JOURNAL OF LIFE

Welcoming Christmast and New Year

2011-12-19T09:26:00.003+01:00

Wishing you a wonderfull Christmast and a Happy New Year 2012!

Well, it is almost the end of the year again. Time flies. This Christmast is going to be our last Christmast in Thailand, as my husband working contract will come to the end on June 2012. We decided to stay in Pattaya this year, welcoming the year of 2012 from our Royal Cliff Condo in Pattaya, Now as we live in the 7th floor of the building, we can enjoy more of the fireworks show which is ussualy run from Xmast nite till New Year's Eve. We did a lot of travelling in the last six months of this year. It is good to stay at home, only the three of us. I remember we had visitors from Germany last year; and we were bussy with them. We travelled around and entertained them. It was really fun! But it is also good to be alone, to enjoy our solitude as a small family.

I welcome the Christmast and new year through decorating the rooms with some red colors, and a Christmast tree in the corner of our living room. I am not a religious person, but I like decorating and celebrating important days. Some holly days, such as Idul Fitri (Muslim holly day) and Christmast, also Easter and Halloween. Those days will make me bussy with decorating and being more creative than ussual.

I baked on those days, alone or with Nola. It was really fun to bake and forming the cookies during christmast time or else. Nola love it also! She will use her playdough plastic form to crreate some cookies in many kind of form. Off course I have my own cookies form, so we can work together with fun. The most interesting part of this celebration is when the D day come, and we can open all the presents. Most of the presents are basically for Nola. But we are all so excited to open them together, but it is still a few more days. We have to wait till we can open all the gifts!

Nolas with her baking project.

The school ended on Dec 16th. Two days before, Iwent to the Christmast show at the Regent's school, and watched Nola in the show. She had some lines she should say during the show, beside dancing and singing. We did practise at home to make her able to remember her lines, and she did it very well. At the beginning, I was really worry that she would forgot her lines...but she didn't! I was proud of her. She was not too shy to perform on the stage, and she was able to articulate her sencentence loudly and clearly enough. The last day at school, they have a party. The kids came with their party dresses, and brought some food to share. I made brownies and popcorn for that occasion. I picked her up from school on her last day, then we drove home together, and started our end of the year holiday now!

The Hopeles Camels Show at the Regent's School Pattaya. Welldone Kids!

Ladies End of the Year Party a la Bollywood

2011-12-08T11:20:00.004+01:00

I love this Picture of us, wearing Indian costumes. My friend from Bangkok took this beautifull foto. I thank her for that!

Mala and Nadila were also in the party

My younger sister, Mala, and her daughter, Nadila, visited me in Thailand at the begining of December. It was the week when Lorenz was supposed to be in Germany for a business trip. It was not a coincidence though, we invited her as it will be good for me and Nola not to be alone for a week. Beside, this will be our last chance to have a family visit in Thailand as we are leaving this country in 2012 soon. On the other hand, Lorenz last business trip to Germany had also some other missions: visiting our apartment in Munich to make some decorating plan with the furniture company in Munich, and also looking for a suitable school for Nola. It is still six months ahead, but the registration for the next term in Germany has already started. We are looking for an international or a biligual private school in Munich for Nola, and I know it is not an easy task. We know that the staatliches schule in Munich would be easier for us to find, but Nola already going to a British School in Pattaya. We want her to go to a school where she will be taught in English and in German languanges equally. The week would be very bussy for Lorenz, and also for us in Pattaya.

I took my sister and the kids to the Ban Amphur beach during their first days in Pattaya. The kids love it, they played in the sand and swam in the calm water of Ban Amphur beach. We ordered food and had lunch on the beach which was very good price. Another day, we went to the Crocodile Farm to see the animals and watched the Crocodile show. The next day, we went to the Floating Market, the Mini Siam and the Nong Nooch Garden. It was a bussy week for me.

On Dec 8th, the ladies in Pattaya organizing End of year party a la Bollywood. The party venue was at the India by Nature restaurant. It is one of the nicest Indian restaurant in Pattaya. I took Mala, Nadila and Nola with me to the party. We went to the hairdresser first to do our hair and make up. We all wore the Indian costumes. The party itself really fun! The ladies wearing all wonderfull and colorfull Indian dresses and accesories. We did the gift exchange also. Nola was not feeling weel on that day. I took her already to the doctor in the morning; that also the reason why she did not go to school and join the party instead.

lovely ladies in their Bollywood costumes!

Triathlon Getaways

2011-11-25T03:03:00.048+01:00

Around one thousand pepole participated in Phuket Triathlon this year.

Combining holidays with a triathlon is one of Lorenz idea which was came out since the last two years. I can understand that he is not the type of person who will be happy enough to lay on the sun bed next to the swimming pool during holidays. He is some one whos doing sport is a part of his life, even his soul. And sport for him is not just sport, just like what I am doing regularly at the gym during the week. There are some part of Thailand we had never seen before but we were not really keen to visit. For example : Phuket. Why? Because we are living in Pattaya which is also located directly on the beach. We asumed Phuket is not more different than Pattaya. But there was a Triathlon in November in Phuket which attracted us to fly to Phuket.

Enjoying the scenery of the Laguna during our break in Phuket.

The Phuket Laguna Thriathlon is the most prestigious Thriathlon competition in Asia. Many profesinal athletes flown to Phuket to participate in this event. As we arrived in Phuket, only a week after our trip to Jakarta, and checked in to the Dusit Tani Phuket laguna hotel, we saw already many international Thriathlon athletes preparing themselves for the race.

For me, the atmosphere is different than only the beach getaways. It is a combination between relaxing and training. The wives and their children were spending their time at the pool or at the kids club, meanwhile the men were bussy preparing for the Triathlon. The race itself started at 6.30 am with an earlier breakfast at 3.30 am organized specialized for the athletes by the hotel,and Lorenz could finish the race around 1030 am. So, me and Nola did not feel being left alone at all. He left when we were still in bed, and came from the race when we were still having our breakfast!

In Mariott hotel Hua Hin, our favourite hotel there.

We did two other Triathlon getaways this year before the Phuket one. The one in Hua hin was in August this year. It was not as big as Phuket, but Hua hin was only five hours drive away from Pattaya, so we travelled there easily. we went to Hua hin two times this year, because missed the exact date of the race. It was not his lucky Triathlon as the second time we went there with only seven days different, he had problem with his bike. We stayed at the Marriott Hotel in Hua Hin at our second visits there in August. I like the hotel because it has many activities for the kids, so Nola won't be bored spending the whole day with me during the race time.

Another Triathlon getaways was the Rayong Triathlon. Again, the location was very easy to reach for us. We just drive 2 hours direction to the south, untill we find the Rayong beach. But this getaway is not as beautifull as the other two destinations I have mentioned above. Rayong beach is not a five stars beach. It is a very natural and a public beach, it has white sandy beach and flat surface and small waves which was good for kids to play around, but it is a public beach in Thailand, located between local villages there. Some people like its naturality, but some, just like us, like something more clean and organized.There were many huts and traditional seafoods restaurants along the beach, there were some rubish and wild dogs. We could not find any five stars hotels in the Triathlon location, so we went to the Bali Village resort. We took this resort because of its name. But the bungalows was not as nice as we expected before. It was a very simple accomodations, and it was quiet old. But it reminded us to many bungalows in Bali, so... only a hunderd meters away, we found another, the Tamarind resort hotel, clean and modern design, it was the hotel where some of the athletes were staying. We were thinking to go to that hotel next time we should come to Rayong for another Triathlon getaways...

For Nola, anywhere are good, as long as she can play.

The hotel in Rayong, very simple accomodation.

My Niece Wedding

2011-11-20T01:27:00.001+01:00

Attending Ami's Wedding in jakarta, November 20th 2011.

Left to right: Alex (eldest brother and Ami's father), Ningrum (Ami's mother), Yudi (Mala's husband), Mala ( my younger sister), Nadila(Mala's daughter), Ami's husband and Ami herself. I still have one more sister, one brother and another brother (deceased) and their families which were not in the picture here,

We flown to Jakarta November 19th untill 21st this year. It was the wedding of my eldest brother"s daughter, Amy, who was held in Cimanggis, south of Jakarta. The visit was a very short one, but an important one. It would be our last visit to Indonesia from Thailand, as we are going back to Germany for good in the middle of the year 2012. We did not stay long, because Lorenz couldn't leave his work which was becoming more bussy before the end of the year, and we do not want Nola to leave school for longer time.

We stayed in the Ascott Residence in Sudirman"s area. I can recomend this place to anybody who want to visit Jakarta. The apartment was very nice, and I love the location. Located in the central of the city, it is only a short walking distance to the luxurious shopping mall the Grand Indonesia, and even a shorter walking distance to the cheap ITC Thamrin City mall. We went for lunches and coffees at the Grand Indonesia, and in the evening, I sneaked out from our apartment for a quick groceries and Batik shopping at the ITC Thamrin.

The next day, we were ready for the wedding. My sister, Mala, came to Ascott with her husband and daughter to pick us up. We drove about one hour towards the southern part of Jakarta, pass the toll way, and then to Cimanggis city. The wedding was hold in a building near Bogor. It was a combination between traditional Sundanese wedding and a Muslim wedding. I saw the first time my niece"s husband on that wedding. I also met many of family members, brothers, sisters, nieces, cousins, aunties,uncles...many more... almost everybody were there,

With farah, one of my Niece

Sadly, I even met some relatives who still remember me but I couldn"t recalled them back, or I did not feel so close to them as they have expected me to. I felt sorry about that. But I have been away for such a long time. I left Indonesia since 1993, almost twenty years ago! I have met thousands of new faces during this period of time; people from different cultures. I have been away for too long, and am growing up in different life. I am travelling to Indonesia every two or three years from wherever I live before (from England, Germany, Spain, Thailand), alone or with my husband and then my daughter. But it was ussually only to meet my family from my parents (deceased) only: brothers, sisters, in laws, nieces and nephews, and some closest relation cousins and aunties, also some close friends. I would not be able to maintain the contacts with 'the whole families''. The .focus in my life is my husband and daughter, and then family members from my parents (deceased) only. Indonesian tends to have a very big family, and a 'family' means all members from your parents sisters and brothers, and grand parents sisters and brothers, and it is getting biger and bigger as they are all getting maried and having children..

With other nieces, Hana and Fara

However, it was always a wonderful feeling to see my grown up nieces and nephews, and watching them with their new life, walking forward towards the better future.

Celebrations at School

2011-11-10T04:53:00.079+01:00

These krathongs created by the year one children of the Regent's School, Pattaya

As every year at school, there were many celebrations in which Nola was taking a part. In November this year there was the Loy Krathong celebration. What is Loy Krathong? It is something to do with Budhism, it is also a part of Thais culture. I take a look at the Wikipedia, and found the explanation about this Loy Krathong celebration which takes place on the evening of the full moon of the 12th month in the traditional Callendar, which is usually falls in November. Loi literally means 'to float,' while krathong refers to the lotus-shaped receptacle which can float on the water. Originally, the krathong was made of banana leaves or the layers of the trunk of a banana tree or a spider lily plant. A krathong contains food, betel nuts, flowers, joss sticks, candle and coins. But nowadays we can find the modern form of the krathongs in supermarket which are made of bread or styrofoam. A bread krathong will disintegrate in a few a days and be eaten by fish and other animals. It created less water polution problem than the other form of the krathongs. The festival is believed to originate in an ancient practice of paying respect to the spirit of the waters.

Nola and Lautaro, best friends since Nursery.

Let the krathongs flows on the water surface.

But water issue was something very sensitive for the Thai people this year as the worst flood happened and almost drown some of the cities in the North part of Thailand such as Ayyuthaya and its surroundings, and later the flood also entered the capital city of Bangkok. The water surface was reported to be as big as the land of Denmark! It took months for the flood to be receded and flowed towards the gulf of Thailand. However the Loy Krathong celebration at school was something we shouldn't miss. It was time for the kids to have fun. They wore Thai traditional costumes, and then floated the kratongs into the swimming pool. Not to forget, the kids were praying for the flood victims first.

We had some other celebrations at school beside the Loy Krathong. There was the Chinese new year in Ferbuary, and then the Thais new year in April or Songkran. There was also international day in March. All of those were the days where the children can spend a day at school with a lot of fun!

Chinese New Year Celebration at school.

Moving and Housewarming

2011-10-12T06:00:00.120+02:00

This is the view we have missed in the past two years.

We were moving from tower A to tower C Royal Cliff Condominiums at the begining of October this year. Yes, it is still in the same condominiums complex, and it is still the same address. We are just moving from tower A into tower C, and many people asked 'WHY?'. Well, there are some reasons behind this moving : our leasing contract for our apartment in tower A come to end on June 2011. And as we are still living in Thailand until the end of June 2012, it means we still have another one year time either to extend the contract for the tower A apartment or looking for another condos or houses to be rent.

We love the balcony in our old appartment also.

The view from the Backgarden.

It was not an easy decision though, for us either to extend the contract or to look for a new place to live for another year. We like our apartment in bulding A, it was a huge apartment. It was a 4 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms apartment with a very lage balcony and the size of 350 square meter, facing very closely to the Gulf of Thailand. But it was located on the third floor of the building. We had a breathtaking view of the sea to the front, but to the back, we could only see the slope of the hill. We would love to see the other side of the hill, to see the haven and the city of Pattaya, especially during the night...

With friends at my housewarming party.

There was some renovation going on at the the tower C on the higher floor. The owner is the same, the Emporium Suites company who also managing the Royal Garden Suites hotel located within this compound. The apartment in tower C is smaller than ours in tower A, but it was fully renovated, so everything would be new, and on top of it, it has the view of the Pattaya beach and the haven of Bali hai Pier. We supposed to move in June 2011, but they were not ready with all the renovations, so we waited until July. But then we were away to Europe on July and August, and also in September, so we should postponed our moving again until the first day of October.

I organized a housewarming party for my friends in the middle of October. It was a simple one. First, I was thinking of doing coffee morning only, but then, I realize the party will be suring lunch time. So I prepared lunch menu instead. I ordered the food from our friend, Andy, who is a chef for an Indonesian restaurant in Pattaya. I ordered also from the restaurant in our condo downstairs. The party went well, many of my friends came, and enjoy the food. It is another reason why I love parties...

Welcome to C building.

Birthdays and Our Tuscanny Holiday

2011-09-26T01:59:00.098+02:00

Birthday lunch in green at Casa Pascal restaurant.

I always welcome the month of September with happiness. Yes, it is our month. It is our birthdays ( Lorenz is on 9th anf mine is on 13th) and then our annyversary which is on 5th of September. God, time flies. We are entering our 16th annyversary this year, I hardly believe it! is going on as it is. Life is up and down, relationship also. So far ours is doing well. I Thank God for all the blessings on our life. I am turning 45 this year, and Lorenz 44. We are not young anymore, but we do not complain about it ( how could we?). Trying to enjoy this life, improving ourselves, being healthy and looking as good as possible without getting stressed from all those efforts, those are things that we are concerning now.

How many candles do I have this year?

Celebration is a different thing. I love to celebrate. It is time for me to dressed up, to decorate ( if the party venue is at home), to see all my friends gathering, cheering, enjoying the food etc etc. Lorenz is more private person, so he is avoiding celebrations or parties. But he love to be amongst his closest friends and families.

I was organizing my birthday party this time at Casa pascal restaurant on the second road. It is a very cozy and nice fine dining restaurant. I love the ambience, and the manager was very helpful and supportive. The inner decorations is in blue tone, so I asked the ladies to come in green outfit. The combination of the colors reflected harmoniously in our party pictures. Lorenz celebrated his in his office. I bought carrots cupcakes from Tamar bakery for him. And we did our own private party at home also, only the three of us. Nola loves to help me and Lorenz blowing the candles, and cutting the cake!

At Casa Fantone, we enjoy the solitude

On 17th until 26th we flown to Tuscany, Italy. Tuscany is our regular holiday destination. We are spending holiday there every 2 or three years with our closest friends from Germany. We went to the same house we were renting together with our friends everytime we are in Tuscanny: Casa Fantone, in Popi village, near the city of Florence. The holiday in Tuscanny is always relaxing. And private. We enjoyed the beautiful farm house and its vineyard, we cooked, have lunches and dinner together, drink a lot of Italian wine. It was another life, compare with my bussy life in Pattaya.

BBQ-ing under the Tuscanny's evenings sun

We flown back to Thailand after two weeks in Tuscanny. We hugged and say good bye to each other. Until another Tuscanny holiday!

Summer Holiday in Germany ( I )

2011-07-11T03:26:00.001+02:00

We spent our regular family gathering every three years in this hotel in Viums.

