Medan Kota

This must be the longest break I have taken for this blog.. I have been busy.. busy with almost all things in life.. but in a good way though..

I am now into my fourth week of my writing course.. ( I am doing a 10 weeks online ‘life writing’ course with Oxford University, UK) which I’m now a week behind schedule coz of some trouble with my internet connection… with that, 3 homework and 1 assignment are due .. both my boys loved it when I whined about how much homework I have…

and having spent just a mere 3 weeks doing the course.. I have declare myself a truly ‘sucks’ writer.. and that’s why I have not been writing at all…. things I’ve gained and learnt are just too much to absorb and to be honest.. I have no idea what to do with lots of my blogs..

next is something rather dumb to admit, but I have recently taken on a personal trainer for my gym sessions and darn.. I feel that I have wasted my last 6 months of sweats, time and energy all for nothing.. what I was doing were all shameful wrong.. however, it’s now fun and meaningful…

As for Medan?….  on March 14 is the day that marks my officially full 10 years in this ‘too much to love and too much to hate’ town.. having any local Medanese asking me how long I have been living here and my replied said “10 years?”.. I have seen too many expressions.. and each time I gave my reply.. it’s always a question back to myself …‘why am I still here’

This is hard to explain.. but I am feeling LOST.. so lost that I cannot put into words how lost and confused I am at the moment..

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I know.. you know.. we know.. and everyone know that any start to a New Year should be something nice, good, as well as pleasant.. so it should goes the same for my first blog post for this year 2010.. but nope.. I am not… and I am not gonna think that what I experienced on the first minute of year 2010 is a bad start for my coming year..

A week before the start of this new year… I twitted, told myself and everyone that.. I am NOT gonna stay in my bedroom and fall asleep before the midnight.. rather I want to be somewhere nice to do the countdown.. and for some reasons (should have known that it’s a sign to warn me).. well, at 8pm, my boys were telling us how they want to be cuddled up in bed with mum and dad  i.e spending their night with us… and yes.. I told them a straight ‘NO’ and clearly announced that this year mama wants to have some fun..

My plan for the night was really simple… had dinner with family and then head down to Prime Bar at JW Marriott Hotel to meet up with my dear girlfriend.. and yes, for once I even made an effort to not wear something usual…

We left home at 10:15pm heading from Polonia towards Marriott Hotel.. 3 mins into the journey, small traffic began to build up but cars were moving okay… 10 mins later at Jl. Permuda, police began closing all the major roads leading up to the L.Mederka.. and so the nearest road we were allowed to turn was at Jl Sutomo.. let’s just said that I was in the car for about 2 1/2 HOURS and get to nowhere!!.. hubby ended driving on the foot pavement to get to the nearest turning just to get home…

As for my countdown?.. do I need to say more?… well, hubby and me weren’t in any mood to even talk to each other!!!… we were so so soooooo frustrated… my brain was cursing every possible single things I could thought of and with that!! … tell me, am I supposed to just console myself that…. ‘this is Medan’?.. for just once.. jusssttt onceee and for the first time in Medan… I want to celebrate my New Year in the right and proper way.. and oh yesssss… my beloved Medan town decided to close their roads this year…

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Year 2009 has been somewhat great for me… though not quite near perfect… but definitely not something for me to whine or complain about…

There have been many ups and downs.. well, such is life and often I choose to look to the future.. learned from mistakes and tell myself that well.. it’s an experienced and not to forget about it…

Though we have somewhat been neglecting MedanKu.com during the last few months… but our newly developed site MedanTalk.com which hubby and me have been wanting to do many many years back is now realized and doing well…

As for BerryIndo.com, it’s something truly unexpected… hubby did it out of love while me, till today, the only one thing I know or do is checking the number of members… the site is now widely known all over Indonesia.. to date we have over 8000 members… all done first hand by hubby himself.. (though he uses my name somehow as the Blackberry was initially for MedanKu.com)… and in marketing terms.. the number of members that we have on hand accounts to about 2% of the total Blackberry users in Indonesia..

As for my life development in Medan… ? well.. it’s sad to admit that I am still not 100 percent fully in love with this Town.. though many improvements have been made … ummm.. Medanese are still Medanese.. the water tower still remains the icon.. the only Mall worth going is still Sun Plaza and that all the different kinds of Mie remain the popular food choice among the locals…

2010… is only 3 days away.. according to Lillian Too, the coming Golden Tiger year is supposed to be good for me, a Rabbit born person… many plans have been made for both new businesses and personal drive.. for a start, my writing course with Oxford University is beginning in less than 2 weeks.. and yet I am still only in the 2nd chapter.. (hubby laughed for each time that I said that my reading is done just that… ) .. as for wishes and new year resolutions?.. honestly.. I have never made any in my entire life… for so far.. what I have in life is good enough.. and that what ever happens is the work of ownself and what I want for my life and my future is already being programmed into my much confused brain..

from me and hubby and our 2 little monsters….

