Cinderella and Pancake

On the first Idul Fitri day I didn’t set alarm for the next morning. It didn’t matter what time I should get up. The next day I heard Anugerah getting up and watching television. Not long after that I heard Pelangi coming out the room. Then I fell asleep again. At 8 o’clock I got up. When I came out of my bedroom, Anugerah said “Why do you get up so late today!” I just smiled to him. For me it was a compliment because he has said implicitly that normally I always get up early.

I went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. I wanted to make oatmeal pancake. I got the recipe from an American friend and I have made it once. It was very good and healthy. I took the recipe and read it carefully to ensure that I have all ingredients and follow the steps correctly. It’s okay if you laugh at me. I like cooking and I got compliments from people about my cooking. But I still need a recipe before me, no matter how many times I have made it and this pancake was my second time.

We have a pantry and kitchen. There is a window that connects the two places. If you have a helper it’s ok but not if you are alone because the cooker and oven are in the kitchen and you have to work in the pantry which has more space. So I had to go back and forth between pantry and kitchen and had to pass the living room. Pelangi sat there watching a film, Cinderella Story 2 and Anugerah played play station (PS).

Now I have all ingredients and cooking utensils in front of me. So the first step is to heat the milk but not to boil. Then stir in the oatmeal. Let it stand for 10 minute. In the meanwhile I need to mix butter and eggs and in another bowl mix other dry ingredients and stir it to the combination of butter and eggs. Then stir in milk and oatmeal. Ok, it’s easy. Oatmeal already in the warm milk, now eggs and butter in another bowl. But, why does the mix of eggs and butter become so thin? Ach, maybe it will be thick after I stir the oatmeal and the dry ingredients in it. So, I stir in them. But no, it’s not thick at all. Try the mixer, it will mix better. Still, it is not mixed and remains thin. Oh…help! What did I wrong? Why was the first time just ok and no problem at all?

I read the recipe again and more carefully. Aha! I got it! It’s not the recipe that is wrong, it’s (of course) me. I should stir in the butter and eggs in the pan of milk and oatmeal and not in another bowl.

“Is the pancake almost finished?” I heard my children asking me. I also heard a song of the film Cinderella Story 2. Is this a Cinderella feeling? That you had to work hard while others just seat relax and ask about food? Yesterday she had watched the same film and a couple days ago, and last week and many other times. She knows exactly the plot, songs and even conversations. Why doesn’t she do it the same with her lessons? But ok, now is not the time to think about that. The pancake, yes, concentrate on the pancake because it must be finished.
Finally I gave up the American pancake. I threw the batter away. Then I took another cookery book. A Dutch one. This recipe is for sure okay because I just used it last week and the children liked the pancakes very much.
“When is it finished? I am hungry!” I heard Anugerah asking again. In this situation I’d tend to get angry but I heard voice in my ears repeatedly “Take it easy. This is holiday. You want to spend time together nicely, don’t you?” The voice has won. I became calm and just said “Almost!”

The Dutch recipe is much easier. After going back and forth again between pantry and kitchen and passing Pelangi watching television and Anugerah playing PS, finally the first pancake is baked. Now they can see a real pancake.

I looked around and saw a lot of dishes in both pantry and kitchen. I still had to bake a lot of pancakes and then do the dishes. The Cinderella feeling was still there. Would a prince try to find me?

"Hmmm… this is delicious”I saw Anugerah eating the pancake and smiled to me. My prince has found me. Read more!

Idul Fitri

It’s known that a lot of people go to big cities for their luck. They stay there, find a job – if they are lucky – or do something or anything to earn money. That’s why big cities are always crowded. Most of them go back to their village just once a year namely on Idul Fitri day.

Today is the last day of fasting for Muslims and tomorrow is Idul Fitri, at least for most Muslims in Indonesia. You hear lots of news about the trip people make to their village. Yes, this is the time to visit family in their village, time to ask forgiveness and to forgive. But also time to share stories and to show your success in big cities.

The rush starts already 7 days before Idul Fitri and ends or becomes less 7 days after. The crowd has moved from big cities to villages. Here in Malang it is visible. Actually I expect that Malang would be a bit more crowded than usual. Malang is not a big city. You can say, it is a big village. In history Malang was a resting place for pensioners, so it surprises me that a lot of Malang residents are apparently outsiders. Just like us.

It is quiet on the roads in Malang. Schools have holiday already and a lot of small stalls along the road are closed. The streets look wider and cleaner. It reminds me of the street in Holland when I lived there. Except in high ways it is mostly quiet there, at least for me who get used to the crowd and rush in Indonesia.

If Malang becomes quiet you can imagine how quiet Jakarta, the capital city will be. I think this is the best time for going to Jakarta. Normally you don’t have time in Jakarta now you have sea of it. Normally you just can ride around 30 km per hour now constant 50 km per hour is easy. People who have never been in Jakarta, maybe think, What? 30 km per hour? Don’t they have asphalt road? Yes, Jakarta has nice, wide asphalt roads. That’s not the problem. The problem is that there is much more people than area, much more cars than roads and much more rules than willingness to obey them.

