Post Canada day trip

Up to 1750 km driven, wandered around mountain playground of our neigboring province, the so-called Land of Kootenay Rockies a.k.a Valley of a Thousand peaks in SW of British Columbia. More than 400 litre of gasoline was consumed by our SUV to drive along more less a 150 km winding narrow road cruising the 100 km long Kootenay Lake. Almost 31 towns were passed and 20 places located in some of the towns were visited from lakes, water fall, hot springs, Japannese gardens, campground, orchards and various historical sites from local museums, the biggest surviving sternwheeler, abandoned 'ghost mining town', to Japanesse Canadian internment site.

About 7 days, 6 nights were spent and nomadically stayed in 4 different towns for the sake of experiencing different things from our routine daily life. From budget motel in the middle of quite downtown of Cranbrook, feel-like-home hostel as I can cook in full kitchenette (Ainsworth), neighbored by hot spring pool and pure natural hot springs cave, a quite cabin with valley view of an agricultural town of Creston to an affordable cozy family country inn in Fernie, nestled in the Elk Valley, famed as a destination town of all year round outdoor sport lovers of water rafter, skiers, snowboarder and mountain bikers. And…as always posted in every tourist spots, wherever you go on this our lovely planet, only footprints left but we are welcomed to take as much as experience or memories from those places. Enjoyed the warmest lake in Invermere, barbeque lunch in the wonderful campground surrounded by a lake in New Denver, cozily soaked in silica rich hot spring pool and cave in Ainsworth, cruised the longest free ferry ride in the world (Balfour – Kootenay Bay) in breeze and crispy wind blowing along the lake, had a stroll at the ferry harbour in one misty morning waiting for ferry arrival, watching geese, seagulls and ducks by the lakeshore, took a stroll down the 100 foot high Marysville waterfalls, just located in backyards of some resident in Kimberley, took train ride to the historic Sullivan base metal underground mine in Kimberley, made Rafee's day even so memorable, then stunned by the sights, sounds, smells of all happenings in the last century that have been recreated on the world's oldest surviving passenger sternwheeler of SS Moyie historical site in Kaslo, and lastly a meaningful visit at the Nikkei Memorial Internment Centre in New Denver, appreciated how the Japanese Canadians who were stripped of their civil rights, impacted by Pearl Harbour booming in 1942, forced to relocate from their coastal BC homes to camps or lived in shacks of mountainous regions in BC, and other provinces. All of those, what we got …. unforgottable moments ....

--- some more detail of our travelogue and photologues will be posted as soon as time available to write and upload ----

Lagi..lagi tentang weather...

Kupikir benar adanya, orang bilang nga ada habis-habisnya deh kalo bicara tentang cuaca, apalagi tinggal di negara 4 musim, seperti di sini. Sepertinya, checking the weather before you go outside is a must do.

Eh, kenapa juga ya aku koq ngotot sih.. iya gimana nggak weekend kemarin kami termasuk si kecil Rafee lho girang banget menyambut musim semi yang sepertinya datang lebih awal. Ya karena dia bisa keluar rumah, jelas di bosan sekali dirumah selama winter. Wah dia girang bukan kepalang saat kuajak main ayunan untuk pertama kalinya di taman dekat rumah. Terlebih suamiku, lega karena dia ngak perlu bersihin driveway dan footpath di depan rumah kami kalo saat salju turun. Itu wajib dilakukan, kalo nggak kena denda.

Hari Sabtunya aja kita sudah harus merubah jam dirumah satu jam lebih awal, yang berarti musim semi dah akan mulai. Hari Minggunya, cerah, matahari bersinar, Rafee sempat dibawa keluar main-main di beranda rumah, menikmati siraman matahari. Seusai makan siang, kenapa nggak ya kami pikir keluar rumah mengunjungi Elbow fall, yang tak terlalu jauh dari Calgary cuma 45 menit driving. Antrian mobil memadati jalan-jalan menuju keluar kota, ya tentu aja orang-orang tidak mau kehilangan kesempatan untuk keluar rumah menuju taman-taman menikamti cerahnya cuaca bersama keluarga. Wuah.. puas sekali mata ini memandang sekitar kita tanpa ada warna putih yang menutupinya..