School summer holiday began on June 24th 2011, and we are ready for our second homeleave to Germany. This time we were planing to stay longer there, four weeks, as we would travel from South to North in Europe. Starting from Viums in the Dolomiti area of the North Italy, then Munich, Wartin on the Central East of Germany, to Berlin, Osnabrueck in the North of Germany then Bremen. We departed on July 8th midnight flight with Austrian airlines from Bangkok via Viena to Munich. The flight was very pleasantly, we were sleeping in the flight for hours, and as we woke up the next day, we arrived in Vienna. The connecting flight took about 2 hours till we landed in our "home" in Munich. It was a very strange feelings that after two years living in Pattaya, I didn't feel really back home to Munich. I do not know where actually my 'home' is. Although our own apartment is still there in the city on Munich, including all of our furnitures (now is being rented). But...I felt everything was new for me, though not much changes. We spent only a few hours at the Munich Airport, then we continue our journey by car to Viums, South Tirol, in North Italy.

Family picture (not complete): Moritz, Lorenz brother, Kaja, his daughter, Lis Kroenert, Lorenz Mom, Nola, Me and Lorenz.

Playing time everyday.

Viums is also not Lorenz hometown. It is a small village located at the borderline of Italy and Germany, somewhere in the Mountain where we can see hectars of apple plantations everywhere. There we met Lis Kroenert, Lorenz mom, Moritz, brother, who came with his daughter Kaja, who regulary spending holiday together with a group of families and old friends from their hometown of Bremen. They spent two to four weeks holiday there every three years. And they did this gathering since more than twenty years ago! More about it, they always stay in the same hotel: the Waldesruh Hotel.

As the group is big, around 40 people or so, we booked almost the whole rooms of the hotel. we had breakfasts, lunches and dinners togethers. During the days, there were many activities for children, beside swimming and going to the next ice cream parlor, The sporty adults arranging their Mountain hiking and climbing together, trying to conquer all the dolomities Mountains. Some prefer to do sun bathing at the pool, or do some water polo or Qi Gong exercise. I did some walking-jongging-walking through the apple plantations, have chit chat, watching Nola playing with her friends and cousin, read books, and did some short trips outside Viums with my family. It was more than enough for a holiday right?

The Pool and the Apple plantations., very typical in Viums

Summer Holiday in Germany (II): Viums and its Surroundings

2011-07-10T04:14:00.065+02:00

I love the Nature, but missed the City Life.

Two weeks in Viums was really a back to nature holiday for me. The village was very quiet, the landscape was green and clean, and the air was fresh. It was on July, and I realized that my polen allergy was not as bad as I had a few years ago. I am not sure if I am really free from the spring allergy at all, but at least I can hope that my immune system is changing now after living a few years outside Germany. The holiday resort was the perfect place for kids, cycler, hiker, and mountain climber. I love those peacefull life and the Nature, but on the other hand, I still can not leave the cities. Not the modern hectic cities, but the old ones with small alleys, old buildings, european architectures, the parks with colorfull flowers and the smell of hot cappucinos or lates.

We did some short trips to our surrounding cities. Brixen ist the nearest. It is located only 5 km from Viums. It is an old town with some pedestrian zones and cuble stone streets where many Italian restaurants dan cafes can be found. It is small but it has some fashion shops such us Bennetton, Mango and Zara. Not to many but enough, right?

Castle of Trauttmansdorf of Meran, with its beautiful Botanocal Garden. Great plase to visit.

We drove another day to the city of Meran for another old town walks. Enjoying the old building with its unique arschitecture. The smells of Pizzas from every tratorias. In Meran, we visited the famous castle Schloss Trautmansdorf which is famous for its impresive Botanical Garden. The castle has 12 hectars Botanical Garten boasting 80 samples of natural landscape from every country in the world. The paths through the garten was hilly, up and down, make a circle, then going down to the big artificial lake. The Castle standing huge on the top of the hill.

Ice cream at Brixen.

Antholzersee.

Exploring Gilfenklamm.

at Castle Trauttmansdorf, Meran.

Another short drive, we visited a natural lake the Antholzersee. It was cold when we arrived to the Biathlon city. But many Italian tourist were there already. The lake has clean blue water, the mountains standing surrounding it. Some ducks and fishes swimming in it. The water was ice cold, but the animals did not bother with the water temperature. Antholzersee is good for a short round walking, the paths was up and down but not too sharp, there were some wooden bridge in some part, and at the end of the lake, there was a big playground and a restaurant for a coffee and a piece of cake. We did also another short hiking near Viums, at the Gilfenklamm near Sterzing. It has another kind of walking path, many wooden and stone stairs, up and up and up and the very narrow river flowing far below us. The rocks and the stalagnit hanging above us. Water dropping from time to time. It was tiring, but fun, especially when we reached the top and found the restaurant which served us hot potatoes knodel soup.

Summer Holiday in Germany (III): Visiting The Messner Mountain Museums

2011-07-09T06:11:00.122+02:00

One of the MMM we have visited.

We kept exploring. Viums was too small for me, and eventhough there were many mountains and lakes and rivers to be conquered, honestly, I am not a Conquerer. For doing such activities, I was not fit enough. I did many hours at the gym in Thailand, but it was not enough for a physical activities at the Mountains of Dolomiti area in North of Italy. Our short trips to the cities continued, during the time Lorenz was free from his hiking and climbing expeditions with his group of Viums.

We found out there were about five Museums wich were belongs to the famous Mountain climber , Reynhold Messner. He was born in South of Tyrol in 1944. He is the pioneer and the record breaking rock climber, on mountarinering expeditions and crossing desserts and the Poles. All his experience, and collections can be seen in all of his museums, It called the MMM or Messner Mountain Museum,which are spread al over the Dolomiti.

Strolling the Bruneck Castle and Museum

Firmian Museum in Bozen

We drove to the nearest one, in Bruneck in a cloudy and rainy day. MMM Ripa, brink of life, which is also the Bruneck Castle. Formerly the summer residence of the prince bishop, now is the Mountain Museum which is presenting the mountain peoples of Asia, Africa, South America and Europe. The collections also reflects their cultures, religions and tourism activities. The town of Bruneck itself is very attractive for tourist, because of its old buildings, small passages and shops lining at the small streets. We climbed up the hill until we could reach the Castle Museum of Bruneck.

Near Bozen we visited the MMM Firmian Museum with its distinguish style. Its addreses the subject of man's encounter with the mountains. The Museum was also an old burg, very large. The paths, stairs and towers leads visitors from the depths of mountain until the peak. The marriage between the old bricks and walls of the old burg with a modern architecture, with glass, steel and iron was very impresive.

an instalation made of stone

We have visited three of the MMM during our holiday in Germany. We would love to see others, to make it completed.

Nolas Birthday and Two Short Trips to Sydney and Hongkong

2011-04-15T12:53:00.002+02:00

Make a Wish!

I decided to celebrate Nola birthday this year at School, instead of organizing a big blash in a Hotel. I think it was a very good decision and the best for her: she celebrate her big day with her friends, with other kids whom she spent her time playing and learning everyday at school. Many of her school mates are coming to school with School bus, I never know their parents, but Nola know them very well at school. There is always a problem when we are trying to invite those kids to a birthday party outside the school, they never turn up because their parents are not knowing us personally. I can invite my friends instead, but not all of myfriends kids are nolas friends. So this is our solution this year: we do a small celebration at her classroom, and then we are going on holidays!

I met my Indonesian Friend, Iwan, who lives in Sydney. He took this nic pic!

Nola was 5 years old on April 2011. She went to the reception class at the Regents School Pattaya, it is similar with Vorchule or Kindergarten in Germany. I always get excited with birthday celebrations, including this small one. I ordered a cake with Cinderella picture on it from a bakery in Pattaya, I created goodie bags and even baked 24 pink cup cakes from Dr Oetker recipes I brought from Germany.

The party went well; i came to school at 10.00 am, brought the cake and the goodie bags, The kids sat together, sang the birthday song meanwhile Nola blew the candles. After, we share the cake and i distribute the goodie bags to them. The next day, we flown to Sydney, Australia

We flown Thai Airways from Bangkok to Sydney, Australia. It was our first time to be in Australia. We arrived at night, and took a taxi to our hotel in Darling Harbour, the Four Points by Sheraton. The hotel was very nice, the room had a very big window showing the view of the Darling Harbour and its brigde. There was a big celebration at that time in Sydney, with fireworks at night which we can enjoy through our window. There was a Triathlon going on in the parks of Sydney also. The city is wonderful, very clean, orderly, much more better than Munich! I suddenly fall in love with Sydney...

It was a pity we stayed only eight days in the beautiful city like Sydney, but we have made our best to make this short trip as memorable as possible, especially for Nola, the birthday kid. We went to the Taronga zoo which could be reach by ferry from Sydney. There, Nola had her first chance to meet and greet the Kangaroos and the Koalas. Next, we visited Sydney Wildlife World which is located in front of our hotel, to see some other animals.

She met the Koala!

...and posed with Minnie!

Sbow White is behind me...

The celebration continued in May: we flown to Hongkong for a long weekend. We visited the Disneyland where we can meet Mini Mouse and friends. This time we flown Cathay Pacific. Our hotel, the Harbour View hotel, located in the Hong kong Island, which was not as good location as in Kowloon. The room was nice, big and with a big window with a view towards the Harbour, but the surroundings was not as beautiful as the one we had in Sydney. The weather also was not friendly. It was a bit cold and rainy during the day, but we did our best to visit Disneyland on the first day and The Peak on the next day. We also went to the Harbour in Kowloon one night to watch the laser show. It was raining and we were wet. We departed the next day back to Bangkok with beautiful memories.

Bye bye Sydney and Hongkong!

Visit Jakarta

2011-02-15T10:45:00.059+01:00

Central of Jakarta, which is always bussy with traffic.

Visiting Jakarta always a mixture of feelings for me. Either being excited or confuse. The past were some good some not really good. I love the food, the shopping things and looking forward to see my friends and families; but I hate the polution, the traffics, the delays, the forbids of many kind of things and the unorganisation on many things. I have been through many parts of my life in this city, I was born in Bandung but my childhood was mostly here, then the school and the students time (my first degree in Literature was from University of Indonesia, before then I continued my second degree in Communication in King Alfred's College/University, United Kingdom) which I did really enjoy a lot. Yes, a lot. Then came my time as an office girl, working as journalist from one magazine to another magazine, changed into television reporter and then back to news reporter. During those period of time, from 1966 to 1993, I have spent my life here, in this city and met many of good old friends.

Reunion in Bandung with girlfriends I know during student time and working time in jakarta.

This is the first time I visit Jakarta all by myself, since Nola was born in 2006. I never did it before, and I was nervous. Between 1993 until 2006, I travelled once or every two years to Indonesia either alone or with my husband. Offcourse, I travelled often alone anywhere else in Asia and Europe as a journalist before. But then I stoped travelling alone since I gave birth to my daughter.

The idea came spontaneusly. Some old girlfriends whom I knew during my office time wanted to do a reunion. A ladies only meeting. and since we are now living in Thailand, which is not far away to Jakarta, I was thinking of trying to to go there alone.

The visit was short, only seven days. I could not leave Nola which was not in her school holidays at that time longer than a week. Lorenz had to take a half day holidays that week. I went to Jakarta and Bandung only, and managed to see all of my friends, families, cousins, aunties, uncles etc. I ate and tried many kind of foods I seldom ate during I am staying abroad. It was really a good time. However, it was a different feeling as a mother to travel alone. Maybe I am still very old fashioned, or am a traditionalist. I know many career women travelling all over the world all by herself. But, I just can't.

I have been being a mother an a homemaker for a long time that made me change, I am more a domestic person. I am not ashame to acknowledge that. The seven days visits was fun, but also tiring. And as I came back to Bangkok with my niece, Lulu, whos following me from Jakarta for an exchange visit, I realize that what I need was to be with my little family I love...

with my ex university connection in Jakarta.

with cousin and sister in bandung.

with some expat wives I knew them in Pattaya before, they the moved to jakarta.

All the Fiesta in 2010

2010-12-21T09:44:00.008+01:00

Pictures above, met Santa at the Wiggle Town Playground, and then a performance on the stage at School.

Only a few days more before we are leaving the year 2010 when I wrote this post. There were plenty good memories happened in this year, many celebrations or Fiestas that I will never forget. Nola had her celebrations in her School, there were Chinese New Year in February and Songkran in April.

Songkran and Chinese New Year are two important celebrations in Thailand beside Loy Krathong.

In October, we went to the Horseshoe Point Resort to celebrate Halloween, where the Kids came with their unique Halloween costumes and could see many attractions or participated in many games. They did not have a Halloween celebrations at School, but they had a costume day in this month. It was a 'Space and Alliens day', children came to school with a Space or Alliens theme costume. I created an allien Astronaut costume for Nola, something which was simple, easy to make and comfortable to wear. I bought a silver fabric from the market, brought it to the tailor, then made the other accesories. Nola loved her costume and she really looked great with it,didn't she?

Pictures above: Nola with her space costume, and Halloween costume. As there was no halloween party at School, I tried to make a little party at home. We created a spider cookies we copied from Google :)

Then came the Loy Krathong Celebration at School, the Thailand's New Year, which was in November. All kids came wearing Thailand traditional costume. Rich with colours, ornaments and specific kind of fabrics. They all looked fabulous! Nola wore a two pieces costume, a pants and a blouse in pretty Pink colour. I decorated her hair with some artificial Flowers. She really enjoyed the celebration at School. They started with a costume Parade, and then went to the Swimming Pool to release the Loy Krathong flowers into the water.

The Loy Krathong celebration was colourfull with the costumes, the flowers and all the decorations.

Girls are love to dressed up!

In December, they celebrated Xmast on December 16th, one day before their last School day. The Early Years group were performing their Xmast songs and dancing in front of their parents in the Globe Theatre on that day. Afterwards, we all went to the Cafeteria for having lunch together. The Kids had a chance to meet Santa Claus again during the lunch time. We went home tired but happy, Nola still had one more day before the Winter break begin. She will back again to School on January 10th 2011. Merry Christmast and Happy New Year 2011!

Dancing and singing performance of the Early Years children from the Regent's School, very impresive. They were all proud to perform themselves in front of a huge public, not only mommy and daddy!

Birthday and Ladies Parties

2010-09-14T07:28:00.058+02:00

September always special for me and Lorenz. It is our anniversary on the 6th, Lorenz birthday on the 9th and my birthday on the 13th. We have a tradition to go on holiday from the 6th until 13th of September; it is another way to celebrate those three important days in one time. Actually, we are doing the same thing in April when Nola has her birthday and it was Easter holiday at the same time. Going for holiday is the best kind to celebrate, right? However, I love parties as well. Last year, we were still very new here in Pattaya, so I didn’t make any celebration on my Birthday. But this year, I have known some friends; most of them are expatriates wives who lives in Pattaya. I decided to make a Ladies Lunch party. It was really fun to gather together in one special occasion just like on my birthday party. The ladies came with nice dresses and make up, and then we enjoyed the food together and posed for pictures. This year I was 44 years old, but I feel happy. I am happy with whatever life I have been through, especially in the last fourteen till seventeen years. It was the time when I started my second life as a postgraduate student in United Kingdom, being alone and apart from my homeland, but also being more independent than before until I found love and then having interesting and adventurous life ever until now. Every year has its story, and every year I appreciate my achievement in my life. This year I celebrated another achievement: I received my German citizenship and I did successfully LASIK operation for my eyes. I was suffering with minus 7 on the right eye and minus 3 on the left one. I had been using glasses since 10 years old. One more achievement: I participated for the first time in my life the mini walkathon 5 K in Bangkok. Lorenz and Nola joined the run (Nola sleeping in her buggy and Lorenz pushed her), he ran for the 10 K mini marathon. We finished our run on time, about 55 minutes.

Well, the party was great, there were about fifteen ladies turned up.As time goes by, I have met more and more friends here, which was mean: more parties were on my schedule. The parties are all so colourful, as we decided to wear certain colour of dresses for each party. I love to come and join the ladies parties, seeing my friends and enjoying the food. I know that those occasions happened only once to twice a month. It won’t consume much of my time, because I still can do my other activities on the other days. The parties and friends are filling my life in Pattaya with good memories. I enjoyed them. Indeed.

Hua Hin Short Break

2010-08-05T04:10:00.001+02:00

Above, some part of Mariott Hotel in Hua hin. Very nicely decorated, very green with its gardens and swimmingpools.

We were curious about Hua Hin since many years. The beach geographically located opposite of Pattaya, in the Westcoast of the Gulf of Siam. But since we live on the beach, and we see the Ocean 24 hours a day, the desire to go there was never that big.

Until there was a loong Weekend in August 2009, the Thai Mother'S day, which was dated on 12th of August. It was Thursday, so we thought about a short break somewhere not far away, somewhere we have never been before and we did not have to take flight to go there.

