Dan hormatilah ibumu serta ayahmu....

Ayoo...pasti sering dengar kan nasihat yang satu ini...

Cuplikan petuah bijak yang seringkali kita dengar ini menjadi salah satu inti pesan yang disampaikan dalam Pentas Seni TK Aisyiyah 21 Muhammadiyah Rawamangun di akhir tahun pelajaran 2013...

Bo, my oldest son, was taking part in one of the plays...

entitled Malin Kundang, this kids' theatre was soooo entertaining....


Cleverly mixing dynamic rhythm of typical West-Sumatran percussion music, colorful backdrops and properties, and flashy costumes, parents and spectators were amusingly entertained with these cheerful kids...


They have rehearsed for quite some time before the D-day...including recording their dialogues...

Starting with kids' choir and angklung performance showcasing our national anthem, twinkle little stars and some more songs, we watched series of dances, poetry, Holy Quran recital, child speech and sooo many more..

Kids' choir....ayo yang semangat nyanyinyaaa....

At the end, as the final act, we watched Malin Kundang....

Cerita klasik yang tidak membosankan ini memang sarat dengan pesan-pesan baik....

Betapa kita harus selalu menghormati dan mencintai Ibu dan Bapak serta keluarga kita...

Betapa kita  harus mau bekerja keras dan berusaha untuk memperbaiki nasib...

Betapa kita tidak boleh menjadi 'kacang yang lupa akan kulitnya'...

Pinky girls...waiting for their turns...

Betapa kita harus ingat bahwa kita tidak bisa meraih sukses seorang diri....

Betapa kita harus selalu ingat Yang Kuasa...

Betapa harta benda tidak akan dibawa mati...

Pesan sederhana namun sangat berharga ini disajikan dengan penuh, warna, cita dan suka oleh anak-anak TK yang juga mengikuti seluruh rangkaian acara dengan sense of excitement yang tinggi...

dengan serunya Bo dan kawan-kawan bersiap-siap di belakang panggung dengan kostum lengkap yang ditingkahi pesan bunda supaya ingat dialog dan bagian yang akan diperankan....

Bo on stage with friends :D>..

belum yang latihan jadi bajak laut hehehehe....heboooh deh pokoknyaaa....sebenernya sih, semua dialog2 itu sudah direkam sebelumnya dengan suara anak-anak pemerannya, tapi tetap aja hebooooh :D...

one of the scenes....

ay aaay captain...we are the pirateees :D...

Salah satu dialog yang akan diperagakan Bo bunyinya seperti ini :D :...

"Tuan Malin, Tuan Malin...gawat...sepertinya kita akan diserang bajak laut dari arah Selatan..."

dengan tangan yang digerak-gerakkan dan muka tegang hihihi....

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Dan para bunda pun hebooooh dengan kamera dan lambaian tangannya....ayooo liat sini et cheers hihihi :D>..

Mommies...the biggest fans of all :D>...

Well, looking at the kids in colorful dresses and great acting are indeed amusing and fuuun...

Anak Buah Kapal, Malin Kundang,  Istri Malin dan dayang-dayangnya....

Suasana di balik layar pun seruuuu bangetttt....heboh dengan celoteh dan canda anak-anak yang menunggu giliran untuk tampil, sambil diselingi cemilan ringan dan wanti-wanti bunda :D...

Siaaap siaaap ya anak-anaaaak...

Razhan...si Malin yang lucuuu....

foto lagiiiii yaaa.....

excited, Bo? for sureeee....

All in all...it was a fun day...

for us, parents, as well as the kids and bunda, the teachers...

Makasih ya bundaaaaa...untuk semua kerja kerasnya dan kesabarannyaaaa...

Keep up the good works and waay to gooo, kiddos....

Journey to the Land of the Pharaohs #3

The City of Thousand Mosques indeed fits Cairo, the Capital of Egypt, perfectly.

No wonder staying in the City for 4 days is inadequate, particularly if you are interested to know and visit all those historical landmarks....

But magnificent mosques are not the only incredible architectures you can witness in Egypt...