Tapi, sayang keceriaan kami cuma berakhir hingga Senin sore, karena Mr.White masih ingin mengunjungi kami disini. Waduh, malam itu salju tak henti-hentinya turun hingga saat ini pun. Kira-kira hampir 10cm tumpukan salju di beranda rumah. Haha. suamiku, saat dia sebelum berangkat ke kantor ya mau nggak mau harus shovel the snow.

Kira-kira jam 8 pagi tadi, dia menelponku dari kantor, dia bercerita dia hampir terpeleset saat turun dari bis karena black ice (es transparan di atas aspal). Dia sekalian mengingatkan aku kalo aku ada rencana keluar rumah dengan mengendarai mobil, bisa slip.

Mudah-mudahan keadaan ini cuma sementara, katanya sih akhir pekan ini bakal bagus cuacanya.. tapi aku sih ngak terlalu berharap banyak, unpredictably change!! Or maybe Mr Whte wanna give a bit more snow for us before he really leaves us.. (^~^)

Warm Weekend!!

It's been a week, the weather here is so cold and dull, enough to make me bored staying at home. Oh yeah, who wants to wander outside with -20°C in chilly wind. Almost everyday snow falls. It's too much for March. Normally we have less snow.

In fact, being in Calgary, I should be blessed as we have quite mild winter compared to the one in the Eastern region. They have impact of the late winter snow. They have complexity of snow with storm. It's not only snowfall, but also rain, freezing rain, and worse thing also with strong chilly wind. Imagine, it must be tough for the commuters who have to drive to office as they have to cope with the unpleasant road conditions. Also for them who need to wait for public transit at uncovered bus shelter. HOOO..., that chilly wind is quite strong to penetrate your bones though you have put on layers of clothes. I have experienced that. In one dark cloudy morning, I sat on the cold bench inside the bus shelter, I still felt cold. Great, my bus came late.

Winter this year is really unusual. The eastern region got late winter. They had brown Christmas, they never have that. It is always white. British Columbia had even worse than usual condition. They had snow and storm which made a big mess in their Stanley Park. They claimed this park to be one of the great parks of the world! Environmentalists state this as impact of the global warming, so the climate changes. I think it's not only in Canada but happens globally, include what happened in my beloved home country. Ugh..weather has been always unpredictable, everywhere.

OK, enough about Mr. Weather... it's now about Mr Chinook , who will gladly visit us tonight here in Calgary to cheer up our weekend. It's gonna be sunny, with 11°C .. convenient enough to walk on snow under the sun. Thanks Mr Chinook, please come again.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!

Kepergianku tertunda

Seharusnya malam ini aku dan Rafee terbang ke Jakarta, tapi karena suatu hal yang sepertinya sepele - tapi menurut aku bisa bikin repot, kutunda hingga hari Jumat malam. Hal sepele apa? Iya, hari Jumat minggu lalu, iseng-iseng kutelpon maskapai penerbangan yang kupakai, ternyata tidak ada kepastian Rafee akan mendapat bassinet selama penerbangan Vancouver - Hongkong (notabene 13jam penerbangan). Waks.. tak mau lah aku menggendong di saat dia tidur, bagaimana suatu waktu aku terlelap tidur. Itu bahaya (pakai "!"), terutama jika tiba-tiba tanpa sadar dia terlepas dari dekapanku karena aku terlelap tidur.

Akhirnya kuputuskan untuk merubah jadwal hari penerbangan dengan kepastian bassinet untuk Rafee. Yang bahagia tentu saja bapaknya, karena dia dapat 5 more days with the baby.

Di Ramadhan kali ini, Insya Allah, sejak hari pertama, aku berpuasa tanpa ada hambatan menurunnya suplai ASI, mudah-mudah demikian adanya hingga akhir Ramadhan. Selama ada niat untuk menjalankannya, kemudahan pastilah akan diberikanNya.. Awalnya memang agak ragu khawatir Rafee tidak akan mendapat cukup ASI. Sebelumnya kucek sana-sini via internet, and it’s OK karena pada dasarnya puasa hanya merubah jadwal makan. Hanya saja porsi asupan makanan dan cairan harus kutambah selama sahur dan berbuka.

