Day 2: Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office & Asakusa

Earlier today we had presentation and self-introduction among the participants, but I don’t really wanna talk about the boring part, so let’s skip it. After lunch we had a little bit city tour, visiting the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office, which is the office of the governor of Tokyo (or something like that…), and also Asakusa, an area with temple, pagoda, shrine, and a street with a lot of shops. I know I promise pictures yesterday, so here they are. Then again, pictures speak more than a thousand words.

One of the entrances to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building

Tokyo skyline, view from the 45th floor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building #1

Tokyo skyline, view from the 45th floor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building #2

Ms. Akiko Enoki, the tour coordinator/guide, explaining to the group the differences between temple and shrine

Jaja, one of the participants from the Philippines, trying her luck by shaking the box and taking the stick that will lead up to the number in one of the drawers in front of her, and read the paper in it that is about her future.

people are trying to ‘wear’ or bring the smoke to cover their bodies because it is believed will cure diseases and help people to get a long and prosper life.

the three participants from Indonesia, (from the left) Hanif, Helen and myself.

the lampoon in front of the Golden Dragon Temple, or also known as the Asakusa Temple.

The five-storey Pagoda

Nakamise-dori, a street before the entrance of the gate to the area of Asakusa temple, lots of souvenirs and snack vendors in this street. Should be interesting for tourists.

Kaminari-mon, the gate/entrance before the Nakamise-dori, and me of course, below the giant lampoon.

the clean and friendly streets of Tokyo, around the Asakusa area.

The golden building of Asahi, a beer company in Japan.

Tempura for dinner. Itadakimasu!

So I guess that’s it for today. The group (and I) will be headed to Hiroshima tomorrow. And two days later, to Kyoto. Wish for more exciting adventures!

Day 1: Arrival

I’ve mentioned in my previous post that I’ll be going somewhere east. So here I am, sitting in a room in a hotel in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. Yes, I just arrived this morning, and I’ll be spending the next six weeks in this country. I got lucky for being accepted in a program called JENESYS Special Invitation Programme for Graduate Students. Basically, it’s an opportunity given to graduate students who are doing research about Japan to visit and do something about the research in the actual country. But it’s not all about the research, there will be also cultural introduction, as well as travel to other cities such as Kyoto and Hiroshima.

I plan to write daily in this blog about my experience here in Japan, starting from Day 1, which is today. I arrived at Narita Airport around 9 AM after a 7-hour flight from Jakarta. It was pretty exhausting and this is also my first experience being in a flight that is more than 2 hours. I wanted to take pictures to really describe my first impression about Tokyo, but I fell asleep during the bus trip from the airport to the hotel. But my first impression is: CLEAN. Yes, everything is so clean and organized. Nobody litter, cars wait for people to cross the road… It’s also kinda chilly here, I guess it’s around 16-20 degrees Celcius. Although, according to the local, the weather is warm. But not for me if compare to sunny Jogja. Good thing I wear long sleeves all the time.

Anyway, I promise to take more pictures tomorrow and upload them in my next posts.

But I guess that’s about it for now, because I’m still really tired and need all the sleep I can get. Tokyo is 2 hours ahead from WIB, so it’s already 30 minutes to midnight. Ok, I’m gonna sleep now. More posts later!

Thailand!!

 

the group photo at Karan Beach, Phuket

Yay! I just got back from my 5 days trip to Thailand, Bangkok and Phuket. I went to Bangkok with Grace, Sita, and Amal. All are exchange students at NUS. At first, we were afraid because the unstable condition of politic in Thailand, especially in Bangkok. But as soon as we arrived in Bangkok, we completely forgot that there were riots just a while before we arrived there. Maybe because it was also Songkran holiday, the new year for Thai people. Soon four of us had so much fun shopping at Cathucak market. I kinda regret the fact that I only stayed there for one and a half day. So I didn’t get to visit good places in Bangkok.

The second night we spent in the bus, 12 hours from Bangkok to Phuket. We arrived early in the morning and met up with the rest of the group. They were Alvin, Yushi, Josef, Roy, Monse, John, Jesse, Ashley, Morten, Carmen, and Jennifer. We swam in Karon Beach and Kata Beach for that first day in Phuket. I shared room with Grace in the Pineapple Guesshouse, the hostel where we stayed. The next day, we went to Phi Phi island, around 2 hours from Phuket. We stayed in Tropical Garden Guesthouse and I was so glad when I had my lunch there because the owner is a Muslim, and they served me a Phad Thai (Thai noodle), the best that I ever had on my trip in Thailand. We did a half-day sunset tour to Monkey Beach (where we did not see any monkey), Phi Phi Lay (kick-ass place to snorkel, according to Lonely Planet), and Maya Beach (where Leonardo DiCaprio’s  “The Beach” was filmed). Sisi caught up with us as she arrived in Phuket and took the boat to Phi Phi. That day, our group was complete, 16 people. That night I shared room with Roy and Josef, because Alvin made me do that. But Roy said, among all the girls, I am the most possible person to share room with them. Well, nothing happened. Except Josef and Roy did a lot of gay things in front of me. Oh, and it was also Roy’s birthday. Jesse, Monse, John, Roy, Josef and I were talking and fooling around in our room to celebrate Roy’s birthday.