It took us about 4,5 hours driving from Pattaya to Hua hin. We drove very early in the morning, about 5.00 am, during Nola was still asleep. The timing was perfect. By the time we arrived at our hotel, the Mariott Hua hin, breakfast was still going on. We had our breakfast and waited until our room was ready. Then we spent our days on the beach in front of our hotel.

White sandy beach with low tide. The sand was full with crabs eggs, Nola loved to play with them.

For me, Hua hin looked pretty much similar with Pattaya. But I like the orderly of that city, I saw less motorbikes and Pick up taxis, the beach was flat and wide with low waves, very good for jogging and children playing. It was more peacefull than Pattaya, something I like. we spent the whole weekend there, almost doing nothing except swimming, eating and let Nola playing on the beach. I did not want to go shopping, I thought they have same things like in Pattaya, so why should I?

It was good to spent a short time in Hua hin, at last we know how it was, we are not curious anymore. We need anyway something different in our live, right?

At the backyard of our hotel, was private beach and restaurants, great spot to spent our daytime.

Summer break in Germany

2010-07-21T13:05:00.000+02:00

Take a break for a photo shoot, after walking up the Mountain for two and a half hours.

On june 24th was Nola's last day at Kindergarten, then began the long summer holiday until 24th of August. It is our one year living in Thailand, so we did our coming home trip back to Germany. We flow Austrian Airlines from Bangkok to Wien, then continued to Munich. I was surprised that the flight took not longer then 10 hours till we arrived in Wien, and the next flight to Munich needed only 2 hours time. Nola really enjoyed flying, and I felt that travelling with her is becoming easier. Our schedule in Germany was full, Lorenz had to work at the head quarter for the first two days we are in Munich, and we were invited by our friends for lunches and dinner, I did not try to make another private arrangements with my girlfriends since I know our time in Munich was very short and fully booked. Well, we arrived on Thursday 24th of June, then we picked up our car ( leased but paid by the company) at the airport, then drove about 15 minutes till we arrived at the Four Points Sheraton Hotel near the Olympic Stadion of Munich. The hotel was okay, I was expecting more because of its 'Sheraton' name, and it is a 4 stars. But I know that 4 stars hotels in Asia are more luxurious than in Europe. At least the location was great, we just need to walk down the pedestrian coble stones streets, and then we found the Subways station, the BMW Museum, the BMW head quarter across the street and the Olympic stadion with its green park and beautiful lake not far away. Everything within walking distance! We spent three days in Munich, and it was filled with many arrangements. Lorenz had to work for two days, and me and Nola went to a birthday party of our friend at a bier garten. We meet another friends at another bier garten in the evening, then another BBQ and diners at others. On Monday we headed to Munich central station to picked up Hans Kroenert who arrived from Bremen with the ICE. Then we continued to Grainau, our favourite villages located below the Alps next to Garmisch Patenkirchen. We checked into Family Gruener's guest house, which is aour regular accomodation since the last 13 years everytime we go to Grainau. THe next day, came Ingeborg from Bremen to join us. We did some mountain hiking during in Grainau. It was a great experience for me, I had not done any mountain hiking for more than a year, and we could successfully reached the 700 m high Höhelantalklamm, and the Eckbauer, it was really a good achievement for my fitness!

With Hans Kroenert and Ingeborg, before we are all heading for another directions.

After four days Grainau we drove two hours towards the city of Günzburg: The Legoland is there! Nola was very excited that we stopped over at the Legoland and spent half of the day on the hot summer Friday 2nd of July there. Enough playing, then we drove to our next destination to Nueremberg. We stayed three days at our friend's house there. On the second day in Nueremberg, I went to Prag with Ananta, the host'wife and left Lorenz and Nola with her husband home. We took the shuttle bus from Nueremberg to Prag. I really liked the journey, the bus took us about 4 hours and then we are already in another country I have never visited before.

At Legoland, it was really a paradise for kids. Nola offcourse enjoyed it very much!

From Nueremberg we drive 5 hours till we arrive in Wartin, Johannas (Lorenz's sister) house. Lis ( lorenz's mom), Moritz ( his brother) and his daughter Kaja, 10 years old were also presents. We spent about five days with the family there, relaxing, BBQ-ing, chatting and so on. On Saturday 10th of July we continued our trip to Hamburg, spent another two days at Lorenz's friend. On Monday 12th we headed to Hamburg Airport and flown back to Bangkok.

Lis, Nola and Kaja in Wartin.

After A While...

2010-06-18T13:53:00.004+02:00

Picture above: Nola and her classmates are at their swimming lesson at school. At this particular day, the parents are allowed to watch them and taking the pictures.

Life back to normal again. The curfew in Pattaya lasted only a couple of days, the situation in Bangkok was cooling down, and the people of Thailand are working hard together : cleaning up and building up again their capital city. So far, school activities went on as ussual. The last few weeks, there were some extra school activities, such as : parents-teachers conference, which was a great opportunities for us to get to know about our kids development at school, directly from the teacher. Another day, I went for the swimming exhibition for Nola's class in the middle of June, watching her learning swimming with her swim teachers. She was not scared with the deep pool, but still unsecure in diving alone. It would take some more time until she san swim by herself...

Now we are only a few days away from our summer holiday which would be start on June 23rd till August 23rd. It is a very looong time. We are going to back to Germany directly on the last school day, but would stay only for about three weeks there, because Lorenz have to go back to work. We are still having another four weeks of school holiday when we come back from Germany, and there is still no plan where to go and what to do in that four weeks break. I just do not want to make alot of plan. Living in Thailand, is actually, a holiday for us. So, why don't we just enjoy it?

Kicking and keep kicking...! and mommy take your picture, so please smile...

The children are swimming both in the small kids pool and in the deep one. Two swimming teachers are taking care of them, so I was not worry at all.

Curfew in Pattaya

2010-05-20T10:29:00.008+02:00

Since last night, Wenesday 19th of May 2010, the Centre for Resolution of the Emergency Situation (CRES) had applied curfew in Pattaya, which is belongs to the Chonburi Province, once amongst alltogether 23 Provinces which is declared in State of Emergency situation. All the shops, bars, clubs should closed by 21.00 hours until 05.00 am the next day, and nobody allowed to go outside their home. We were already asleep when the curfew applied, we ussually go to bed from 20.30 pm until 06.30 am, so the imposing of the curfew was not effecting us at all. However, I started to feel unsecure now. In the morning, I did not take the new highway to go to School anymore, I took the back streets, through villages to bring Nola to School. I just want to avoid the possibilities of police stopping us for a control in the highway, because it is the way to go and to come from Bangkok. Perhaps they are going to control people who want to go to Bangkok or just arrive from there. Pattaya is only 200 kilometer from Bangkok, and Nola School is located on the highway direction to Bangkok.

Today, I did not go to the city centre, I did my grocery shopping in Tesco or Big C in Sukhumvit street, which are located in the far south outside the city centre. Some of my friends decided to stay at home the whole day today, some avoiding the city centre only-just like me-and some started to buy some food logistics to be stocked at home for just in case...the atmosphere was getting tense today. But I did not see anything strange in Pattaya city today. Everything seems to be normal. I have read the news about whats going on in Bangkok yesterday. About the city was burning out, the leaders of the red shirts surrender to the police but many protester were getting angry and burning everything, including some big shopping malls, hotels and supermarkets. It was reported that 35 buildings were burned. Banks are closed today. Some office in Rayong and Mataphut area told their employee to stay at home. BMW head office in Bangkok, which is located directly in the Wireless Road, the city centre of Bangkok, and the war zone, already closed since couple of days. Only the factory in Rayong still open. Lorenz go to the office as ussual. School is still open, but the are cancelling their after school activities which is started at about 14.30 hours, and advicing the parents and children not to go out at night time.

My friend told me that there was a bomb founded in front of the City Hall last night, and there were some Red protester gathering in front of Carrefour in Central Pattaya. Allright, I decided not to go the the area near the City Hall and avoiding going to Carrefour. I went to School early to pick Nola up and then I drove through the villages street home. Lorenz called me, he said there was announcement that the curfew would be until the next three days. So, wait and see...

Nola's Fourth Birthday

2010-04-10T09:04:00.004+02:00

Birthday Party at Hard Rock Hotel, Pattaya. Nola was very happy to see some of her friends there.

We were still new here in Pattaya, and only have few friends. But we decided to celebrate Nola's birthday party outside her School. It was our first time to organize Birthday party for Nola outside her school, we decided to do it at the Hard Rock Hotel. They are already known as one of the best hotel which are very good in organizing Kids party. We invited about 12 kids, some are from School, some are our neighbours. The party started at 11.00 am until 17.00 pm, the hotel provided two Bungalows or Cabanas in front of the Swimming pool for us, including some tables, chairs, and a refilled lunch buffet. Three animators were taking care for kids, playing with them, making games, magic performance etc, also providing drinks and food for the guests.

The pool surrounded by white sand, it made us feel like really on the beach.

Later on, they brought Nola's Birthday cake, and then she shared it with the other kids. All of those only cost for about 15 Euros per child. Nola really had a great time with the animators and the kids, eventhought she did not realized that it was her Birthday party. It did not matter. She was happy to see some familiar faces surroundings her, and enjoyed the games. At the closing was the bubble bath party at the swimming pool, with music and light, adn everybody can dance..

When I am writing this page, I am already thinking about her next birthday on april 2011. We were satisfied with the Hotel's service, but I want to do something different for the next birthday party. We are going to do it at school so all of her friends and including her teachers can celebrate it. Afterwards we are going for a holiday, perhaps to Australia, or somewhere else...

The Animators were bussy entertaining the kids, the created games, made baloon, showed magic performance etc.

Xmast in Spore

2009-12-27T06:38:00.001+01:00

Nola posed in front of our huge Christmast three at home, next are piled of gifts, some of them are Christmast presents from us to our cleaners and security officers of Royal Cliff Garden Suites.

Xmast 2009 was our first Xmast in Thailand since we were moving back there again. We did not want to go to Germany with some good reasons: we were just settled down in Pattaya with our moving from Hotel to Royal Cliff Condominiums, and Nola with her new School... I did not feel like to to do a long journey back to Germany again. Some other reasons: Lorenz Family was not in Bremen during Xmast time this year, they were all over the country and the world; brother in South America, Mother in Wartin staying with Lorenz's sister, and Father in Singapore on his way to Perth, Australia. Besides, Germany was in its winter time.

Christmast celebration at School and friend's home in Pattaya.

Nola had a wonderful Cristmast party at her Kindergarten. She wore a pretty dress and sang a song with other kids on the stage, then we had lunch together with the teachers at the School's canteen. In the afternoon came a Santa who gave each child a little present. We were invited as well to another Christmast party at one of Nola's friend house at the Horse Point. It was a pot luck party and the kids brough a present for exchange with each other. On the D day, we spent our Xmast dinner at home, only three of us. I cooked a traditional German christmast menu: potatoes dumpling, grilled chicken with brown sauce and red cabbage. It was not really successfull dinner, I guessed, but I need more experience :) The next day however, we had a real Christmast brunch at the Sheraton Hotel Pattaya, only a few meters away from our Condominium. The brunch was great, plenty of food, with live choirs and music. We sat together with our neighbour from Royal Cliff, they were a British couple with three children.

Our family trip to the Bird Park at Jurong, Singapore was very impresive. We loved the colourfull birds there.

Weeks before Xmast, we flown to Singapore to meet Lorenz father, Hans Kroenert. He stayed in Singapore for about two weeks, before continuing his journey to Perth, Australia. We stayed in the same hotel, our favourite in Singapore: the Goodwood Park Hotel. The hotel was not new, it is a five stars hotel, located at the end of Orchard road. The best thing about this hotel: it is located in the city center, but very peacefull because of its green surroundings. We spent three days in Singapore with Hans, we did the boat tour to explore the Singapore canals, then we went to the bird Park at Jurong.

With our short trip to Singapore, and Christmast celebration in Pattaya, we are closing the year of 2009, only with good memories.

Boat trip in Singapore and Nola in front of a Christmast tree at the Orchard road.

Visit Indonesia

2009-09-29T12:50:00.001+02:00

Posed together in front of the statue at our hotel lobby in Bogor, before heading back to Thailand.

On September 20th and 21st 2009 was Hari Raya Idul Fitri in Indonesia, and it was a coincidence that we are now living back in Thailand, which is only 2 hours flight from Jakarta. After settling down in Pattaya, we decided to visit my Family in Jakarta. We went there the last time on December 2007 as we finished our term in Thailand and heading back to Germany. So now there is another reason to say 'hello, we are back again to Thailand for another term' to my family.

Years and years, since I left my country in 1994 for a postgraduated study in United Kingdom, then moved to Germany and lived there permanently, I always come to Indonesia regulary: alone when I was single, with my husband as I married and laterly with Nola, since she was born.

Relaxing in the green surroundings, after the long journey visiting all families home.

I visited my birth country less since my mother passed away in the year 2002. I had two sisters and three brothers, four of them are older than me, married and they have grown up kids who are all bussy with their jobs, studies and schools. I can understand that, as we all grown up and living in different life and culture, we are all changing; we all have new friends and new families such as our in laws, who are becoming substitute of our real parent because we do not have them anymore. But we managed to keep our contacts through e-mails, face book and bloggingss. Thanks to the internet because it makes me keeping in touch with my families eventhough I live far away from them: Southampton, Winchester, Berlin, Erlangen, Munich, Singapore, Munich, Madrid, Pattaya, Munich, Pattaya... ..still my relationship to my home country is different since my mother was not there anymore.

Lunch together, and Nola with Nadila, my sisters daughter.

Our visit to Jakarta this year was special because it was Hari Raya, the day where the whole family gathered together celebrating the feast. We were there before on July 2008 and on December 2007. We had had bad experience with the traffic jam in Jakarta before, so this time we want to stay outside Jakarta.We decided to stay in a hotel in Bogor area, it was a Golf Resort hotel, so we had time to relax and enjoy the green enviromental after bussy visiting my families and few of my friends. Arrived in Jakarta Airport at midnight, we drove directly to the Sheraton Airport hotel for a one night rest. The next day, after breakfast and swimming, my youngest sister, Mala, picked us up. She came with her husband and daughter, Nadila, 8 years old. We drove to Bogor for about 3 hours, and then checked in to our Hotel there, the Novotel Golf Resort.

Another gathering lunch above left, and in our hotels terrace ,right.

The next day, our journey began, we all travelled to another town, Depok, where my older sister live, then we continued to Cimanggis, where my older brother live. I have another brother live in Cetral Jakarta and my youngest sister who live in East Jakarta, but we all came to Depok to my older sister.The next day we gathered together for a lunch in a hotel nearby. We spent only four days in Jakarta, Bogor and surroundings. It was a very short visit, and I did not have time to arrange a meeting with all of my friends. I could not leave Lorenz and Nola alone in the hotel, so better I spent the rest of our time together. I ussually more have time to see my friends when I go alone, which I did couple of times. However, we had spent our time very well, we meet all of my family, in those couple of days and we will meet again in the future. See you again soon!

Birthday Cruise

2009-09-15T10:58:00.000+02:00

Picture above, we had a candle light dinner at the Mekhala boat at the end of our journey.

It was very interesting experience for us, cruising with a beautiful teakwood boat in Bangkok.

We celebrated our birthday this year, as ussual, with a family holiday. Lorenz has his birthday on 9th of September, me on 13th of September and we have our anniversary on 6th of September. Those important dates are near to each other, thats why decided to take holiday in that week. Since we are now back in Thailand, we thought it was a good reason to spent our first holiday in this country, to get to know the country better. I had an idea to take a cruise alongside the Chao Phraya river with a Teakwood boat known as the Mekhala boat. The trip started in Bangkok. We spent one night in the Marriot Watergate hotel, before we were picked up by a minibus to the dock where our Mekhala boat located.

At about lunch time, we checked in to the boat, then departed slowly alongside Chao Phraya River towards the North of Bangkok, Bang Pain. We had a double bedroom cabin with an extra bed and ensuite Bathroom with shower in the boat. The bedroom has a small window, the room was airconditioned. The boat has alltogether 4 double bedrooms in the lower level, and a big open air lounge and dining room with the roof and a terrace at the upper level. We sat in the lounge area during the cruise, together with six other passengers. I could hear the noise of the maschine from the Mekhala boat as we moving forward, and felt the stark wind blowing our faces and hair. We saw the landscape alongside the river, boats and ships travelling, small islands, peopler selling in their boats. We had cocktail at sunset, and passed the Grand Palace and then Temple of Dawn. At night, we arrived the city of Bang Pain. Our Guide told us that we are now docks at the temple Wat Kai Tia to have dinner then spent the night in the boat. Then the cooks and his assistance started to change the lounge into a dining room. We went down to our room for a shower, get ready for a candle light dinner. The rain started to pour as we sat down on the table, facing a romantic candle light dinner. We had great thai food, consist of soups, rice, and seafood that night. The rain was heavier and heavier and too windy, that water started splashing through the bamboos rollos. We decided to go down to our room and have an early bed. Nola loves her extra bed, she had her bottle of milk and then fall a sleep. In the morning, the sun shining and the rain had stopped. Breakfast was prepared in the lounge. The boat move again for a while and we enjoyed our breakfast on the cruise. At early noon, we arrived Bang Pain. The minibus and a guide, took us to the Summer Palace, where we spent a couple of hours there, taking picture here and there. We continued our journey with the minibus until Ayuthaya, visiting the historical temple,then we drove back to Bangkok, to our hotel. The next day, we drove home.

