Mother's day My day

My favourite day is mother day.
Last May I got these two sweet cards from Elkana and Farhan.
And a bunch of flowers! from... Amir!
I love flowers! I mean,
I love you guys...

Elka's 8th Birthday

Moreland Primary School, Melbourne, 22 July 2007.

My family working in computer

My name is farhan. I have three computers. My brother is playing in one computer. My dad is working in one computer too. I am working in my mum’s computer. My dad is making a computer for me.

Respecting Pinguins

During the Easter holiday, we went to Philip island. It takes around two hours from the city of Melbourne to Philip island. There is a 2 km brigde which connect Melbourne to philip island. The island is small and located southern part of Victoria. Philip island beaches are not so special for swimmers and surfers. Big waves rom the ocean have been impeded by Tasmania, left small waves to hit these beaches. At least it is very safe for children to play in the beaches.

Before we crossed the bridge to the Philip island, we went to a farm that breeds typical Australian animals: crocodiles, caccatoos, wombats, koalas, emus, sheeps, and, of course, kangaroos.

We and a wombat.

In the farm, kangaroos are the most favourite animals. Children loved to feed kangaroos. And they are friendly too. Other animals are quite friendly, but we could not stand with them. Emus and sheeps are smell bad; koalas sleep allmost 22 hours in a day on ecalypus trees. And no one wanted to be friend with crocodiles, for sure.

Farhan and giant koala. .. Feeding kanggurus.

We continued our journey to philip island. I almost got boring with the island until we saw pinguins. Yes! Philip island is famous with its pinguins. When it is dark, thousands of pinguins swim from the sea to philip island to stay a night. This tradition started from around thousand years ago and now becomes a one of favourite tourist attractions. For sure, you do not need to be freezing to see these Philip island's pinguins.

However, in this Philip island visitors are required to respect pinguins because this island is their home. As good visitors, we are required to be as quite as possible so these pinguins do not afraid. Visitors are not allowed to take pictures, not even to speak loadly. I did not imagine before, that around a thousand of visitors sit down on the sand, waiting quitely in the cold, sometimes in the rain, for about an hour, only to watch these small species of pinguins swim to the island in the dark.

Respecting pinguins is very special message to us. Many times we forget that animals are also God's creatures that have rights to live with their own ways. Human tends to torture, make use of, and exploit animals. Giving respects to pinguins -- for various reasons -- teach visitors about respecting other humans. If we can respects rights of animals, we must have respected rights of other humans.

Me and the Kangaroos

Story by Farhan, written by Mum

I went to the farm in Philip Island. I saw kangaroos. After that I got some grass to give the kangaroos. After I fed some more kangaroos. I got some grass. I came back to the kangaroo and I fed him. I saw a little kangaroo in the big kangaroo's pauch. I fed one more kangaroo and we went some where else. We went to the pinguins that time. We waited for the pinguins and it was cold.

Fara, the youngest member of Masduki family

Ini foto Fara, anaknya Om Erik dan tante Dewi. Lucu ya. Fara saat ini menjadi anggota termuda keluarga Masduki. Entah kalau nanti tante Wiwik punya anak atau om/tante serta bude/pakde yang lain punya momongan lagi. Once Elkana was asked by my friend whether he wanted to have baby boy or baby girl for his brother or sister. He told my friend that it was my parents' choice! What a good and right answer Elkana...

I was very happy with her born. She will tighten their parent's love which once did not get blessing from few members of family. No body and no family is perfect. I hope later little Fara can change these people's mind on how strong and blessed her parent's marriage and how the merciful God blessed them.

Love,
your tante

Elka - Farhan Kecil

Ngeliat foto elka dan farhan kecil rasanya waktu cepat sekali berlalu.
Elka dan Farhan kelihatan seperti sosok yang berbeda ketika kecil.

Di foto ini (dari kiri ke kanan) ada Galuh, Ucuy, Harun, Elka, Farhan dan Galih. Farhan agak gemuk dibanding Elka yang kurus.

Di foto ini ada Akung sedang duduk dan Ai berdiri disampingnya. Elka berdiri disamping Harun. Zahra dipangku Om Oce.

Farhan berbaju merah bersama Ucuy, Harun, Zahra, dan Galih.

Waktu berjalan cepat...

Lebaran-nya Indonesia

Shalat Ied di Sport Center Melbourne University

Pas lihat-lihat foto, terlihat ada foto-foto yang kami buat pada saat Lebaran tahun lalu (2006). Senang rasanya melihat foto-foto itu. Kami sekeluarga begitu ceria.

Lebaran sebenarnya momen lintas bangsa bagi umat Islam. Tapi memang realnya kami lebih senang untuk shalat dan berkumpul dengan 'mahluk' sejenis. Bukan apa-apa, selain khutbahnya tidak dalam bahasa yang aneh terdengar di telinga, makanannya juga pas dilidah. Bayangkan kalau kita ke Mesjid Turki atau Libanon. Mengantuk dan bosan, juga terasing rasanya. Selain masalah 'rasa' dan bahasa, alasan teknis lain juga ada. Hari lebaran komunitas ini belum tentu sama dengan lebarannya komunitas Indonesia.

Sama-sama di Melbourne, tapi pilihan lebarannya beda. Kalau masalah perbedaan ini berdasarkan perhitungan rasional kalender dan melihat bulan (hilal dan ru'yah), yah masuk akal deh. Tapi penentuan lebaran ini lebih banyak tidak rasional. How? Lha masing-masing komunitas pertama melihat lebaran yang dilaksanakan di negara asal masing-masing. Lalu penetapan lebaran ini mengobrak-abrik sistem kalender. Maksudnya penetapan itu lebih emosional karena sebenarnya bisa membuang sehari atau menambah sehari penanggalan hijriyah. Yang kelihatan jelas itu kalo lebaran haji. Orang ribut menetapkan 10 dzulhijjah. Lho, emang dengan gitu tanggal 1 dzulhijjahnya bisa dirubah? Selain itu, sebagian besar komunitas itu 'manut' pada lebarannya Saudi yang menurut para ulama Saudi sendiri jangan menuruti waktu Saudi. Karena perhitungan lebaran itu bersifat lokal, walaupun momennya internasional. Memang perbedaan itu rahmat. Tapi mengikuti secara buta ini something which is totally wrong.

BTW, jadi hampir lupa nih niat utamanya: upload foto!

Bersama Rifqi, anak yang tegar walaupun sedang jauh dari ayah (di Indonesia, belum bisa datang ke Ozy) dan ibu (conference somewhere in Australia) nya.

Kami sekeluarga berbatik ria. Batik hadiah dari Yang Uti akhirnya kesampaian juga dipake sama Elka dan Farhan. Bagus ya...

Akung and Uti

Akung & Uti with us at Melbourne city January 2006












Akung & Uti @ Yarra River Jan 2006

My Family

Melbourne, Dec 2005 Melbourne Museum, 2005

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