The next day, we took the boat from Phi Phi back to Phuket. We didn’t do any beach things anymore. Just wandered around Phuket and bought some souvenirs (I didn’t get any, I had enough shopping in Bangkok). Around 4.30 PM, Most of them headed to the airport, they were Yushi, Josef, Monse, Alvin, John, Jesse, Ashley, Morten, and Roy. While Amal, Sita, Sisi, Carmen, Jennifer, Grace, and I stayed for one more night. That night we went to Central Festival, a mall in Phuket. We took Tuk-Tuk to get there. We didn’t really buy anything but we managed to find a cheap food inside the mall.But some of them were really spicy. Grace didn’t finish her meal, and Amal and I also couldn’t finish our mango salad.

We left for the airport really early in the next morning. But Sisi still stayed there for one more night. I was so tired but I also had fun in the trip. That was my final trip while I’m in Singapore, and also the last trip with the exchange students.

Now I have to focus with my final exams. I can’t believe I’ll be having my first exam in 15 hours from now. Gyaaaa!!!

vietnam

Soo, it’s recess week now in NUS. It means NUS gave one week off for every student to be prepared for mid-semester exam. But I don’t have any exam in the mid-semester (i have papers to be finished instead), so I decided to use the week off for holiday… At first I was a bit confused about it. Still didn’t know where to go. But some friends offered a trip to Vietnam and Cambodia. sounded fun, so I started planning the trip with them, together with Sita. But then in the middle of the planning, we decided to go to Vietnam only, as the trip to Cambodia would make us waste 2 days away only for the bus trip (Vietnam to Cambodia, for 11 hours!). So, yeah, we officially decided to enjoy the recess week in Vietnam, only two of us. Me and Sita. Isn’t it cool??!!

Yeah, it’s really cool. Because we never been in Vietnam before, and we will travel in that country for the first time, only two of us, all girls, none can speak Vietnamese. And you know what makes it worse? We have no money. The money from TF was supposed to be given on February 20. It means 2 days before we departed from Singapore to Vietnam. But somehow they (the TF people, whoever they are) didn’t manage to give us the money on time, and sent us an apology email instead. But we already booked the ticket to Vietnam, and it’s paid. So we have no choice, we must go for the trip (people would say: MODAL NEKAT!). The money was expected to be given two days after we go for the trip. But they still didn’t give it. As a matter of fact, we still don’t have the money, till today! So I bet you could imagine how we survived till now, with a holiday to Vietnam!

We’re poor now. I guess most of TF students are poor at the moment. But even with the money trouble, I still enjoyed having holiday in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Some interesting things happened even without money to rely on. We were planning to go to Cu Chi Tunnel and Mekong Delta, as these two places are really recommended to visit. Too bad the price for the tour to these places are too expensive for us. We couldn’t afford it. So we’re only going around the city. Enjoyed some museums and historical buildings. And we didn’t take taxi, at all!! We walked! No matter how far that was, we would walk it. We only took bus for a very very far trip. First time we took bus when we arrived in the airport. We took bus and paid only VND 3000 (Vietnam Dong, it’s around SGD 0.25, or IDR 2000). It would cost us USD 8-10 if we took taxi. So we saved money by taking bus, and a little bit walk to the hostel that we already booked. The second time we took bus when we went to Giac Lam Pagoda, the oldest Pagoda in Ho Chi Minh City. For the rest of the journey, we use our feet as our vehicle. We walked everywhere.