The stillness is not just visible outside the house but also inside the house. This is the time that servants take holiday too. This has also happened with ours. We have two servants. Please, believe me, it doesn’t mean that I can sit the whole day peacefully and do nothing. Like to your children you also have to spend a lot of time and attention to them and you also get headache. Don’t get me wrong, you know what I mean in my story about it. The eldest went already this morning and the other stays at house till four o’clock after I pick up my children from school. So tomorrow and the day after tomorrow there are just three of us. Actually four of us, no, not with my husband. I forgot to say that he too went this morning. No, not to his village in Holland but to another country for his work. So the four of us are my 2 children, me and Browny.

In previous years I’d get short of breath just to think about this period. It means that I have to do almost everything by myself. Yes, the children could also help me but it was not the problem. The problem was because I was perfectionist. I demanded of myself that everything had to be like in normal period when the servants were in. It was not just about the house, laundry, food, and garden but also homework of the children and going out. The children must have enough time to do their homework and we had to be able to go out and having clean and neat house. Now I can say calmly, it is impossible. It takes time to have a change in your mind but I am happy that this has happened to me.

Now I am looking forward to get up lately together with my children, to make our breakfast together and doing other things without hurry. I also have plans to make cakes or cookies with them, to wash Browny, to play water. In short it means to spend nice time together.

Pelangi really wants to go to Jakarta this holiday to visit her Grand Ma, Aunties, Uncles, and cousins. But we cannot leave Browny alone. Beside we can do more at our home.

I just received an invitation via text on my hand phone from a friend, which lives not far from us. On Saturday we can go to her house and enjoy the day and the food they make special for Idul Fitri.

Idul Fitri is a day for family and friends. The last one can mean more than the first one especially if you live far away from your family and cannot visit them. Just like us. Read more!

Japan Cave

Finally we reached the water warm source in Cangar, Batu, East Java. It is in a forest and it took about 30 minutes from Malang. There are two swimming pools, the small and the big one. There were more visitors than we thought. There is also a pool special for women with walls built around it. They believe that the water is very good for the skin, so the women can wash their body there. But I saw that women here don’t dare to wear swimming suit or bikini. They always wear a pants or legging under their swimming suit. Even they don’t doubt to jump in the pool wearing their daily clothes.

Anugerah could not wait to swim but Pelangi didn’t have mood for it when she saw too much people just hanging around. When Anugerah swam in the pool, Pelangi and I just sat around the pool with our feet in the warm water. We sat there not long because the sun shone very warm. We didn’t stay long there and it’s no fun for Anugerah to swim alone with unknown people.

From the pool we went to Japan cave. It’s still in the forest but outside the swimming pool area. We need to walk about 500 meters upwards. Although there was a path we must be careful. The path is not maintained well and dry leaves make it slippery.

For me it was more difficult because I had to drag the bag with wet towels and sometimes Anugerah held my hand. But I like this adventure. I like to be outside in the nature with trees and not walls around me. I feel free.

Then we saw the cave. It’s very dark inside. There were 2 other people, a boy and a girl who visit this place just to be alone. I decided to go in. Anugerah wanted to go with me but Pelangi just stood outside. She would take pictures, she said. Then we walked in, the 2 teenagers were behind us. After about 3 meters we couldn’t see anything. The girl was afraid and went directly back to outside. Then it was just three of us. We need to stop and let our eyes adapt to the darkness. Then we walked further but after 1 meter we stopped again. The ground is not equal. The air became colder and very humid. We got an uncomfortable feeling so we went back to outside.

Not long after the first visit, we went there again. This time my husband also went with us. We brought flash lamp and went inside together. Again Pelangi just wanted to wait outside. This time we walked further than the first time. After a while the flash lamp didn’t come out in the darkness. But we could see another wall of the cave. It’s still further and again the uncomfortable feeling came again. So we just went back outside.

It is too bad that there is no story about the cave. From the name we know that the Japan soldiers have used it. But when? What for? What happened there? My children have also questions. How did they found the cave? Did they make it? If so, how? What have they done in the cave? How long did they stay there? How many people were there? Did they have to climb to get the cave like what we did? It must be very heavy since they also had to bring gun and other things and must do it very carefully so the enemy couldn’t hear or find them. Has somebody found his death there? Have Indonesian people also used the cave?

I think something horrible has also happened there. Maybe a murder or hara-kiri? It could be. It was after all a war. Honestly I was afraid when Pelangi took a picture of three of us inside the cave, that we would see four people on the picture. To my relief, there were just three of us, that boy, Anugerah and myself.

I think about the two teenagers. If they want just to be alone why don’t they go in the cave? I am sure that no people would disturb them. But I am not sure whether they would not be disturbed at all, ha..ha..ha.. Maybe this is their reason not to be there.

Sometimes people like darkness because they think they can do more there. They feel satisfied that they can hide things from others. Maybe people feel safe in the darkness but it’s just at the beginning. How deeper people go in the darkness how limited they can move. At one point, they don’t see any directions, shape, qualities etc. Doubt, uncertainty and even fear cover them. They will be stuck.

Light gives more. Everything is clearer. People see not only directions, shape, qualities, but also colors, expression and more. If you are stuck, you long to be released. People who are stuck in the darkness will long to see the light. I know, deep in their heart all people like to be free from doubt, uncertainty and fear. Read more!