At the Summer Palace in Bang Pain. The Palace was beautiful, european style with its clean and huge park. Very impresive.

After Summer Break

2009-08-30T08:33:00.003+02:00

The School building as we can see from the highway. Nola goes to the Kindergarten here.

The last week of August 2009, the new school term started. There were about four international schools here in Pattaya, but I decided to registered Nola to the Regent's School. My reason was: I knew already some parents whos children go to that school, and some kids are even at the same age with Nola. So it would be easier for me to start my networking here because I already have some friends here. The school located about 20 km from our Condo, so I have to drive to School every morning and every afternoon to bring Nola to school and to picked her up at about 13.30 pm. I have tried to send Nola by School minibus once, but then she cried. We tried again for a couple of times, it didn't work. She didn't want to go to school with the School bus. Maybe she still too young, or maybe she didn't want it because she didn't know other kids at the School bus.

Playing with friends at the School playground.

Anyway, I accepted this situation as a part of our acclimatisation in Thailand. I just have to divide my schedule, if possible, as efficiently as I could do. We would leave home at 08.00 am, arrive at Shool at about 08.30 am, leave School at 09.00 am after the School bel ringing, then I continued my activities either to go to the gym or directly do my groceries shopping, afterwards I would go for lunch somewhere and then, back to School again at about 13.00 hours. By the time the school term started, I have finished redecorating our apartment in Royal Cliff.

Picture above, Nola at the African day Carnaval at School.

With a friend at School Xmast party.

Pictures above and below: Loy Krathong, a Thai traditional day celebration and Chinese New Year .

I think it is not too bad to start again my life with a new timetable. The school has so many activities, it make us, as parents, pretty bussy. I will just follow this time table as it is, adjusting my activities with the school activities. But I know that I still have some targets I would like to pursue, there is still time for me to do it, coz we are going to stay here at about 2 to 3 years, or even more. I want to use my time here as productive as possible.

I started my new life again here, in Pattaya.

Back to Thailand

2009-07-04T12:54:00.007+02:00

Pictures above : Royal Cliff Condominium and the pier of Pattaya, and Nola was very impresed with the towel form in our hotel room.

On Monday 29th of June 2009 we arrived in Bangkok, safely. The journey was long, exhausting and very unpleasant for us. Firstly, on our departure in Munich airport, we had a problem with our ticket. It took us certain time to solve that problem. Secondly, the flight was not flying directly to Bangkok but to Phuket instead, then, we should take a connecting flight to Bangkok. From Bangkok, a limousine taxi waited for us and then we drove for another 2 hours until we arrive in the Marriot Hotel, Pattaya. For Nola, it was really a very long and very exhausting journey she had ever experienced.

Back to our old address in Thailand, Nola and me at the pool. Far behind us is the Island of Koh Larn.

We stayed in Mariott Hotel for about 4 weeks, until our apartment is ready. We are going to live back to the same Royal Cliff Garden Condominium in tower A, just like three years ago, as we lived here for the first time. The compound is located on the top of the highest hill in Pattaya, next to the Balihai Pier, facing the gulf of Siam and opposite the Island of Koh Larn. We loved to live there, because of its good location, because of the friendliness of its management and perhaps because of memories we had experienced during our first term in Thailand. There were offcourse many reasons, but as we stepped in to the apartment, we felt that we've been living there since many years before, because we know already everything there. Some old faces we know from the securities until the management people, yes, we felt that we never leave Thailand before. The two and a half years in Germany was just like a long holiday, and then, now we are back home again.

The view from our hotel terrace, we can see the Condominiums building and the hill of Pattaya.

The first couple weeks in the hotel was not very relaxing for me. The school was still closed because of summer holiday, meanwhile Lorenz had to start to work on the 1st of July, only three days after we arrived. We had a car and a driver for me and Nola that was available to bring us anywhere, so I tried to create some activities for us, as long as we are still staying in the hotel and as long as the school was still closed. I visited some of my old friends-some of them already move out from Thailand but there were some new faces in town_for lunches. Then I registered Nola to an english speaking playgroup in Pattaya, the Brainy School. I tought it was a good idea to introduced Nola into an english speaking playgroup first, before she started her education at the international School here. It was difficult for her at the beginning, she was used with her German Kindergarten in Munich, and all of new faces surrounding her...I stayed with her in the group until after a few weeks, I could leave her alone for 1 hour there. Then we moved into our apartment, our container were not arrived yet, but we have some furniture provided by the Royal Cliff which made us possible to start to live in there. We continue our activities to go to the Brainy School 2 times a week, and meeting my old friends. I could not wait for the end of August, when the Regent's School starting their first term...

Far left above: a colleague of Lorenz brought us to the airport of Munich. I did a farewell and celebration on June12th 2009 directly after my graduation day from Drexler Seminare GmbH. Nola enjoyed the party as well, a farewell with her friends in Muncih.

Our Tuscanny Holiday

2009-06-30T14:20:00.000+02:00

Casa le Fonti with its big garden and wineyard, was belong to us for a week :)

We drove at early hours, 02.00 am from Munich to Tuscany. We had to do it, driving meanwhile Nola still sleeping, in order to avoid her getting car sick. The journey took us about 6 hours drive with some little stops in the highway. The landscape on the left and the right side of the highway was very beautiful, as we can se the Alps, wineyards, villages with its old houses, rivers...the ..it was really a romantic journey from Munich to Tuscanny.

Picture above: at the back of the farm house where we had our breakfast together. Next, the steps way down to the swimming pool.

Casa delle Fonti , the name of the Farm house where we are going to, is situated near the 12th century village of Civitella Marittima, Tuscany. Not far away from the city of Florence, Siena and the coast.Since the first time we spent our holiday at Tuscanny, we were falling in love with this Southern province of Italy, and since then we were trying to arrange a regular holiday there. There are many big houses with its big wineyard and garden for rent there, either you can rent it weekle or monthly. The cost varrried between 500 euros till 1200 euros per week, it is depend on the size, the facilities and the location of the farm houses. We ussually spend our Tuscany holiday with our closest friends, so we can split the rent fee. Every couple or families occupied one bedroom-ussually the rooms are vera big with ensuite bathrooms-and we share other facilities. Casa Belle Fonti hat it views across vineyards, olive groves and natural forest reserves to countless villages and the southern ski fields of Monte Amiata.

Picture above, relaxing at the pool yard, and Nola with Fabian.

This time, we spent the holiday with Frank and Corinna, Anke and Uwe with their son Fabian (exactly the same age with Nola because they shared the same birthday) and Ananta and Michael from Nueremberg. Every couple came by themself, so we are using the Farm House as our meeting point and then after one week, we are departing the house in the same time. The week in Tuscanny was vera relaxing, we enjoyed the beauty of the village and delicous Italian food and wine, on the other hand, we are looking forward to see the Ocean at Pattaya bay again.

Our packing stress was luckily already done, so it was only enjoying our last time in Europe. At the last day, we huged each other and say good bye, then we drove all the long way back again to Munich. As we arrived at our empty apartment, we did our last laundry (we left the kitchen inlcuding its electronics appliance, sofas and dining table in the apartment for our tenant) then packed our suitcase. Tne next day, we flown to Thailand.

The News, Grainau and my Niece's visit to Munich

2009-06-26T10:17:00.003+02:00

Picture left and above, the beauty of Grainau. Lorenz and Nola during Mountain climbing, and the Guesthouse belongs to Frau Gruener, where we stayed everytime we are in Grainau.

One day in May2009, Lorenz told me that there is a possibility we are going to move back to Thailand. It is going to be our second post there, and it would be for a three to five years contract. I heard that "News" with a combination of feelings: I was happy to see back my old friends - some of whom are still living in Pattaya- and to imagine going shopping to Bangkok, where you can find anything you can imagine very cheaply. I was looking forward to go back living in the Royal Cliff Condo, with its breathtaking view of the Sea from our windows, etc etc. On the other hand, I was in the middle of my secretarial courses at Drexler, almost finished, and was looking forward to send my curricCVs to any companies in Munich. One more thing, Nola was already very happy with her full time Kindergarten from 8.00 am till 17.00 pm. But now, I am facing a new plan, a plan to moving again. Packing, searching for School for Nola, searching for new activities for me, starting new friends again... But both are very good options, both are great for us: either living in Munich in our own apartment and working part time, or living in Thailand in a rented apartment with sea view and being a 100% housewife and mother. So, nothing to complain about, right? After we heard this news, we went for a short weekend to our favourite village, Grainau. We enjoyed the beautifull surroundings of that Village which is located below the Alps, its quietness, its cleanliness, something we are going to miss for the next couple of years...

Thats it. Life goes on like before, with some exceptions offcourse. I continued going to Drexler GmbH, facing the courses and exams. Nola continue its Kindergarten. But time was running faster now. Lorenz had to go to Thailand in June for a two weeks bussiness trip, my Niece Lulu -who planed to visit us in September-has to change her schedule into June and we started to plan about packing and moving our stuff to Lis Kroenert's house in Bremen. A young couple, our friend, Andrea and Martin had told us that they are interested in renting our apartment if we are leaving for Thailand. Perfect, we only have to concentrate to organize the mover company, which of our stuff which are going to be packed and shipped to Thailand.

On June, Lulu came from Jakarta for a two weeks holiday. Lorenz was already in bussiness trip in Thailand, and looking for our new residence there. I picked lulu up at the Airport. I drove the car with Nola sitting behind. Nola vomitted on our way to the Airport, I had to stop to clean her up. She couldn't stand travelling in the car for more than 15 minutes! (Something I was really worry, because in Thailand we are going to travel with the car all the time).

We continued and arrived at the Airport on time. The next days, during Lulus's visit, I was doing my normal activities. Me and Lulu, would drop Nola at the Kindergarten, then I will drop Lulu at the city centre or at a travel agent, where she can join any trip and spending her time exploring Munich or other cities. Sometimes we will meet during lunch time and then we went back home together, or Lulu came back by herself taking a Subway.

Left, Lulu and us in Parkstadt Schwabing. Below it, we travelled to Venice, Italy.

When Lorenz came back from his Bussines trip, our apartment was almost empty. All the stuff were already packed and shipped. Some of them were sent to Bremen. We still have time together to attend a BBQ dinner at our friend, outside the city.Then I travelled with Lulu to Venice, Italy for a two days trip. On Saturday June 20th, Lulu flown back to Jakarta meanwhile me, Lorenz and Nola already on our way to our last holiday in Europe this year: we drove to Tuscany, Itally.

April Fiestas

2009-04-23T10:47:00.000+02:00

April is the month of celebrations, fiestas for us. Firstly, Nola's Birthday at the 10th, and then, Easter Holiday, and Lorenz's mothers Birthday. Nola turned three this year, and she is already in Kindegarten for a couple of months. I am planing to make a Birthday party for her at the Kindergarten. But the 10th of April was on Friday, and it was a holiday. So, we spent the Friday only the three of us. I baked a cake-I bought Dr.Oetker's instant cake powder which is easy to make-the heart shape cake covered with white Icyng sugar. I put a Snow White Princess toy and some sugar flowers on the top of it.

In the morning, Nola wake up and she was delighted to see her Birthday cake. After she blew the candles, and we had a breakfast, we departed to the Wildpark in Poing, about 20 km east of Munich. We spent half of the day at the park, Nola really love to see all animals there, some of them she can touch and feed. The Zoo was 57 hectars big, with plenty of big trees, open air parks, some small lakes and playground.

On Saturday we departed to Wartin, about 1oo km east of Berlin, where Lorenz sister, Johanna and her husband, Werner live in a big Farmhouse. Lorenz mother, Lis, was already there also. We had another family weekend in a friendly atmosphere there. After we did Easter eggs hunting in the garten early morning, we then had breakfast outside the house together. In the afternoon, we had a barbeque.

Above left, Nola with Johanna in Wartin during Easter holiday 2008, and below it, with grand ma Lis, Easter 2009 and 2008.

Nola with her teacher Frau Merkel and her friends.

On Monday 13th of April we completed Nola's birthday celebration by organizing a party at her Kindegarten Nikodemause Munich, Parkstadt Schwabing. I planed to bake the Princess Lillifee Cupcakes for the kids, but the cupcakes ended up looked horrible, the dugar decoration melted all over the cupcakes instead of covering it neatly. Frustated, I went to the nearest bakery which was just opened its shop, bough a plain chocolate cake, and put the Snow White Princess and its Seven Dwarfs figures on the top of it. Finish. I bough some ready pancakes from the Supermarket, warm them up in the microwave, two boxes of vanilla and chocolate ice cream, and brought all of them to the kindergarten....surprisingly,everybody loves the birthday cake!!!

The party at kindergarten was quiete ceremonial, they do always the same ceremony everytime a kid has a birthday. It was very interesting to see it. The birthday kid would dissapear from the classroom, went to the kitchen room, then pushed the trolley with the cake on it to the classroom. Then they will sing together, then Nola blowed up the candle. Afterwards, there was a ceremony : three or four kids would carry Nola who sat on a chair up and down three times, then each kid would come to her one by one and give her a gratulation etc...etc...I could not remember all the chronology but it was really quiet ceremonial..I enjoyed the party as well! I left the room when the kids start to eat, and then I came back again to pick Nola up in the afternoon.

Brunching with Our Neighbours

2009-02-23T10:20:00.004+01:00

I was not mad, I love cooking and decorating food. But there was always not enough time to do it except for certain occasions.

It was warm sunny day on February, we decided to organized a Brunch at our apartment. We knew a few people who lives in the same building in Parkstadt Schwabing, all of them are the owners, just like us. We meet once or twice a year at the owners meeting, discussing about the building management services, its facilities, costs etc. I ussually prefer to baby sit Nola at home meanwhile Lorenz had to attend that meetings. Well, back to the brunch this time, we invited only people we know closer, people we get in contacts more than other people. There are two families from the same floor, one from the top floor and one from the ground floor. We invited one of our ex-neighbour from our previous address. The funny thing was: most of them working for BMW.

Me and Lorenz, were bussy entertaining our neighbours, meanwhile Nola bussy playing with her little friends.

This brunch was quiet special for us. First, we are celebrating the New Year, Nola entering the Kindergarten, and me starting my education at Drexler. No reason not to celebrate right? So I cooked and prepared some delicious food such as: grilled tomatoes, fried rice with chicken, spring rolls etc. People turned up on time, and we opened the brunch with the sparkling white wine. the kids were happy to meet each other, they played inside and later outside at our balcony. It was a beautifull morning in the beginning of spring that year, we were so lucky that the temperature was already warm.

My New Role as a Student (...again).

2009-01-30T01:46:00.005+01:00

Left is the Drexler Seminare GmbH building in Munich, where the classes and its headquarter office are.

It was one afternoon in December 2008, just about before Christmast, I received a very good news from the Arbeitsamt or the Ministry of Larbour in Munich: I received a scholarship for a six months Secretarial Course at the Drexler Seminare GmbH, Munich. It was really a great chance for me to learn something new- since I could not working as a journalist anymore-coz I am not able to travel alot anymore- something that I can use to looking for a job one day, if time allowed. I took this opportunity_off course, with the risk that I would be very bussy dividing my time between home, Nola and the courses. If I have completed my education at the Drexler Gmbh, I will received the certificate as a proof secretary...the school started from January 2009 till June 2009, Monday to Friday from 8.30 till 13.00.

Above, Nola in Kindergarten meanwhile I was at School for a half of the day.

Since the courses at the Drexler Seminare Gmbh Begann on January 12th, I woke up every morning at 5.30 am, get ready for myself and then preparing Nola's school bag. At 7.00 am Lorenz departed to his office, meanwhile Nola finishing her breakfast. We left home at 730, and arrived at her Kindergarten at 7.40am. That was our routine for about six months time! Luckily, the Kindergarten located just about 500 meters from our Apartment. After dropping off Nola at the Kindergarten, I would continue my journey to the bus stop, only about 5 minutes walk, then took a Subway which brought me directly to my School into the city center.

