Titus - The Son We Never Had - From UNIKA Atmajaya to Catholic University of Korea

September 18, 2014

It was in January 2013 when my husband and I interviewed Titus at Catholic University of Atmajaya, Yogyakarta. With the help of the Dean of Political and Social Sciences, we received 28 applicants one month prior, and selected 5 top students for interview. He was one of the 5 candidates to receive our sponsorship for a one-month of educational trip to the United States.

"Mommy and Son"

After meeeting everyone of them, we found it difficult to pick the recipient as each student had his/her strong points that was hard to compare. We took a week of thinking over the holiday in Bali and still couldn't make a decision. It was one of the toughest decisions we had ever had to make. My husband returned to the United States, and I decided to stay in Indonesia for a couple more weeks. I invited the 5 students to our home in Semarang for 3 days to get to know them. Only 4 students accepted my invitation. We spent the time together, mostly doing some brainstorming about education, life philosophy, campus life, social life outside the university, the part time jobs they had while attending school..... and lots of silly laughter. We also tried several restaurants, went to the mall for little treats, doing some cooking together, chatting all night long...... just like a family. It was magical!

Catholic University of Korea, where Titus attended for his Masters Degree.

To make the long story short, Titus didn't get selected, but our chemistry has transitioned to a "mother and son" relationship to this day. It was a joy to both my husband and I to have him in our life, though geographically we are distant, he is always present in our mind and heart. The coaching continues for this young man is relentlessly trying to get a scholarship for higher education abroad. The "go getter" Titus later received a scholarship from the Catholic University of Korea in Seoul. These photos are taken during my visit in September 2014.

Titus and his friends at the campus cafetaria.

August 2015. He graduated with Masters Degree in International Relations.

Dian - A Law Student at Catholic University of Soegiyopranoto - ( UNIKA ) Semarang - September 2014

Dian, our newest sponsored student, started her student orientation in September of 2014. After one month of coaching on how to start a new life as an adult student, Dian is ready to live away from her parents for the first time. I walked her through her first week outside campus life, in the morning before she went to school, and after school in the afternoon. During Dian's first two weeks of her studies at Catholic University of Soegiyopranoto Semarang (Rofi, Irwan, Dian, and I) tried to have breakfast together every morning, and dinner every evening. I encouraged our students to share thoughts, ideas, and offered support to one another.

Left to right: Rofi majors on computer programming at Udinus, Irwan majors on graphic design at Stekom, and Dian a law major at Unika Soegiyopranoto.

I had also challenged Dian, as I did with other students, to meet a new friend on campus per day for the first two weeks. This time I asked Dian to invite all her new friends over for lunch and that I would be doing all the cooking of the food for her friends. Not only would it give me the pleasure of seeing our "daughter" attending university, but also to see the evidence that Dian really met her goal of meeting 10 friends would be an awesome experience. Photo below are her new friends she met during the first 2 weeks of being on campus.

Celebrating Lebaran - The Muslim's Biggest Holiday and Feast of the Year - Indonesia, July 2014

Beginning with shopping at the traditional market at 5 am the day before, we bought hundreds of frond sacks. Some are for decoration and some are to be filled with dry rice to make rice cakes in frond sacks called ketupat. A frond sack is a sachet the size of a cup made from fresh palm fronds (coconut leaves).



If this is the first time you see ketupat, it may be a bit hard to tell which ones are already filled with rice cakes and which ones are empty sacks.







They would climb on the tree and remove the young shoots of fronds (leaves) and after first removing the frond bone in the middle of the leaf they prepare the leaf tapes for weaving. Using both hands and all fingers, ketupat makers began weaving the long tape-like leaf and make a sachet one at a time.



A skilled ketupat maker would take 1 minute or less to weave a complete sachet. In the old days, each was sold for a penny or less. Though the prices have changed (Thank God) since the 60's they have not changed in how many they sold in a bundle. The magic number.. 10 in a bundle!



The much time-consuming handcraft was never appreciated as much as it is today. They finally understand economics and know how to value their time. I am happy for the people in Java, and for myself for I can still find ketupats in the market. Unless you are a food vendor who sells cooked ketupat on daily basis, you would only find them in the market. If you are food vendor selling cooked ketupat, you would either make the frond sacks yourself or have them made and delivered to your place.

The Fish Head Story - From Undip Tembalang to Rocklin, California - July 2014

If it's sold in a food market, it's got to be edible !

The story began in the now densely populated city of Semarang, on the island of Java. On a stretch of about 1 mile (1.6 km) on the street of Ngesrep leading to the well known University of Diponegoro... there are rows of restaurants, cafes, coffee shops and phantom food stalls. One banner attracted our attention, "Gule Kepala Ikan" (fish head curry).



I thought to myself ....which part of it could you possibly eat? All I could think of is the two eyeballs popping and staring at me. But I decided to give it a try. The restaurant had no AC, but very much open for the breeze to go through. There were five of us and we all ordered the same thing. Fish head curry! Watching everybody savoring the neck, then the cheek, I couldn't help but doing the same, trying not to look at mine in the eye. To my surprise, there was good amount of meat attached to the head.



Upon returning to California, our fisherman friend Joe was expressing his enthusiasm when I told him that I want to give it a try, and make the dish ...my version.


Joe didn't want to have an eye contact with it.

Rose and I were just watching.. haha!



I know... some of you would prefer to have these ..... But that wouldn't be so adventurous!

Summer in our California Home - Flowers, garden, blueberries, love nest - JUNE 2014

It's nice to be home for a little bit. Catching up with friends, spending quality time putting together the love nest in our backyard with our party friends Ed and Marini, Deanna, and Grace. Getting ready for summer parties....












Flower arranging ..... my new hobby? Being a florist on my next life ? :) I don't know .... but I am addicted of working with flowers.
























Blue berries from our backyard....





Guillermo and his team are building our raised garden in the backyard... June 2014.