And I bet, pyramids will be the first things crossing your minds when you hear Egypt :D..

that's exactly what we have in mind as well..

Kebayang bakal melihat mahakarya nan unik yang telah membuat Mesir terkenal seantero jagat raya :D..

So, on our second adventurous day in Egypt, we woke up early and head to Giza...approximately 1 hour from Cairo *bonus macet juga lhooo...there, our devoted guide, Nabil, has patiently waited for us...

And how striking the scenery was...there they were...

Standing majestically amidst the bed of soft sand...bravely facing the scorching sun and oceans of mortal admirers.

Starting here from Giza, we planned to see the 3 famous pyramids (Cheops/Khufu, Rhekaef/Khephren, and Mycerinus/Menkaure)

Then continued to Dahshur to see the Bent and Red pyramids, et also Saqqara, to see the step pyramid of Djoser et the recently open Tomb of Idut ... 

Of course Sphinx was on the list...how could we miss that :D...

It proves to be an ambitious plan....and frankly speaking, we also planned to come to the old city, Necropolis..

So... starting our day quite early (considering it was holiday :D), we had a full day running from one complex of pyramids to another..

Well, not literally running around but considering that the complex was huge (and hoooot even in October :p ), it was quite an energy-consuming activity..

Well, another thing is.....7-month pregnant does not stop me from riding the camel (I know..it's not that safe ..but it's only a 10 minutes ride for me :D)..

let alone walking quite far from 1 site to another right under the sun (around 35C I guess..)..

The only thing I missed was getting inside the pyramid, as it proved to be difficult and tiring even for a healthy-non-pregnant adult :D....so I left that part to Rudi, who seemed to be having fun (sweating and panting after 125 steps up, long corridors and three antechambers:D) exploring the Red pyramid....btw, do you know that Red Pyramid of Dashur used to be the largest structures in earth for thousand years? 

Learning it from our devoted guide, Nabil, these magnificent masterpieces were built from millions of limestone blocks..ranging from 2.5 to 15 tonnes per piece..my oooh my..

Hailing Ra, the God of Sun, experts said pyramids were representing the ray of the sun..quite likely...

But mind you, even pyramids were not totally safe from thieves... And I'm not talking about their valuable contents, but the building blocks as well :(.. They proved to best one of the best building materials and they have spread all over the world as the base of famous buildings.. From Italy to the US, from the ancient city of Istanbul to Washington DC...

And i once read in one of the books during my childhood that if we take the aerial photos of the Great Pyramids of Giza, then you will divide the earth into 2 equal parts .. Well, do you believe that?

Btw, for sure we did not forget to say hi to the majestic Sphinx :D, where the grandiose Aida opera was about to be held at that time...but I guess I' ll write it down on separate piece if you dont mind :D..

Journey to the Land of the Pharaohs #4 - Luxor

Slowly but sure, I am continuing my scribbles on our trip to Egypt ;D... tirelessly, I keep saying..please bear with me...

So, Egypt is still on the agenda and this time, I have Luxor on my plate....

To complete our journey in the Land of the Pharaohs, we decided to visit Luxor and Aswan as well after spending around 4 days in Cairo...

Well...As a matter of fact, Abu Simbel was on our agenda...

Really wanna see that famous Abu Simbel Temple with its huge size Ramses II statues welcoming you....But considering my late pregnancy, tough road and safety as well as our limited time, we decided to stick to Luxor, the ancient capital of Thebes, and Aswan, where the Nubian monuments can be found...

After a 9-hour train ride from Cairo to Luxor, we arrived at 6.30 am in Luxor. They have special train for tourist, yo...but it was comfy and clean enough for the 3 of us..with double bunk beds and good food..if I'm not mistaken, it costed us 60 USD each...you can not take the local train there, which definitely cost cheaper...but peeping out from my window how packed and hot the local train was (I guess they use fan x_X), I am happy with my 'tourist' train :D...

