Let's get to know Jap Kids!

One thing that differentiates Japanese and Indonesian children (子供) is about spontaneity. So far as I know, Japanese kids are really spontaneous and aren't shy or afraid to start greeting someone, even to foreigners like us.

Once, when we (Meghan and I) were playing at the park (公園), a Japanese little girl came toward us and stared at Meghan as if she wanted to say something. Then I greeted her, "konnichiwa (こんにちわ）". FYI, this is a very useful expression if you don't really speak Japanese (日本語） but you want to act friendly to someone you meet. The little girl replied my greeting and said something again which I couldn't understand. It seemed she wanted to play with Meghan. Then I asked Meghan to give her ball to the little girl so they could play together. While playing, the little girl whom I knew later her name is Saikonoha-chan kept asking me questions, such as "soko no ko no namae? (what's your child's name)", or "nan sai? (how old is she?)". She also kept looking for my attention, like showing her "chibi maruko-chan" toy, her kawaii (cute) but furui (old) shoes, her sand drawing, and her quite fabulous ability playing the "monkey bars". Of course she spoke her mother tongue. Sometimes I responded in Japanese (with my limited vocabularies), sometimes in English (but it's rarely used), and occasionally only by hand or head signals (a.k.a body language ^^). From our conversation, I knew that Saiko-chan is five years old, hasn't entered kindergarten yet, and lives near the park.

Saikonoha-chan wasn't alone by that time. A group of Japanese little boys (ages ranged from 5-8 years old) suddenly came and asked something to Saiko-chan. Then one of them (look older than Saiko-chan) came close to me and Meghan. I smiled and said "hello". The little boy asked, "dochira kara?". I understood that he wanted to know where do I come from so I answered, "Indonesia jin desu (I'm an Indonesian)". He looked confused, so I asked him in return, "Indonesia no koto ga shitte iru no (do you know about Indonesia?)?". He shook his head and said "tooi desuka (is it far from here?)".　”Tooi desu yo. Hikouki de nana jikan gurai kakarimasu (yup it's quite far, around 7 hours by airplane)", I replied. Then he and his friends asked me several questions again, like "hikouki ga Indonesia-go (語) de nan desuka (how to say airplane in Indonesian language?)", and "Indonesia de ki noboru koto ga arun desuka (does tree climbing exist in Indonesia?)". They even showed me their abilities to climb a tree too. A big tree! Feeling worry, I shouted "abunai yo! (hey that's too dangerous!)", but they only laughed and shouted back "daijoubu! (it's okay!)".. and they were really okay. :)

After climbed a tree, they played football using Meghan's blue ball. Knowing that the ball was used by others, Meghan was bit irritated and cried. I tried to convince her that the ball still belongs to her and the boys just borrowed it for a moment, but she still wanted her ball back. Luckily, Saiko-chan said to the boys that they should stop playing with the ball and returned it back to Meghan. After got her ball back, Meghan's finally stop crying. ^^ Then I said to the little boys, "ありがとう (thx)". It's already late in the afternoon. Despite this enjoyable moment with Japanese kids, I decided to go home. "Ja.Mo konna jikan ne.Kaerimasho (well, what a time. let's go home)", I said to them. I regretted for not bringing camera on that day so I couldn't take their pictures as memento.

Another day at the same park and Meghan still brought her favorite blue ball, we got acquainted with another Japanese kid. When we arrived at the park, the kid was playing swing with her "Ojii-san" (grandpa). When she saw Meghan, she spontaneously came close to us and smiled. After asking Meghan's name, she hold meghan's hands and said "achi achi! (there there!)". It seemed she invited Meghan to play seesaw together. Then she said something again to her grandpa, but I didn't really get the meaning. Her name is Kaeri-chan or simply Kae-chan and she's 4 years old. Meghan got another friend by chance. They played seesaw, sand, and slide together though there's a gap of language. :) Kae-chan's grandpa sat not far from us, witnessing her granddaughter's playing. When they're playing sand, I asked Kae-chan what she's making, "nani o tsukutte iru no?". "keeki (a cake)", she answered. "Satou o ireru? (will you put sugar on it?)", I added. She replied while sowing the sand and grinning, "ee..kore..satou (yes, this is the sugar)". She sometimes talked to Meghan "kochi mite! (come and look!)", but of course Meghan didn't understand. And when Meghan tried to talk with her in Bahasa Indonesia, Kae-chan could only wonder what Meghan said. Luckily, I brought my camera this time so I could take some memorable pictures (写真) with Kae-chan.

Just a week ago, when we were looking for some daily stuff in one self-service shop here, a little girl came toward us. As usual, I said, "konnichiwa". She suddenly touched Meghan's cheeks with her small hands and asked me how old Meghan is. "ni sai juukagetsu (2 years 10 month)", I answered while smiling. This little girl acted like a 7 years old girl but I guessed she's just in the same age as Meghan's. And yup! when I asked her age, she clearly answered, "san sai (three years old)". Then she ran to her mom who's carrying a little baby and shouted something to her sister. Oh, so she has two siblings. She ran back to Meghan while shouting,"akachan! akachan! (baby! baby!)". ^^ (can someone tell her that she's still a baby too??). I asked her name but it's too long n difficult so I couldn't remember it precisely. Once she tried to lift Meghan up, but I said、”dame. omoi da yo! (don't. she's heavy)". Of course, Meghan is bigger than her! ^^ So I wondered why she couldn't stop calling Meghan "akachan". Oh well :).

