Hello!
I have no idea if I even still have a reader, but I just wanted to write this down.
I have a VERY short term memory, and it's only after I reread my posts that I remember how fun it was to write and listen to classical music all day everyday.
I'm well aware that I'm not the best writer, but I'd like to see if 2018 has done my English (or Japanese, really) any good.
It's been a while so I'll start with some recap of my life so I can reminisce about it later when I can no longer remember the details. We'll start with 2018!
Before we get into it, I'd like to start with an old tradition of writing down what I'm currently listening to as I'm writing this, so here you go. It's Schubert's Piano Sonata No. 16 by Mitsuko Uchida!
March 2018
I flew to Japan to study in Rikkyo University for a year as an exchange student. I studied Intercultural Communication there but I mostly took regular Japanese classes to brush up my language skills, since I'm a Japanese major in my home uni. (I still kind of suck, though.)
I spent my first 2 weeks in Suzuki-san's (my mom's friend) house in Oomiya, Saitama before moving into the dorm. Suzuki-san was the loveliest and most generous host. He cooked for us every single day, and it was a delightful experience to help him cook things I've never cooked or even imagined before.
I could still remember so vividly the feelings that rushed over me when I stepped out of the train station for the first time. When you've lived in a tropical country your whole life and never stepped out of it even for once, the feeling of cool spring air hitting your cheeks for the first time is almost indescribable. It was overwhelming. It felt like a whole new horizon along with the promise of endless possibilites were laid out before my eyes.
I have no idea if I even still have a reader, but I just wanted to write this down.
I have a VERY short term memory, and it's only after I reread my posts that I remember how fun it was to write and listen to classical music all day everyday.
I'm well aware that I'm not the best writer, but I'd like to see if 2018 has done my English (or Japanese, really) any good.
It's been a while so I'll start with some recap of my life so I can reminisce about it later when I can no longer remember the details. We'll start with 2018!
Before we get into it, I'd like to start with an old tradition of writing down what I'm currently listening to as I'm writing this, so here you go. It's Schubert's Piano Sonata No. 16 by Mitsuko Uchida!
March 2018
I flew to Japan to study in Rikkyo University for a year as an exchange student. I studied Intercultural Communication there but I mostly took regular Japanese classes to brush up my language skills, since I'm a Japanese major in my home uni. (I still kind of suck, though.)
Rikkyo University is a private Christian university in Tokyo.
I spent my first 2 weeks in Suzuki-san's (my mom's friend) house in Oomiya, Saitama before moving into the dorm. Suzuki-san was the loveliest and most generous host. He cooked for us every single day, and it was a delightful experience to help him cook things I've never cooked or even imagined before.
I could still remember so vividly the feelings that rushed over me when I stepped out of the train station for the first time. When you've lived in a tropical country your whole life and never stepped out of it even for once, the feeling of cool spring air hitting your cheeks for the first time is almost indescribable. It was overwhelming. It felt like a whole new horizon along with the promise of endless possibilites were laid out before my eyes.
Hayashi Rice (Beef Stew) that Suzuki-san cooked. It's beef, mushroom, and onion cooked in a demi-glace sauce. It easily became my favorite Japanese homemade dish.
A walk in Oomiya with Nia (left). She also stayed in Suzuki-san's place with me.
I saw sakura for the very first time! This was taken in Meguro.
April 2018
My very first visit to Disneyland Tokyo. I didn't pay for the trip thanks to Bunkasai speech competition in May 2017 ;) I've always loved Disney but this park only made me love it even more. As I got older, I realized how much I absolutely adore Disney music, aside from the amazing movies, and I'm forever thankful for each composer, songwriter, record producer, and everyone involved in the making of Disney music, especially the genius Alan Menken, Howard Ashman, Randy Newman, Michael Giacchino, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Robert Lopez–I can go on forever with this list so I'm gonna stop right here–for the timeless classics that I still enjoy singing and listening to to this day.
I didn't expect these pictures to turn out so gloomy lol.