After School, I would ussually very hungry, so bough sandwiches at the city centre for my light and quickie lunch, and then back home. I would have about 2-3 hours time to do some shopping, make our apartment in order, learning and then preparing for dinner. At 1700 hours, I would pick Nola up from the Kindergarten. Lorenz ussually back from the office at about 17.30, he would then spend a time playing with Nola continued with having dinner together. Bed time for us was about 20.30 pm, we need to go to bed early because the next day our activities beginn at the early morning hours.

I would say, that despite the stress I had to face, I do like the courses at the Drexler Seminare GmbH. Here, I met some new people, new friends, with different backgrounds, mostly Germans but some are Auslander or foreigners just like me. I learn something new, something very important for seeking an employment in Munich. The competition is very hard. I am not young, a mother, I have have a very high educationel background but not applicable for office job ( Master of Arts in Television Development from England :)).

Picture above, Me and my fellow classmates, BT91 at the Drexler Seminare GmbH, on our graduation day June 12th 2009. Far left is Mr Drexler himself.

My days were different than before, I had not only house hold, child and parties with friends, but learning at school, socializing in a different kind of world: at school. The exams were the most stressfull part of all, not only I had to face those exams in German languange, but also because I had soo little time to learn. I was trying hard to pass all my exams with grade As or Bs only, I am not a lazy student. But I have to except myself that I am much more mature now, and a mother with a small kid..everything was not as the same as my previous students time more than thirteen years ago:)

Schloss Lustheim in Autum and Winter

2009-01-11T11:00:00.009+01:00

What a big diferrent! The Lustheim Palace at Oberschleissheim near Munich is not far from our apartment in Munich Parkstadt Schwabing. We took only less than 20 minutes to reach one of the important touristic objects in this city. We were there in October this year when autumm had just beginn, the weather was quiet chilly and windy, but the sun shining very well that people could feel the warm temperature at their face beside the cold one when the wind blowed. Water flowing in its Canal of that Palace's Park, where plenty of ducks swam. But then we came back again to that Schloss on January 2009, during winter. At the temperature of minus 12 degree celcius, the Palace'Park had change it face dramatically. Its Canals were frozen, no water flowing, instead a very thick of Ice covering its surface. People could take a walk, running, and ice skating and kids sledging or playing tobbogan there! Those second time we visited the Palace, we were together with the Heinekken family, a colleague from Lorenz, whom their daugther, Lara is about the same age with Nola. The kids were very happy to be taken there, sitting on the wooden sledge and let their father pulling it and toke them "travelling" along way the river canal, from one end to another end. I was freezing though, but very happy for the kids and enjoying our time together there. After a couple of hours, was a time to departed to the Heineke's home, where coffee and a chocolate cake waiting for us.

Bye bye December 08, Wellcome January 09

2009-01-07T06:25:00.011+01:00

Left and below, Nola in action in front of a small fountain at the park of the Ice Skating Stadion in Obersdorf.

As ussual, the last couple weeks of December are a holidays time for many people in Germany. It is the time when people spending their time with their families: with their wives, husbands,kids, parents, grand parents etc. We drove to Bremen-Lorenz hometown- at 22nd of December, with two stop overs at Erlangen, to meet some friends. In Bremen, we stayed at Lis Krönert-Lorenz's mother- to celebrate Xmast together. Nola was very happy to see her Oma, and more happy when her cousin, Kaja (8 years old), the daughter of Lorenz's brother came. They played together, and singing and dancing etc.

We spent almost 7 days in Bremen, included a short visit to Oldenburg for visiting friend, to Sullingen for a shopping at Lyod shoes factory outlet ( oh yes, I bought 4 sets of winter boots there and paid only 2 pairs- as their promotion oferred-wich was really a great deal), another outlets near Bremen ( Adidas,Esprit,Nike,Babyzone etc all in one big area). After a week, we drove back to Munich, spent a quiet new year's night at home, doing nothing until January 2009 came. The next first weekend of January, we drove to Obersdorf, about 1,5 hours from Munich for a two days one night winter holiday. Happy new year!

Xmast Celebration at Nikodemaus Kindergarten

2008-12-19T11:14:00.003+01:00

On Wenesday night 17th of December, the Nikodemaus Kindergarten where Nola belongs to, celebrating Xmast at their school. It started at 1500 o'clock and we,the parents were invited. The party began with a drama played by the kids, directed by Miriam,the teacher,meanwhile another teachers from this Dolphin group, Ms Merkel and Sandra, accompanying and taking care the kids during their performance. The story was about the birth of Jesus,and Nola got a role as a farmlady who said NO.Yes, her role was only to say no, and she did it very well. After the drama, the kids joined the parents tables and we enjoyed xmast cakes and cookies and warm herbwines an chatting, and then saying goodbye to each other,wishing a merry christmast anf a happy new year 2009. The Kindergarten would have a long break from 24th of december until 7th of January 2009.

A Long Weekend in Vienna

2008-11-05T12:16:00.014+01:00

It is been quiet a long time since we went for a city trips. The reason was, city holidays are not very realxing when we travel with a two years old child. Thats why we prefer to go to the nature: to the mountains or beaches or parks or farmhouses , where Nola can explore and runing freely all the time, without we hate too much worry of her security. But I missed cultural and city sightseeing, and because Nola is a kindergarten Girl now, we thought we can start again with short city holidays. We started with Vienna, Austria, it is only a couple of hours from Munich, the city where we live. We departed on Wenesday the last week of October and stay there until Saturday morning. It was a long weekend holiday for us. Before we left, I have already booked family room at the hotel Eurostar Vienna: http://www.eurostarshotels.com, which is located near the city centre. I did the packing, especially for Nola since many days before, in order not to forget anything. Remember, we are not going to the family hotel, so, I had to prepare Nola's toys, books, something for drawing, snacks,medicine, bottles, plastics mugs and plates, and diapers.

the journey from Munich to Vienna was quiet fun, and in about 5 hours, we arrived at the hotel. After checking in, we went to the indoor swimming pool at the underground level of the hotel, and had a dinner at our room. The next days, after breakfast, we took a tram to the city centre, and began to explore the old part of Vienna. Our first destination was the Regina Museum, where Van Gogh paintings exhibition is going on, and then, continue to see the Gustav Klint paintings exhibition at the Beleverde Palace and Museum. The next, we went to the house created by Hundertwasser, a very famous artist in Europe. The Building was very colourfull made, with curves and hilly, reminding me to the one created by Gaudi in Barcelona, Spain. Except the house, there was cafes and restaurants created by Hundertwasser, where we had lunch and coffee there. We continued exploring the Old Town of Vienna until our last day in Austria, and then, packing our stuff to the car, and drove back home: to Munich.

One day with Dirndl a la Bavaria

2008-10-07T11:05:00.011+02:00

In October, the city of Munich is still celebrating the famously Octoberfest. Immediatly, we can see people, young and old, going out wearing the traditional Bavarian dress, the Tracht or Dirndl. It is look very fashionable in this month, wearing Dirndl, and going to the Octoberfest. We are not going to the fest this year, but we had a chance to wear our Tracht last week. We were invited by Lorenz's coleague from BMW, celebrating his 50th birthday at a small town in the north of Munich. The dress code was: bavarian traditional. The dress I had was already two years old, luckily still fit into my body eventhought I felt that I could not breath freely again!

Nola had the new one, since she doesn't have any Dirndl. It is still too long for her, but at least she would able to wear it again next year. Lorenz had the same old tracht he had since the last two years, it still look good eventhought getting too tight. However, it was a very good feeling to wear the tradition Bavarian dress once a year, especially in the month of October, when many people are wearing the same dress, so we do not have any feeling of being strage or unique on public. I do not know wether we have to buy the new traditional dress for October next year or not, it is depend on how much we gain weight next year, off course!

PS: sorry, the pictures are not too sharp.

Nola is Going to Kindergarten !

2008-10-03T18:47:00.008+02:00

September 16th was a special day for Nola. It was her first day at the Kindergarten. She is already 2,5 years old, but we were lucky that she got a place very soon at the Kindergarten. In Germany, mostly kids are starting their Kindergarten at 3 years old. And in some big cities like Munich, it is not very easy to get a place on time, so we are not surprised to see kids are starting their Kindergarten at 3,5 years old.As a parents, we should apply for our kids since she was 2 years old or even younger, and we were advised to apply to as many schools as possible, But I was too lazy looking for a school for Nola, we applied only into two Kindergartens which are very near from our appartment. And gotcha! we go a phone call one day, Nola was accepted at the nearest school we have here, only 5 minutes walking distance! We were very happy with the news. On the first day, Nola as not happy to go to the Kindergarten, she was crying and holding my hand all the time. I should stay at school with her until midday and then we went home together. The next day was the same, she would not go out from home and would not go to the Kindergarten. I had to stay at her class room and playing with her. The other day I could leave her for one hour, but when I said good bye, she cried. After the fifth day I left Nola the whole day at the Kindergarten, from 8.30 am till 14.30 pm. The teachers told me that she cried only for five minutes but then started to play with others kids. Since then, we started our new regular activities: waking up in the morning, breakfast, get ready for school. Nola loves to choose her own outfits, and asked me sometimes to make a photographs of her. After, she would happily say : lets go to the Kindergarten!

Holiday at Friesland

2008-09-14T14:48:00.015+02:00

We spent a week at Friesland, the North part of Germany, at the little village name Horum. This holiday was our birthdays holidays since Lorenz had his birthday at 9th September and mine at 13th of September. This year we decided to go to Horum which is located at the north coast of Germany and stay at one familotel the Friesland Stern there. The familotel is one of the very good idea for couples with children like us, it is a horse farm with a very big outdoor playground completed with some kind of animals like: rabits, goats, guinea pigs, ponies, horses,cats etc which fascinated all the kids. The hotel have as well a kids room with two caretaker for the children which is started from 9.30 till 16.00 hours.We dropped Nola at mornings until middays, so that we have time to have coffees, or reading and enjoying the city of Horum and surrounding alone. At mid day, we picked up Nola and went to the beach at Schillig or to the thermal swimming pool at Horumersiel, and came back to the hotel for dinner. After dinner, we still have time to acommpany Nola playing at the playground and feeding the animals. We were lucky with the weather , we had between 15-20 degree Celcius, but at some days, the Wind was blowing very hard there: some times until 35 km/hours! The beach were full with the Strand Korb or the Rattan Chairs which are looked like a box, they are the perfect chair for enjoying the North Sea, it protecting you from the strong wind.

Happy Fasting-Month Ramadhan 1429

2008-09-03T17:35:00.004+02:00

HAPPY FASTING-MONTH

RAMADHAN 1429 H

BEST WISHES FROM US

Independence Day at Westpark

2008-08-25T17:06:00.007+02:00

Indonesian people in Munich and other cities surrounding it, were celebrating the Independence day at the Westpark in South West of Munich. They came with their german friends and families. I went there with Nola and a friend from Nueremberg, Ananta. We had a picnic, everybody brought their own food and then enjoy the food under the shade of the trees, meanwhile watching the typical traditional 17 Agustus-an games. The gathering was organized by Swadaya Indonesia Muenchen, a non profit organisation in Munich which is very active in arranging many cultural meetings for Indonesian-German society here. There is another group in Munich, IndonesiaMu or Indomu with similar activities. Both organisation have many members, Indonesian and Germans nationalities. Too bad Lorenz was out of the city that he missed the Independence day games(?) ( he did his regularly once a year mountain climbing with brother and friends for men only). I prepared some food from home, eventhought actually it was more practical to buy from the beergarten restaurant The Rosengarten there or from the American Friend Chicken which is located very close to the park. I brought steamed rice, bihun goreng, tempe kering, boiled eggs, and bbq chicken and krupuk! It was very delicous to enjoy our local food at the Park. Here are some pictures I have borrowed from The Swadaya Indonesia Muenchen archives, Dirgahayu! Nia

08.08.2008 in Oldenburg

2008-08-15T18:18:00.010+02:00

The date was very special: 08.08.2008, it was the date which the Chinese people had choosen for the opening of the Olympic Games, and the date when people all over the world decided to give birth, and to get married. At those day, one of our friend, Rudiger was married. He live in Oldenburg, so on Thursday 07th of August 2008 We travelled again a long journey from Munich to Bremen first-this time we travelled with the ICE train- check in at Lorenz' mother house, then the next day, we went to Oldenburg to see the Wedding an to gratulate the bridge and the bridgeroom. The ceremony was in the morning, and the party at night. We went to the party with Moritz' car, and arrived at about 18.00 hours. The party was arranged in an old building restaurant, a very nice and old house. About 70 guests were coming, we knew some of them who came from Bremen, and met some new faces from Oldenburg. The ceremony began with a tradition from that area: the couple had to saw a small wood from a branch of a tree together, it is to symbolized the readiness of the couple to be always ready and working together in bad times and in good times. Luckily the wood was not that big that Rudiger and Sonja were able to cut that branch of three in a a short time! After that ceremony, the guests were welcomed into the restaurant hall to enjoy the food, and then came the dance and the music from a dj. We spent the night by chatting with our old friends from Bremen we seldom meet, and enjoy the music and dancing ( during Nola was sleeping, off course).

Summer 2008

2008-08-11T14:23:00.004+02:00

At the end, summer is coming to Munich. Started from the beginning oh July, the sun shining at his full power. We had the temperature from 24 degree Celcius until more, one day we had even 35 degree Celcius! to welcome the hot summer, we redecorated our small balcony, we bough some trees at terracota tops, painted the wooden floor, bough wooden bank and table and an electric grill. We had some days with long bright evening and enjoyed it with baberque at the balcony. It was just like another summer holiday!

Johanna's Birthday

2008-07-22T18:18:00.013+02:00

Two days after me and Nola arrived from Jakarta, we travelled another 8 hours to the North parth of Germany: to Wartin, in Uckermark, Branderburg. Lorenz drove the car and me and Nola sitting behind, continuing our sleep in the car. No wonder, we left Munich at 03.00 am, early in the morning. We wanted to do the journey during Nola was still a sleep in order to avoid her becoming cranky in the car. With two stops in between, we we successfully arrived at 10.00 am at Johanna's Farmhouse in Wartin. Johanna is Lorenz older sister. There are three brothers and sister in the Kroenert Family: Johanna, Lorenz and Moritz. We were coming to Wartin because of Johanna's birthday. She is planing a family gathering at her farmhouse. We had a breakfast on that day, and then spending our time walking around at her 2000 square meter of land, and then continuing our journey outside to the village. The weather was sometimes warm with sun shining, but then changing sudenly with cold windy and some raining. Johanna's husband. Werner, have a long summer holiday and will stay at their farmhouse the whole month of July. They a have a colier dog name Amigo and a cat name Sweeetie. In the afternoon, at aboit 16.00 hours, came the family group from Bremen: Lorenz mother, Lis Kroenert, brother Moritz Kroenert with daughter Kaja and ex wife Sybille. Their father is still living in Australia. The weekends was quiet bussy for us. Lorenz and his brother were helping Johanna's husband doing renovating at their home, and I helped his mother preparing dinners and breakfast for all of us. On Saturday we had a barbeque, and before that we (me, Johanna,Sybille)went to take a walk with the kids and the dog to the village and visiting the casle of Wartin.

Pictures were taken by Johanna and me at Wartin, showing me, Johanna,Kaja Nola and Amigo in front of the Wartin's castle, and all member of the families playing around at the farmhouse.

