Merry Christmas!!

Toba trip!

yeah, on 8-11 Dec we went to lake toba for a short getaway. and an additional agenda: celebrating my birthday.

it was a great one, i received 3 cakes! by far, it's the most cakes i received on my birthday. hahaha

i love the view at samosir island, it's so greeennnn and soooooo tranquil. feels like in LOTR set. hahaha. it turns out i don't need to go to new zealand to get "almost the same" view in LOTR :p here are some of the snapshots

The lake is sooo huge, i think it's normal for ppl long ago to misunderstand it as a sea. it's pretty clean, considering the standard of cleanliness in indo haha.. at least at the samosir side. from the parapat side, it's not so clean after all.

because we passed by sunday during our trip, we went to HKBP church, per my friend's suggestion. the sermon was conducted all in Batak language, from the start to the end. i can guess some of it, luckily hahaa. and the church member made an effort to read Bible passage in English for us, thinking we can't speak Indo :p appreciate the effort though hehe.

oh! and because it's near christmas, they started to have some choir performances. Batak ppl are famous for their nice voice, and turns out it's true! too bad the video i recorded was not so good in quality, so i won't upload it haha.

 and here are more views on beautiful lake toba! and samosir island!

King Sidabutar was one of the famous three Kings in Samosir island. other than that, i don't really know the history of King Sidabutar, because there is no local tour guide to give us a bit of historic explanation about him :(

nah, this one is a picture of a "round table" where the past ruler (one of the three famous Kings, i forgot his name..) and his advisers judged a criminal. the house in the backgournd is the traditional Batak house. only the house of the Ruler has a bull's head hanging on the door frame. underneath the porch, there's a prison where the criminal was jailed for one week. on the left of the so called "round table" was a huge tree where they consulted with the spirits.

during that time, only 3 crimes were considered worthy of prison sentence.

1. sex offenders (rape, etc)
2. murders
3. false testimonies

the sentence for petty crimes such as thefts were not so severe, the criminal would only be subjected to slavery for a certain period of time. whereas those who committed the 3 above crimes would be jailed for one week and executed. usually, the criminals had supernatural abilities which would make them difficult to be killed, BUT on certain day they were weak. for that reason they were jailed for one week to let the rulers know which day was his weakness day. after consulting with the spirits and reached an agreement, they would execute the criminal on the day when he's weak.

throughout the prison sentence until the execution, the criminals were treated like animals. the location of the prison was on the same level as the shed for flocks, which was underneath the main house.

on the execution day, the criminal was laid on his back on a stone. then the executioner/priest will cut his skin to test whether his supernatural power was still there or not. after they're sure his power was no longer present, the executioner beheaded him. after beheading him, the criminal's heart and liver were taken and eaten, just like they ate animals'. according to the tour guide, they no longer viewed it as cannibalism, because they had treated the criminal just like animals because of his crime. the criminal's body would be thrown to the lake and his head would be thrown to the forest. for one week, the villagers were not allowed to fish on the lake to avoid contamination by the criminal's remaining black magic / supernatural abilities.

the execution MUST succeed. failure would lead to the execution of the executioner, by beheading him. that's why it's important to make sure the criminal's power was no longer there to protect him from death.

this was practiced until Nomensen came. when he came, no black magic worked on him. because of that, Batak ppl were saved and since then on they worshiped God. great is our God!

okay, that's a bit of history on the 2nd King we visit. i found it pretty interesting haha. i'm looking forward to our next getaway!!!! i'm bored of singapore  ㅠ.ㅠ

random..

yesterday, smt stupid happened hahaha

*wanna open blog site to update
me: (thinking in my head) "eh.. mm.. harr... what's the web address of my blog???"
*searching google to find my own blog.. and can't find it @.@

lucky chrome now can sign in to your google account, and on the top bar in the google search, you can click "blogger" to access your blog. lalalalala...

*stupidd... muahahhaha

...
and there's an anomaly i realized lately.

one morning, my sis woke up late and i gotta put in all the clothes i hung outside the previous night. i was thinking, for sure i'd be late. only to find that i finished showering way earlier than usual and still reached office early.

another morning, i woke up and finished showering as usual, thinking i'd be able to reach office on time. only to find i reached office late.

and i don't know the reason why.