The gate to Giac Lam Pagoda (photo from Sita's camera)

Ho Chi Minh statue in the reunification palace

Me in front of the reunification palace

The most interesting experience I got from this journey was when we visited the Consulate General of Indonesia in Ho Chi Minh City. We accidentally found the address in a tourism map. It’s a bit far but we still walked to reach it. Curious about how it looks, and excited about finding other people that might be able to speak Bahasa Indonesia. When we got there, all I saw just a big and high wall, with a Vietnamese police guarding in the front gate. He couldn’t speak English or Bahasa Indonesia, and he’s not so friendly. We just wanted to take picture in front of the sign that said: “Consulate General of Indonesia”, but he said it’s forbidden (ok, he didn’t say it, he was only waving his hand and said “no, no”). But we’re not easily giving up. We stayed there, while he’s still waving his hand and told us to go away. We kept saying that we wanted to take picture, and he kept saying no. We fought so hard and finally someone looks Indonesian with Batik shirt came out of the big gate and say hello to us. Finally, finally!

This guy named Frankie, he is coming from Indonesia, and he allowed us to get into the Consulate building and took the picture inside. It is forbidden to take the picture of the front gate for security reason. He also introduced us to another Indonesian guy named Taufik. Both of them are working for the Consulate. We took pictures together with them using Sita’s camera. We also had a short talk with them. They were surprised seeing two young girls travel all the way to Vietnam all alone (poorly and maybe shamelessly *because we were insisting so hard to have the picture of the consulate*).

Me with Frankie and Taufik (photo from Sita's camera)

The rest of the journey was not that bad, yes we had trouble with money, we also had trouble on finding halal food. But we survived anyway, with limited amount of money. And the trip was still enjoyable. I like the Notre Dame Cathedral the most, it was a cathedral built by the French when they occupied Vietnam. With red bricks and the statue, it looks really fantastic. The central post office next to the cathedral was also worth to be visited. I bought some postcards and sent one of them to my home. It’s only VND7000 to send postcard to Indonesia, but it will be delivered 14 days from the day I send it. So, by the time my sister receive the postcard, I wouldn’t be in Vietnam anymore. Hehe, but it’s still excited though.

Me and Sita in front of Notre Dame Cathedral (photo from Sita's camera)

Hm, I guess that’s all for now. Actually, lots of things that I want to write, I just can’t find the right way to compose it and not make it too long so people won’t be bored reading it. Anyway, at the moment I should concentrate with my study. Though I don’t have any mid-term exam, but I still need to work on my papers. Three of them!

Aaah, this is why I love holiday!

Finally…

This week is exhausting. It started with a good thing because I went to Kuala Lumpur with some friends and enjoyed the weekend there. We left last last Friday, had fun, and got back to Singapore on Monday, to start the routine all over again. Still with some euphoria of having fun in KL, and also the tired feeling, I just repeated my weekdays activities, aallll ooover again. Except, this week it was doubled. I haven’t had any assignment before. Unlike some people who started studying like, three days when the semester began, I was pretty relaxing and had not much to do. But this week? I had to do more readings, printed some materials and did the tutorial assignments, and of course, attended the lectures. That wasn’t it. I had some friend came along from Indonesia to do some conference, and I really wanted to see him because it’s been a while since the last time I saw him. So I did it in my lecture day, I went to see him straight away after the lecture. Plus, I’ve been distracted with so many things, so I can’t really concentrate to my priorities. I stayed up late and ended up doing nothing. Well, I did read something, but just not all the readings. And I woke up late, too. And I had this emotional thing that kept distracting me. So , yeah, I was exhausted, physically and psychologically.

Good thing, I finally started my voluntary sessions. I’ve been worried about it for weeks, because the project director hasn’t contacted me and confirmed that I would be able to join his project and fulfill my 10 hours community work. While some fellow TF-NUS LEaRN students already fulfilled their 10 hours! So no wonder I was worried, right? Today, I was doing a workshop in campus about leadership and volunteering, when I got this text message from Samuel, the project director for MINDS, said that we (Sita and I) have to meet him to start the voluntary sessions. So we went to meet Samuel, without any clue what we’re going to do. I was a bit nervous at the beginning, but once we started, I enjoyed it very much. Oh I have to tell about MINDS. I forget what it stands for (whoops), but it’s working with different ability people. People with down syndrome, autism, aged around 10-20ish. So they have routine sessions, every week. It started with songs and dances (it’s been ages since the last time i sang “twinkle twinkle little stars”), and then some games (ladder-snakes, colors, writings, drawings, etc), and continue with making some flower from paper after a short tea break, and then exercise (BASKETBALL!! yeaah!) as the end of the session. At first, Samuel told us that it would not be easy to engage with them in first day. We need to be patient, talk to them, and be friendly. But I found out it’s not that hard. I’m volunteering for a girl named Jia Yen. I can’t guess exactly how old she is, but I’m pretty sure she’s teenager. She likes to sing, and remember all the moves of the dances. She likes to play the game with colors (I forgot what it’s called. I’ll check out next week). She ate all the cookies, and she’s good in basketball. And, the best thing I like about her is, she smiles A LOT! Though, it was a bit difficult for her to make the paper flower. I helped her out on it. Then she wrote on the card and planned to give the flower with the card to his brother. She wrote “happy valentine’s day” on it. She’s such a nice girl. But she’s not the only nice person there. Everybody was so nice. Particularly, the kids. They kept on smiling, and excited toward everything. Sometimes, yeah, might be over excited. Some would scream and yell so loud. But it doesn’t matter. I still enjoyed it. And I definitely will be back next week (Insya Allah).

