Before talking about my nephew and niece I stayed with during my time in Jakarta, let me introduce a new resident not so much inside the house, but right outside (and she is always there!). My maid said she found this kitten in the sewage and adopted it to be ours. Her name is Mona Putriliu (yes, she even has a last name!! My maid is crazy).

Every time I stepped out, Mona was there slouching away on my car, making herself comfortable in various cozy positions. As you can see below, only once I found her snoozing on the floor (probably because I had just returned home and so the car wasn’t there).

I’m not really into having pets, but it did make things more interesting having Mona around. Whenever neighbours (especially the little kids) strolled by, they would greet her, ‘Hi, Mona!’ It is official, her name is well known in the entire neighbourhood 😅

The amusing thoughts of children 👧👦

I enjoyed chatting to my niece and nephew and seeing how their thinking change as they grow. It’s fascinating to observe how certain personalities were clearly formed from young, while at the same time watching their development in other aspects.

I had chats with my niece about killing mosquitos, plants needing sun and water, survival of all living creatures, grammar and other random stuffs. I notice she observes, more and more I see, as I talked to her brother (and perhaps reflecting quietly). She’s also generally on the softer side, meaning could be fragile but also kind to others.

I walked into her room one day and found her watching something on Youtube which she quickly paused as she turned to me. I asked, ‘What are you watching?’

She blurted quickly, ‘it’s.. a fiction story.’

‘What’s the story about?’

She said, ‘Wh-why do you want to know so badly??’

Not in a rude way, but in a half-baffled half-nervous way. She looked so funny it cracked me up. The question should be why such reactions from her 😅. It’s just a question. In any case, I’m guessing she’s watching something better than her brother (who keeps watching Slendrina and Granny ghosts kind of stuffs 👻, or some silly people speaking gibberish or snorting non stop, and similar kind of nonsense..).

One day we’re sharing about heros we don’t like. She said it’s the Hulk. Reason?

‘His level of frustration just annoys me.’ Hahahh.. I thought that’s funny 😆

I told her I don’t like Iron Man, because he behaves like a narcissitic two year old. It sometimes really surprises me whom of my friends actually really like the Iron Man character. Why………..? I honestly do not understand. He’s everything that a gentle and manly man is not. Anyway..

I overheard my nephew’s conversation with his tutor one day. She asked, ‘Who is your hero? Is it your Mom or Dad, perhaps your sister, or your auntie?’

He said, ‘My maid.’

Tutor: Oh! Your maid, and why is that?

Nephew: Because one day my sister vomited everywhere, then my maid appeared and cleaned up the mess. So, she’s my hero.

Tutor: Oh.. I see.. …

Nephew: .. And, also my Mom and Dad.

Tutor: (with relief) Yes of course, and your Mom and Dad too!

Later, I shared this with others in the family with him around, and discovered that his parents also came over to help clean the vomit (that’s why they’re also his heroes!). I wouldn’t have guessed his little mind, would you? Hahaha…

But he’s an odd character. He uses a timer on his iPad for his tuition. He would start the timer when the session began, and once it’s up, he reminds the tutor her time was over.

And I haven’t forgotten how, in his frustration of not being able to catch birds while we were playing golf, he suggested to my brother to aim for the birds to make them fall. When he realised it wasn’t an easy task, he asked if my brother could chop down all the trees so the birds couldn’t fly away from him. My brother exclaimed, ‘What? You want me to chop down all these trees??’

He offered another option, ‘Okay, how about we launch a nuke?’ My brother was left scratching his head in disbelief, ‘What?! You want to launch a nuke on the birds??’ 🚀🐦

Since he loves pets, his parents brought him to the turtle shop and asked which turtle he liked. He pointed at a turtle as big as a dog! 🐢

Encouraging glimpse into their education 👩‍🏫

Given what I know of the school in the western world generally, it was refreshing for me to catch a glimpse of my niece’s and nephew’s education in Jakarta.

I remember when my niece was having a Kahoot quiz zoom session during remote learning last year, and the teacher paused the session because she noticed some parents at home were helping them answering questions. She said, ‘I would rather you don’t do well in this quiz than you cheat. It’s ok to get it wrong, it’s just a game. I may not catch you cheating, but remember, God is watching.’

I was rather impressed the teacher did that. Her priority was right and she has interest in the character that’s forming in her students.

One morning, my nephew was having a morning devotion (which they do every day) on God’s grace, followed by a prayer before starting the day’s lessons. On another morning, it was on God’s sovereignty and good purpose in our lives. It caught my attention as they went through examples of predetermined factors, such as being born as a boy or a girl, being born in Indo instead of elsewhere, and so on. It was all common sense to them and I agree. Matter-of-factly presented, no confusion.

I also enjoyed assisting my nephew with his Religion homework. Here’s an assignment on counting blessings everyday for 2 weeks.

Here’s a peek inside his mind. Some of his daily responses (two things per day):

• I get to learn at school & able to wake up early and staying healthy
• I received a turtle & going to the golf club
• Swimming & playing with my turtle
• Eating Oreo cookies & drinking cold water
• Getting another turtle & going swimming again
• I caught a dragonfly & going out with family
• I have a turtle cage & a healthy family

Last year in celebration of Indonesia’s Independence Day, I also watched some of their activities aimed at instilling a sense of patriotism in the kids. So, you can see it’s all still quite traditional, respectful and orderly.

Last month, I saw my niece’s music sheet on the table, and I like it.

🎼 The two verses in the music sheets are:

God make my life a little light,
Within the world to glow;
A little flame that burneth bright,
Wherever I may go.

God make my life a little song
That comforteth the sad;
That helpeth others to be strong,
And makes the singer glad.

With good teachings, you hope the children will grow up absorbing and nurture the good. But it does take much more than just good content (even with examples and role models). Due to the human nature, they may understand with their mind, but it may not affect their hearts.

During my recent trip, there’re both heartwarming and concerning moments with them. With my nephew in particular, I notice some early signs of character development that require careful attention. Our regular board games sessions provide occasions for their thoughts and character to reveal themselves (myself included, when I had to think twice before reacting, realising what they are learning by my actions). Those are the times I tried to impart small lessons I hope will do them good. It came to a point where I said let’s lay out some ground rules. Then you see it’s not that he didn’t understand, for he said,

‘I know! No sore loser, right?’

‘Yes, and what else?’

He didn’t even stop to think, ‘-no calling names like ‘idiot’ or ‘brainless’, no cursing God when things don’t go my way, ..’

He remembers everything I’ve told him.

‘It is okay to lose, you won’t always win in life either’, ‘The world doesn’t revolve around you’, ‘Learn to accept defeat gracefully’, ‘You can genuinely be happy for others when they win’, ‘If you really believe you’re always the best, you’re a fool because that’s not reality’, etc..

Anyway, I’m grateful for the brief moments and little influence I can make as an auntie. But I am well aware you can’t control the individual hearts of others, adults or kids alike, all human hearts. So I pray for them too, hoping that the small seeds of goodness they learn at school and home will take root, grow, and yield much fruits in time. 🌳🌳