Back in December, we decided to have a week-long trip to Indonesia, specifically to Jakarta and Purwokerto (my, hm, I want to say it as ‘hometown’, but it’s not exactly my hometown. I was born and raised in Cilacap, Central Java — and my parents moved to Purwokerto back in 2005 when my dad retired.)

It was interesting, mostly because our daily schedule has changed tremendously — me with having full-time work and now we need to plan everything ahead. Even back in November 2019, both my husband and I had to discuss our 2020 business trips and ensuring one of us are there to handle the house and the kids 😂

So we decided to go back to Indonesia on December 20. And as usual, there are not many pictures 😅 (serious question, folks, anyone has tips on how to take pictures during vacations? I found it’s hard for me because I usually forgot stuffs or not quick enough)

My father-in-law lent his car to us (“I didn’t use it that much anyway”) so on the next day after we arrived in Jakarta, we went to Purwokerto by car. We expected the traffic won’t be super bad, although there were lots of lorries and trucks carrying God-knows-what throughout the island’s northern route (this route is actually really popular among truck drivers because the roads are not as treacherous as its southern counterpart.)

It was pretty fun, mostly because the kids are such city kids through-and-through and KLites (😆) so they never actually saw trucks carrying living chickens or livestocks. When Ari pointed out, “Wira, look at the cattle on the truck!” Wira’s first retort was, “you are lying” then “WHOA!” We also pointed rice fields to them; “this is where your food came from” and they got so confused when they unable to see shallots when we passed shallot fields in Brebes, Central Java, because, “mum, those are grasses! Where are the shallots?”

A tip when traveling with kids: Prepare lots of food. A lot.

Rey is that kind of child, well, person, who got really really cranky when she got hungry or sleepy (Ari commented Rey is basically mini-me) and when she started to answer every single question with, “no,” it means she’s cranky and she needs food or sleep.

We stopped several times along the highway road to get some rest and meal. I personally quite glad to see the toilet cleanliness has improved a lot. I remember when I was still in school, toilet cleanliness was such a big topic at that time. Many people commented and protested about it. It sounded so trivial, but I’m glad we had that kind of talk because now we see so many improvements.

It has been a rainy journey too. I’m glad things went quite fine during the trip. It was quite a stark contrast with Kuala Lumpur as we greeted with warm days when we arrived.

Purwokerto, December 22 – 24

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We didn’t explore the town as much as we wanted because of some reasons. Mostly due to tiredness and the weather has been quite cloudy so we decided just to stay at my parents’ house. The kids had a blast harvesting mangoes from the front yard and Wira commented that now he knows how it feels to be Upin and Ipin when harvesting rambutan.

Jakarta, December 25 – 29

We met our good friends when we were in Jakarta. Our tremendous thanks to Alderina and Tommy for hosting us a dinner while we catch up and gossiping 😆

Jay and Dwi joined the merriment too, with Dwi’s lemon-curd soufflé (delicious!)

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And this is when the unexpected happened. We are expected to go back to Kuala Lumpur in December 27; until Wira started to vomit several times and we had to admit him to the nearest hospital.

The paediatrician informed us that Wira’s symptoms were bacterial infection on his tummy/gut. It’s actually one of the very common issues happened on children raised outside Jakarta — as ‘pretentious’ or ‘obnoxious’ it sounds. Ari conveyed his friends’ sympathies and well-wishes from his cycling group in WhatsApp, and one of them commented his child, too, got the same issue. “We live in Bali, and one time, we went to Jakarta for a vacation. My kid got the same infection like Wira’s.”

Now, we might wondering, how was Rey, then?

This girl gulped down two bottles of Yakult and in the middle of asking for the third when Ari told her no (and matched with Rey’s stubbornness and refusal of rejection with equal, “NO. REY WANTS.”) And it happened almost daily during our trip, so you can imagine what kind of gut Rey has on her tummy. I commented, “kuman aja sebel kali ya liat Rey” (“even the germs and bacteria would be annoyed with Rey and decided to leave”)

This case reminds me of a similar case happened during my teaching years. We had several Korea students for our exchange program back then, and one day, most of them got ill. My students commented that their Korean friends got ill due to salmonella infection. “Apparently it’s from the egg they consumed in the canteen, miss,” one of my students informed me.