A Short Holiday in Indonesia

2008-07-16T15:13:00.008+02:00

On June 27th 2008 me and Nola departed to Jakarta, Indonesia for a short two weeks visits. It was the first time for me to travel alone with Nola, and it was in such a long journey! But I had heard from friends who had done the same jouney alone with their kids and they could survive (?!) so, I think I could manage to do the same trip alone with my little girl. Lornez was worry alot since we wer in Munich Airport, but it was too late to cancel the trip or to change the tickets from two to three. The journey was at the end was a disaster: Nola could not sleep and started to be cranky, she was crying alot, kicking, and in Dubai vomited. I neither could sleep nor eating, it was really a crazy idea to travel alone with a 2 years old child, from Munich to Jakarta. However, everything started to get change after we arrived in the crowded city of Jakarta. My sister, Mala, and her Husband, Yudi and daughter Nadila, picked up at the Cengkareng airport. In the car, Nola started to sing her favourite song: Happy Birthday song. The next day, we departed to Depok in West Java to visit my older sister, Ida, with husband Syahrial, sons Salman and Haykal and daughter Lulu. Then after having lunch, we moved some streets from there to visit my aunt and uncle from my father side. Next, we travelled to Cimanggis, Bogor to visit my oldest brother, Alex with wife Ningrum, and daughters, Ami, Farah and Rina. The wife of my second brother , Winny and her son Habel, came to join with us since we were at my aunti's home until Cimanggis. On Monday early in the morning we travelled to Bandung, my birth city. We were consist of me, Nola, Mala, Mala's husband, Nadila, Lulu and Ami. We rent an appartment at the Grand Setiabudi Residence which was located strategically at the Setiabudi street, almost the opposite of Rumah Mode Factory Outlet and not far away from the famous kids fashion shop Yens. I really enjoy shopping at Bandung and eating delicious food I had not taste since a long time. We went to Ciwalk at Cihampelas for another shopping trip, the Ciwalk was very nice place with its pedestrian zone, where the kids can run and play hide and seek without any danger of traffic. We spent three days and two night in Bandung, before then travelling to Anyer, the west coast of Java. It was the first time for my to visit Anyer. I would like to see how the beach is, and compare it with Bali. We spent the night at the Nuansa Bali Hotel in anyer. The beach was great with it white sandy beach and a very long path. It was clean and in the morning was not crowded at all. But the cottage was old, the price was too expensive for its cottage quality, and the swimming pool was too small. We did a survey to the famous resort of Marbella Anyer, and despite its old rooms, the Marbella had very good facilities with a very big swimming pools and lobbies. I am thinking of staying in Marbella when we come back again to Anyer next time. From Anyer we came back to Jakarta, and stay at my rent appartment the Casablanca Mansion for less than two weeks. My schedule was full. I have arranged every day for shopping, and meeting family and friends. On Friday 11th of July me, Nola and my cousin, Anne, went to Kebun Raya BOgor to meet my friend Imma who came with her sister and kids. It was a very good idea from Imma and me to bring the kids to the Park, we really enjoy the green scenery of Kebun Raya Bogor, something I have missed during we stay in Jakarta. Saturday was a very hectic day, I started to pack and cleaned up the apartment, then departing to Cengkareng airport. My Brother Ibong and her daughter Fara, and Mala's hudband, Yudi and daughter Nadila, brought me and Nola to the airport. The farewell was very short, was mistaken the flight schedule, we were a little bit late. But the journey back was very easy, cause Nola was very cooperated this time. Nola was sleeping alot during the flight from Jakarta until Spore, Dubai, and then Munich. On Sunday at 13.00 we arrived in Munich airport without any problem, Nola's father, Lorenz was already waiting for us there. We were reunited again, we will back maybe in 2-3 years to Indonesia, but this would be the three of us, for sure!

My ex Thailand Friend: Arry Indigus and Bibi with Nola, in Jakarta.

With Fenny Purnawan, my ex Femina friend. She visited us with her three daughters into our rented apartment in Casablanca Mansion.

Nasi Timbel a la Kafe Daun at Kebun Raya Bogor, yummy....

Picture with Rini, my ex FHUI friend with her husband Wawan FKUI, their son Salman and Imma FSUI at Casablanca Mansion.

Left, the swimming pool at Casablanca Mansion. With my cousin from Cirebon, Anne Marlina. We spent a day at Kebun Raya Bogor. With my mailinglist friends, from left to right: Yanti,Farah,Tina and Susan.

With my brother number three, Ibong and his daughters and my sister in law from brother number one and daughters, we were eating at the Bandar Jakarta, Ancol.

With Marlini from Femina Magazine and daughter Syasya. With my nieces Lulu and Ami and sister Mala and her daughter Nadila at Cihampelas,Bandung.

With my brother number one families, Alex at Cimanggis. With my auntie in Depok. My older sister, Ida and her family in Depok. Me and Nola in Anyer. Bye bye...Nola in the flight from Jakarta back to Munich.

Spring Break at Tuscany

2008-05-19T16:31:00.018+02:00

We spent our spring holiday at the Casa Fantone, in Tuscany, Itally. Casa Fantone is the name of a Farmhouse or Villa, which is located at the Poppi Village, only about 55 kilometer from the city of Florence. The house is very beautiful, with its typically Tuscany design, it has four bedrooms, two bathrooms, a swimming pool and a spacious 2000 square meter of land, facing the valley and the hill on the other side. We rent the house for a week, together with 6 other friends of Lorenz ( all together were three couples, one single and one child), so each couple occupied one bedroom, and shared the other facilities. Tuscany has its wonderfull landscape, beautiful old towns and delicious culinaries that made us want to come back and come back again to that area! The first time we were in Tuscanny was more than four years ago, we spent our spring holiday at the city of San Giminano, with the same groups of friends, and this was the second time for me and Lorenz-the first for Nola-, and we are already planing to come back again to Casa Fantone next spring in 2009!

The journey was not short though, it took us about 8 hours from Munich to Tuscany by car. We drove continuosly from home till somewhere in Italy and had some little breaks because Nola started to be cranky and felt dizzy. As we arrived at Casa Fantone in the afternoon, the sun was shining, and we were welcomed by an open gate of the house, and the curtains flowing through the open doors. At the kitchen table, we found two bottles of Wine, one bottle of Olive Oil, and a jar of Honey as a welcoming presents from the landlord. Later in the afternoon, came our friends from Munich and Nuremberg one by one, Corrina and Frank, Ananta and Michael, and Dirk. Everybody was very happy to see the beauty of Casa Fantone.

Seven days at Casa Fantone, were really a combination between a relax an active holidays. When the weather was good, we spent our lazy days at the swimming pool, or playing some outdoor sports. Or we went mountain climbing to the La Verna where the Sanctuary located. We hand one welcoming breakfast hostessed by our Land Lord, Mr Gianfranco Dei at his other house at the Village of San Marino. The food was delicious, a typically Tuscany breakfast with bruschetta and wine. One day we went for a dinner at the restaurant located in front of the Castle at Poppi Village, Casentina Restaurant or http://:www.albergocasentino.it/ , it was a special dinner to celebrate Michael birthday. One plus point by having holiday at this area was: it this not far away from the factory outlets, such as Gucci and Prada.We needed only 1 hour drive and found the outlet, where you can find many designer products with 30%-60% cheaper price than in the shop. This time, we had only visited one factory outlet, called The Mall http://:www.outlet-the-mall.com/at Leccio, but actually there are more outlets at that area. I promised to save more for our next year holiday back in the Tuscany.

a Long Weekend at Grainau

2008-05-05T13:49:00.008+02:00

Spring is coming! we have a nicely warm weather now in the Continent. The first weekend of May 2008 was luckily a long weekend here in Bavaria, because of the holiday on Thursday 1st of May. We decided to spend the long weekend in Grainau, the village under the feet of Zugspitze Mountain, the highest Mountain in Germany. The Village we know it very well from our regular visits since the last ten years, and we spent the night at the place where we ussually go whenever we are in Grainau: Kirschgarten Serviced Apartment and Guesthouse which is belong to the family Gruener or http://www.haus-huisn.de/ . The location of this small family owned guesthouse is great, the windows facing directly to the mountains, every rooms has balconies and the apartment has bigger terrace. Most of all, the family are very friendly, so we felt like being at home. We arrived on Thursday afternoon in Grainau, then, after checking in, we went to the swimmingpool nearby. The pool has a warm salty whirpool, which is my favourite place to spend my time there, especially in winter! The weekend was a lazy and relax weekend for us, we spent our days in Grainau only for swimming, shopping, city sightseeing etc. On Friday we went to the nearest bigger city there, Garmisch-Partenkirschen,watched live outdoor music and have some lunch meanwhile enjoying the music. It was the first day of Spring Festival there! On Saturday, Lorenz went up to climb the Mountain with Nola and a friend, Dirk, who came from Munich and did a stop over only for climbing with Lorenz and Nola. I had my free day alone, and did some shopping at Garmisch and Grainau. On Sunday, after checking out, we drove to the biggest lake in Germany, the Eibsee. We stayed there for couple of hours, let Nola Playing around until it satrted getting too windy and cold for us, so we packed our stuff, and drove back home, to Munich.

Nola's Second Birthday

2008-04-14T16:35:00.020+02:00

On Thursday 10th of April 2008 was Nola's second birthday. We spent a family day together on her big day, eventhough she seemed not to realizing it. Lorenz toke a day off, so we could have breakfast together at home. Afterwards, we went to the pediatric in Schwabing for Nola's routine check up. After visiting the doc, we went to the Munich Olympic Park where the Sea Life, the biggest aquarium in Munich located. Yes, it was our destination on that day, we would like to show Nola the big aquarium where she could watch many kind of fishes there. The tour took us a couple of hours, the aquarium compound was quiet big though not as big as the one we had seen in Singapore and Thailand. Nola felt sleepy in the middle of our journey, and started tobe cranky. After finishing our tour, we left the Sea Life compound, and went to the nearest Pizza Hut restaurant for a lunch. I spent the afternoon preparing for a party the next day, cooking and cleaning and decorating, meanwhile Nola take a napy and then play at the playground with her daddy. The next day on Friday, came my friends, all of them Indonesian ladies who live in Munich, some came with their kids and some without. I have cooked Indonesian food for those party: fried noodle with bakso, gado-gado pecel, tofu soup, kering tempe, and grilled chicken bumbu kalasan and martabak telor with Indian curry paste style. As snacks and dessert, I have made some brownies, wingko and bought lapis legit from an Indonesian groceries shop. To make it complete, I fried some krupuk and emping and served some sambal oelek. Well, I hope the food was delicious enought for my guests, so far nobody complained! My guest stayed until about 18.00 hours, we let the kids playing in the living room and made the room messy, important was; we were all happy and enjoying the party together!

Some snapshot I have taken on Thursday and Friday. Nola was enjoying her time at the Sea Life Munich, with me and with her daddy. The next day, came my friends, Jeny Sturm with her daughters Lara and Joan, Linda Daxberger, Amina Erlebach with daughter Tamara, Ananta Endah Moench, Maya Brandenburg with daughter Lena, Regina schaffer with daughter Tamina, and June Mueller.

Cold Easter

2008-04-08T14:04:00.008+02:00

We had a very cold Easter on March this year. It was supposed to be the beginning of spring, but, we had rainy and windy days, and the snow falling down on Easter. The night before Easter on Friday, I brought Nola to a Hasenfest or Rabbit Party at the Kids Club in the Injoy Lady Fitness Center, Munich, where I go everyday for excersises. The rabbit party was a party where the kids can draw and play and wearing the crowns or tiaras, made from paper with the form of rabbit ears. In Germany, people relating Easter with rabbits, chickens and eggs, as the symbol of fertility. It is anyway the celebration of the big harvest for the farmer, besides it has another religion meaning. I didnt want to made Nola disapointed for losing her "first kids only party", so although the snow and the cold, we went to the fitness building. The party went on from 16.30 until 18.30, I dropped her there and then went for groceries shopping, and when I came back at about 18.30, the party was over ( olala..I missed taking the pictures), the kids were bored, and they had moved into the next room, doing some exercises: jumping, crawling and running...well it was anyway in the fitness center. On Saturday we drove to visits some friends in Nueremberg, and spent the night by Ananta and Michael Moench's apartment, and on Sunday came two others friends from Munich, Corrinna and Frank Westermann, and we had very nice Easter Brunch together. Happy Easter!

Coffee,Cakes and Co

2008-03-17T16:17:00.015+01:00

We had some sunny days in the month of March, where almost everybody decided to go out and have breakfasts, coffee and cakes at the beergarten.

Few weeks ago, we were Invited by Andrea Becker to her birthday party, where there were only very few friends and close friends of her came. We had a brunch at the Park Cafe. After the brunch, we went to the Englischer Garten Park, and then enjoying the sunny day at the beer garten with coffee, cakes, and crepes. On another Sunday, we invited some friends of Lorenz for coffee and cakes, I have made some brownies, apple cake, and my own creativity: the eggs pudding!

Last Sunday, We had visitors: our neighbour, Olaf with wive Julia and their baby, Victoria ( 9 months old). The invitation was from Lorenz and it was a short notice, that made me panic! At the end, I decided to make some pasta salads, crackers with tuna fish and joghurt as sauces, fried potatoes chips which came from Holland and had a taste of spicy and sweet ( very exotic taste), and I ordered some sushi from the delivery service.

We really enjoy the night with our neighbours, and Nola was very happy to have little friend at that night.

Winter is "almost" Over....in Parkstadt

2008-02-10T14:15:00.001+01:00

It is February 2008 now, but winter is disapearing slowly in Munich...especially in the area where we live now: at Parkstadt Schwabing! The trees are still leafless, but at least in the morning the day are always sunny days, it is bright and warm if we stay under the sun, not under the shadow offcourse. I am still doing my daily activities like before: going back and forth everyday from 09.00 am till 12.00 pm to the Lady Fitness at Parkstadt, dropping off Nola at the Kids Club and doing my regular exercises. The rest of the days would be spend at home, doing all domestic works, as ussual...
Fridays are english speaking playgroup days in the city center, from 10.00 am till 12.00 pm. And weekends either a family days or meeting friends days. Yes, winter is almost...almost over, and spring would come. Nola is going tobe two years old on April 2008 this year. We area starting searching for the kIndergarten for her, and planing for the english courses or music courses for her starting on summer. And for me? I am thinking to looking for a job somewhere.

In the meantime is a waiting time for me, next would be easter and Nola's birthday, then summer where we would go for a holiday and then, starting for the kinderganrten hunting programme and music and englis courses for her. Then, I will think about me.

Well, I have a feeling that we are not going to stay here foerever, I have a strong feeling that we are going to move somewhere again, continuing our "moving living" life, but everything are uncertain at the moment, it is better for me to wait untio the winter is really over, and welcoming the spring with new plans.

February is also a Valentine's month, so I am using this opportunity to say: Happy Valentine for all of you! warm regards from me in Parkstadt Schwabing, Munich.

Moms and Toddlers at my Place and Arisan at Regina's

2008-01-19T16:08:00.001+01:00

Last Wenesday I invited some friends with their kids to come to my place for a lunch together. Lorenz was outside the city on that day and would be back at midnight, so I had plenty of time alone with Nola. It was a very good idea to use the long day for the moms and toddlers day, cause it would made me and Nola bussy and having friends for the whole day. But the preparations was not easy, I have decided to cook Thailand food, because I had some ready to use sauces and spices in the kitchen cupboard. The menu I have planed: mango salads and curry puff as appetizers, chicken green curry soup and beef massaman curry with rice as the main dishes, cheese cake and fruits pudding as desserts. It was really a great idea from me to cook all of them, but at the ends, I was very stressed because I had so little time to do the shopping ( I had to go to the Asian shop at Muenchener Freiheit, which I could do only on Tuesday night after Lorenz came back from the office), cleaning up the apartment, doing all the preparations and at the end: the cooking itself! I started to cook on Tuesday from midday until night, between playing with Nola, then I woke up very early on Wenesday to continue cooking. The difficult part of the whole process is: I cooked and at the same time have to play with Nola who would not playing alone in her room! Well, at last, at 11.00 am I have finished everything and me and Nola got ready for visitors. Jeny Sturm came with daughter Lara, 1 year old, and Zaenab, a Malaysian Lady came with daugter Cornelia, 17 months old. At around 14.00 hours came Fauzia, another Malaysian lady with her son Fardi, 5 years old and baby Marissa, 8 months old. Later on at about 15.00 hours, came Linda Daxbeger alone. Only Yuli and Nelly whom Iinvited who could not come. Well, the rooms were the children playground on that day, I let them playing in the living room and at Nola's room. The moms and toddlers were staying until about 16.00 O'clock, afterward, I used my time to do cleaning up and then taking a bath together with Nola. We went to bed early, at about 20.00 hours, we were so happy and tired, and we didn't hear when Lorenz came back home before midnight.

Fauzia with baby Marissa, Jenny with baby Lara and Nola, Zaenab with Cornelia, me with Nola, everybody smiling and enjoying the playground at my place.

Singing Karaoke et Regina's. From left to right: Regina, me, Linda,Netty.

Being a mother with a 20 months old in Germany means that you would be bussy all day long. I could not imagine for women who have two and more small children. Life is bussy. Nola need to play all the time, and I need to clean up the apartment all the time, and doing many other things at the same time. Weekends are ussually with the husband, or a family days. With those all activities I do not have much time for socializing, thaty why I decided to join the Indonesian women's gathering or Arisan. There are many Arisan groups in Munich, consist of 10 women, and they meet one in a month in one member's house. I was desperate to have some friends here, so I joined two arisan groups. Which is means, I wil spent 2 days in a month to meet the group at their place, haha. The first group is belong to Jeny's, it is more a moms and toddlers group because at least four members are still having small children. The other group belong to Linda,consist of Indonesian women whos children are already at school. I went to our fourth arisan meeting at Regina's house last Friday afternoon. She live in Markt Schwaben, outside Munich. I came alone and left Nola at home with her daddy. Linda and Netty came without children as well ( their kids are grown up anyway), and then, came Maya with her niece from USA . Maya came with her three months old baby. We spent the time there chatting and eating Indonesian food, and then singing, because Netty brough her Karaoke with her. I stayed there from 16.00 hours until 19.00 hours, long enought to leave Nola and my husband alone at home. The next meeting would be in one month, I am looking forward to meet them again.

Happy New Year!

