Holy Month of Ramadhan 1434 H/ 2013 M



breaking the fast

 For me, today is the 27th day of Ramadhan. Eventhough this holy month is not ended yet, but somehow I feel like sharing my experience for Ramadhan this year;

1. Ensuring myself to complete the target: finished (khatam) reading 30 chapters (juz) of Holy Qur’an
    I actually have created a personal target of completing reading holy Qur’an since the last three or four years ago. I remembered that I struggled to complete the target last year, but thank God, it feels so much easier this year. Alhamdulillah, up until today, I’ve completed reading the 29th chapter, yet there are still 2 or 3 days left. I guess this means that next year target should be more than this year. We’ll see. InsyaAllah

2. No break-fasting at mall
     Another new thing that I do for Ramadhan this year is not taking my family for break- fasting at mall.  Why,..??? because I don’t see any good from that. Instead, I learnt from last year experience that there are some problems when we break our fast at a mall. These are the problem:
     - The food is not taste so good – as always, street foods are the best. Best meals at malls is the fast food, since the taste is the same everywhere you go, but then again, fast foods kills 
     - The musholla or mosque usually is too small – even though some malls nowadays already have a spacious, air conditioned, and cleaned musholla, unfortunately most of the malls only have a small place on the corner for praying. You can imagine lots of people queuing for the Maghrib prayer.
     - Place your orders early – you need to come early, sometime around 3 o’clock pm to ensure you have decent a seat, place your orders early to avoid the long queue and ends up eating a cold meal when the maghrib time comes

3. No new clothes
     Alhamdulillah, me and my family is lucky that we can buy new clothes anytime we need one. But yes, there are some families that can only afford to buy new clothes once a year. And Eid Fitr is the perfect day for this special event, especially for children. But then again, the essence and true meaning is not the new clothes, it’s about how you improve yourself and be a better person after Ramadhan.

4. Teaching my son on fasting
     This year is the first time my son learns to fast. Well, it’s about time actually, since he is almost 7 years old. Again, Alhamdulillah, the process is a smooth and an easy one. Up until today, he never skips a day for fasting, even though it’s only a half day fasting. Well done boy,,,lets improve next year. PS: he still can’t make up his mind for the prize; is it a hotwheel track pack or a brand new original Optimus Prime .

First Day at Elementary School

There was something different this morning at home. Yes, since today is the 1st day of elementary school for my son, all the morning routines were different; especially the uniform. Starting from today, he wears the historic red and white uniform.

Even though he has spent the last 3 years at learning at playgroup and kindergarten, I kind a have feeling, today is the real milestone of education world for my son.

Good luck my dear, be good with your new friends and teachers at school.

This is some picture of him wearing the new uniform.

#PuasaSD

www.twitter.com/cholil
Berikut ini beberapa kenangan melaksanakan puasa pas jaman SD yg saya tweet.

1. Nah, jaman dulu imbalan puasa itu ya cuman atu, baju baru pas lebaran,,,#puasaSD
2. Rasanya kagak pernah dah ampe bo'ong atau ngumpet2 makan minum tapi ngakunya masih puasa #puasaSD
3. Menu buka puasa favorit yaitu roti tawar yang di celupin ke sirop fadjar #puasaSD
4. Rasanya baru beneran puasa sampe poll sebulan dr imsyak ampe magrib pas kelas 6 #puasaSD
5. Kalao taraweh paling semangat di barisan belakang,,,kerjaannya becanda doang #puasaSD
6. Kalau udah agak siangan dikit, spy gak terasa haus, agenda berikutnya adalah berendem di kali #puasaSD
7. Kalo abis sahur, langsung nenteng kaen sarung buat shubuh berjamaah di masjid, agenda abis itu: perang petasan janwe #puasaSD

those days are the best days

My Social Life on the Internet

By reading the title I wrote above, I hope that I’ve already made myself clear that I will not wrote some technical technological essay on facebook or twitter; or even how it has changed everyone life for the last 5 (five) years or so. Well, of course I am not a competent person to write such articles, so I would not dare to do so.
Before we continue, I’d like to say that I have an account here at blogspot, Facebook, twitter, linkedIn. I also have account on MySpace, Friendster and Multiply but I don’t use them very much lately.
Since I am not a person who is actively post status update on facebook or tweeting on twitter, I consider myself as someone who received the privilege of having the ability to observe everyone using my laptop or smart phone. I didn’t have to ask for them to share their updates, but it’s all there for me to see.
I am more comfortable to share my ideas and opinions via this blog where I’ve become member since February 2004.

Joining a Religious Discussion Group
Around 2 (two) or 3 (three) months ago, I received a notification of my facebook account that I have become a member of a group called IQRO (an Arabic word that means Read). I usually ignore or even remove myself from the group. I was lucky that I didn’t remove myself from the group since I start to notice that this is a very active group. There are many issues, topics discussion shared within the group. The group has become one of my learning sites and has brought me so many new knowledge and ideas. The beauty of this is that it’s all there right at your fingertips. I didn’t really care who the members of this group are, from what organization they came from, are they all someone who teach religion on daily activities (ustadz) or even whether they used real name or not. Still, all the discussion has become a valuable reading resource for me. I guess I owe Mr. Anzya thanks for inviting me to this group

Having some Young and Junior Friends
Its true when someone says that young person learn better and faster than older one. Almost all of my niece and nephew had their own account on Facebook or Twitter, while their father and mother had not. Some of them even have more than one account….gosh,,,,.@#$*

As a person who like to observe, its quite interesting and (most of the time) funny watch them using the media. Reading status or tweets around issues like; frustration when doing homework, getting into a dispute with fellow classmates, or even stating that they are huge fan of a boy band. Yes,,,if you already figure out what the band is, it’s the band where most of the member can’t even sing at all.