Arriving early in Luxor train station, we were picked up by our local tourist guide, with a not-so-old sedan (which I forgot the make) cheerfully  adorned with furry upholstery :D....It was okay in the morning but later in the afternoon when the weather was 'just' 40 degree C,  then it was hoot hooot hooot...

Anyway, straight from the train station, we were heading to our hotel to have a quick check-in..lovely place indeed :D....then right at 7 am, we were already at the Valley of the Kings...mind you, 7 am was burning hot already..and it was October :D...

Valley of the Kings....

In front of the gate of the Valley of the Kings...since you can not take pictures inside, unless you wanna pay EGP 100 fines et your photos deleted....

Magnificently situated in the middle of the rocky mountains, now Valley of the Kings is the home for 63 tombs of the Pharaohs as well as the noble families and priests..

We got a chance to visit 3 tombs: Ramesess III, Ramesess IX and Seti I..

Since no photos or videos can be taken inside the tombs, we just admired the elaborated paintings inside the tombs..some of them are still vividly colorful and intact, depicting the glory (and the horror) of the past...

Right after the Valley of the Kings, we went to the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, one of the female Pharaohs, and stay there for a while...

Bo was very good at remembering the name the Queen, while me and Udi, as suggested by our guide, remembered it as "hot chicken soup" :D...

Well,the temple was located on the west bank of the Nile, opposite the city of Luxor, right at the other side of the Valleys of the Kings. 

Queen Hatshepsut was indeed a rare female pharaoh and considered to be successful as well. 

most of the Queen's statues were destroyed...

Her temple, known as Djeser-Djeseru ("Splendor of Splendors "), was designed and erected by Senemut, the pharaoh's royal steward and a true workshipper. We heard some interesting love affairs as well regarding this famous Queen Pharaoh :D...

No wonder the her husband, - forgot the name of the King, got so angry and ordered all Queen's statues to be destroyed or vandalized...

That's why we only saw the remaining of the Queen's  statues, while most of the King's ones were fully intact.

In the surroundings, we saw some holy tombs of priests as well....

One corner of the temple...

Then, on the way to Luxor Temple, we stopped for a while at the Colossi of Memnon... taking pictures of course, under the scorching sun and feeling so tiny underneath those gigantic statues...










 
After that, we had a wonderful lunch in one of the restaurants by the Nile river, while Bo was enjoying his happy meal...It was a buffet, all you can eat resto with traditional as well as international menu..sooo yummy...me and Udi enjoying baba gamush and fresh bread with traditional BBQ, while Bo was having his rice plate and ice creaaaam :D>...

Taking a break under the shades for a while....

one of the wings in Hatsepshut temple...

the priest's tomb...

Well, so much to tell when it comes to Temple of Luxor. Famous for its phylons, court of Rameses II, court of Amnhotep II, and the hypostyle hall, we spent quite some time there. Temple of Karnak, our next destination, is another amazing place.

So, I guess, I will add some info and the photos later...on my next notes :D>...

Meanwhile..enjoy the 'trip' with the photos taken by Udi :D...

..dan Abang Bo pun lulus TK :D...

I knooooow that new term has begun but I just got my scribbles on Bo's kindergarten colorful pages :D>...

Perasaan orang tua waktu bagi raport ternyata memang campur aduk yaaa....waktu kita yang jadi murid, rasanya asyik asyik aja deh...tapi setelah jadi orang tua, lain lagi ceritanya :D..

Walaupun si Bo, anakku yang pertama, masih TK, tapi catatan raportnya lumayan panjang lho...

Selain prilaku seperti disiplin, sopan santun, inisiatif di kelas, kerjasama dengan teman-teman , ada juga daftar lengkap dengan daftar hapalan doa, berbagai kurikulum bernuansa Islami maupun muatan lokal khusus dari yayasan sekolahnya.

Kalau melihat bagian prilaku, alhamdulillah ...Bo termasuk murid yang baik...mudah bekerjasama, ramah dan santun, rajin, serta nurut! :D..

