Steve & Terre

Brownies Kukus

2009-04-03T18:11:00.001+02:00

Bolu kukus moka aka Brownies kukus

Bahan :

* 4 butir telur
* 100 gr terigu
* 100 ml susu kental manis
* 150 gr gula
* 150 ml minyak sayur
* 1 sdt emulsifier
* 40 gr coklat bubuk
* 1 sdt pasta moka
* 80 gr meises atau dark cooking coklat parut

Cara Membuat :

Kocok telur, gula dan emulsifier sampai kaku, kemudian masukkan susu kental manis, pasta moka dan minyak sayur, kocok sampai rata.
Masukkan tepung terigu dan coklat bubuk, aduk rata.
Isi 1/2 bagian cetakan dengan adonan, sisa adonan disisihkan.
Kukus dengan api sedang selama 10 menit (minimal, lebih juga gpp), kemudian taburi dengan meises atau dark cooking coklat. Setelah itu tuang dengan sisa adonan. Tutup dan kukus lagi selama 20 menit.

It all begun.....

2007-11-05T16:05:00.000+01:00

Steve:

We first met summer 2003 in Darmstadt. Terre was still with another guy, so we were just friends. Once I knew that Terre'd broken up, I made my first move. I sent her going to USA from Frankfurt Airport (07.01.2004). It all begun.

Terre:
I first saw Steve in the Indonesian Church in Darmstadt while he was playing his guitar. We barely talked. He was a really quite person, compared to me at least. We, somehow, slowly became friends. We were good friends indeed. When I moved to USA (07.01.2004), I just realized that I needed him more than just a friend. It all begun.

29 February 2004

2007-11-05T15:53:00.000+01:00

As Terre lived in USA, I realized that I cared about her more than just a friend. I prayed for my right one. On March 1, 2004 (German time) I told her my feelling about her. I was hoping she felt the same way.

It was Febr 29, 2004 (Georgia time), steve called me again. We talked like hours before he suddenly told me what he felt for me. I wasn't really surprised, since I felt it too. God had answered my prayers.

Our (almost) 4 Years Together - Part One

2007-11-04T23:18:00.000+01:00

Some thought we're brother and sister because we look alike. We've counted it actually. So far, about 30 people said so. Some thought Steve was older than Terre, but in fact, Terre is 2 years older than Steve. Some never thought that Terre was a Bataknese and Steve was a Chinese. In fact, Steve never thought having a Bataknese girlfriend, as well as Terre having a Chinese boyfriend. But we are meant to complete each other, as God has planned it long before we knew.

As Terre had finished her study, her parents asked her to go back home. But having a long distance relationship was not what Terre and Steve wanted. Terre confinced her family to let her stay longer in Germany to take a second master degree. We both applied to different universities in Baden Wüttermberg. Steve got accepted in FH Furtwangen, while Terre got in Universität Konstanz. We were only 2 hours away by train. So, we managed to visit each other once a week.

Our (almost) 4 Years Together - Part Two

2007-11-04T22:55:00.000+01:00

Since we both had talked about marriage, we faced the problem of telling it to our parents. Terre comes from Bataknese family, who is expected to marry a Bataknese man. While Steve comes from Chinese-Indonesian family, who does not understand any of Batak traditions. After lots of discussions with both families, they finally understood why we wanted to get marry. We flew together to Indonesia to meet our families. We respect each other family as well as our family respect our relationship. For us, knowing each other family is very important since we define marriage as not only a unification of two people, but of two families.

As we were in Indonesia, we met up in Bali. Steve went to Bali with his family, while Terre and his family flew to Bali several days later. We really enjoyed being in Bali. We visited some of Steve's uncles, relaxed on the beach, and ate a lot of Indonesian foods. The last night before Steve left Bali to go to Germany, he bowed on his knee and proposed to her.

