Kaleidoscope 2007

The year of 2007 started with Caca joining with kindergarten, and Chika at grade 1 primary school. Novy did some voluntary work at kinder and primary school. She enjoyed making "Indonesian batik" with Aussie kids at primary school. I was just wandering around the laboratory.

In March, I visited Indonesia to assist ACIAR’s PCR training at Jakarta. During this period, I managed to have a one day trip to Cirata Reservoir, a central production of common carp. My PhD research was virtually started here, when I managed to isolate a fresh Koi herpesvirus (KHV), a lethal virus causing mass mortality in koi and common carp in Indonesia and worldwide. As the Indonesian isolate of KHV proved to be virulence on Australian carp, the virus is also being used for CRC’s project on the use of KHV as a biological control agent for carp. A very interesting perspective: we're searching for a way to control KHV in order to increase the production of common carp in Indonesia, and our Aussie colleaques are looking for the possibility of using KHV to get rid from carp. Carp is considered as a pest in Australian water ways.

We closed this autumn season by climbing You Yangs Regional Park. It is only 325m above sea level, but she is the highest mountain/hills in Geelong. Having said that you can imagine how flat the region is. In the winter, we went up to Lake Mountain at Marysville. It is about 120 km east of Melbourne or three hours driven from Geelong. We passed through Yarra Valley National Park with its towering Mountain Ash and majestic Black Spur forest. Our final stop before the ski resort was Marysville, a four seasons alpine village where we can hire ski, toboggan, and other snow gears. Our kids enjoyed tobogganing and making snowman. A quiet winter holiday.

August was quite ‘an academic month’ for us. I attended an Applied Bioinformatics Course at the University of Melbourne to strengthen my knowledge on using IT to glean understanding of the molecular biology of my virus. I then went up to Brisbane to defend my research proposal and to complete my PhD candidature at the University of Queensland. I have also completed research question and comprehensive literature review, which will be the first chapter of my thesis. Last but not least, Caca started to be able to read fluently. Sunarto’s family is finally free from illiteracy. Well done, Caca!

September 17th will be a day to remember by Geelongers: our footy club won the premiership after 44 years of drought. We joint with the crowd at Skilled Stadium to watch the grand final via "monster screens" as Caca called it. The Cats beat Port Adelaide to won the premiership. Go Cats! As the weather got warmer, we started going out in the spring. We visited Werribee Open Ranger. Our kids love to see animals in the wild… hippo, camels, giraffes, but there was only one lion, and it was sleeping. The ranger is actually larger than Safari Garden in our hometown, Bogor, but the animals collection is less diverse I would said.

In October, it was the Idhul Fitri that we missed it very much. We miss our tradition of “takbiran” until the late of night in the mosque, then pray together in the next morning at the football field because our mosque could not accommodate the crowd. We also missed family, friends, and our traditional delicacies during this festive season. Another big miss was the 50 Years Wedding Anniversary of Novy’s parent. My student allowance doesn't allow us to go home, to joint with our family and friends to celebrate the golden marriage of our parents. Live long, Mum and Dad!

But ... Chika and Caca (CnC) always bring smile into our faces. They have started their social and academic life in Geelong. CnC had their first ballet concert at Geelong Performance Art. It was a beautiful performance in a perfect place. At school, Chika won the general excellence award, a kind of the best student in the class. Knowing that she didn’t speak English when she arrived in Australia 15 months ago, that’s quite an achievement. It is so sweat, sweatheart!

Happy Prosperous New Year 2008!
Agus, Novy, Chika & Caca

Kansha Sunarto

Caca. Dengan rambut sedikit brindil… mata tajam tapi berkesan sipit (seperti ayahanda), si kecil ini sekarang terdaftar di kindy. Caca, demikian kami biasa memanggilnya, sudah tidak sabar ingin segera merasakan preparation class at primary school. Sedikit manja karena merasa bungsu. Kalau tiba waktu makan, semua akan berteriak “cepetan Ca….” Dengan sengaja Caca akan makan dengan lambat dan berharap akan segera disuapi.

Gayanya penuh spontanitas, komentarnya segar dan kreatif. Itulah Caca kami yang selalu membuat orang serumah ingin tertawa. Ballerina & Violinist … itulah yang menjadi cita-citanya. “I don’t want to be a Vet like mum & dad, because I am scared with blood”. Seperti juga si sulung, membaca menjadi hobi yang mengasyikkan buat Caca. Belum juga mulai di prep class, Aussie nibble (buku cerita anak-anak Oz) telah dilahapnya dengan cepat. Caca…, kami juga sudah tak sabar melihatmu memakai seragam Newcomb Park Primary School.

Chika Sunarto

Chika. Gadis kecilku ini baru saja 7 tahun. Hitam manis dengan mata berbinar menunjukkan kecerdasannya. Sekarang ini sedang susah diatur dan sok tahunya itu lho yang selalu membuat aku gemas dan selalu timbul keributan kecil antara kami. Ingin selalu independence tetapi setiap kali habis mandi masih minta diolesin minyak telon atau lotion karena tangannya gak mau lengket (aku selalu melakukan dengan sedikit gemes , karena tubuhnya yang singset sejak kecil membuatku selalu ingin mencubitnya). Buku…buku…. dan buku…. Itulah yang selalu membuat matanya semakin berbinar setiap kami pergi ke perpustakan atau toko buku. "I want to be an Author". Itulah salah satu cita-citanya. Aku sebut salah satu karena selain menjadi penulis, Chika juga ingin menjadi Vet seperti ayah-bundanya. Selain itu Chika juga ingin bekerja di CSIRO, lembaga riset terbesar di Australia tempat ayahannda melakuan riset untuk meraih PhD-nya. Karena …"CSIRO has a big and tall tower, which I can see it from my school". Setiap kali dia menjawab itu, aku baru sadar dia memang gadis kecilku yang masih polos dan lucu, dan pasti aku segera mencubit atau mencium pipinya yang menul-menul. Chika adalah chika yang selalu menyukai tantangan baru dan selalu ingin menyeselesaikannnya sampai sempurna tetapi selalu lupa meletakkan topi di sekolah sampai Miss Ross dua kali menemukannya. Entah tertinggal di mana…. Sepatu ballet yang ternyata tinggal sebelah, pasangannya tertinggal entah dimana. "May be in the change room". Itulah jawabannya sembari matanya berkaca-kaca karena takut bundanya marah. Itulah Chika (cinta kami).