2008-01-08T18:33:00.001+01:00

Picture above, the view from our rental-apartment windows in Grainau, everything in white...very pretty.

Ten months after moving back to Germany, I am still not very use with the cold weather, especially during winter. But what should I do? We have a tradition to spend our New Year Eve in the mountain, there we can find the most of snow in this country, and of course, the coldest area. I love Grainau village because it is very small and quiet, and because you can see the Alps from everywhere you go, and in December, it is almost covered by snow which make the village look whites everywhere. What I hate only the cold temperature. This time, we are renting a small apartment on the hill at the end of the village. Lorenz brother, Moritz came from Bremen and share a one room next to our studio apartment with Dirk, another friend of my hubby. Another friends are Michael and wife Ananta who rented a room in another house in the city center area. Some friends of Lorenz had droped the ide to come to Grainau at the last minutes because of various reasons which we could understand. This holiday is the first winter holiday since we back from Thailand on last February, and the first new year eve in Grainau with Nola. Since I had given up doing some winter sports, I could not really enjoy the holiday. Aswell, because I have to take care of Nola meanwhile Lorenz went snowboarding with his friends. One day I waited in the restaurant in the mountain with Nola, it was not a good idea, the restaunart was getting full, and Nola started tobe cranky inside. I took her outside, but after a few minutes it was too cold for her. She wanted to run, crying, playing with the restaurant's door etc etc, I was really exhauted because of her. The next day, I decided to stay in the room with her, it was boring, but at least we were warm inside! Luckily, at new year eve, the temperature was not too freezing, it was about 4 degree Celcius. Which was great because we were going to do a small hiking and climbing a hill, and then, spending the changing of the year at the restaurant on the top of the hill. We have done it before, and this time is again, the first time we are doing it with Nola. At 22.00 hours we started the hiking from the ski stadion in Garmisch, then, we walked for about 1,5 hours until we reached the tunnel. Then, we climbed up slowly through the tunnel, until we reached the first steps, and went up and up until the top of the hill. We arrived at the top at about 23.30 hours, still have another hal an hour time to have a rest and waited for the new year. Exactly at 00.00 hours, people went out from the house, having wine toast and watching the fireworks burning. Happy New Year 2008!

Some pictures to remember: above from left to right, me Lorenz and Nola ( at the backpack) in the Patnachklamm tunnel at new year eve, then the next day watching the ski jumping at the stadion. Below it left, me and Ananta at our new year eve's hiking,right in the restaurant after the climbing was over and waiting for the changing year. Below it, Dirk and Moritz, another member of the group.
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Xmast in Bremen

2007-12-27T20:16:00.001+01:00

On Sunday morning we left the Bad Belerbug and driving further North to the city of Bremen, Lorenz hometown. It took us another 4 hours to be there. Nola was sleeping almost all the time, she had her medicine from the docs taken this morning. She had caught a cold and had little skin allergy, we didn't know from what. We suspected that the new washing powder we are using to wash our clothes now is the cause of her skin allergy, but there is another possibility: tha changing of the climate. At about 16.30 hours we arrived at Lorenz's mom house in Karl-Lebstrasse. Lis was very happy to see us again, we had a light supper for that day. The next day, me,Lorenz and Nola went to the Old Town, which is the city centre of Bremen for shopping and a coffee and some bruschettas. In the afternoon I helped Lis preparing our dinner: Fondue. I just had to create some 6 different kind of sauces a dip for the meat and vegetables Fondue. I made it almost every Xmast with her, this time I made : garlic, curry, chilly, soja, cheese,and horseradish sauces. At night, Moritz, Lorenz's brother came and we had a dinner together. Lorenz's sister, Johanna, didn't come to Bremen this year, she decided to spent her Christmast night at her farmhouse in Wartin with her husband and two cousins. The next day, Moritz came again with Kaja, his daughter who is now 8 years old. We spent the afternoon playing together. Nola and Kaja were spending their time playing with Lis Keyboard, it was very interesting to see how they play the keyboard without any knowledge of music before! Late afternoon came Kaja's mother, Sybille with her niece to pick her daughter up, they still have another appointments with the other family members. Fo the dinner this time we are preparing the traditionally Turkey meat with red cabbage and potatoes dumpling, the different was, this year Lis didn't make the whole Turkey, but some steak instead. The taste was the same, delicious, she always mad the great sauces for the meat which I could not follow it, eventhough I was helping her in the kitchen. We packed our stuff ta the next morning after having breakfast, we should go back to Munich. It was hard to say goodbye, especially for Nola who really like being with her grand mother. We drove directly to Munich for about 7 hours, with two stops in between to change Nola's diapers and bought some take aways coffee. We will have another two days in Munich for unpacking, washing the dirty clothes, and then packing again for another short holiday on Saturday 29th of December until 3rd of January 2008. This time, we will go not far away, only 1 hour drive, to the Zugspit village, Grainau, in the South of Germany.

Some Xmast picture in Bremen: me and Nola in the Oldtown of Bremen, all three of us at one cafe in Bremen city center, Nola with Oma Lis and with her cousin Kaja.

Visiting Old Friends

2007-12-27T20:07:00.000+01:00

Picture above: with the Djawadi's at the Xmast Market in Nuremberg. Down left, Nola and Hana having their teeth brushed by their dadies.

From Munich to Bremen is about 600 kilometer distance, from South to North Germany, it is a very long driving hours but it is our every year's "Xmast journey". Flying is better actually, but we always have so many baggages that we have to carry from Munich to Bremen or vice verca. Thats why we always opt for travelling with car.

Lorenz has an idea to do some stop over on our way to Bremen this time, he wants to see his old friends. He had promised them to visit those friends but there was no time, until we see some opportunity to use the holidays before Xmast to see them.

Pictureabove, Peter,Christina,Hana,Nola and Lorenz, playing together. Picture below, me,Christina and the kids at our breakfast time.

Our first stop was Peter Djawadi and his family who live in Erlangen, about 2,5 hours from Munich. We were very happy to see each other again, especially because Christina and Peter have a small daughter, Hana, who is only one week younger than Nola. It was really fun to see how Hana and Nola were playing together and trying to communicate to each other, and to compare the develompment of both girls, were so exciting for me! We did spend thenight at their home in Erlangen,

before continuing our journey. The next morning, after breakfast, we drove to the city of Nuremberg, only about 30 minutes drive from Erlangen, to visit the famously Christmast Market there. The market was wonderfull, but it was certainly too cold for us, the temperature showing of about minus 3 degree Celcius! We were separated at about 13.30 hours, only less than one hour at the Market, because we have another apointment. We drove another 10 minutes until arrive at Michael and Ananta's place . There, we were welcomed with Indonesian Fried Noodle and German Marmor Cake made by Ananta. We stayed there for about two hours, and after changing Nola's diaper, we departed to the city of Bad Beleburg. It should took us another 4 hours to the Bad Beleburg which is near the city of Cologne. But we faced a very bad traffic jam on the highway for about 2 hours. At the end, we arrived at Markus and Jutta's house at bout 20.00 hours, two hours late than our plan. Jutta and Markus were very nice to postponed their diner and waiting for our arrival. We had delicious Anti Pasti and Potatoes Gratin and some Red Wine. We spent that night with talking, playing with Nola and drinking Wine, until time for me to go to bed ( I always go to bed earlier than Nola and Lorenz!). The next morning, we had a relaxing breakfast together before leaving their home, now, departing to our last destination: Bremen.

Picture below, was taken during our breakfast with Jutta and Markus Rathmann at their home in Bad Belerburg.

Xmast Fever

2007-12-20T18:15:00.000+01:00

....I am dreaming of a white christmast...well, Munich is actually becoming white slowly but for sure, just like what we could imagine about The White Christmast from the song above.

The Xmast fever has been entering the whole city since in the middle of November. Almost everywhere are Xmast market here, where we can see small shops selling Xmast deco's, sweets and other typically Xmast food and drink. For the people here means: gluhwein and lebkuchen! ( the first one is a kind of wine with spices inside and should be drink hot, and the second one is a kind of cake with spices in it. Both have (for me) a very strong taste of cinnamon.

As ussual, we are not preparing any big things at home. I had a small Xmast deco bought from a flowershop nearby, and we bought some gifts for the familes in Bremen. Yes, we are going to spend Xmast in Bremen,looking forward to eat the Turkey and others German food there!

Nola's Time Table

2007-12-16T11:31:00.000+01:00

Picture left, we are playing and singing together at the English speaking playgroup of ELKI in Munich every Fridays. Below it right, Nola with the other kids and the care taker at the Kid's Club of Injoy Lady Fitness Munich, where we go every Mondays till Thursdays.

Wow, I can't believe it, we are now almost leaving the year 2007. Time is running very fast, and life is very bussy here. Sorry that I haven't time recently to do some up dating of this blog. It is winter here, the day is getting shorter and darker everyday, the temperature sometimes dropping until zero or minus degree. I have decided to join a fitness and wellness club near our home since November. Why? because it is the best solution for me and Nola. We go out 3-4 times a week to that Wellness club, and Nola can play with others kids there at their Kid's Club, and I can enjoy my time to do some sport activities and some wellness there. The Injoy Lady fitness centre is only 5 minutes walking from our apartment, and since I am becoming a member there, Nola and me now having a regular time table : wake up at about 7.30in the morning, have a breakfast, take a bath, packing up, and at 8.45 am go to the Injoy Lady Fitness. At about 09.00 am we will arrive there, go directly to the Kids Club room, I will leave Nola at that room until 12.00 pm. I will then use my time to do some running-walking-running for about 1 hour at the treadmill downstairs, or join the aerobic or Yoga classess next to the Kid's room, then do some weight training for another 30 minutes or so, go to the sauna, take a shower, go to the relaxing room and read some magazines and have a cup of coffee. After all of those activities, I always feel better, relax and fresh, an ready to continue my daily activities with Nola again. We go to the Fitness from Monday to Thursday, come back around 13.00 at home, then we will have lunch together . After that Nola will be sleepy, and take anap, meanwhile I work at home, cleaning up, checking my emails, preparing dinner, ironing etc etc util she wake up at about noon. We will play a short time until Lorenz back home, and then we will have dinner together. The day is over, and it is going on almost the same everyday. On Fridays I do not bring Nola to the Kids Club, we go to the English speaking Playgroup at Schwabing in the city as ussual, there we will sing some english songs together and then playing. Saturdays is ussually Nola's swimming day. She goes there with Lorenz, that I will have a free time at home alone. She had just completed her second swimming course, now they have a long winter and Xmast break. With those all activities, Nola is actually bussy everyday: Kids Club, Playgroup and swimming, and I am bussy aswell, almost no time for socializing. But I think it is very good for Nola, she is becoming more independent from me know, she can sing songs both in English and German languanges, she is not ashame having contacts with stragers anymore, and she is not crying when I left her at the Kid's Club room anymore...

Picture above right and left, during the swimming course on Saturdays at the Parkstadt Hotel, Munich. She goes there with daddy.

Picture above: another day at the Kid's Club. And left and below, some pictures I have taken at the play group. Far below is another day at the swimming course. What a bussy life!

Hunting for the Sun at Tenerife Sur

2007-11-21T15:06:00.000+01:00

Entering the month of November, the weather was getting unfriendly, especially for me and Nola, who are still trying to accustomized back with the weather in Germany. It was rainy, cold (sometimes until zero degree Celcius) and windy. Luckily Lorenz has holiday this month, and we decided to go somewhere which is still having the sun and warm at this winter time. Well, the first consideration was Dubai, Egypt or Marroco, but I have a problem with the visa, I was too lazy to proceed the visa at the consulates and it sound very complicated to me. At the end, I was looking for the place in Europe which is still warm in November, and that is South Tenerife. The Island of Tenerife is belongs to Spain, a member of schengen countries so that I can go without any problem, the best of all, it is geograpichally located in African coast, pararell with Marocco, Uganda and Dubai, so the Island has the temperature exactly like in African Countries! As we left our apartment on Tuesday morning last week, the temperature was reaching -1 Celcius degree, windy and rainy, that we should wear our ski jacket, a hat, gloves and boots. About six hours later, we were landing at Reina Sofia Airport in Tenerife Sur, and the temperature of 26 degree Celcius was welcoming us! The sun shining, and the breeze from the sea you could feel as soon as we steped outside the small airport into the taxi stands.

The taxi took us about 30 minutes until we arrived in to our hotel, the Aquamarine Golf Hotel, Tenerife. My first impresion about the Island was: it remained me to Pattaya in Thailand, where mostly buildings were hotels and holiday apartments, restaurants and beaches everywhere, but tenerife was more queit than Pattaya. The streets were quiet, and in better condition than in Pattaya. The soil is also different, Tenerife has black sandy beaches, the ground are grey and black, it was coming all from the vulcanic eruption of the Mount Teide hundreds or maybe tgousands years ago. The plantation were mostly consist of palms,and cactus and some bougenvilles. We are lucky that both me and Lorenz still can speak a little bit spanish, that we had a great opportunity to practise ( my spanish is offcourse much more worst than his, but at least I tried to use it). At the Aquamarina Golf hotel, mostly guests were retired from England and Germany, only few families and young people staying there, I do not know why. The hotel itself located in San Miguel de Abone, it did not have a great beach, the view from the room was okay, facing the sea and construction building next to it. But it has big breakfast and dinner buffets, that made us fulled up with foods everyday. With the shuttle bus, we went everyday to the bigger and most favourable beach on that Island: the Playa de las Americas. There, we can swim, sun bathing, playing on the sand, strolling the very long and clean promenade, have coffees or drinks or snacks at the restaurants and cafes facing the sea. It was really warm there, everybody wear Thsirts, shorts and flip flop and swimming at sea. We stayed there for 7 days, and when we came back home, we arrived at the Munich Airport, we should wear our jackets and gloves and hats again, because it was zero degree in Munich! Home sweet home.

Some snapshoots we had during our holiday in tenerife Sur. The first picture, far above left was taken at cafe Bahia at Playa las Americas, below it is the view of Playa las Americas. Picture above, was taken at the beach behind our hotel at San Miguel de Abona, and right picture, Lorenz and Nola at our hotel balcony.

Here left picture, we had dinner at hotel resaturant, serving typicall Spanish food which was really yummy...below it, Nola at the very small beach behind our hotel, it has black sand and big waves.

Again, picture of Playa las Americas and us at the famous promenade there.

Idul Fitri in Munich (in Bahasa)

2007-10-29T14:51:00.000+01:00

Gambar samping, suasana halal bi halal di ruang Eine Welt Hause. Tamu yang datang tidak hanya warga Indonesia di Munich, tapi juga warga Jerman.

Pada tanggal 27 October, perkumpulan warga Indonesia Muenchen, di bawah naungan Swadaya Indonesia-Muenchen, mengadakan acara halal bi halal. Wah kebetulan, saya baru saja membatalkan rencana trip ke Bremen hari itu karena cuaca dingin, terpaksa Lorenz berangkat sendiri. Dengan adanya undangan halal bi halal ini, saya bisa menghabiskan sabtu malam di acara itu sengan Nola, ketimbang be te di rumah, hehe. Toch besok siangnya Lorenz sudah pulang lagi ke Munich. Selain itu, kangen juga dengan ibu-ibu Indonesia yang sudah lama nggak ketemu, apalagi ini sarana halal bi halal, saling bermaaf-maafan, karena pas Idul Fitri nggak sempet ketemu. Faktor lain yang tidak kalah penting, ini kesempatan mencicipi makanan Indonesia, soalnya aku kan nggak sempet masak waktu itu ( maklum repot ada mertua) lagipula belum tentu masakanku bisa seenak masakan ibu-ibu KIDS dari Swadaya ev, haha! Sayang cuaca di Munich udah mulai dingin, lembab, gelap,pokoknya maleees dech pergi keluar malam hari. Tapi saya memaksakan diri, apalagi sudah janjian dengan Linda untuk bertemu di Karstadt Shopping mall di dekat statsiun KA jam 18.30. Nach, malam itu saya pun memaksakan diri pergi ke kota dengan Nola, wah dingiiin. Kami naik subway ke hauptbahnhof ( percuma naik mobil, di lokasi pertemuan ngdak ada tempat parkir, kalau pun ada pasti jauh, toch akhirnya harus sambung lagi dengan subway atau jalan kaki jauh). Jam 18.00 kami sudah tiba, berarti kepagian nich. Supaya Nola nggak be te dan rewel, saya pun pergi ke lantai 4, ke tempat bermain anak-anak. Selama kira-kira 30 menit Nola bisa main-main dan makan sepuasnya, lalu jam 18.30 baru turun dan bertemu Linda yang datang dengan temannya Christina. Dari Karstadt kami pergi ke Eine Welt Haus naik subway, cuma 2 statsiun. Acaranya sendiri dimulai jam 19.00 malam, itu sebabnya suasana masih sepi saat kami tiba. Di sana sudah ada para pengurus aktif Swadaya: mbak Tiwi, mbak Yani, Aas dll. Makanan yang disajikan tidak banyak menunya, tapi banyka jumlahnya dan enaak lho. Rendang sapi, sambel goreng kentang, capcay, kue-kue, pokoknya berhasil membaut kerinduanku akan makanan Lebaran terpenuhi. Harga satu porsi hanya 5 Euro, murah kan? Saya malah sempat membeli untuk dibawa pulang. Di acara itu saya bertemu wajah-wajah baru ( atau saya yang baru buat mereka ya?hehe), juga beberapa wajah lama. Acara berjalan santai dan ramah tamah. Jam 22.00 malam Nola mulai mengantuk dan rewel, akhirnya saya terpaksa meninggalkan Linda dan Christina duluan, naik taksi dari Eine Welt Haus sampai Parkstadt Schwabing. Nola ketiduran di dalam taksi, tapi terbangun lagi saat dimasukan ke stroller yang diturunkan dari bagasi oleh pak sopir. Untungnya dia benar-benar K.O sehingga saat kami masuk apartemen, dia sudah kepingin minum susu dan tidur lagi hihi. Besok harinya Lorenz kembali dari Bremen sekitar jam 16.00 siang, dan malamnya kita sama-sama menikmati makanan lebaran hasil masakan ibu-ibu Swadaya, yummy yummy...