Our (almost) 4 Years Together - Part Three

2007-11-04T21:29:00.000+01:00

As we started dating, we desire to seek God's will. We may think differently. We may prefer different approach in overcoming certain things. But with God as our head, we across our differences toward his righteousness. We'd search for a biblical church and God led us to Bible Baptist Church. We've grown together, been strengthened, and learnt more about the Bible. We really appreciate our pastor, our brothers, and our sisters for their prayers and warm supports.

As Christians we'd like to build a Christian family that's based on the Bible. We asked our pastor and his wife to lead us a pre-wedding counseling. Having the counseling, we've learnt many things about being a Christian spouse as well as Christian parents. And most of all, we've learnt that love is giving.

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
John 3:16

Batak Wedding Ceremonies

2007-11-04T19:51:00.000+01:00

Batak Traditions

Batak is a tribe that originally lives in Northern part of Sumatra Island, Indonesia. There exist six kinds of Batak in Indonesia: Toba, Simalungun, Mandailing, Karo, Pakpak, and Nias. They live in different areas, thus, own moderately different traditions. Principally, Batak traditions are operated to organize the relationships of Batak people. So, the traditions are sort of regulations within Batak.

Dalihan Na Tolu is the principle tradition of Batak. It is a triangle bond between brothers, sisters, and brothers of the mother. In a Batak wedding ceremony dalihan na tolu of the groom and dalihan na tolu of the bride will be involved. Terre is a Batak Toba. The Batak wedding traditions, as follow, are based on Batak Toba traditions.

Toba Lake, North Sumatera

Pre-wedding

This phase starts with searching for a Batak woman. Batak grooms have to search among the other 451 marga, clan, for a wife since the tradition stipulates that a man may not marry a woman from his own clan. In Batak traditions, it is taboo for a woman coming initially to a man. Both being in love and decided to get married, the next step is marhusip, which is having the groom’s representative visiting the bride’s family. However, since a Batak can only marry another Batak, Steve has to be adopted by a willing Batak clan and thereby marry a Batak wife according to tradition. Steve will be adopted by Gultom family and receive Gultom as his Batak marga.

At marhusip, the groom and his Batak family (core family) will visit the bride’s family to discuss ensue between the two families to determine if everyone is in agreement with the marriage, what the dowry will be, where the wedding will be held, how many people will be invited, what the wedding will cost, and who will pay for it. Men and women are separated during these discussions, with the men making all the decisions.

Once an agreement has been achieved, the next ceremony is called marhata sinamot. Somehow this ceremony is similar to the marhusip discussion but dalihan na tolu of the groom and the bride are involved.

The main step of pre wedding is martumpol, the engagement. This ceremony takes place in a church. The groom and the bride vow their desires to get marry and promise to build a Christian family in front of the church elders and dalihan na tolu of both. After martumpol each family get together at their own place to prepare their parts for the wedding ceremony. The ceremony is called martonggo raja by the groom’s side and marria raja by the bride’s side. In a Batak wedding, families are the wedding organizers. The families will discuss about details, such as who will be raja parhata (master of ceremony), the representative at giving the gifts, the representative at receiving the gifts, the timetable, etc.

Tor Tor, Batak Toba Traditional Dance

The Wedding

The wedding day is started with marsibuhai-buhai, having breakfast together at the bride’s. The groom will take the bride to the church for a holy matrimony. Afterwards the bride, the groom, and the families will have a Batak wedding ceremony. Typical affirmation of Batak wedding is as follow:

The wedding is attended by dalihan na tolu and neighbours of the groom and the bride.

The groom’s family gives the bride’s family Namargoar ni juhut, A head, some ribs, a tail part of a cow, a buffalo, or a pig that are arranged and cooked in Batak style. The bride’s family then gives the groom’s family dengke, some goldfish that are cooked in Batak style. These gifts are exchanged before lunch.

Somba ni adat and somba ni uhum, offerings usually money, will be given by the groom’s family to the bride’s.

