Christinewu's Blog

So… 2013 is here, I just need to look back to 2012. I just left one-of-my-two-jobs this early December. I love the people, but then I see no career advancement at all. With the responsibilities they gave me, the hours, but no promotion/raise, I decided to look for something else. While I still work at one of the famous food trucks in Seattle as a cook, I found a second job as a line cook at this new dive bar that serves fish-and-chips, fried chicken sandwich and the likes. It sounds really simple, but the food is prepared with so much care and research. I’m proud to say that we have the best french fries in the whole Seattle area. Fried chicken that stays crispy even after 2 hours (without preservatives, too! It’s all in the technique.) I’m really happy with my jobs, because I feel that I’m learning a lot, without going to culinary school. Climbing my way up this really steep ladder of the industry.. And I finally find a mentor in this place, my chef and the other cooks are really patient and they don’t treat me like I’m a dumb-ass just because I don’t know how a savory plant looks like or how to portion the cod. They just show me how it’s done and I get it.

The family is great too. While Sam is still looking for his ideal job, I just have to work two jobs. It’s exhausting, but I know this is the best for our family. The kids are still crazy but they’re so loving, it makes my heart aches a bit everytime I leave to work. I hope in 2013, Sam will find his dream job, and we can finally get our own place within affordable range in Capitol Hill still.

I’m done with talking, I’ll just post pictures 🙂

Can’t believe that my baby is 2 years old now. She’s so much more talkative than Samu when Samu was her age. Her fave word? “MIIIIIINE.” Daddy and Koko Samu always spoil her. Samu started kindergarten this Fall and he’s loving it. The only complaint we got from his teacher was that he’s not really good at listening. While he told me he’s bored of the lesson (he can read and write well, but his penmanship sucks so bad), he loves being in school. The idea of learning things enthralls him. 

Sam is currently finishing his master’s degree and staying home with the kids while I work 2 jobs for 7 days a week. At first I thought I would die, working 2 jobs. All tiredness swept away the moment I open the door and 2 adorable children come greet me. When I’m lucky, I’ll get 5 hours of sleep. Since it’s just us 4, I still have to wake up early before work to cook the kids breakfast, lunch and dinner. My mom initially doubted that I could do it. Working and still be there for my kids (typical Indo of her, but I do understand why). But then, with limited help over here, Sam and I only have each other. We both make it work. And the kids are even more attached to me now than then. Quality time over quantity. Well, different family works differently. It just happens to be that way in ours. 

And yes, I cut my hair because when working in restaurant industry, you either have to wear a cap or headband to prevent hair falling off into the food. But I’d rather not to deal with fixing my hair every morning, so there, chop chop it went.

Sorry, I might be biased but DAMMIT, ELLE AND SAMU ARE SO CUTE! 😀

Earlier in May, I got a second job at an Italian restaurant as a line cook. I’m so happy with it, but might need to delay culinary school til next year. I’ve been honing my (non-existent) knife skills and it’s nice to have people train & help me to be a better cook. Practically, I only have Monday off, and work close to 60 hours a week. I don’t start working at the Italian joint until 2pm, so it’s nice to spend my mornings with the kids. Also nice to have a supportive husband who knows I’m really passionate about this. The weekend gig at the shabu-shabu place goes really well, too, if not more relaxed than the Italian joint.

With me working, the time I spend with the kids are 98% quality time. When I was  a stay-at-home-mom, we did spend lots of time together, but we (the kids and I) took it for granted. Nowadays Elle is so independent, feeding herself, putting her own clothes and such. And Samu is still emotional and temperamental (just like me haha) but he’s now better at socializing with other people. It’s funny how lots of people give me so much shit for working two jobs but turns out, our family is getting better (instead of worse as the shitters predicted).

And here, the photos of the day…

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Life has been good to me lately. I delayed culinary school because childcare price is just so.. pricey. We have to wait until Samu is in kindergarten, so we only have to pay for Elle (Samu’s kindy will cost about $200/month but that’s way cheaper than childcare). Then, I landed a sweet ass job in a shabu-shabu restaurant in Seattle (the first ever in WA state!) and we found an awesome apartment in an awesome neighborhood (Capitol Hill). It’s literally downtown, but not where the shopping mall is. I’ve never been a suburbia kinda girl, so living in the city fits me better. There are no Walmart, Target or McDonalds and the likes in sight. Mom-and-pop stores are everywhere. Record stores, thrift stores, dive bars, even fancy restaurants, you name it.