Blessings

A video testimonial a friend of mine shared last month:

click here

When it seems all hope is failing

And alone you are standing

Keep persevering

For it might be

His mercies in disguise

foodiesss (and other thing)

hehe for the past dunno-how-many months, we've been tasting a lot of dessert places. the most visited one is......

tadaa!!

honeymoon dessert!!!

at one time, we went to this dessert place for 4 consecutive weeks! sampe uda nyoba sgala macem mango desserts available in the store. hahaha

lately, soya bean pudding is gaining fame in singapore. so i tried once, from lao ban. hmmm.. just so so... (maybe bcos i don't really like soya bean curd haha)

and... when my surabaya friend came here, we tried one dessert place. very ulu, near leban cafe. i forgot the name :P anyway, the waffle ice cream is nice hehehe.. too ulu, so if by chance we're eating around leban there, maybe going to drop by again.

and and... just last sunday we went to Charlie Brown's cafe. the dessert serving was small compared to the price :( but anyway, we were too full, so we didn't really care hahaha.. they draw snoopy's characters on the cakes and coffee foam! i like it :P

cute righttt.... niat bener. tp ada cetakannya lah pasti hahaha.. left: lava cake (nice!); right: oreo cheesecake (just so so..)

and and and... my sister and i went to watch NANTA show hohohoho.. when i was in 4th year, my korean language teacher recommended us to go and watch NANTA because it is very famous in korea and USA. at that time, no money, so don't bother to look for the show hahaha.. now, got a bit of money, so just try :p and it's good! 

ergh.. a bit blur.. zoomed too much :p

they mix all sorts of performance inside. they have magic show, ballroom dance, acrobatics, comedy, pantomime, etc. however, the main performance is still the korean traditional percussion music (사물놀이), though not using the traditional instruments. they use kitchen utensils! and it's actually a musical, so they have a story going on. the story which unified the whole performance is about 3 cooks trying to prepare a wedding banquet within a limited time. BUT, the incompetent head chef's nephew is going to be working with them. for complete story and description, can read here

well.. if there's a new interesting musical, surely we're going to watch again, as long as the price is still within budget :p

I AM SOOO GOING TO BUY ONLINE!!

yeah, from now on, i'll buy my facial care / bag / dress (maybe) online!! much cheaper!! haruummphhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.............. (╬ ಠ益ಠ)

masa beli barang di toko harganya ampir 2 kali lipat harga online. roarrrrrrr... and i've bought like 3 times from the store. arrrrghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.... very very very very frustrated. MY MONEEEEYYYYYY... give me back my moneeeyyyyy :'(

haizz... gotta save up more from now on. so many expenses lately. holiday, gg-back-surabaya trip, my facial care. roar. if only my face not so sensitive like it used to be :( i won't have to spend so much on skin care :(

well.. at least i stop spending more from now on. if i realize even later, i think my regret will be much bigger. hahaha

relakan.. relakan... (ngelus dada)

hello work!

yeah, finally i came back to the working community again after a longggg hibernation :p

i've just been started working for 3 weeks. so far still good. a bit blur here and there, but okay lahhh.. a bit boring, coz not much to do. but the good thing: no need to OT, so i still can give tuition hahah..

okay, on my first day, i got a surprise.. not a surprise welcome party or something like it, but a surprise in how my 1st day in PS was very similar to my 1st day in SM. here are the similiarties:

1. the name of my colleague right in front of me is Pauline and she's sitting facing me.
2. i sit 2 rows in front of my direct boss and he can see my monitor.

i was like.. err.. how can this be.. haha

anyway, i still enjoy it. a lot of break times haha..

live life to the fullest! *random talk*

Top Tips on handling difficult behaviour

this is a book i read recently and it's for sunday school teachers.

Important: to remember the mischief we got up to as children. This helps us to be one step in front of and reminds us that:

a.        We are not perfect

b.       There's nothing new under the sun

CAUSES OF CHALLENGING AND DISRUPTIVE BEHAVIOUR:

·         General learning difficulties. Children have difficulty learning at school and associate Sunday school too much with school and makes themselves uncomfortable.

·         Specific learning difficulties with literacy or numeracy. Children have problems with patterns and symbols, difficult to remember order and shape of letters and numbers. They do not enjoy worksheets or written word games.

·         Low self image. They want to be accepted, but do not know how to act properly. Children may become uncooperative and attention-seeking. They may be caught on vicious circle.

·         Developmental disorders. These are lifetime disorder that can impair life at home, school and work and frustrate interpersonal relationships. A few example of the disorders:

• ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). Symptoms: impulsiveness, restlessness, inattentiveness, disorganisation and over-activity.
• Autistic Spectrum Disorders. Symptoms: difficulties in areas of language and communication, social relationships and limitations in imagination (with inflexibility of thought) and creative play.
• Auditory Processing Disorders. Symptoms: fail to process part or all of an auditory message. They do not have problem with hearing, they just fail to understand or make sense of the auditory message.

