Birthing

Now, you know.. Uterus & vagina are amazingly powerful. SOURCE: Bamberg C, Rademacher G, Güttler F, et al. Human birth observed in real-time open magnetic resonance imaging. Am J Obstet Gynecol 2012;206:505.e1-6.

Cinématique

I saw this last week, and it was one of the best shows I've seen this year. Really love the performance, the music, the video. The playfulness of the whole package.   I dont know about you, but when I was a kid I used to have such imagination and started jumping and running around like the dancers :D

For more information on the duo please visit their site

On Commitment

One of the first questions when you meet Indonesians is are you married. That's how committed Indonesians are to family and married lives.

As a single female in Indonesia, it is a given part of life to be harass by people about getting hitched and produce babies, lots of babies, as soon as possible. Because, the clock is ticking... rapidly in my case. It's like you are only half a human if you are unable to accomplished those feats. 

On the other hand, I kept reading and meeting people, especially Westerners, who supposed to have commitment problem so severe that they've decided that they are not the marrying kind. What I dont understand about these type of folks is that they refused to get married but have no problem having not just a kid, but kids, with their partner.

Personally, having kids is a much bigger commitment than just marrying some guy. With no kids involved, if things didnt work out with the guy it's easy to get a divorce/separation, but not when kids are involved. Having kids means putting (a) person(s) in this crazy, full of suffering, yet enchanting world, which also means you are committed to that new person and also to the former partner to bring the kid up the best you can. Having both parents involve helps.

So why people are scared of getting married but not scared of having kids? Is it because that piece of paper that makes things finalized?

Orang Pinggiran - People on the Outskirt

By accident I saw an episode of this program on telly about a 9 year old kid named Herman who lives with his grandmother as his mom left him and both of his father and grandfather are already passed away. He only managed to go to school for two years due to financial hardship.

By financial hardship I mean he has to work to help his grandmother collecting pine tree chips that he sold for IDR 2000 a sack of 5 kilo. His grandmother only earn about IDR 3000 a day. They still have a bamboo house which was renovated a while back with the help of his neighbors. The boy was very small for his age due to malnutrition but he was tenacious, willing to work, and eager to go back to school.

Mom was very distraught upon seeing the program and wanted to take him into our home so that he could go to school. I was more concern that we are not separating the duo.

We tried calling the number shown in the end of the program but no body picked up the phone. That was almost two weeks ago. Tonight by accident I found a contact person for him on Facebook. I called her up, and was told that an orphanage in Slawi is taking him and his grandmother in and already register him for the next school year. They are ready to move to Slawi any day now.

Somehow when I heard that news, my gut feeling is telling me to keep in touch with the contact person to monitor. I hope I'll be proven wrong and Herman & his grandmother will be alright in the new place.