Budaya Membaca

Waktu awal-awal datang ke Boston, Aghnan sempat join salah satu program di community center Newton yang judulnya Raising a Reader. Ini program bagus banget. Terutama di dedikasikan ke keluarga keluarga billingual yang punya anak kecil. Kita bertemu tiap seminggu sekali, dan ada program story telling. Abis story telling masing-masing anak dikasih pinjam buku cerita untuk dibaca dirumah, dan dikembalikan minggu depannya. Setiap buku diputar sehingga semua anak yang ikutan program itu bisa baca semua bukunya. Sayang, Aghnan belum terbiasa dengan konsep story telling. Jadi duduk manis dengerin cerita itu dia belum bisa waktu itu. Tiap gurunya mulai cerita langsung dikomentarin macem-macem atau ya dia muter-muter. Susah banget bikin dia bisa duduk manis dan fokus dengerin cerita.

Salah gw juga sih pastinya sebagai orang tua dia, apalagi membiasakan Aghnan kenal dengan iPad dan TV. Walau dari situ Aghnan jadi cepat kenal Alfabet, Angka dan nyanyi-nyanyian. Tapi tetap, untuk fokus diam dan mendengar itu susah banget nget nget nget. Terutama mengenalkan konsep kalau kita harus lebih banyak mendengar daripada berbicara 😆 . Keliatan sih waktu kita ikutan survey perkembangan anak dari Community Center (dari state of Massachussets). Semua aspek Aghnan excellent (especially communication mangkenya itu bawelnya poll) kecuali soft skills (kayak mewarnai, masukin bola ke benang) dan social skills (kayak sharing mainan dsb) yang katanya sudah bagus tapi harus ditingkatkan lagi. Tips nya sih lucu, coba dibiasain baca buku cerita sebelum tidur. Dan buku cerita nya ya buku-buku cerita yang ada pesan moral nya (kayak fairy tales gitu bukan yang sekedar ada gambar-gambar saja). Yang mana dari situ Aghnan membiasakan untuk fokus dan mendengarkan. Dan dapat memetik moral story yang bisa dipraktekan untuk meningkatkan social skills nya dia.
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Bertiga

Siapa sangka hidup bertigaan aja di apartemen mini ini bisa bikin kita ngelihat hidup di sisi yang berbeda. Dari cara pandang kita tentang berkeluarga, mendidik Aghnan, pendidikan Aghnan, kualitas hidup berkeluarga and so on and so on. Yang dulu jadi prioritas sekarang jadi bergeser dengan prioritas yang lebih besar. Yang dulu dianggap remeh sekarang jadi yang paling dipikirin. And so on and so on.

Dulu sempet takut hidup bertigaan aja di negeri orang. Apa-apa sendirian. Dan karena gak terbiasa di Jakarta dengan apa-apa sendirian takutnya hal yang sepele bisa jadi pemicu perang dunia rumah tangga. Apalagi sempet ada cerita beberapa perceraian terjadi setelah mereka tinggal sendiri di luar negeri. Tapi alhamdulillah pengalaman ini membawa keluarga kecil aku ke arah sebaliknya. Makin banyak belajar jadi orang tua. Makin banyak belajar jadi suami istri. And I can say that I love love love my husband even more. And as a partner in life we’re getting solid and solid.
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Boston Children’s Museum

Finally, a date with Aghnan at Boston Children’s Museum!! 🙂 I’ve heard wonderful things about this place from our (former) neighbor and I was dying to take Aghnan there. Unfortunately, until yesterday I haven’t found the right time to take Aghnan there. Since Ayah needed to go to New York yesterday, it’s only Aghnan and I that finally went there. We took the train to go to the museum. We stopped by at Park Street from Green Line, changed to Red Line and then aligned to South Station. The museum is located near the Financial District and adjacent to the Boston Tea Party Museum. It’s bright and sunny day with weather reached 31 degrees Celsius. Oh well, sooner than I expected, welcome summer in Boston!

The admission fee is 14 USD for adult and 1-15 years old children. It is not exactly cheap but if we come on Friday 5 pm – 9 pm the admission is only 1 USD.  Maybe we can try to go on Friday evening next time. We arrived around 11 am and not exactly lunch time, but I decided to give him lunch before we hooked up to the museum. Of course it didn’t go pretty well. Aghnan made this sour face while he munched his food. He said several times that he wanted to go home until reaching annoying stage 😆 it’s changed to opposite direction when we finally go inside the museum. The museum has three floors for visitors and we started from the first floor.

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Bridal Shop

After exams I just realized that in a month all of our friends who took MA program will go back to their homeland, especially Nihan who (actually) has already flew back to Turkey last Wednesday. Although I’ve known them for only 9 months, we grow close to each other.

My dear friend Nihan is getting married next September and we’re really excited for her. Since she hasn’t thought about her wedding dress, we thought it would be fun to do Bridal Shopping in here. She called several bridal boutiques here in Boston and got appointment at Vera Wang Boutique and L’elite. You could tell that even I was beyond excited 🙂

We gathered very early in the morning to have breakfast at Met Bar. After that, we went to Vera Wang Boutique which is also in Newbury area. I love love Vera Wang. Her clean — yet versatile — style always wow me. My latest favorite wedding gowns are also actually Vera Wang’s collection. Take a look at Chelsea Clinton’s and Ivanka Trump’s wedding dress here. Lovely, eh?
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Union Oyster House, Green Walk and The Rest of North End

Memorial day this weekend, in combination with nice weather will only mean one thing. Bostonian will go out to enjoy the city. I always explore North End (one of the most iconic part of the city) with the girls, now it’s time to explore it with Ayah and Aghnan 🙂 Since I have this crave for seafood and I haven’t got the chance to eat the symbol of Boston (Lobster), I guess it will be nice to try something new. My first is Union Oyster House. One of the oldest tavern in America. This restaurant is really iconic, it is even part of the famous Freedom Trail. It is also tourist’s main attraction, so if you want to secure your seat in the restaurant it is better to reserve it first.

We went there for lunch and I’m glad I made reservation. Because even for lunch time people lining up to get seated. They still maintain their old style interior which is very New England in the 19th century 🙂 We seated on a booth near the Lobster aquarium 😆 . We decided to ordered Boiled Lobster with Coleslaw and French Fries, also Shrimp Scallop with rice and tomatoes. It is our first experience to eat Lobster and we were so excited 🙂 While we were waiting for the food they served us Corn Bread with Butter which is very very delicious. 🙂
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