·         Fragmented home situations and unsettled relationships with parents. Children carry around inside them an enormous amount of sadness and tension. Their lives lack of routine and security. They will end up with challenging behaviour.

·         Lack of boundaries in the home. Some children know too much about adult concerns, some are not well prepared to face the world. Good behaviour is taught as well as caught. Do not point fingers of accusations. We as teachers need to recognise the impact and work towards creating boundaries of acceptable behaviour.

·         Physical demand. Pressure to do well, to succeed and to cope with all demands placed upon them takes its toll. Several causes of tiredness, lethargy and irritating behaviour in kids:
      o    Poor quality diets and lack of exercise.
      o    Not in bed long enough to get adequate sleep.
      o    Not sleeping well because they are unhappy or sibling disturbs them.

·         Group dynamics. This is important for children who are new to the Christian setting. Gently lay down guidelines for acceptable behaviour.

·         The organisation of your session. If teachers are not well prepared with appropriate activities, unacceptable behaviour may result.

TYPES OF BEHAVIOUR

James Dobson in Dare to Discipline puts behaviour in 3 categories;

1.       Childish irresponsibility. Silly things children do: spill drinks, dirty clean clothes, forget what they've been told, trip over nothing, break things, or get into unimportant arguments.

REMEMBER: they do not do these deliberately to annoy anyone.

2.       Behaviour linked to development. Children develop at different speeds. A child may not choose to be difficult, but just struggling to accomplish what has been asked of them.

3.       Challenge to authority. Defiance and stubbornness. The child is usually aware of what they are up to.

What are we supposed to do? Do not take it personally. The challenge needs to be met and won by both parents and teachers. The children want and need enforced boundaries. We do not need to teach them to be 'naughty' but we need to teach them what being 'good' is.

If a child is seeking attention, it is because he needs attention (this is not ADHD). Children may choose inappropriate way to gain attention, but they still need it.. In this situation, deliberately look for a way to give attention to the child for something positive, no matter how small, before they swing into inappropriate behaviour.

Positively acknowledging children when they are being good will give a clear message to them what we mean by 'good' behaviour.

Labelling

Remember: once label is made, it's difficult to remove. Children can live up to their label whether it's 'good', 'weak', 'naughty' or 'stupid'. If they live up to that label long enough, it will become difficult for them when someone relates to them in a different way. Changing this takes time, patience and persistence.

SHAPING BEHAVIOUR

Hebrews 12:6 "The Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son" (NIV)

Discipline ought to be more about training and modelling than about punishment.

Undisciplined children are unhappy children and cause everyone they come into contact with to be affected by their unhappiness.

Children are made in the image of God and they matter so much to him. Thus, we ought to see a child as someone valued by God and show children how much we value them.

A God-focused attitude to every child: actively searching for the positive things each child has said or done. Truthfully praise a child for who she is. We all need praise. Luke 3:22 "A voice came from heaven: 'You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased'" (NIV). If God praise his Son, we ought to praise the children too to give them security.

·         Working within church community

There should be a clear Child Protection Policy for  everyone involved with children. Physical contact to be as minimum as possible. It is not good practice for leaders to become aggressive, to express anger or to shout at children. We need both prayer and determination to see positive things in children with difficult behaviour. It is important to be in a team, so that we can support each other in thinking positively about each child.

·         Working with the parent(s)

Parents are the prime carers of their children. Parents often need support and encouragement from us who work with their children. It is important to find out what their expectations are in dealing with the behaviour of their child.

·         Working with other children's workers

It is important to work in teams, no one adult to be alone with a group.

PRACTICAL TOP TIPS

Rule setting and rule keeping

What makes a good rule?

Consequences

We need to decide what happens if the rule is broken. Do not mete out inappropriate punishments which can damage relationship being built in  a group. Do not bring over punishment to the following week. Do not make threats. Guide a child to alternative positive options rather than punishment. Options for sanctions:

·         Provide alternative diversionary activity.

·         Time out to cool down

·         Provide individual attention

Enforce those consequences every time the rule gets broken. Be patient. Don't increase or change the consequences.

REMINDER: the best observed rule may not bring about the behaviour we want, but they can limit the level of bad behaviour. Group reward is better than rewarding the good child which may be demotivating the child who struggles to behave.