Now, the uni canteen served hundreds of students every day, and only the Korean students that got ill while the Indonesian students looked really jovial as usual. Realizing they have different entire universe with galaxies and black holes on their tummy, my students tapped their tummy and commented proudly, “our stomach can digest many things.”

(I remember one time I had lunch with my students and one of them ordered this Himalayan amount of rice and, I kid you not, equally impressive amount of deep fried chicken skins. “Do you want some, kak?” I shook my head and smiled nervously with, “no, thank you,” as I could feel impending clogged arteries.)

Even though the infection was not super serious and recognized on its super early stage, both the paediatrician and us felt it would be better if Wira admitted to the hospital so we could keep a close watch on him while he’s recovering.

Thankfully, it was only for one night. Right afterward, the paediatrician gave green light to discharge Wira from the hospital and we can go home in December 29.

Moral of the story: Don’t forget to get your daily dose of probiotics ✨

Jadi gw lagi ngeliat Gallery di hape gw kan, terus gw baru ngeh kalo gw belum nulis soal mudik ke Indonesia akhir tahun lalu, hahaha. Ya sebenernya nggak banyak foto-fotonya juga sih (lah gimanaaa…) tapi daripada nggak nulis, yekaaan? Dan ini sepertinya pertanda nih kalo gw musti beli digital camera nih (Hafiz dan Fikri langsung sibuk nyetanin di grup Telegram).

Awalnya berangkat mudik ini rada ketar-ketir dan gw sibuk gangguin ngontak beberapa staf Automattic karena gw nungguin wawancara dengan HR. Gw panik sendiri mikirin hadu gimana nanti kalo HR ngontak pas gw di pesawat hadu gimana nanti kalo HR ngontak pas gw di Indonesia tapi gw belum bisa nyambung ke Internet dan hadu hadu lainnya. Tapi ya Alhamdulillah wawancara HR udah berjalan tanggal 18 Desember, jadi gw bisa mudik dengan pikiran sedikit lebih tenang, hehehe.

Omong-omong, sejak Wira mulai gede gini — gimana ya, mulai bocah gitu lho. Mulai yang ada mau dan banyak mau — tiap kali mudik itu macam ada dua tempat yang harus dan wajib dikunjungin: Bakmi GM dan Hoka-Hoka Bento. Padahal kalo makan di HokBen juga anaknya belum tentu bisa ngabisin seporsi menu kanak-kanak juga (itu nasinya buanyak lho!) Gw rasa sih karena dapet mainan makanya anaknya ngebujukin ke sono mulu.

Gw sama Ari akhirnya memutuskan untuk makan di Bakmi GM aja, hehehe.

Yang entah kenapa gw “sebel” dari Bakmi GM itu ya, kaya… Kok cepet abis sih ya rasanya? Bakmi GM itu kaya Indomie Goreng. Satu porsi ga cukup (itu gw yang rakus sih ya…) Makan Bakmi GM itu kaya tinggal kunyah kunyah kunyah glek blar abis.

Sehari sebelum kami mudik, gw dikontak sama Mandy untuk undangan ngumpul-ngumpul temen-temen.

“Tapi buat cewek-cewek doang,” katanya Mandy.

Jadi pas gw ngomong ke Ari, “eh, aku ketemuan sama temen-temen ya!” Ari udah semangat tuh awalnya. “Tapi kamu ga boleh ikut. Buat para cewek aja.” Langsung cemberut dia, hahaha. Gw juga cuma bawa Rey ke acaranya.

Jadi gw ketemuan sama Mandy, Leonnie, Nuke, Andien, Natalia, Ruby, Dwi, dan Alderina (Popon) di apartemennya Popon. Itu juga Tommy, suaminya Popon, udah di”tendang” ke luar rumah sama Popon. Maaf ya koh Tommy, hahaha. Ngumpul dalam rangka pesta Natal dan Tahun Baru.

Ketemu sama para perempuan-perempuan hebat ini selalu menyenangkan. Gw pribadi ngerasa beruntung banget bisa kenal sama mereka, karena mereka ini aspirasi gw — dan kalo becanda, pada ampas banget, hahaha.

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Di Purwokerto, Ari langsung heboh ngerakit sepedanya, hahaha. Dia emang bela-belain bawa sepeda dari Kuala Lumpur (dan dikasih tau sama temen di Jakarta kalo penerbangan menggunakan Garuda Indonesia ga dikasih biaya tambahan untuk oversized baggage kaya sepeda) untuk sepedaan sampe ke Baturaden.