Wishing you all a prosperous New Year 2010…

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Whenever I feel unhappy about something… or losing my focus, or just simply frustrated with myself… I have come to realised that all I need to do is visit a temple or help out the less fortunate people …  having said that.. it’s not that I will only do that when I am feeling low though… I make regular visits rather often in fact…

it’s always a family trip … and a good reminder for us and the boys just thinking how fortunate we are…  and is particularly hard to imagine knowing that there are people out there on the streets who never sleep in a bed, who have no bathroom, can’t shower, are hungry, and have no one to love them and nowhere to go…

anyway, last Saturday… we went back to the International Humanity Foundation (IHF) centre, Medan… the last time we were there was many months back… and for some reasons… which I have no clue why… I feel bonded with the place…. and been trying to make trips back there from the first time I was there… but I spread my goodwill trips around many other places as well… so..  last week, after clearing some workloads off table, I went around town buying badly needed stuff for the place … and went back there …

volunteers for 2008/2009…. these are truly great people!!!…

Computer Class

IHF centre provides free extra education classes for the kids around the area… main subjects taught are English, Mathematics and computer… the centre relied on overseas volunteer together with the help of some locals in running the place… hubby and me both feel that… not only that the children are gaining education benefits for their future, but the place helps to keep the children off the street hence avoid being negatively influenced… after all, we want the best for all kids since they are the ones in shaping the future…

daddy and the boys busy unpacking the stuff…

before the trip, I made the boys and the nanny went through all the wanted toys that they have outgrown… and I have also bought many new ones… other stuff I brought include medical supplies, board games, stationary and tools…

I was amazed and proud at the same time with the boys… both seem so readily and happy helping out … as often they  practically gone handicapped whenever they are at home…

for quite sometimes now, I’ve been doing some research on how to set up and run such centre… did some calculations and realized that each year, we have been giving out enough to have our own mini foundation…  so after careful thought through, hubby and me agreed that we will and definitely gonna set up our own Centre similar to IHF one day ….  I am currently visualizing, a learning place like ‘Eureka’ (but in a smaller scale) …. but instead of charging, I am providing it free for the less fortunate ones… anyway, saying it all out loud is real easy… executing the whole visionary plan is definitely not an easy task… but then again… if I have the will, I belief that it will be realised and a dream come true …

I have visited many old age homes, lots of orphanage homes, handicapped homes, disabled homes etc… but nothing affects me so passionately like IHF… I simply love what the centre is doing for the local community…. to me, the place just hit right into my heart… it feels absolutely right….

look at the kids…!!! they are so beautiful and the future is all about them isn’t it??

The centre is rather in need of several things… since not many people know or heard of it… I hope that some of my readers can help out… if you have any wanted toys and story books (especially the english version ones) that your child may have outgrown… rather than throwing it off or donated to local orphanage, please do consider this place as I am sure it will be put in a much better use…. I still see all the books materials that we have given on our previous trip and it sure feels good knowing that the kids have been enjoying it….

IHF Centre’s address:
Jalan Tempuling 128 A, Medan 20222
Tel: 62 61 6626469
www.ihfonline.org

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After I gave birth to my second son, Elson, I enrolled in one of the body treatment salon in Medan… the aim was of course to lose the excess weight but really I was looking at firming my body… to come think of it… I wasn’t really much overweight at all.. I remembered after the confinement month.. I kind of only had about just 4kg left to shed…

I remembered the consultation day well… the salesgirl was pointed at my body and without any shame… was saying how awful my body was… she was saying like.. ‘looked at your arms, so big… looked at your tummy, so huge…. looked at your butt… so enormous’… I was sitting there… speechless… ½ of me, I was verryyy pissed… ¼ of me was calming myself down knowing that it’s part of their sales strategies.. and the other quarter of me thinking… may be I am really that bad huh?… but that was some 4 years back..

Well, about 5 months back… I enrolled again… because it was cheap… which definitely was an impulse purchase… my BMI was at 20.2… which according to the table.. I am considered healthy… and yes… those sales ladies were again disgustingly saying how I looked heavy!!!…  I may not be the skinny skinny type girl… well, I definitely am not overweight either… let’s see … I am currently wearing clothes US size 4 / UK 36 / or simply put, S or M… with BMI at 19.8… yet I do have people commenting me how I’ve grown big…

Particularly in Medan, people never seem to fail to comment about my body size … while in other parts of Asia, people will say… ‘you have 2 sons?? really??… you look good and healthy.’… but here in Medan… it’s more of like.. ‘Vic… you have put on weights huh?…’ .. I don’t feel hurt or anything… but each time I have people saying that to me, I have the urge to ask back… can you define for me what’s healthy to you…?

p.s. the photo has not been photoshop…. and that reaalllyyyy is me…  ^0^

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