It was rainy but it was still a blast. I went with Nisa (right) and Riki (left).
I also visited Hamamatsu to attend the annual Indonesia-Hamamatsu gathering and expressed my gratitude for them as sponsor of Bunkasai speech contest for letting me go to Disneyland. I got to ride Shinkansen for the first time!
Took pictures with very talented recorder players who perfromed in the event. Their music was absolutely breathtaking.
A clear Shigeru Kawai I saw in Hamamatsu station.
May 2018
On the first week of May, I started two part time jobs. The first job was teaching Indonesian language in Sakado High School (Tsukuba Daigaku Fuzoku Sakado Koukou) every Monday and the second one was waitressing in Hidakaya, a Chinese food chain restaurant you can easily find all over Tokyo. I worked there 3-4 days a week depending on my schedule in uni.
The students in Sakado high school were very sweet, and boy were they fast learners! I could tell that they studied hard each week, and even though they were shy at answering questions they managed to impress me every week.
The restaurant job was a little tough. I know that I'm majoring in Japanese, that was all I learned in uni for two and a half years before coming to Japan, and I still wasn't prepared to use it at such a high paced work environment. I had to deal with my manager, my coworkers, and the customers, and I had to use 3 different types of Japanese when I spoke to them respectively. I spoke formally with my manager and older coworkers, casually with coworkers at the same age as mine, and very formally with the customers.
(I can't find any picture from Sakado. When I do, I'll make sure to update this post!)
This month was also special becase I won a lottery and went to Gunma with some other International Students, including some of my closest friends, so it was really fun! We started at the onsen resort where we had lunch but I didn't get to try the onsen because it was that time of the month, and then we visited the Byakue Dai Kanon (White-Robed Goddess of Mercy) statue where we got to climb up inside the statue up to her shoulder and watched the peaceful view of the city.
My friend, Katie, collected goshuin (stamps that you get after you prayed in a Buddhist Temple or Shinto Shrine) so I went with her to temple and saw how the goshuin was made. Her goshuincho (Temple Stamp Book) was stamped and the attendant brushed calligraphy over it. I thought of getting a goshuinco myself but honestly, I would find a way to forget it in my room and not have it with me every time I visit a temple or shrine so...
(I can't find any picture from Sakado. When I do, I'll make sure to update this post!)
My name tag in Hidakaya, along with a tag that says "In Training". My manager said it was an omamori, a charm to protect me from angry customers if I were to make mistakes lol.
Sakado High School.
This month was also special becase I won a lottery and went to Gunma with some other International Students, including some of my closest friends, so it was really fun! We started at the onsen resort where we had lunch but I didn't get to try the onsen because it was that time of the month, and then we visited the Byakue Dai Kanon (White-Robed Goddess of Mercy) statue where we got to climb up inside the statue up to her shoulder and watched the peaceful view of the city.
My friend, Katie, collected goshuin (stamps that you get after you prayed in a Buddhist Temple or Shinto Shrine) so I went with her to temple and saw how the goshuin was made. Her goshuincho (Temple Stamp Book) was stamped and the attendant brushed calligraphy over it. I thought of getting a goshuinco myself but honestly, I would find a way to forget it in my room and not have it with me every time I visit a temple or shrine so...
Kannon, the Goddess of Mercy, standing 41,8 meter tall.
Our lunch.
June 2018
I entered Rikkyo's 7th Annual Speech Competition for International Students. I had a hard time figuring out what I wanted to talk about, and I told to my mom and she said, "What about your Ramadhan? It's something people in Japan are not familiar with and you had to go through it for a whole month by yourself. It'll be interesting." I refused the idea because I didn't want to bring up the topic of religion into the speech. But then I thought about it for a few days, and realized that Ramadhan wasn't just about religion, it's also about culture. What people do during Ramadhan beside fasting varies in every country, and I thought it would be interesting to talk about.
I feel grateful that I got to be there along with other wonderful international students with their own fascinating stories to tell. It's fascinating how so very little we know about the world and everything in it, including the people that inhabit it and millions of cultures that make the people and their society.