Top tips to encourage proper behaviour
1.       Good preparation
2.       Pray over the session and for each child who attends by name.
3.       Be first in the room and make sure everything is in place before children arrive.
4.       Quiet place for chats. Quite background music can quieten everyone down.
5.       Help children feel accepted unconditionally. Speak positively whenever possible and tell the truth.
6.       Give clear specific instructions.
7.       Avoid making comparisons
8.       Use children's names often
9.       Get to know each child well
10.    Plan for full length session. Don't give chance for kids to be bored and behave badly.
11.    Remember many have poor concentration
12.    Use voice between shout and whisper
13.    Do something totally different
14.    Avoid punishing whole group
15.    Express positive and truthful things
16.    Form relationship with parents

Top tips on dealing with specific difficult behaviour.
1.     Observation is required. When, what, any pattern in the child's behaviour.
2.     Prevent escalation and avoid threats.
3.     Minimise aggression.
4.     Use gentle humour, no sarcasm or put-downs.
5.     Correct confusions
6.     Acknowledge improvement
7.     Explain from your point of view.
8.     Do not ignore the withdrawn child.

Top tips for children's worker

1.       Have reasonable expectations. Be prepared to be surprised.

2.       Form a prayer support group.

3.       Work alongside other leaders and alongside the children too.

4.       Pray very specifically for a difficult child

5.       Expect to learn things yourself as you handle the children with difficult behaviour.

6.       Remember that we all make mistakes.

7.       Ask for help.

foodiess

di zaman2 pengangguran yg lama banget (untung kasi tuition, klo ga ud super bokek), i cook my own lunch and dinner during weekdays. weekends saatnya makan makanan berdosa sama org2 gereja hahaha.. lately i didn't cook as often as i used to, soalnya ud mau masuk kerja lagi. i managed to take photos of 6 of them. the rest are not so good looking, so i deleted the photos haha.

masa awal2 sering bikin makanan di atas, gampang sih haha

i tried korean cuisine after getting bored with the usual :p

i like 닭볶음탕 (spicy braised chicken) a lot! it's easy and super nice hahaha.. i followed the recipe from maangchi.com/recipe. she has a lot of easy-to-make korean food.

i also cooked pasta and jangan asem, but they are not so good looking when i took photo of them hahaha.

in anyway, cooking really reduce my dining expenses a lot! but after starting work, i won't have time anymore :p

hehe.. this is matthew, when he was just a few days old. i finally managed to edit and upload the photos :p now he's 3 months old and has a lot of expression! heheeh.. my cute nephewww

holiday trip :p

on end of july, we went on a cruise with mom n dad! yeaayyy.. it was a good one, bcos that's my first time on a cruise. the room all so tiny and compact, but the service is good hehe.. and the scenery from the boat is nice too! here are some photos when we're on the boat and when we went to KL for 1.5 hrs.

night view from the ship and the majestic horses in the lobby

we eat and eat and eat on the ship haha

KL gallery

before we went on a cruise, we went to gardens by the bay at night. not much to see there at night, very dark. and ticketing is closed at 8pm, so we couldn't go up to OCBC bridge nor to the domes :( but we had fun and tired haha

BRAVEEE

nice, touching movie, perfect for mothers' day. here is the trailer with a very nice song at the end.

the story is about a scottish (or irish?) princess named Merida who, according to their custom, had to marry with the eldest son of the other clans. one of them had to succeed in archery competition to get her hands in marriage. but, as tough as she is, she didn't want to marry any of them and went against her mother. angry and frustrated, she went to a witch for a potion which can change her fate. then the catastrophe began. everything didn't go as she wished for. therefore she had to go through a journey to mend the bond between mother and daughter, and between clans.

here is the full song at the end of the trailer and lyrics. the sound not so good though, but.. urgghh.. almost cried when listening to this song T.T it's about a saddened young maiden whose love is at the sea. and a very nice voice of julie :')

oh and the song is in scottish gaelic.

here is another OST which i like from the movie

if you had the chance to change your fate, would you?

what's your blood type?

haha, i knew this comic strip a long time ago and i always laugh when i read them. now there's a blog where you can read and follow the story. see here http://simplebloods.tumblr.com/. go to the archive for more of the comic strips.

i'm a blood type O, but i found out that i'm close to blood type A for some of the cases in the comic strip haha.. but the introduction for blood type O is true for me though haha

Gardens by the Bay

it's the newest garden in the city! haha.. very near to Marina Bay Sands, but have to walk quite a bit. i've been there once at night with my parents and my sis, but didn't manage to go into the domes since we came too late at night. today i went again w/ my eldest sis n bro in law. this time i managed to go into the domes. hoho..