Foto-foto mejeng di acara Swadaya: foto atas, saya,Nola bersama mbak Yani yang jago masak dan putrinya yang cantik berkebaya. Foto di bawahnya, mejeng bersama mbak Tiwi, pengurus super aktif di Swadaya.Foto paling bawah, bersama Christina(tengah) dan Linda (kanan).

Visitors from Bremen

2007-10-18T13:43:00.001+02:00

Picture above, sitting on a bank on the top of the Olympic Hill at the stadion compound. From left, Lorenz, Nola,me,Ingeborg, Hans Kroenert.

October 13th 2007 was a special day for muslims all over the world, it was the Idul Fitri, the end of the fasting month of Ramadhan. At this occasion, I would say Selamat Hari Raya Idul Fitri 1428, or Happy Idul Fitri. Some Indonesian celebrated this big Day in a Mosgue, some had an open house. I was happy to have a chance to spent a little time with them. It was a coincidence that Lorenz's parents were in Munich the day before Idul Fitri. On Friday night, I have prepared the meal for a welcoming dinner. They stayed at Hotel Astoria, in the city centre, which is very good location for them because it is directly to the Leopoldstreet. The idea that Hans and Ingeborg stay in Hotel was very good, because, we could not guarantee that Nola would be peacefull and not make them stress during their staying in Munich. So, Lorenz and Nola picked them up from the train station, brought them to the hotel and then to our apartment at Parkstadt Schwabing. I did not have enough time to do some groceries shopping, so I could not prepare some Indonesian dinner. Another reason was, on Sunday would be the Munich Marathon which Lorenz taken apart, and he was not allowed to eat other things besides pasta until the Marathon was over. So I made tomatoes with mozzarelas salads as an appetizer, spinat fettuccini with arrabiata sauces as the main menu, and cheese cake with espresso at the end. We had red wine and water for accompanying our simple dinner. The night was very nice, Nola had a chance to get to know Hans and Ingeborg better. Last time she met Lorenz's father was in Singapore in October 2006, she was very small at that time. This time Nola could communicate alittle bit. On Saturday afternoon, we went all together to the Olympic Stadion, to picked up the running number for Lorenz. He would run with Nola in her stroller, for the distance of about 42,5 kilometers (!!). At Night we had dinner at one Italian Restaurant near the hotel where Hans and Ingeborg were staying, again, we ate Italian food because Lorenz had to eat pasta only! We spent almost the whole night there until Nola was very tired, and it was time for us to go home and sleep. Sunday morning Lorenz left home with Nola at about 08.00 am for running the Marathon. I was using my time to made some phone call and writting emails, contacting all my friends and families for a Happy Ied congratulations. At 12.00 pm I went to the city to picked up Hans and Ingeborg, then we went together to the Olympic stadion, waiting for the final of the Munich Marathon. There, we met some other friends, we were waiting inside the stadion directly on the track. It was 14.45 when we saw Lorenz entering the stadion amongst many other runners. But where was Nola? He came alone, without Nola. It was a new regulations that baby strollers were not allowed entering the stadion,and Nola should wait at the entrance with another runner, a friend of Lorenz who as well had his baby in a stroller and stranded outside! Well, at the end everything went well, we collected everybody and went back home, continued our celebration at home with some friends. On Tuesday was the last lady of Lorenz's father visit, we drove in the morning to Eibsee lake, take a walk there and enjoying the beauty of the blue clear colour water of that lake, we did a hiking for about 2,4 hours, walking around the lake, and then had a coffee and a cake at the lake's restaurant. Then we drove back home, arrived at about 18.30 pm, I had prepared some Indonesian meal which was ordered by Lorenz ( he wanted Nasi Goreng, It was a very easy food to make for me, right?). Lorenz took Nola into bath meanwhile I cooked the Nasi Goreng, which consist of chicken meats, vegetables, rice and spices. We were really hungry when at the end, everybody ready to eat. We had Red Wine and water accompanying the rice, and espresso and some ginger biscuits and cakes for the dessert. We said good bye at each otjher at about 22.00 pm, the next day, Hans and Ingeborg departed back home to Bremen. Thanks for the visit!

Picture above left, Nola during dinner on Tuesday night. She loves eating rice, spaghetti and bread. Right below it, everybody at our dining room, and picture below it, in front of Olympic stadion Munich.

Playing Outdoor

2007-10-17T17:12:00.000+02:00

Left picture, at one sunny day at the park of NeuePinaphotek Museum of Munich.

Since Nola can walk, it is not easy for me to keep her at home. She needs to run, she loves to explore the nature. Sofar the weather still good, sunny days, I can take her outside, playing at the playgrounds near our apartments ( there are plenty of playgrounds here in Parkstadt Schwabing), or going to the Englisches Garten which has more than 10 acres green parks and forests, and let her running, pushing her mini strollers until she is tired and hungry. I normally have prepared some foods and drinks for her, packed them into the buggy, including a picnic blanket, some toys, some clothes for change, diapers etc. On the way to the park, or to the museum park ( the Museum of Neumoderne Pinaphotek at Old Schwabing, has a very big park and many people do a kind of picnis or just sun bathing there), I would stop over at the San Fransisco Cafe at Leopoldstreet, grab a cup of take away coffee with milk and sugar, a sandwich or chocolate croissant for me.

Picture above, strolling with her buggy doll at the Englisches Garten in one autum day. Below left, visiting daddy at BMW office Munich.

And as soon as we arrived the park, I would spread the blanket, let Nola running and playing with her mini buggy, enjoyed the coffee and the sandwiches,meanwhile keep watching her out. But as we are entering autums, the weather is gettng cold and colder, it is not nice anymore to play outdoor, especially when the wind blowing very strongly. The best is: waiting for the winter, when the snow falling down but the sun are shining again, and no strong and cold wind like now, then we can play out door again. However nice playing at the parks, sometime I feel very inconvenient when dogs were running around us. I do not hate dogs, but I am scared of big dogs. Now I feel worry if the big dogs were coming to Nola. I have read some news about dogs attacking children at the parks, some children died because of it. But off course it was a kind of dangerous dogs, the call it hunting dogs who did it. Not all dogs are dangerous, however I still feel scared of big dogs. But Nola loves dogs, everytime she hear and see a dog, she would call it " wawaw! wawaw!" and she would smile and look at it with her big eyes opened. ( In German, dog is hunde, but children call them "waw waw"or in English would be translated as "wow wow" (??)).

Not only dogs, human being are sometimes not safe ( maybe I read too much stories about phaedopilies), as one day I sat with Nola in a park and came an old man to us. He greeted Nola, "pretty girl´!" said he,"whats is your name?". I was lucky that Nola suddenly dried and hugged me, because I would be brave enough not to answer his kindness with a smile. Then, because Nola was crying, I said to him politely," sorry, she doesn't like strangers". Then he went to a wooden bank not far away from us, ke sat there and waited. I was scared of that stranger old man, and decided to go away, I said to him,"Sorry we have to go home, her daddy is waiting now". I walked very fast through the Park, it was a quiet part in that area, I felt release when we reached the street and saw the traffic. He was maybe not dangerous at all, but I think it is better to stay away from strangers, right?

Walking is one of Nola's favourites, and she know already the way to the supermarket where I ussually go for groceries shopping. One day she would walk in front of me and trying to show me the way, eventhought I would like to take another way, she would insist to take the way she know it better, "Nein,nein!" ( "No,No!") said her to me when I wanted to take another way. Ok, I would follow you, but becarefull with the traffric there! I would said to her. Sometimes it is tiring to spend the days with an active little child, so I need to be alone, going out with my husband only. I know from some Indonesian ladies here, that there are some Indonesian au pair and students who can take care our children at home meanwhile we are going out. We have used those Indonesian Au Pair for a couple of times, and we are happy with their works. Off course Nola would cry at the begining, because she is very use to be with her parents only, but after a while, she would play with the babysitter and when we arrived back home, Nola would already on her bed, sleeping peacefully.

Playing outdoor surrounding our apartments building, even in cold and rainy days. Below, Nola with Husnul, an Indonesian student and Au Pair, crying first but then she woulkd like to play with her babysitter.

Oktoberfest 2007

2007-10-02T19:28:00.001+02:00

The month of October means alot for munich people, because of its famous Octoberfest. Millions of people are coming from all over the world every year, especially for attending or being apart of this knownly as the biggest people festival in the world. We are living in Munich since the year 2000, and left this city in 2003 before coming back again this year in 2007. It means, we have been living in this city for about three and a half years. During those period, we have been into Octoberfest for about three times, which is not bad, actually. The first time as I remembered was in the year 2000, it was very cold and snowy already. We went there at night, did not go into the tents, but only walking around outside and enjoying many attractions provided there. I remembered that we took one akind of "roller coaster"game at that time, and I screamed all the time from the begining until the end of the game, closing my eyes and almost crying. I hate that kind of games which made me having a hart attack, I am a coward, right? It was our first and last time trying that kind of roller coaster game.

The second time was at the year of 2002. We went to the Octoberfest with a group of friends, Lorenz sister came from Berlin, joined us. We spent half day in the tent, singing, eating and drinking. It was the first time that Lorenz and me decided to wear a traditional Bavarian dress. Wearing the tracht or dirndl made me feel more becoming a part of the whole traditonal Bavarian fest, the octoberfest, so we decided to continue this tradition in the future. But the next chance came many years after that, because we were moving to Spain and Thailand for more than 4 years. The chance came in the Octoberfest 2007, the first Octoberfest since we left Munich for about four years, we were coming back again into the fest. This time Nola was already exist, the party should be more fun! I have bought a new traditional dirndl dress for this year, I could not help to buy this new one because since weeks before the Octoberfest began, there were plenty of shops in Munich opened, selling especially those beautiful traditional dress of Bavarian. Lorenz wore the one and we had from many years ago ( it is anyway, we wear it only once a year), and Nola wore a dress she received last year from Lorenz's family, which is dirndl look alike.

We have been informed that the traffic would be very heavy, no chance for a parking space, and we would not allowed to bring the baby stroller into the tents. So we parked our car at Muenchener Freiheit on Sunday morning at 09.30 am last weekend, and carried Nola at our mountain climbing backpack. From there, we took the subway until Odeonplatz, change into another subway connection until we arrived at the Schwantalerhoehe station. Most people were getting off one station before, at Theresienwiese, and as we could see: there were very long...long..queue, hundreds of people standing there, waiting to get out from the subway station to join the Octoberfest! On the other hand, at the Schwanthalerhoehe there were nobody! There, our friends were waiting for us: Corrina, Frank, Michael, Ananta, and then Dirk joined us. We were wearing the traditional dress, great! It is becoming trendy here in Munich, and I always enjoying seeing young people, handsome guys and pretty girls wearing their tracht. It is very fashionable in Munich now! The fest is as ussual, very crowded, many attractions offered, many reastaurants offering foods, and drinks. You take it or leave it...typical food at the Octoberfest are: Grilled Chicken with Potatoes Salads, Salt Bread, Beer...

We did not go to the tents, instead, sitting outside the tents which was luckily still free ( many people have made the reservation to be able to sit inside the tents many months before). Nola was a little bit cranky on that day, too bad that we did not bring her stroller. After having lunch, we went for sight seeing with the others, and then had a coffee and a cake and went back home earlier. It was already 15.00 hours! Nola needed to have her lunch and she needed to walk around, it was impossible to do in the middle of the crowd of the Octoberfest.

My D Day

2007-09-13T12:51:00.000+02:00

Picture above right, have my little piece of cake with Nola at Muenchener Freiheit Cafe. Left, flowers on the table in the morning, a fresh start of the day.

Thursday was my birthday...but as always, I felt lazy to celebrate my birthday. The reasons are: before my D day, there were already another two higlights in our life, our anniversary at 5th of September, and then, Lorenz's birthday at 9th of September, and then...come my D day at 13th of September. It is a little bit too much, isn't? Thats why I am already loosing my interests in celebrating just before my birthday come. The best is, which we did many years before, we just took a holiday from September 5th until September 13th, going somewhere, enjoying holiday. However, I should enjoy my birthday, because it is the only way to apreciate the life that God had given us. I woke up in the morning at 08.00 and found a flower and a birthday card from Lorenz on the dining table, it was already a very good start for today. At 08.30 Nola is woken up, I should change her diaper first, then we had breakfast together as ussual: toast with cheese and butter or with jam and peanut butter cream, a cup of hot coffee for me and a bottle of warm water for Nola. After that I did the kitchen cleaning up, then bathed Nola and change her dress. I let her play shortly meanwhile I took a shower and get dreesed up. Come on girl, we go out! Luckily, today the sun was shining again, the rain had stopped since last night, great. But the temperature was still a little bit too cold, so we still need to wear sweater and jacket. My telephone rang, an Indonesian friend, Linda Daxberger, invited me for a dinner on Friday night at her home for her birthday. I said," you know Linda, today is my birthday and tommorow Lorenz will have a day off and we are going to make a family day, I am not sure if I could come to your place or not..its a pitty!" Then we congratulate to each other, she is going tobe 43 and me 41. If I could not come on Friday night, we agreed to meet for a coffee in the city center next week. I pushed Nola who was sitting in her stroller, we took a bus for 7 minutes and stopped at Muenchener Freiheit...the city! We walked down the city to the tailor, I have sent the winter cover of Nola's stroller to the tailor, the zip was broken. It took them 4 weeks and cost 35 Euro for changing the Zip!!! The distance was about 2 km, but I did not feel long way, because we walked through small ways where the shops are. After picking up the winter cover, we walked back to the Leopoldstrasse. Nola was a little bit cranky, so I decided to make a stop over at Seidvilla Cafe, which has a big garden. I let Nola playing there, but the Cafe was still closed. It was 10.45 am. Well, at 11.00 we walked to another Cafe at Muenchener Freiheit, I had a Cappuccino there and a piece of cheese cake, meanwhile Nola had her bottle meal. Then we went to the dm drugstore to change Nola's diaper. The dm drugstores are the only store which providing a changing table, free diapers and free wet tissues, that every mother could change their babies there for free! We went back home at 12.00, Nola was falling a sleep, time for me to read emails and blogging, haha. Some phone calls, from a friend and sister in-law, congratulate me. Thank you for your attention, guys. I opened emails and received some regards from my friends and families, again, thank you for you all for remembering my D Day. At 17.00 hours Lorenz came home, then we departed to Mangostan Asia Restaurants in Sendling for a dinner. It was a Thai Restaurant, very nice restaurant and a little bit too expensive I think, since I kew the real price in Thailand..haha. The next day Lorenz had a day off, but I went in the morning with Nola to our English speaking Play Group at Schwabing. We came back home at noon, then we went out to the city center for a shopping day. On Saturday we went to see the street festivals at the Leopold street, watching Accapela and had a bbg dinner there. On Sunday morning came two friends of Lorenz, Frank and Dirk for a brunch at our apartment. I had time to prepare Chilly Corn Carne and some antipasti and bread, meanwhile Lorenz took Nola for a walk. After the brunch, we all together went to the Street festival again, it was the last day of the festival at Leo's. On Monday I had coffee with Linda at Muenchener Freiheit, after before we went for a shopping day at the Factory Outlet near my place. What a bussy weekend!

Far above left, three men and a baby! Lorenz,Frank and Dirk enjoying Esspresso after the brunch and playing with Nola. Above left, me,Linda and Nola at Muenchener Freiheit. Right picture, dinner at Mangostin Asia.