Medan Kota

ABG is a term used by the Indonesian locals that stand for Anak Baru Gede or simply put, just grown up kid… actually its term used for describing teenager.

I have passed the age like 20 years ago… and I know that the times have changed and that a lot of stuff are different from my early years, but I was really not expecting what teenagers these day are doing..

Last night, I stumbled into a blog written by a 14 y.o girl, a local Medan girl.. I was really in for a panic… I was sweating with worries… worried that my boys will start yelling at me that ‘I hate you mama’ kind of things….

1, she was describing how she needed more love from her parents,
2, complaining that her parents are expecting too much of her, at times stating how she hates her mum..
3, how she does not want a cosmetic surgery suggested by her mum,
4, she hated school,
5, shopping with mum every week and buy like 4-5 new items of clothing each trip at sun plaza,
6, not going to school becoz driver did not come,
7, late for school and once saw how teachers are standing at the school gate simply ask her driver to turn back the car back to home,
8, school teachers are using discouraging words on kids and she was voicing out in confusion aren’t the teacher supposed to encourage them if they are not doing well in school…
9, Sushi Tei and Starbuck are the standard hang out place
10, Birthday party at Marriott hotel, Sushi tei, all the fancy restaurants….
11, designer handbags and blackberry are the basic items….

But having said all that, she may not be doing well in school, but its obvious that she has talent in other areas like photography and graphic design… there are stuff she did that I don’t even know how to myself.. I was even thinking if I should hire her for freelance jobs..

As I read, I can’t believe and simply wordless… I don’t remember my times were that… and then I clicked onto other blogs of her friends …

and this time, I went into one that described how much love she got from her mum and described how her mum is LIMITED… i.e only the few in this world… as a mum… I was going awwww… and my hubby was teasing that I can now stop worrying… hahahaaa..

I ended spending 2 hours, reading some 20+ blogs of all these teenage kids in Medan… and they have the same thing in common… shopping at Sun Plaza, birthday party at Sushi Tei and daily hang out at Starbucks… all very expensive stuff.. and not to forget, top of the range DSLR, laptop and mobile phone…  but looking on the bright side, I so love how these kids are able to blog, set up website with very very impressive designs that many adults that I know are not even able to do the simplest stuff.. they have the brain for the new millennium, and just simply amazing what’s on their mind at this young age…

However, one thing that trigger me is how by comparing both kids and I can see that the first one, who is rebellious, she will be the one that will fit into the real world better… and its just sad to know that the talent she has in her is not being recognized by her parents since many of them still believe in AAA and more As for the education…

I am not saying that the good girl is bad but in reality, she will probably be the standard normal adults whom will ended being the normal individual and obey what she is told to do… i.e a good employee…

Popularity: 13% [?]

My grandma-in-law recently passed away… and in Medan, whether its, funeral, grand opening, weddings, congratualtions, of any kind, the local are known to give a banner to show their appreciation for the invitation.  and I was able to see the 4 generations of how it has grown and developed..

The 1st generation is made of cloth.. mostly being given by the old Chinese generation..

The 2nd generation, which are still being widely used, and seen very much around town, is made of artificial flowers and price range from Rp 75.000 onwards… however, due to lack of spaces, it is common to see these banners being overlapped on top of one and the others… which is awful…

Then as we entered the digital world, the digital printed banners start to appear around 2 years ago….

and the latest of all, is this digital screen… it will be set up within the compund area and cost Rp 99.000…  and to compared among all, I guess this digital screen is the one that can be clearly seen by all especially the host….

Popularity: 19% [?]

The current craze in Medan right now just got to be the BlackBerry (BB)… literally.. everywhere go and turn.. both young and old….  and looking out of your car window, the big Billboards all over Medan, … you see this Black coloured Berry….