Deg-degan melihat daftar pelajaran dan muatan agama yang lumayan panjang dan quite substantive...but again, alhamdulillah...Bo has managed to remember most of the short Surah, bisa sholat dengan beberapa pendampingan di bagian yang panjang2, dan hapal doa-doa sehari-hari...

aaah I am sooo proud..as I myself needs some times to memorize and recite those surah well..

Interestingly, I also noted that some practicalities were well-taught at school...jadi keterampilan sederhana seperti membuka dan memasang sepatu, meletakkan dan membereskan barang-barang atau mainan pada tempatnya, memakai baju dengan rapi dan membersihkan alat makan serta table manners juga diajarkan dan diobservasi...mungkin terdengar sangat trivial tapi untukku it means a looot dan untuk Bo juga sangat bermanfaat ...

I love the fact that it is definitely handy in our daily lives and I must say the same things were taught in Switzerland as well when Bo attended Jardin d'enfants there...

Bo also joined English and computer classes, in addition to a special session with sempoa :D..

And every end the term, they performed various plays and musical shows as well..starting from choir,  angklung, contemporary dance, plays ..... and this year, Bo was casted as Anak Buah Kapal or  cruise crew (I guess :D...)..besides, he also joined the choir et played angklung this time...

All in all, it was quite a colorful journey for Bo...

Tak putus kami berterima kasih kepada guru-guru Bo yang sabar membimbing dan terus memotivasi anaka-anak untuk menjadi yang terbaik dengan tetap mengedepankan indahnya dunia anak...

Have fun at school ya Boooo....toujour....

Journey to the Land of the Pharaoh #2...

I'm baaaack....:D...

well, rasanya sudah lamaaaa banget ngg update blogku iniiii..

Setelah dicek lagi..ternyata memang masih banyak PR yang belum selesai...terutama my traveling stories...

Don't get me wrong..I have no intention to be boastful about our trip but I just loveee traveling...and this time, let me continue my journey in the Land of the Pharaohs, Egypt...

the grand architecture of Hassan Mosque

 This time, we started our journey to Sultan Hassan Mosque and Madrasa....

Located near the citadel in Cairo, this marvelous mosque was built in 1356...almost 700 years ago...

Looking at its fantastic size, I can imagine flocks of people coming for prays and study Islam, as the Mosque was also built side by side with the Madrasa..

Long corridors and cozy corners are available, with vast courtyard in the middle...

one of the mihrabs...

In terms of architectural style, this Mosque fall under the Mamluk style, which, I, frankly speaking, doesn't really know :D (Well, well, I guess I need to listen more to my guide instead of being busy taking pictures :D>).....

For sure the Mosque and the Madrasa highlights the grandeur of Islamic arts like calligraphy and other particularities such as arcaded hypostyle halls, decorative ceilings and  elaborated columns...the Mihrabs are indeed captivating as well...

Majestic...that is...

No wonder it is considered as one of the most outstanding Islamic monuments in Cairo (to which I fully agree). Serving as a mosque and religious school for all sects, Sultan Hassan has successfully presented the richness of Islamic values in a form of artistic masterpieces. Dominated by blue, gold and red, the Mosque will without a doubt wow its visitors...

one part of its magnificent ceilings...how can't you be amazed by its beauty...

Huge doors, spacious alleys, elaborated Islamic decorations and true solemn feeling, the most important one, welcomed us as we adored every single corner of the mosque..

I hope you enjoy our visit, reflected on these photos, as much as we do...

lines of lights....enlightening indeed...

one of the mihrabs...

classic collection, yet so captivating....

Om Wicher et Nabil, our guide (in white shirt)...with Bo who seemed to be busy explaining things...

Ashr time...

the 6th of us...in front of the Mosque and Madrasa...

Booooo.....

Ablution corner...

My music, my life...

Kalau memilih antara mata terpejam, kepala bergerak kanan kiri dan mulut komat-kamit melantunkan syair...

atau...

Ambil gagang sapu, lari sana sini sambil bergaya a la penyanyi favorit et suara on top of your lungs?

Kayaknya, gaya kedua yang paling sering 'kejadian' di rumah :D...