Di Purwokerto kami ngapain? YA MAKAN LAH.

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Jadi di rumah gw di Purwokerto itu, di depan rumah ada warung nasi. Yang punya warung itu namanya mbak Mut. Mbak Mut ini pengasuh gw dari gw masih kecil banget. Ketika bokap gw pensiun, mbak Mut ini ditanya sama nyokap kan, rencananya mau gimana selepas bokap pensiun — yang artinya, orang tua gw ga bisa ngegaji mbak Mut dengan jumlah seperti biasanya. Mbak Mut ngomong kalo beliau ini masih ingin ikut orang tua gw. Nah, bokap jadi bantuin mbak Mut dari segi modal dan tempat untuk berjualan nasi. Lokasinya berdekatan banget dengan Universitas Wijayakusuma Purwokerto dan bokap juga ada usaha kos-kosan kan, jadi ya Alhamdulillah selalu ada pelanggan. TETANGGAAN DENGAN MAYANGSARI JUGA LHO.

Kalo kami mudik, nah ini lah favorit, hahaha. Ari sama anak-anak paling suka mampir ke warung mbak Mut buat beli Indomie rebus dan minum es jeruk. Gw sendiri suka ngeliat-liat dapur dan ngeliat gunungan sayuran atau bahan lauk untuk dimasak. Epik gitu keliatannya. Selama ini gw kalo masak ya bahan-bahannya kan ya emang segitu doang ya, namanya juga buat konsumsi pribadi. Nah, ini ngeliat dapurnya warung nasi, itu ya kagum banget gw.

Selama di Purwokerto, gw dan Ari tersadar kalo Purwokerto ini udah banyak banget berubah. Dulu Purwokerto ini kota kecil yang sangat tenang. Rame ketika akhir pekan dengan orang-orang dari Cilacap, yang rata-rata karyawan Pertamina, untuk berbelanja di Moro — saat itu, satu-satunya supermarket terbesar di area Banyumas. Bahkan bioskop cuma ada di Hotel Dynasty saat itu.

Ketika akses ke Purwokerto mulai sangat mudah, apalagi dengan pembangunan jalan tol di jalur Pantura dan akses kereta api yang lewat makin banyak, mulai banyak mobilitas penduduk. Makin banyak pendatang, makin banyak mahasiswa, makin banyak pula restoran dan kafe bermunculan. “Makin hits,” kata Ari, hahaha. Makin kebantu juga dengan media sosial kan, seperti ‘Makanan Wajib Selama di Purwokerto’, kaya gitu lah.

Makanya waktu kami ke Bakso Pekih, itu… ramenya… bukan main. Awalnya pas liat dari ujung gang, itu kaya, “oh, ga rame.” Masuk ke jalan Pekih, LAH ITU SEJAK KAPAN YA DIBUKA DUA LAHAN BUAT PARKIR DOANG? NAPA RAME BENER YA?

Gw tau kalo Hafiz bakal protes berat kalo dia baca ini, tapi sejauh ini bakso paling enak ya Bakso Pekih buat gw.

(Kebayang Hafiz ngomel dari Malang, “LU KE MALANG, SINI! GW TUNJUKIN LU KOTA PRODUSEN BAKSO PALING ENAK SEDUNIA!”)

(Eh, gw kangen bakwan Malang depan kampus masaaaa, hiks.)

Di Purwokerto, yang sangat hepi kami mudik ya siapa lagi kalo bukan orang tua gw, hahaha. Orang tua gw udah kangen banget sama cucu-cucunya — dan itu dimanfaatkan betul oleh anak-anak gw. Rasaan kalo gw negur Wira di rumah (Kuala Lumpur), anaknya ya diem sambil manut. Lah gw negur Wira di Purwokerto? Baru “Wira…” Anaknya udah cemberut dan air mata ngembeng APA-APAAN.

Kembali ke Jakarta, kami ga banyak kegiatan. Nginep di rumah tante lalu hari Sabtunya kembali ke Kuala Lumpur dengan tambahan berat badan gw naik 2 kilogram, hahaha.

Lain kali lebih banyak foto-fotonya deh ya, hahaha. Udah dipengaruhin Hafiz sama Fikri ini di grup Telegram buat beli kamera digital Fuji Film. Mari ceki-ceki katalog dulu, hahaha.