The kids are well, but Elle has been a brat lately. Thanks to all the attention she got in Jakarta, she feels a bit lonely here. I don’t know what to write anymore.. so I’ll just post bunch of photos of the kiddos..

Samu and Elle at Kubota Garden

Samu was trying to lift the whole stroller..

“EWWWWW” Elle got dirt on her hand..

Gas Works Park!

Elle is a little princess… she thinks grass = ick.

“Go there” at Alki Beach

Eating carrot sticks

Top Pot doughnut, as big as her head

Samu and Amah at Olympic Sculpture Park

Strolling

The food in Jakarta is still as good as I remember. I got to meet old friends, even new friends. The kids were happy and they didn’t get sick as often as my acquaintance predicted. Samu ate street food without getting diarrhea, but unfortunately, he got it from eating Fiesta Steak at the mall.. haha. Samu loves my friends! And he loves how we have lots of relatives here. My friends were pampering him with attention. Oh how he LOVES attention 😛

Highschool friends

Daras

Another good news, I’m going to attend culinary school for the Spring quarter! Really excited. Finally, one step closer to my achievement. And we’re moving to Capitol Hill (from Magnolia) in April, so Sam can save money on gas. He could’ve taken the bus to work from Magnolia, but the bus only comes every hour. Sometimes it comes 30 mins late. So annoying for someone like Sam who likes to be punctual. Also, Capitol Hill is only 10 mins walk away from the culinary school. Instead of the pricey private culinary school, I opted for the community college one. Way more affordable, but it has better curriculum. Now, we just have to figure out the childcare situation and we only have one month!!!!! We can’t quite afford childcare, so I tried to go through the childcare voucher from the community college I’m attending but haven’t heard again from them. I hate this waiting game….

Elle, Samu, my grandma, my 16yo bro and I

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And if my brother does get married next year, we might go back again. Hoping that he will so we’ll have an excuse to visit Indo 😀

It’s been awhile since I last posted anything here. Just that life gets in the way and I was somewhat too depressed. There are lots of changes, both positive and negative. We visited Jakarta last November (Sam stayed for 3 weeks while the kids and I stayed til February 2nd 2012). ‘Twas long due. I hadn’t gone back for 7-8 years, and my parents (especially my dad) had missed me terribly.

Family picture, L-R: sister, aunt, grandma, mom, brothers, and I.

Elle and Hans

We arrived November 4th, and everything was awesome. My parents got to play with the kids. Especially my dad, since it was his first time meeting both of his grandkids. We went to Taman Safari, Bandung, malls, we even celebrated my grandma’s birthday by having a seafood feast at Muara Baru (all planned by my dad). But then, on November 20th, just few days before Sam was due to go back to Seattle, my dad had a stroke. He couldn’t talk, kept on vomiting, but he refused to be taken to ER. We had no choice but to drag him into the car, and off to ER we went. To make long story short, he was in the hospital for 16 days, before he passed away. He was in ICU for the most part. And to be honest with you, I thought he would got out of hospital, spic and span. Did I mention, health system in Indonesia sucks big time? I had few heated arguments with the doctor there, apparently, they don’t give a flying fuck no matter how sick you are, unless you pay down payment for the bill.

Goodbye, Pa.

Samu, resting at the funeral house. It's good to be a kid.

Regrets hit me so hard. I should have come home more often (even though technically, I couldn’t). I could’ve been a better daughter. I could’ve taken more pics of us together, as a family (which was hard, remembering that my parents were pretty much estranged from each other). See, the thing is, my dad had a history of lying and exaggerating about his health problem. We thought it was one of his antics. I still feel so guilty about it. He was so broken on the inside, even the Indo doctor couldn’t fix him (well, I believe if we were in the States, the help he needed would’ve come a bit faster, perhaps could even save his life). He had diabetes, lung problems (thank you ciggies), high-blood pressure, kidney problems, the list goes on.

Timezone?

Everyone says I look like my dad..

My dad wasn’t a good husband to my mom, or even a good father to us. But one thing that he was, he was a supportive dad. While my mom is a bit debby downer, my dad was the opposite. He thought we, his kids, can do whatever we aspire to do. He was so giddy when I told him I’m going back to culinary school. Heck, he was the one man responsible of my mad passion for anything culinary. Three things he handed down to me, his insatiable need to flourish, his taste-bud and his ability to curse like a drunken sailor. 95% of the time, when I taste or eat something new, I immediately think “Dad should taste this!” It’s been 3 months since his death, and I still do that.