This entire social media trend that many experts predict would not last has not happened. Nobody actually knows when this phenomenon will end, or even grow to a bigger scale. Not only that big player have their own kind (ex. Google with Google+), but also due to the significant growth of smart phone that made access is very easy; it is very possible that social media technology will still be around for many years to come.

So expect the best (or worse) of it.



Baru lulus SMA

 Dear Readers,


Jaman SD



today I feel like sharing my pictures so that you can tell how I look like from time to time

 

Trip to Wonogiri



This article will tell you about our trip to Giriwoyo Baturetno Wonogiri, my wife’s birthplace, a city located on Central Java Indonesia. I heard so many great stories from my wife about this place.

Day 1-May 14th, 2011

We leave from Surabaya at 6 am passing Mojokerto, Jombang, Nganjuk, Madiun and Ponorogo. After leaving Ponorogo, I experienced an interesting route to Purwantoro where we passed mountainous area with its curvy and climbing roads. We reached Batu at around 1.30 pm and decided to have some lunch and continue the trip to Giriwoyo Market. The market is so traditional where most of the store is already closed even though its still 3 pm; but fortunately we still had a chance to enjoy the famous Tongseng and get some supplies for our stay. My wife’s uncle waited for us in the market as requested since my wife can’t remember exactly how to get to the home where she was born. Road condition after the market is somehow not very surprising; considering it’s not a very modern place, we have to pass rocky and small roads. We were lucky rain didn’t fall that morning, as the road will get wet and slippery. After approximately 30 minutes of slow and careful driving, we arrived safely. The place is a big traditional house which is occupied by my wife’s grandmother, uncle and his family consists of two young girls. When we got there, I feel so amazed by the simplicity and beauty that is offered by this place. Green paddy fields, small rivers and friendly faces are something that we found along the way. We spend the night chatting and had an early sleep.

Day 2-May 15th, 2011
On a second day, the agenda is to visit some relative that is still live on the area. Don’t imagine that we can ride a car or even a bike to get there; the place can only be reached on foot. It took us around 3-4 hours juts to visit 3 different house,,,fyuuh… . After the visit and lunch, now its time for us to enjoy our self. We went to see paddy field, the river and peanut yard. We had a great time enjoying cold breeze and fresh coconut water fresh from the tree using paddy as a straw.

Day 3-May 16th, 2011
I decided that we have to go back to Surabaya that day. In the morning, we still had a chance to visit a traditional market that opens only on specific days of the week according to Javanese Calendar Days. The market inhabits a small area (approximately 50 square meters) and it’s a place where we can buy vegetables, fruits, etc. The market starts at 6 am and ends at 9 am. Finish visiting the market; we prepare our self for the journey back to Surabaya. We leave Wonogiri at 10 am and arrived at Surabaya on 9 pm.



Tampilan rumah





Minum kelapa muda





Tampilan Rumah




foto ditengah sawah



Short Trip to Pasir Putih Beach - Situbondo

24-25 Desember 2010

During Christmas long weekend we actually already have plan to visit Mount Bromo, but due to recent condition of Bromo, we decided to look for other safe place to visit. Having asked for recommendation from some friends, we decided to go to Pasir Putih Beach located at Situbondo-East Java.
Since my father and mother in law are visiting the city, it’s also a good chance for them to spend quality time with Habibi.
We departed from Surabaya on Friday Dec 24th at around 10 am, and come across traffic at Jl. Raya Porong for around one hour. After finally manage to pass Porong and Gempol, the traffic was normal. We stopped by for having lunch and pray at Rumah Makan (Restaurant) Tengger located just beside the main road on Pasuruan. The place offers great Indonesian meal and relaxing place, but unfortunately the price was a bit expensive. All four of us spent around Rp 180.000 for lunch by having roasted chicken, lalapan, and tea.

Mount Bromo Volcanic Ash – Probolinggo
Trying to forget the price of the lunch, we continue the journey. Creepy thing happened when we passed Probolinggo. We actually already knew that volcanic ashes from Mount Bromo are spreading to some areas, but we didn’t know how bad it was before we experienced it ourselves. I was surprised with the drastic changes outside the car. Bright sunny day suddenly replaced by a dark-evening-like atmosphere with limited vision (approx. 10 meters only). All people there wore masks; trees and roofs are covered by dark ash from the mountain. I had to pull over for a while to wait for another car to pass, since actually canceling the trip has come across my mind that time considering the safety of my family.
We continued the journey after realizing that many cars are continuing the trip, and gradually the surrounding is getting brighter as we move further from Probolinggo. After a quick stop at PLTU Paiton we finally arrived at Pasir Putih Beach Area before nightfall.

Enjoying Pasir Putih Beach
After visiting some venues to spend a night, we decided to stay at Hotel SidoMuncul, a nice hotel that offers various types of room with reasonable price. The price range started from Rp 590.000 for the suites to a simple room with no air conditioner for Rp 80.000.
Since we’ve missed the sunset, we only spend the night enjoying the air of the beach and having Bakso for dinner.
On the next day, all of us went to enjoy the beach. The silky-sand and clear water beach with friendly wave is a perfect place for healing my son beach-phobia. After a while he was able to enjoy the beach and accompany me in finding small beach creatures. We also got the chance to go to an interesting spot of beautiful coral reefs using a local boat that cost only Rp 50.000.

Journey Back to Surabaya
After enjoying the beach, we headed back to Surabaya on midday. The story on the way back is far better, since the volcanic ash is not as bad as previous day and on the way back, we found a great Padang restaurant; RM Padang Siang Malam. The trip back is faster since there’s no traffic and we all arrive safely back to Surabaya before 5 in the afternoon.

Alhamdulillah