Bouwplank finally, but...

The journey in building our first home (as if there will be more) has been quite challenging indeed, financial aside.

First is taste. I like minimalist types, whereas Vivie enjoys resort-like Bali-influenced types (don't ask me why). I managed to convince her to go minimalist, with only our bathroom being resort-like. However, apparently minimalist costs more (so they are actually maximalist). Result: our design now is resort-like Bali-influenced.

Second is the land (kavling). We aimed one in real estate "G" in Limo, Cinere. The land certificate was still in process, and after 8 months it is still in process. So, we decided to cancel the deal and find another place. It was a good decision, because currently that real estate is still in problem.

Third is the architect, "FC". He's a close friend of mine from junior high (we biked together to swimming class); plus he was recommended by Vivie's friend (which is also my friend in senior high). Alas, the price was outrageous and he under-delivered big time. FC, if you read this you still owe me refund. Eventually we hired another architect to design our home. We lost a lot to this bloke FC, but as an excuse "Anggap aja amal" (just treat it as charity).

Forth is the land -- again. We found another spot, this time located in Gandul (still in Cinere). Apparently based on the land certificate, our next door neighbor hijacked 73 square meters of our land. I went from nice to annoyed to bad-ass to nice again with them. We even invited the authorities (BPN) to redetermine the borders. They don't accept it. Their eyes are blind and their ears are deaf to all the facts presented to them. Luckily we registered this to BPN, so it is noted in their files. Depending on my mood, I'll go to court or leave it to Allah. Actually, it should be the other way around (you should be able to guess my mood now).

Finally last Sunday, the contractor started to put in the bouwplank (Dutch term, go figure what it means). It didn't fit! It would have fitted if our &^$%&$^%#!+$%~$%! neighbour didn't hijack our land. Apparently our current architect and contractor measured the land wrongly. So, now we need to make some adjustment to the design and redo the bouwplank.

I should be praying more instead of pouring it all into this blog.

Nala's recent achievements

Vivie called me yesterday to inform that Nala has been included in the Indonesian Kumon book. This book lists high performing Kumon students by grade/age/school level, and she is in the top 1000 for TK A (lower kindergarden) students. She is ranked 500-ish. She was very excited about this as well, and did four Kumon tasks within a day.

After the call I thought how proud I am of her (needless to say her grandparents are even prouder), and remembered all her recent achievements:
- Made the Indonesia Kumon book for the first time
- Chosen to represent TK A to give the farewell speech to TK B graduation (she is the only one in her class that can read fluently)
- Won the singing competition in her school
- Played piano for the in-house concert at her music school (Sigma Musik)

She is very busy for her age (4 years): school, Kumon, reading course (completed several months ago actually), ngaji course (reading Quran), English at Kids to Success (currently on leave, gets private [free] lessons from me instead), piano (tought by Vivie's mother). Now she wants to learn to swim and do traditional dancing as well. Amazing!

She's smart like Vivie and me (hehehe...) and very hard working like Vivie. Luckily she's not lazy like I was (or still am???). Her achievements speaks for themselves.

Nala, I'm very proud of you.