Ini bukti kalau musik asik memang tidak ada batasnya...
Yup, tidak kenal usia, jenis kelamin, jumlah penghasilan, apalagi tinggi badan atau warna favorit :D...

Bukan tidak jarang kita jadi bersedia melakukan apa aja untuk dapetin musik asik..

Cobaaa...mulai dari berburu CD musisi favorit, browsing internet mencari resensi dan gosip musik terbaru, download lagu et video clips yang masuk top40, antri nonton konser, ngapalin syair lagu, sampai cari cord lagu biar bisa bawain lagu favorit et cuek joget joget gaya bebas saat denger musik asik :D...

Liat aja Neng Obi, anakku yang buntut ......bisa asyik bergaya tanpa malu-malu begitu musik acara anak-anak favoritnya di putar di tivi, walaupun Obi belum mandi atau baru selesai berantem dengan abangnya.. bahkan gitar mainan warisan dari abangnya tidak luput jadi korban keasyikannya bergaya bak gitaris piawai..

ma petite DJ :D.....Obiiii....

Kalau gaya jogetnya Obi bisa diliat di sini yaaaa....

Sementara abang Bo, jagoan kecilku yang sudah mau masuk SD, sudah langganan 'manggung' dengan TKnya....dengan grup angklung, paduan suara et operet...hapal beberapa lagu nasyid sampai hitsnya Adele et lagu dangdut nan kondang se antero Indonesia :D...Bahasa asingnya [un makin terasah karena musik jugaaa...

Bo dengan Batik parang ungu coklat di baris kedua..lantang menyanyikan lagu Indonesia Raya :D...

Almarhum papa malah langganan nyanyi di setiap acara, baik acara keluarga maupun acara orang lain :D...kebiasaan yang sekarang menurun ke kami anak-anaknya...untuuung suara ngg malu-maluin amat hihihi...kalau ngga kan bakal jadi sesi 'penyiksaan' buat yang denger...

three little birds comiiing....manggung bareng keluarga :D....

Meanwhile, saya dengan suami malah dipertemukan lewat musik..maklum, anak band :D...Mulai dari manggung bareng yang kemudian  berlanjut ke pelaminan dan sampai punya anak dua masih asik denger lagu dan nonton konser band-band favorit ...paling heboh hamil 7 bulan et nonton konser GN'R waktu itu :D...

Aaaah, musik memang punya kekuatan yang luar biasa...

Music does heal a broken heart...music improves our mood....music warms lonely hearts....music unites people...

Dan buatku, musik asyik adalah musik yang 'membebaskan' ...

Music that sets our spirit free...

Musik asik  membuat kita tidak malu mengekspresikan diri sendiri....musik yang membuat kita melihat sisi lain dunia...musik yang memberi kita energi ekstra untuk berbuat lebih.. musik yang 'mencerahkan'..music that makes you feel good ..

Bener lho...I feel that...

Apapun genre musiknya..siapapun penyanyinya...kapan pun dan di mana pun kita dengarnya..

Ada masa di mana saya 'tersihir' mendengarkan Chopin  ....

Ada masa di mana saya hapal semua lirik lagu Guns N' Roses di album Use Your Illusions II...

Ada masa di mana Sheryl Crow dan Alanis Morissette bener-bener 'mewakilkan' suara hati ...

Ada masa di mana saya mati-matian belajar gitar biar bisa nyanyi lagu apa aja...
Ada masa di mana saya bercucuran air mata mendengar lagu-lagu Panbers...

Ada masa di mana saya nongkrong bareng temen-temen ngegarap lagu-lagu Pas, Pure Saturday dan Gigi ...
Ada masa di mana saya manggung menyanyikan lagu Melayu dan dangdut dengan hebohnya...
Ada masa di mana angklung menjadi media favorit penyaluran hobi musik...

You see....musik hadir di berbagai fase hidup kita dan brings fun et joy to life!

Dan untuk melengkapi itu, langitmusik.com hadir untuk kita semua...
Go ahead and check it...

And let music fill your soul....