So these are stories among other stories about Japanese kids, their spontaneity, and their innocence. Having conversation with them and children in common are really pleasurable because they're free from prejudice. And it's one of the simple ways to practice our foreign language ability. ;)

A Priceless Gift

January 27, 2009, a prestigious cargo was delivered in St Paul Hospital Taoyuan County, Taiwan, at 2.32 am. It was a lovely baby girl. She had no name by that time because my husband and I were unsure about it. :) Luckily, one of my classmates, named Steven, helped us to give her a name, a Chinese name. We thought she will need it since her birth certification would be written both in English and Chinese versions (though we don't understand Chinese :p). So, her Chinese name is Mo-fan or Mo-Feng ( 莫梵 ). We were not sure about the meaning of the name. But my friend told me the name has a good meaning. But if we use google translator facility, then we know that the characters mean none-God. Despite this ambiguity, I don't really care since the name Mo fan itself was only for administration purpose, and won't be used forever. ^^

Mo-Fan's birth was a day after Chinese New Year. In January 26, starting from 5 am, I felt regular contraction every 10 minutes. I never felt that kind of contraction before, so I concluded that 'the time almost come'. I told my husband and my mom (who came to Taiwan three days before) about my condition and we went to the hospital at 10 am by taxi. Due to the Chinese New Year holiday, the hospital was not as busy as usual. I did the registration and one of the nurses led me to the delivery room. There, I had to follow some procedures, such as urine test and dilatation check-up. The nurse said that the dilatation was just 1 cm, so I still need to go back home until the dilatation reach around 3-4 cm. So the three of us went back to our apartment by taxi. But before that, we spent a little time to eat Indonesian food in one of Indonesian Chinese food stalls around the hospital.

In the apartment, I was on edge cause being pregnant and delivering a baby was really my first experience and I was also in the middle of finishing my master thesis. My husband and I practically prepared most things by ourselves cause we have no relatives in Taiwan. Thanks to our good friends and professors who always encourage us. Then my mother came from Jakarta just two days before the baby born and stayed there for almost a month. A day before the "D day", we brought my mom for sight-seeing around Taipei, including Taipei Mall Station and Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall. I was so excited and happy since it had been a quiet long time I didn't take a walk with her. But to be honest I felt a bit exhausted too cause my belly was pretty much bigger and heavier.

So I was waiting...and waiting...and waiting.... I wasn't the only one who was so nervous as the contraction was becoming more frequent. Mom and husband had the same feeling too I guess. My mom helped me counting the contractions I had in each several minutes. I used to think that time goes so fast, but on that night I thought the reverse thing, TIME GOES VEEERY SLOW. I almost couldn't manage the pain and started to think to have a C-section, or at least a high dosage of anesthesia. ^^ A dummy panic thought. At around 10 pm when the contraction was getting stronger and occurred every 3 minute, me and my husband immediately went to the hospital. My mom didn't go along with us because she wasn't allowed to enter the birth room, only the spouse could. It was still winter in Taiwan, raining and chill outside . The apartment security guard helped us calling a taxi. I couldn't think anything except to restrain the painful. The taxi driver turned on the emergency alarm like an ambulance. :) A kinda weird, wasn't it? ^^

After we arrived in the hospital and done some procedural forms, we directly entered the birth room. Again, I did some bothersome urine test and dilatation observation. The nurse said it was 3 cm. God..it means I still have couple hours to go. I started to imagine scary things, like "I don't think I can wait for other 7 hours contraction..I am gonna die, etc..". Exaggeration. But Grateful to Allah, everything happened quiet fast. After more than 2 hours of waiting for full dilatation, the doctor said I was ready to give birth. I was carried to another room, and the final process began. Luckily, I have my husband beside me who patiently and strongly supported me. The delivery process didn't take much time, so many praises to Allah SWT. No C-section, no induction, no vacuum. Only a small feeling of labor pain which at once disappeared when the baby successfully came out to this world and cried loudly. What a bless. But I didn't cry as other mothers usually do when their babies are successfully born. I was so much happy but I didn't cry. Not until I successfully guide her into a noble lady.

A day after, my mom met her third granddaughter in the hospital. A limitless happiness. I admire my mom's courage in visiting us. That was her first time to go abroad by herself. But deep in my heart, I also had compassion on her as her second daughter was struggling with breast cancer. Oh it was a dark past. Though my sister had already gone to the 'truly home', our memories with her will be kept forever in our mind. Once again, I thanked Allah for His beneficence giving us a chance to meet our beloved sister before she passed away in September 2009.

Two days after labor, a real name was finally given to Mo Fan. Meghan Alesha. The name Meghan was indirectly given by my husband, and neither inspired by Meghan Fox nor Alesha Dixon . :) We were not even really familiar with those American artists by that time. "Meghan" offering us a uniqueness, especially for Indonesian girl names. It's derived from the Greeks, means PEARL. And the name Alesha, was given by me. Not really a unique name, but sounds match with Meghan. :) It's from Arabic (I'm not sure which part of Arab nations since Arabic language doesn't recognize "Le" phonic, right?). :D Alesha means protected by God. It can also mean NOBLE.

Our Meghan is 2 years 9 months now. She has become a very talkative little girl and like to sing. She can sing some Indonesian songs and a Japanese song clearly. :D A fan of little bus, sweets, cheese, and her mom's ears. ^^ She hates humpty dumpty, fallen hair, and bugs. Don't try to ignore her cause she will always seek ways to attract your attention. :).

That's all.