So… yeah, finally…. Finally I started my voluntary work. Finally…

I was so sad the night before, but seeing that kids cheer me up again. Why was I sad? Because I finally said something and then made me quit wondering about it. Finally, I got what I was looking for. Haha… Confusing? Yeah it has nothing to do with MINDS. Oh yeah, and I realized this week was really tough, especially the weekdays, but I began this week with happy feelings and I finally ended it with smile. I don’t know why, I like counting the weeks.

Anyway, though I’m not celebrating it, Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone.

first two weeks in NUS

I have arrived at Singapore like… two weeks ago. On January 17, 2009. At first, I was really confused about what I have to do. Because I was a week late (the semester in NUS started on January 12), the classes are already begun, the briefings and the welcome parties are already finished. So I have to find a chance to mingle and make friends by myself. I don’t really wanna be late, though. But my final exams in UGM made me late. At that time I just realized, I won’t get any holiday then. Because as soon as I finished my semester in UGM, then I have to start a new semester in NUS. My first thought was, “oh well, then I’m gonna have one year full of courses, classes, tutorials, and other activities that keep me busy, and no holiday??!!” but on the other hand, I’m really excited to begin the new semester in NUS, because it’s gonna be a really good experience for me, I know it’s going to be useful for my future. So, let’s not think about holiday, I said to myself.

First thing I did is find some friends, at least in my cluster in PGP Residence. I feel a bit awkward because everybody already know each other, and they are already settling down as well. So I spent my first day in PGP with Sita, my fellow Indonesian for TF-NUS LEaRN. She arrived 10 days before me. So she already knows the situation, and I asked her almost everything. But then I know I shouldn’t friends only with Sita. Luckily, I brought some souvenirs from Indonesia. So I used them as a way to make friends. Some girls in my cluster found them really nice and later I don’t feel that awkward anymore. Most of them are nice girls. The rest? I just never met them. At least till now.

The chance to make friends also come when the Office of Student Affairs (OSA) set a “Get-To-Know Host Family” Programme. It was a dinner, and also a chance to celebrate CNY, they gave us this goodiebags with oranges in it. And finally I met fellow TF-NUS LEaRN Participants from various countries. India, Philipine, China, HongKong, etc. Too bad I didn’t meet my host family that night. But the OSA told me they will send e-mail to inform me about my hostfamily. So I guess I just keep waiting.

I also make friends in my classes. One of them are going to UGM next semester! I’m so excited about it. So now she’s accompanying me here in NUS, tell me this and that, and later I’ll be her guide in Indonesia. Oh, her name is Therese by the way. She is Singaporean and she is a really nice person. She keeps practicing Bahasa Indonesia with me. And we often go out together for supper or lunch. I also introduce her to my Indonesian friends, Jennifer, and of course Sita.

Oh, I almost forgot. The main activity of TF-NUS LEaRN actually is to enrich leadership and network, and the participants should fulfill 10 hours community service and work as volunteer in several voluntary clubs at NUS. it’s arranged by NUSSU and it allocated us, the participants, to certain voluntary club based on our interests and our preferences. I’m allocated to MINDS Fernvale, a project for disable children. I haven’t start the volunteer work yet, I guess it will be started on February 14.

But before that, I had this workshop for volunteer development, held on January 24 by NVAC (NUSSU Volunteer Action Committee). That’s where they introduce every community service clubs and projects, and then we can choose which project that we want to be involved. I also made some friends in that workshop. The workshop itself was really interested. I learned how to do first aid, and also the most interesting part is the balloon sculpting course. We’re taught how to create a rabbit, dog, and flower from balloons.

Right now, I’m still waiting for the info of my hostfamily, the volunteering work, and also I start struggling with my moduls. The courses and the tutorials need my full attention, and that means I need to study harder. For me, so far life in NUS is getting more exciting and I really can’t wait for my voluntary work. Though sometimes I still feel homesick, but I try to not really think about it and start to make more friends.

That’s my first two weeks in NUS. More stories about NUS and my activity here will be coming soon!!