Satu lagi rahmat selama Ramadhan ini, alhamdulillah tak kusangka-sangka pagi ini Rafee akhirnya mau membuka mulutnya saat kutawarkan barley cereal. Aku girang bukan kepalang karena mak!aku hampir putus asa dibuatnya. Dia mogok makan, menutup mulutnya, memalingkan muka saat kutawarkan makanan sejak 2 minggu yang lalu. Sebelumnya tak ada masalah sama sekali. Berbagai jenis sayur dan buah-buahan dia lalap walau kadang agak malas-malasan juga dia menelannya. Terakhir kucoba rice cereal dia tutup mulut, menolaknya. Saat itu kupikir dia akan tumbuh gigi, tapi kucek gusinya oke-oke saja. Karena aku makin khawatir, dia akan kekurangan zat besi (dimana salah satu sumbernya dari susu formula dan cereal - tapi dia nggak suka minum susu formula), akhirnya pagi ini, dengan rileks kutawarkan barley cereal dicampur dengan cairan susu formula. Ajaib, dia tak menolak sama sekali, dengan rela dengan muka gembira dibuka mulutnya lebar-lebar demi suapan cereal itu. Mungkin dia tak suka rice cereal. Sepertinya, aku harus pelan-pelan menawarkan dia makanan hingga akhirnya dia bisa menikmati makanan tersebut.

Sekedar intermezzo, ini gayanya dengan topi plastik yang sengaja kutaruh dikepalanya. Ha..ha lucu kan. Matanya nggak mau lepas dari kamera. Kemana kamera itu pergi, selalu diikuti padahal dia lagi asyik main hp dan telephon.

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GLoomy week, but it's OK (^_^)

World Cup vs Stanley Cup

Weather this week is so gloomy, uncomfy for me to walk outside. It has been three days, morning are always cloudy with cold wind. At night, mostly shower pours sounded by thunder.
On Saturday, last weekend my hubby so panicked as he thought he would not be able to watch the World Cup games. He was mad at the TV cable provider we subscribe. They don't air live matches of the World Cup, they only air the recorded ones. Worstly, when he knew that CBC Sport program (note Canadian National TV) and other TV channels here prefer airing live matches of Stanley's NHL so called Canadian Sport to World Cup. Well, it is so obvious, they would rather cover the hockey because Edmonton team from Alberta (one Canada's province) is the winner of the West Region and will be playing in final play off with the East Region winner which is North Carolina (USA).
I still wonder why they don't cover the World Cup, I believe they know that World Cup is World sport, played and faved by all nations in this world. Moreover, we know that population of Canada are occupied by immigrants from various nations. FYI: Canada is known as the second favorite destination country for immigrants after USA. So if the Canadian TV channels take the chance to air the World CUp I believe they will collect more mony from commercials.
Anyway, my hubby is finally happy enough found that ABC covers most of the live matches. That's American channel. For sure they won't miss the chance to air the matches indulging the American which are mostly 50% from South America as one continent where the best football player are from.

Vacation goodies

One of it is passport. Its application was sent yesterday. First for Rafee, then for my expired passport. It was not so complicated to apply one for Rafee.. I can't believe he will bear Canadian passport while mine is green Indonesian passport. We just need to provide birth certificate then whoala he will get one. Yes, for thsi vacation, I will be flying solo just with him. Imagine when I land at CKG airport, I will be in the Visa on Arrival line, holding him. Hm.. I bet an officer will come toward me cynically tell me "Mam, what for visa?? You don't look like foreigner". This happened to my hubby when he came to Jakarta two years ago (his face is a typical Indonesian face). Well, possibly when I line up I need to show up Rafee's passport which is not a green one.
For mine, luckily it can be extended in the Consulate General office in Vancouver. I also ask them to put my address here in Canada so I can be free from paying fiscal fee when I return to Calgary. Talking about fiscal.. I think it's too expensive for Indonesian to pay 1 million rups just to go overseas. I heard Govt will revisit this regulation. Hope they did.