Yep, he was always fixing his hair.. haha

I’m so happy that he got to spend quality times with my kids. Funny, because my dad wasn’t a kid-loving person (except his own, of course). But he was so IN LOVE! with his grandchildren. Samu was so sad. Samu can’t comprehend the fact that when someone died, they’re not coming back. But somehow, he understand bits and pieces. He told me that Agong is in heaven, in Jesus’ Island. But he (Samu) wants Agong back! “Why can’t Ie-ie Rika (my sister) pick up Agong with the car?! I want him back!” We all cried. Even to this day, Samu still occasionally asks me about my dad. “Mommy, is Agong your dad? Can you make him come back?” GAH!

He might be gone physically, but he will always be here, in our heart.

As excited as I am to go back to culinary school, I’m stressed out. We’re not financially well off enough to afford childcare but we’re not poor enough to get subsidized childcare. I really don’t know what to do anymore. I already enroll in school, but haven’t registered for any classes yet. We’re trying to figure out what to do. We’ve postponed going to Indonesia, since our priorities have changed. I have so many people mocking me, saying that I’m stupid for going back to school. It’s my passion, and no one can stop me (ironically, our financial condition is stopping me right now haha). These people who are supposed to be my relatives, they don’t know how hard it is to pay for their own schooling. Sam and I, we both are responsible for our tuition. We’re not trustfund babies. I mean, good that some people have their parents pay for their schooling. But really, they don’t have to rub it in and mock me for it.

And Samu has been so.. difficult lately. He’s a real smart boy, and he craves for social interactions with other people. With no kids his age to play with, he’s becoming so moody and sensitive. We’re looking for a preschool near our house, hopefully we’re in luck. 🙂 And I really think with me going back to school, I’ll be a better mom for it. I mean, when I’m unhappy, my kids can feel it and it effects their mood too. I didn’t realize this until Sam mentioned it to me. Some moms feel content and happy by being SAHMs, but I don’t. To each of their own, I say. I don’t judge them for liking what they do, they shouldn’t judge me for wanting to go back to school and be a chef.

Just a rant… sometimes I think I’m depressed.

As much as I used to like going to malls back in Jakarta (duh, there was no other entertainment), I hate hate hate hate going to the mall over here. I find it boring, and mind numbing. Most people are like zombies there, not paying attention to the surroundings except the designated stores (I wonder if they have GPS in their head, “after 2 stores, turn left, don’t pay attention to others, just bump into them”). I mean, I know that kids are short, sometimes not within your peripheral but come on.. pay attention to where you’re going, mall-goers! Hehehe even I, who’s huge, still get bump into. Imagine being Samu…. Once, a lady was too busy talking on her cell while heading towards Victoria’s Secret bumped into Samu & didn’t even acknowledge it, let alone apologize. Samu told her “WATCH OUT! No talking on the phone while walking!” She looked pretty embarrassed, hopefully that taught her something. 😀 So whenever we go to the mall, it’s only because we need to buy clothes (most of the time we buy clothes at Target… less people) or we’ll just end up in the bookstores. ps: Sam loves mall more than I do…

Wayang, Burke Museum

Anyway, since we don’t like malls all that much, on weekends we struggle to decide where we should go. When the weather is warm, we always choose to go outdoors. The problem is, Seattle is almost always cold (but the good thing is, we don’t have scorching hot summer, just perfect). And I guess, cheap entertainment for us is to go to museums. We visited Burke Museum in UW 2 weeks ago. They have copious collection of cultural tidbits. There was this one Korean wedding scene, complete with the mannequins (it was kinda creepy), and the next night I had a dream about Lia & Ncel. Hahaha. And upstairs, they have fossils, dinosaurs, and the likes. We actually enjoy the natural history more than the cultural history, although the latter is pretty interesting too.

"Tap dancing", Burke Museum

Last week we went to Seattle Aquarium, again. We went there last year for Samu’s birthday and had a wonderful time. Last year he was too scared to touch the starfish, this year he would not leave them alone… haha. While Samu loves the starfish, my favorite animal there would be sea otters! They’re like water dog (in Sam’s words, not mine).

Chunky sea lion..

