearing and kissing me in relief when she and Dad accompanied me to the hospital to take the result.

 

What an experience. I am glad that it had passed. During that terrible period, I realized something, that the most scary part about dying is when you think how people who love you might grieving so much that it breaks your heart and it is your fault to put them through that path of suffering. That is the scariest part that I felt, not the fear about dying itself, not the fear about not achieving anything, there was even slight relief that you do not have to be worry about anything worldly anymore, that you have done your best. Anyway, that's just sick body and mind talking.

 

As the doctor in Singapore told me "You are young and healthy." Let's just hang on to that for now :)

 

Henki is generally healthy, there was a few times that he was down because he was too tired, one of those times was when he was taking care of me. I just hope that he will commit to saying goodbye to the "da*n" cigarette very very soon! Oh yeah, I hate cigarette, soooooo much. I am super sensitive to it, in a bad way, I can even smell someone was smoking outside of my frontdoor while I sit here, typing.

 

Moving on, we didn't travel much this year. Henki made a trip to Kuala Lumpur for Work, We made a trip to Singapore for medical care (which turn to short getaway that Henki didn't enjoy much, very difficult man to satisfy, poor him :p), and short trip to Bandung last March. That was pretty much it.

 

 

We had never planned for any honeymoon trip and didn't have any. To comfort myself, I told myself that I am living in Bali, where newly wed came to have their honeymoon. How smart! =D Based on this logic, we have our honeymoon every other weekends for about 3 months early this year, adventuring around Bali. Lots of beach hopping, until earthquake stroke last June/July. 

 

Reading is poorly maintained this year. :( Writing, I have been writing lots of posts that are related to learning mandarin this year, but nothing much personal, 15 posts, including this one, in a year time. Cooking, I learn to cook, and I think (I hope Henki agrees with me =D) that it gets better with time. Slow progress and depending so much on the mood, but I think am slightly better, comparing to the beginning of this year. I know how coriander looks like now, how does "leek" and "lemongrass" look like and how to differentiate the two and many other simple things around the kitchen. In between, lots of hours of phone call were made to mom as my lifeline. Oh yeah, I am that stupid before, slightly smarter now. =D That's the most important thing about life, isn't it? To learn each and every day. Doesn't matter how small the progress is, as long as we keep moving, that's what matter.

 

This pretty much of our 2016, more of mine and a bit of Henki's.

 

I am grateful for whatever happened in 2016, not limited to all the good moments, but to those period of time when I wasn't well, to those times that we have our arguments, to those stressful time of work. I believe we are going to start 2017 a better person, if not much better, a little.

 

2017's prediction is not good for me, however, I determined to make it good and prove the prediction wrong. If I lose, as always "That too will Pass".

 

May each and everyone of our family and friends have a healthy, blessed, prosperous and happy New Year 2017.

 

Love,

Us (Linda & Henki)