I am not a user… coz I’m not a geek person and my phone bill is less than Rp 50.000 with local usage….  from what I understand, for all blackberry subscribers, you have to pay a fixed rate of Rp 180.000 for Satelindo and Rp 150.000 for proXL per month…  the main benefits are that.. you get to sort of like get free SMS between the berries users and internet access 24 hrs… which I agree that for users who have limited internet connection, is reasonable…. other than that, its additional cost…

the craze is so bad that all current berries users are psychoing the non users to turn into one of the gang… which I got to say…. a fine marketing strategies (self promo)…  then u see a lot of Ibu Ibu holding one each… and this is becoz of the madness going on but not coz of the phone functions…. remembered the Nokia Communicator era… its kind of the same…  it has since turned into a must have Status thing….

but now it got worst….. it seems that the kids are asking for one from the parents too.. and this is coming from P4 students (primary 4 – age 9/10 yrs old) !!!!… frankly, I did overheard the kids asking from his dad…. and the dad replied… ” why don’t I get you the strawberry…”  hahahhah……  then my brother-in-law was telling me how his friends are buying these expensive stuff for this young kids coz he wants the child to learn the technology….  (lost for words.. cant argue to that myself… )

before I had kids, I never really quite understand the term peer pressure… but now… i totally do…. the other day, Jadon came home from school to asked me why I didn’t take him to Cambridge and JW Marriott hotel…  and continued to informed me that all his friends went there… (he went to both and didn’t realised that apparently..)    it’s really funny how kids these days grown so fast and asking for things that I wouldn’t have thought of… when I was 10, I remembered staying at home and played Barbie doll….!!!

to all Ibu Ibu… you will also want to know that there is this BabyBerry… It’s made especially by leapfrog, a company that makes products for the eductaion of all children…

BabyBerry have the LCD screen and the ability to send a text message with a puppy katakter funny creations Leapfrog results, although not able to connect to the Internet, so BabyBerry can not be used to send email or surf the web.  In addition, the calendar function there is to learn the date, the keypad and function call to study and play games.

really… why can’t the kids just be kids and pick BlackBerry from the Garden instead????

Popularity: 30% [?]

Drug misuse in Asia

I saw this article over at the straitstimes.com, thought that many of us living in Indonesia should be aware of this…

JAKARTA – RIA Pane took her 7-year-old daughter Kezia to a doctor in Jakarta to check on her fever and sore throat, and was prescribed seven drugs, including antibiotics and medicine to prevent febrile seizures.

Experts say it was another classic, but only too common, case of over-medication, or prescribing drugs patients do not need. Here, the antibiotic was unnecessary, as was the drug to prevent febrile seizures as the child had no history of such attacks, said several pharmacists and doctors who were asked by Reuters.

Experts warn that driven by profits from selling medicine, some doctors from Indonesia to Hong Kong are overprescribing medicines, a practise they say will be disastrous in the longer term.

The most recent example of growing resistance involves the drug oseltamivir, which researchers in the United States found was now ineffective against 98 percent of the H1N1 seasonal human influenza virus strains.

Oseltamivir is known by the brand Tamiflu and manufactured by Roche AG. Oseltamivir is also recommended as a first line of defence against the H5N1 bird flu virus in case it triggers a flu pandemic and experts are now questioning how well, and how long, the drug will stand up against the H5N1 virus.

Apart from eventually reducing the effectiveness of drugs, exposing bacteria and viruses to drugs unnecessarily also has other serious consequences. ‘They harm the patient. The more drugs, the worse the compliance, especially for old people. They fall easily because of drug interaction and side effects. They get dizzy, hypotension, it is something we don’t recommend,’ Chui said.

Doctors in Indonesia often prescribe antibiotics to patients suffering a common cold when such drugs are only to be used for bacterial infections.

Experts say such a mentality has led not only to polypharmacy, but also the use of compounding medicine, known in Indonesia as ‘.‘puyer

Compounding medicine is the practise of crushing different drugs into a powder in a bowl and dividing it into small sachets. Sometimes it is mixed with syrups. It is carried out under strict guidelines in some countries. But in Indonesia, it has been used liberally for decades, particularly to treat health problems in children.

Experts warn this practise could result in errors as the drugs may not be evenly divided or pharmacists may not clean the bowl thoroughly, leaving residues from previous prescriptions. — REUTERS

This ‘puyer’ thing…. it is my first encounter here in medan… i never really quite understand.. coz, as a parent, its really a hassel to prepare for a young babies.. and its not easy to take for the kids as well…

Popularity: 20% [?]

With 6 months of on and off Karate lessons, my eldest son Jadon finally got his yellow belt.  He was running back home happy and showing off to everyone… ever since he started the lessons, he seems to know some basic skill of self protection, not doing those silly Chinese Kung Fu though when he still do that at times, at least he has some style in it, but he is playing more rough than before… very active boy he is

Well Done! my love

Popularity: 17% [?]