I feel grateful that I got to be there along with other wonderful international students with their own fascinating stories to tell. It's fascinating how so very little we know about the world and everything in it, including the people that inhabit it and millions of cultures that make the people and their society.
I came out first.
I owe everything to my mom, Machida-san, and Honami.
The inspiring people I got meet in the competition.
July 2018
July was amazing. Suzuki-san took me to his new house in Usami, Shizuoka and he showed me around. Usami is known for its hot springs so naturally there are a lot of mountains there, but it's also right beside the sea that leads straight to the Pasific Ocean. I can't even begin to describe how beautiful Usami was. Whenever I rode in Suzuki-san's car, the sea was always there to greet me in the distance, and we would get closer and ride alongside it. It was fantastic. Although my mom's hometown, Bangka, is an island and I go to the beach all the time, it was completely different. You get quite a strong island living vibe in Bangka, but Usami is, well, Usami. In Japan. Honestly, why am I even comparing the two in the first place?
The ride to Usami.
Can you spot Mount Fuji in this picture? Clue: It was summer so there was no ice at the peak!
Oomuroyama came straight out of a fairytale.
August 2018
It was just really hot and humid the whole time. It's different from the heat I experience daily in Indonesia, because it's usually hot and dry unless it's the rainy season. I went to some natsu matsuri and hanabi taikai, though, so I'll put up some pictures here.
Hanabi taikai with Katie and Isabel. We got to wear our own Yukata!
A 300 Yen Kakigori. That's actually a Saitama branch of Hidakaya in the background lol.
September 2018
September was very dear to me. I watched my very first classical music concert with Katie, performing my favorite piece, Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2. It was performed by conductor Kentaro Kawase, pianist Kotaro Fukuma, and Japan Philharmonic Orchestra in Suntory Hall. I bought the cheapest seat because I could only afford as much and sat behind the orchestra lol. Regardless, it was, how do I even describe it, out of this world? I listen to classical music all the time but listening to it live made me feel like I'd only just heard it for the very first time.
First it was the piano, intense but ever so careful. Then came the orchestra... I couldn't stop thinking, oh, I could hear every instrument loud and clear. Had that melody always been there before? It was an experience like no other. All I can say is that I am very blessed with the gift of classical music in my life.
The experience didn't stop there. So before we entered the hall, we were handed the program booklet. Little did we know that out of hundreds of programs handed out that day, they put 3 stickers on 3 random programs in which the 3 lucky people who received the program got to meet the conductor, pianist, and baritone backstage, and receive a swan shaped cream puff from Okura Hotel.
And guess what? That's right. One of those programs were mine.
I was SO nervous I didn't realize I was standing so close to Fukuma-san LOL.
The beautiful Suntory Hall.
October 2018
To be completely honest I don't remember what the hell happened in October lol. So let's just fast forward to November.
November 2018
I went on a weekend trip to Nikko with Katie. All right you know what, this one deserves a post of its own, so I'm going to talk about how spectacular Nikko was in autumn in a separate post. Stay tuned!
December 2018
I tried to spend as much time as possible with my friends because there wasn't much time left for me in Japan. My most memorable memory of December was going to this light show. The place was really weird and it was nothing like we expected it to be but it was fun becaue I got to hang out with some of my closest friends away from the city.
We couldn't stop laughing at this.
When I think about it, it was actually really creepy.
I actually stayed in Japan until February 2019 but since this is a 2018 recap I'm going to write about January and February in a separate post.
It's also important to note that the memories I wrote here were the first memories that came into my mind when I thought about that month in particular. It doesn't mean that other memories or the friends that I share those memories with are any less important than the ones who appear in this post. Not at all!!! I'll try to write more later.
I had some trouble writing while I was in Japan, hence not a single post about it before, but I've been thinking about all these memories a lot for the past few weeks and I figured it was time.
And if you have a certain event in this post that you would like me to write more about, please comment below!
Thanks for reading!
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