Kami udah nonton HP looo.. (*gitu aja bangga hihihi*).. iya,, abis sekali2nya nonton di bioskop setelah melahirkan.. pan gue butuh hiburan (*taelah.. gaya banget dah*)..

Yang jelas, Harry Potter dari nomer 1 ampe 5 bagus terus… yg nomer 5 ini juga gak kalah seru, tapi peran Ron dan Hermione agak kurang sih, karena lebih terfokus ke si Harry nya.. Tapi tetep gak jauh dari buku ceritanya lah..

Duh, gak sabar nunggu buku terakhir,, kita udah beli looooh (*dengan bangganya lagi*) .. gretong lagi (*duh apaan sih, biasa aja deh*).. iya,, soalnya belinya dari credit point dari citibank.. huehehe..

Ayo tebak,, siapa yang bakalan mati di buku terakhir? sampe si JK Rowling sendiri nangis2 nulis bukunya. kalo gue nebaknya Ron atau Hermione dan satu lagi hmm siapa ya bingung. kalo suamiku nebaknya si Hagrid dan bahkan si Harry sendiri..

tauk ah,, kita baca ntar tanggal 21.. semoga deh buku pesenan kita nyampe pas tgl 21 nya..

This is a cautionary tale for those bilingual households…
I vaguely remembered the first time I arrived in Indonesia. At the time, I was 5 years old, and could only understand English. It took me years until I could communicate properly with kids in my school. Although I eventually was able to understand and speak Indonesian, something was amiss. And I never realized it until my late twenties, after I spent some years in the States. It wasn’t until I listened to a recording of myself speaking English and Indonesian that it hit me: I can’t speak either language well enough.

My listening skills were adequate; I could understand most of the subtleties in each language, I could read magazines and newspapers of both languages with ease.. but when it came to speaking them, it was hit and miss. Sometimes I could just talk and talk and talk.. but most of the time, I had to gather enough energy to organize my thoughts and figure out what I want to say. Furthermore, when my tongue has been talking Indonesian for a day, and then you attempt to speak English right afterwards, you end up twisting it and mumbling words, making it very difficult for other people to understand.

Then there was the cultural disconnect from my mind to the other person’s mind. As I said before, I could understand what either an American or Indonesian means based on their intonation, gestures etc. But turns out the reverse isn’t true — when I speak, not even my family could tell whether I’m serious, angry or joking. It’s hilarious!

Well, the first part of the solving a problem is recognizing the problem.. all I need to do now is design a solution; especially since I’m about to go through a bunch of job interviews in the near future.

Tau

This posting is in the same vein as the meaning of life post the other day…
As I was rushing through the office hallway today, I was stopped by a friend. He was concerned about the layoffs that happened a few months ago at my workplace, and wondered if I was affected at all by it. I told him that I wasn’t laid off, but am thinking about getting out anyway next year. So the conversation went on and on about what my plans are for the next few years. It then took a turn to questions about his daughter who’s in college and then about his son, who is about to enter college. He remarked, “one more year, and my son will enter college, and then four years later I won’t have any more reason to work.”

“So you’ll retire at that point?”, I asked.. intrigued by his statement. “Yes, he says”.

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hehehee.. ini bukan Ali nya Muhammad Ali ya.. tapi si Hali, adek bungsu kita yang baru jadi tukang insinyur maret lalu.. met ultah ya li.. semoga cepet dapet kerja yang ali pengen.

Nah, satu lagi, ulang tahun America. Tau kan, forth of July? Dalam rangka merayakan ultah Amrik, stasiun2 TV di sini menyiarkan acara2 yang berhubungan dengan itu. Mulai dari sejarah presiden, sampai2 film hollywood yang bertemakan kemerdekaan kayak independence day. Sewaktu melihat satu segmen tentang sang penjahit bendera Amrik yang pertama, aku teringat tentang sejarah Indonesia. Dalam masalah ‘patriotisme’ ada banyak kesamaan antara Indonesia dan Amerika.. di Indonesia ada hari Pahlawan, di Amrik ada Memorial Day; Lagu kebangsaan Indonesia adalah Indonesia Raya, sedangkan USA punya Star-Spangled Banner; di buku sejarah anak SD kedua negara ada trivia2 sejarah seperti siapa yang menjahit bendera pertama, yang mengetik proklamasi kemerdekaan, yang menandatangani proklamasi dst. dst. Aku jadi berpikir.. seberapa jauhkah tangan Amerika mempengaruhi berdirinya negara Indonesia? Apalagi kalau kupikirkan ebook2 yang kubaca di rand.org, tentang ‘nation-building’.. disebutkan di situ kalau salah satu strategi membangun negara yang masih muda, adalah dengan segera menciptakan simbol-simbol yang akan menjadi identitas negara tersebut — hari2 besar negara, landmark yang khas, lambang negara dst dst– dan kemudian mengajarkan semua ini kepada rakyat.
Menarik kalau dipikirkan.. berapakah bagian dari sejarah Indonesia yang merupakan hasil pikiran bapak2 pembangun Indonesia, dan berapa banyak yang merupakan hasil influence luar negeri?
Semua ini menarik untuk topik blog.. but oh well.. no need to dwell on this matter. Happy fourth!