View from Seattle Aquarium

2 weirdos I love the most

January 2010, exact same spot as the above

Then on Sunday, we went to my friend’s niece’s birthday party in Bellevue. For the gift, we made her a birthday cake. It was a simple ice cream cake and she loves it! Nothing makes happier, seeing that little girl’s excited face when she sees her cake. It was ice cream cake with whipped cream. Samu had a blast too playing with other kids. The funny thing is, Samu was too friendly. Whenever the door bell rang, he ran to the door to greet people. My friend joked that he should be the door greeter 😀 I told her “Samu udah kaya di rumah sendiri aja…” HAHAHAHA. He’s really friendly with other kids too, but the older kids were busy on their Nintendo DS, so Samu played with smaller kids. As rough and rowdy as he is, he’s always gentle to others. Ah my little boy… Upon finding out the fact that Eloise is only 4 months old, my friend’s sister’s friends were surprised because Eloise’s neck is pretty strong for a 4-month-old. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought babies have strong neck around 3 months old? I remember Samu had strong, stable neck at 3 months old, too. They all thought Eloise was 6 months (uh, if she was, she’s a tiny 6-month-old then.. hahaha).

Group shot

Pinata

Birthday cake for the Birthday Girl

It was a great week overall, and tonight we’re signing the lease for the Magnolia apartment! YAY! Finally we get to say adios to stupid loud neighbors from no. 3. Last week they had a huge fight, screaming contest and constant door slamming. Samu got so freaked out & Elle kept waking up during her day naps. Some people…

Looking back to 2 years ago, we’re so grateful that now life has gotten better. 2 years ago, visiting Indonesia was financially impossible. Having 2nd child was impossible. Almost everything was impossible. But with prayers, persistence and thick skin, we get through it. It also shows who are my real friends & family. Some friends/family were lost, some were gained. So thankful for the friends I’ve made through this blog & friends in real life who are supportive when my relatives are not.

Greatest gift in 2010

PS: I’m going back to culinary school next year! Wish me luck!

I still can't believe she's my baby! So cute!

So I got this from Livia. What are you supposed to do again? Oh okay, hehehe just checked her blog again to make sure.

1. I’m obsessed with grammar. I think everyone know this by now…. Anything linguistic. I try so hard not to correct people’s grammar all the time, so far so good. 🙂

2. I’m also obsessed with cooking. I talk about it, think about it, dream about it, plan my menu 1 week ahead. Sometimes I even “rehearse” cooking in my head. I’m planning to attend culinary school next year. Cannot wait for it! Super excited!!!!!!!!!!!! And I want to work for Thomas Keller. I was a graphic design student before, but after 1 year in college, I figured out what my true passion is.

3. I read excessively. Sam would complain about me having 4-5 books laying around at all time. That was why he got me Kindle (but I still have books laying around. Sorry Sam… love you hehe). And my most favorite genre is food lit. And right now I want this so bad. But that might put us in the poorhouse. My guilty pleasure is reading John Grisham and Jane Austen books over and over again. That was also why my eyes aren’t in their best conditions…

4. My 2 worst behaviors I couldn’t shake off: biting my nails and playing with my hair when I’m sleepy.

5. I played classical guitar and organ for 12 years. Also love Beatles, Tears for Fears, Queen, Fatboy Slim and Eric Clapton. I remember Nia gave me Fatboy Slim’s cassette on my 13th birthday. 😀 Again,she is my oldest bestest friend ever. We’ve known each other since kindergarten. She’s the epitome of friend. Fundamental to my childhood years. Lap you Niaaaaa.

6. I like older men. Al Pacino, Thomas Jane, Eric Ripert, the guy from Highlander. Sam. 😀

7. I love watching sci-fi………………….. and comedies.

Last weekend Sam had a long weekend (thank you President’s Day) and we decided to go to EMP. My friend told me it was boring and Samu wouldn’t like it but surprisingly, Samu, the music-geek LOVED it. He especially loved the tower of guitars, guitar gallery and sound lab. Sam didn’t care much about the music stuff but he was ecstatic to see the Battlestar Galactica exhibit. One day, I need to take my dad here. He’s an avid musician (can play all instruments) and he’s the one who taught me to love music.

Elle was sleeping most of the time we were there, I was wearing her lol. She woke up the moment we got to the car. Not much to say, so just let the photos do the talking. PS: flash isn’t allowed, hence the low quality pics. But I saw LOTS of people used flash. Oh well, I’m not going to.. haha