Got an extra cash

Why not, while I can manage doing it at home. Yum huh! making extra money to shop souvernirs for my siblings back home. This morning, when I checked my emails, I got one from the secretary of the office where I worked. She asked to call the chief geologist. I wondered what's up. I talked to the chief. He told me they are working on Buton's project (one mining area in Eastern Indonesia). To generate report, they have logs from previous report but need translation from Bahasa Indonesia to English. Yupe, they surely remember me. I am so pleased to do the job. I think I can manage my time. Importantly, they don't mind to pay me cash.

First Trisemester

Yes, my dear Rafee is 3 months now. Time flies like rocket. Look the pictures below showing how he is on his tummy, though he can't really flip over by himself.

Additionally, he becomes good at cooing-gaggling-gurgling. Well, those sometimes make me smile. I wish I could I understand what he says. I believe I can hear he can pronounce 5 vowels, also some important consonants for calling his mom-dad.

Be ready!!

Summary of tips to fly with infant

Though it’s still long way to go, I thought it’s wise to have summary of my finding on tips/tricks ahead of time - I collected from internet - to prepare for my solo trip from Calgary to Jakarta with my 6 month old baby in September. I am hoping I would have free stress flight, puih.. would be almost 20 hours. This is my first time experience and it would be challenging.

( Ticket

• Try to book non stop flight if not choose one whose route with less and short time transit. Cathay Pacific offers this for flight from North America to Asia.
• Manage seat in the aisle with bassinet

( A pack of baby stuffs

• Always try to make the pack handy, reachable.
• They contain more diapers, wipes, changing pad, towels, plastic bags for disposal
• Have soft quiet simple toys, story colorful books to make them happy and comfortable when they are awake.
• Be prepared with blanket, extra clothes
• Have extra solid food, your own utensils, bibs, empty bottle for expressed milk
• Pacifier in case your baby doesn’t wanna have breast milk
• Get advise from pediatrician before you leave. The pediatrician may recommend a decongestant. The pressure of takeoff could potentially cause extreme discomfort

( Stay sane

• Be hydrated if you are breastfeeding so bring your own water bottle
• Keep your face, lips moisturized
• Don’t be shy to ask for help
• When the baby cries, calm down, don’t get frustrated he may annoy others.
• Be prepared with nursing clothes, bottle of water, extra snack
• Keep smiling to the baby and be happy with him

( Activities

• Changing Diapers - can be done on the floor in the back of the cabin, bring a small pack contains the materials. Refill them when your baby settled - If you are not in busy row, change them in my seat.
• To loo – you can put baby in the bassinet or bring baby with using baby carrier
• to equalize ear pressure of your baby during take off/landing, breastfeed the baby or let him suck (pacifier)
• To walk around the aisle with baby in your sling, exercise for you too.
• During transit bring the baby with you in umbrella stroller, so easy to bring and to pack.

One Fine Day

PUL-KAM PLAN
Yesterday was really effective day, not like other days. Since I have Rafee, my days are just filled with routine nurturing activities such as nursing, diapering, bathing him, and also playing. The latter gives so much fun and incredible pleasant feelings. Especially, when I observe and keep watching his development in behavior and mood changes. I love noticing every movement of his adorable tiny hands. They are just like mini size of adult’s.
In between those if possible, quite often I am able to multitask to cook some dishes, to hang out with internet. Well of course, cook simple ones. Anyway, daily life being a fulltime mom of a new baby is really up and down. Sometimes, I feel bored when things go dreary; sometimes excited especially when I am happy with his behavior or other thing comes up. So what’s up yesterday, accidentally, I called one travel agent appointed by my hubby to get an update on inquiry email I sent to them for my vacation ticket back home. Luckily, the lady there said there was a sale from CX whose time fits with my plan. So within 1 hour I decided to book and buy the ticket from this agent. To make me satisfied, I compared the price to other agent recommended by my friend.

This CX flight gives convenient route especially when you fly with baby who will sit with you. Hm.. talking about flying with baby, I found some helpful links. Overall we need to be well prepared otherwise you will have tiring, unpleasant flight moreover when you fly more than 20hours. You won’t believe you should know the tricks, tips, ways how to choose the seat, to make your baby happy not cranky during the flight, to get around, how to have your meals without disturbing your baby, to manage nappy time and sleep conveniently, to sneak out to washroom and also to breastfeed my baby like me.