At least five ulos, traditional Batak cloth like a sarong, ulos na marhadohoan (meaning ulos that is produced for a special occasion) will be given by the bride’s family to the groom’s. The newlyweds will receive at least two ulos holong (meaning ulos that is given based on love) from the parents and the families.

Ulos

Post Wedding

Paulak Une is a visiting ceremony when the groom and his core family come to hula-hula, the bride’s family, to show their honours and respects to the bride and her family in protecting the bride’s virginity. Through this tradition, Batak parents educate their children to not having sex before marriage, which also follows the teaching of Bible. If the bride is no longer a virgin, the visiting ceremony will still be completed but called paulak boru.

Maningkir Tangga is a consequent visiting of the bride’s family to the newlywed’s house. This is sort of an informal one, like a casual visiting. Its purpose is to strengthening the relationship between the groom and the parents in law, showing love of the parents to their daughter and to observing how well the groom and his family taking care their daughter.

written by Terre Rajagukguk, summarized from several sources.

Vouchers from IKEA / Segmüller

2007-11-04T14:43:00.000+01:00

The wish has been fulfilled, although more voucher is still welcome. Thank you!

Dinner plate set

2007-11-03T22:28:00.000+01:00

The wish has been fulfilled. Thank you!

Vacuum Cleaner

2007-11-03T22:23:00.000+01:00

It's not fun to always borrow a vacuum cleaner. We just realize that we need it. Especially when we have our own appartment. Any kind of vacuum cleaner from any brand is appreciated. But we prefer to have one that does not need a vacuum cleaner back.
If you'd like to fulfil our wish, please drop a comment or send an email to: terre.rajagukguk@gmail.com.

Dinnerware Set

2007-11-03T22:14:00.000+01:00

Once we've received a new silverware set, we would discard Terre's old (not a set) dinnerware. If you'd like to fulfil our wish, please drop a comment or send an email to: terre.rajagukguk@gmail.com.

Coffee Machine

2007-11-03T22:07:00.000+01:00

The wish has been fulfilled. Thank you!

Bed sheets

2007-11-03T22:01:00.000+01:00

Steve's aunt and uncle have given us a double bed. As a single person, we always buy single size bed sheet. We wish to have new bed sheets size 180 x 200 cm. Any color except pink is really appreciated.
If you'd like to fulfil our wish, please drop a comment or send an email to: terre.rajagukguk@gmail.com.

DVD Player

2007-11-03T21:53:00.000+01:00

Once we've got our new camcorder, we would like to capture all interesting moments and burn them in DVDs. Seeing them over again would be a great pleasure. Therefore, we would like to have a dvd player to complete our wish.
If you'd like to fulfil our wish, please drop a comment or send an email to: terre.rajagukguk@gmail.com.

Radio Clock (Funkuhr)

2007-11-03T21:48:00.000+01:00

Although Steve and I have lived in Germany for some years, we'd missed to change the winter or summer time manually several times. So, we either came an hour earlier in the winter time or came an hour late in the summer time. We wish to have a radio clock, preferably not a noisy one. Since we would like to have it in our new bedroom.

If you'd like to fulfil our wish, please drop a comment or send an email to: terre.rajagukguk@gmail.com.

Camcorder

2007-11-03T21:36:00.000+01:00

We have a nice digital camera. But somehow we missed some interesting moments because pictures do not capture all events in detail. That would be nice if we have our own camcorder. So, we can start taping our new lives.
If you'd like to fulfil our wish, please drop a comment or send an email to: terre.rajagukguk@gmail.com.

One pair of Bathing Towel

2007-11-03T21:32:00.000+01:00

The wish has been fulfilled. Thanks.

One pair of King James Version Holy Bible

2007-11-03T20:40:00.000+01:00

We do have Bibles, but only Indonesian versions. Since we go to an English speaking church, we wish to have a pair of English version Bibles. We only want to have King James version because its translation is accurate and faithful. Therefore, it is preserved Word of God in the English language.
If you'd like to fulfil our wish, please drop a comment or send an email to terre.rajagukguk@gmail.com.