the domes are cold inside! but the plants are prettyyyy.. the man made waterfall is amazing as well. but it was quite a speedy tour around the garden today because we need to rush to airport right after that. here are some photos i took using my iPhone and added a bit of effect using Line Camera apps haha.. the night views are all blurry :(

all kinds of cactus in baobab garden (flower dome)

tress w/ diff trunk sizes. they look so funny haha (flower dome)

the man made waterfall (cloud dome)

lost world (cloud dome)

secret garden. yeah. secret garden hahaha (cloud dome)

bunga sepatuu!! segede muka orang (flower dome)

night view from the dragonfly bridge 

MBS from dragonfly bridge

the supertree groove at night

taxi.. taxi..

just read a post about taxi drivers in singapore in facebook. and i agreed with most of the content. and i want to share my experience as well haha.

my previous job required me to travel a lot w/ taxi. so.. hello taxi uncles... and hello funny problems.

it was the first time i realize they always ask which way i want to go. i'm a foreigner. and i'm a woman. so i didn't really give a damn about roads at first. and which way to go? harrr.. like i care. as long as it's fast and cheap of course! (and that was always my answer to the taxi drivers, haha). and that "like i care" attitude gave me problems in the end haha. getting lost. and wasted time. and felt dumb cos it seemed like i can't tell my destination properly to the taxi driver.

since i've just changed my phone to iphone 4 that time, i felt safe. i can just show the location i wanted to go on the map, and even show the taxi drivers the direction if needed.

i didn't really get annoyed with them not knowing the way. but i had a big problem w/ their driving skills and during the "change shift" time.. anyway, in the end, i gained skill. in reading maps. hahaha.. and now i recognized most roads in singapore, mostly in CBD area.

one time i had an interesting talk with a taxi uncle. i remembered i commented about how hard it was to get a taxi during "change shift" time. i remembered the conversation took place after my late meeting in orchard, which ended at 930 pm (i left first before the meeting really ended hahaha).

the taxi driver agreed with me. he commented that all those taxi drivers were lazy drivers. some of them only pretended to change shift, he said. so that he didn't have to drive around too much and still in the high demand area. sure a smart way to get money fast, but annoys the customers.

but he was different. because he doesn't have to share his taxi, he can arrange his work time flexibly. he came out super early to drive the workers to work. and he told me that he shifted his meal time slightly so that he can catch the high demand period. he has his lunch later so that he can serve those workers who comes out for and comes back from lunch. and he has his dinner even later so that he can drive those overtime workers home. at around 4pm (change shift period), he doesn't change shift so that he can get more passengers. he works more than 12 hours a day. and he drives well. i didn't get carsick. and from him i knew more or less about taxi business :p

i don't know whether he was only bragging or not. but i hope all taxi drivers here in singapore were just like him who's really dedicated to his job. manse!

ooppss.. been a long time since i last posted :p padahal ga ada kerjaan T.T arggghhhhh...

job oh job.. when will you come to me?? hiksuuu T.T (desperate mode: on)

btw, hehehehe... my nephew was born on 2nd June 2012! welcome to the world babyyyy :p another dragon kid, yeaaaahhhhhh.. he's a super cute one. 3 days old, and he can smile already. smiley baby hohohoho.. he gained weight v fast. now he's almost 5 kg!

here's the scrapbook i made for him haha.. not so good i think..

the left most photo was taken when he's only 3 days old. and smiling. hahaha... arrrgggghhhhh wanna pinch his cheekssssssssss.. miss you matthewwwwww... ah yah, btw his name is Matthew Alexander Goenawan.

and yeah, that's about it haha.. hope can see you again soon matthewwww

nambah koleksi scrapbook lagi heheheh :P

scrapbook!

yeah.. it's my new craze during my oh-so-relaxing period while waiting for job interviews :p it's digital scrapbooking, not the hard copy.. it's interesting, but a bit complicated here and there. and.. finally i know how to use photoshop a bit :p at least i can do some digital scrapbooking and minimal photo enhancement :p

here are some of the digital scrapbooks i've done. i looked for the layout ideas by googling hahaha.. i'm not that good with layout yet. hopefully will get better and better.

my 2nd piece. the 1st one was so horrible that i deleted it. hahaha. i love my dad's pose. so cute!! hahaha

3rd piece. ran out of idea about the layout. so, didn't turn out to be good hahah. but.. ok lahhh :p

4th piece. dedicated for my eldest sis and bro-in-law. the idea was taken from one of the video tutorial i saw. my elder sis said it looks like my mom patchwork quilt muahhaha..

5th piece. i think the layout can be considered original hahaha... turns out to be good.

6th piece. haha this one completely copying the layout from googling. with a little bit of variation here and there :p

i downloaded most of the embellishment and papers freely online. none was made by myself muhahahaa.. still learning how to make those in photoshop :p