Sayonara

I leaved Miyazaki. I was soooo sad. I love that lovely city. I love my friends around me. I will miss them all.

I`m in Yamanashi now. In my Auntie`s house. I`m going to go back home on 14th. It`s time for me to go back home. I will continue my life, I will study hard to graduate soon, then find a job. Wish me luck..

Thank you for my friends in Miyazaki. You`re all special for me. See you again someday

my Last Weekend in Miyazaki

This Saturday I will leave this lovely city, with lovely peoples around me. I know I`ll be sad. But life`s must go on. I will miss every single thing that I found here. I will miss every single moment of my sadness, loneliness, and bunch of happiness. I will not forget all the kindness of great peoples and my lovely friends here.

In my last minutes in Miyazaki, I`m still busy finishing my journal. I`m still preparing my presentation for Inter Cultural Meeting on Tuesday : Tomorrow. Ganbarimasu !!!

I`m lucky having great peoples around me. They made farewell activities for me in my last week in Miyazaki. Last Saturday Aiki Sensei invited me to see Yamabiko Hanabi Taikai (山彦花火大会)　or Mountain Echo Fireworks Festival in Nishimera. Needed 2 hours by car. The fireworks was awesome. It was the best fireworks that I ever seen.

a simple one

Then on Sunday everyone invited me to have farewell activity. I had lunch with Indonesian Families in Carino and than had interesting conversation, finished at afternoon. Then directly went to have dinner with Sayaka, Moemi & Asaki. Continuing with karaoke. Both of Indonesian Families and Sayaka`s family only have time on Sunday. (Pat-san & Wan-kun.. I`m sorry, I wasn`t able to go to AEON with you guys)

Today I go to Miyazaki Governmental Office to close my Insurance. Reserving the seat for my international fligt. Than continuing my journal & my presentation. I`m so tired today.

For the rest days in Miyazaki I need to do :

• Clean up my room
• Packing (aaarrgh.. !!!)
• Sending my suitcases to Narita
• Closing my Mobile Phone account and also bank account

Enough for today.. Need to continue writing my journal. Yosh.. がんばれ！！

Great Weekend With Great Peoples

Weekend again. I only have 2 more weeks here. I will leave Miyazaki heading Tokyo at 9th August. Then I will reach my hometown at 14th. I`m sad leaving Miyazaki, great friends, great activities, great new family.

This Weekend, we visited somewhere in Miyazaki (I forgot the name of the town, hehehe) to see Kayaking Tournament. Great !! But it was soooooo hot. It was raining when we were leaving Dormitory in the morning, so I only brought my rainy umbrella, and no Sun screen lotion. And you know the result : I was totally burned. T_T

Then Sayaka`s mother invite us to eat Kaki Kouri (カキ氷). Another special Kaki Kouri. Not like this one that I tried before, what we tried today was full with fresh fruits and japanese red beans. Nice choice in this hot summer :)

Moving to Miyako City. We ate Okonimiyaki, Japanese vegetable pancake. Thank`s to Sayaka`s funky grandmother. She was so energic and funny.

Next destination : Erikocha Matsuri at Tachibana Douri. A famous summer festival in Miyazaki. It was looked like a rush hour in Tokyo train station. So many peoples everywhere. Actually, I don`t really like the situation like that.

Before going back home, Sayaka`s Mother brought us some Yakiudon, and Pizza in the same Okonomiyaki house. I couldn`t eat no more. I was soooo full.

That`s all for today. I`m tired. But I`m happy. Thank you my lovely friends, for giving me this greet weekend with great peoples. It makes me hard to say good bye. T_T

I was Busy

I was so busy, that`s why there was no updates in my blog. And there was no new recipes for the previous 2 weeks. Actually not that busy, just didn't want to write something here.

Last posting was about MUFSA sport day. It was Saturday. The next day, we went to AEON. And then from Monday till Friday, I was busy preparing my report at Lab. But still, not finished yet. Saturday and Sunday always busy, going somewhere refreshing our mind.

What did I do on Saturday..?

• Visited A Price, AEON (Again..?), heard lot of horror story in Japan. Hardly believe
  
• Watched Matsuri in Kibana Kindergarten from 6 to 8 PM. The kids was sooo cute
• Had dinner (or party?) in Husna & Pja`s House. The grill chicken was delicious
• Stayed in Husna & Pja`s house for accompanying them, since Husna was still afraid bout "something". Yang, Ari and Me take all of our stuffs including our Electric Fan. (It was 35C btw)

Then Sunday..?

• Had lunch in Husna & Pja`s house.
• Studied at library from 1.30 till 4 PM. We wanted the AC, hehehe
• Went to Sushi restaurant for Dinner (Yippi... I Loved Sushi)
• Went to see Hanabi at Aoshima Matsuri at 8.30
• Played at the beach, till around 11 PM
• Decided to go to Game Centre at Round one. till drop ^_^
• Stayed at Husna & Pja`s house (still)s

My fave pic, from Yang`s camera
Back to our childhood at Round One

Monday...?

• Today is holiday. Marine day. I don`t know why Japanese Government create marine day as national holiday.
• Woke up, and hungry. hehehe..
• Cooked Bihun Curry for our lunch.
• Go back dorm. Need to study actually, but I didn`t. hehehe.. Try to order Omiyage from website that I got from Pja.

So you know that I was busy, playing not studying. Hahahaha

Wish me luck for this week. I will have 4 Japanese Tests. Starting from Tuesday until Friday. Ganbarimasu !!

MUFSA Sports Day

Last Saturday was MUFSA Sports Day. MUFSA belongs to Miyazaki University Foreign Student Association. This annually program was held in University`s Sports Hall. From 9.40 I did Badminton with Jillian as my team mate. And then there was Volley Ball match, I didn`t play bcoz I`m so bad playing Volley :p

Next was Basketball. It was horrible, boys and girls played together. And boys from Egypt, China and Libya were too big comparing to the girls. Once, one of them played unfair. I decided to be supporter, I scared. Last match was Futsal, I really didn`t want to join this one.

And then we went to river, relaxing. The river was so clean, we tried to catch up some small fishes, tiny crab and also cute river prawn. But we failed. Hahaha...

Next destination...105円 Sushi Restaurant for dinner. Ooow.. I`ve told you before that I loooove Sushi very much. At that night I ate 4 plates there and one more plate I ate at home. I Still, aburi salmon mayo was my favourite one.

At the next day I woke up, i felt that all my body was so hurt. Maybe, I did sports too much hehehe...

Tired.. Need massage chair or anyone would like to massage me..? v(^_^)

Surviving in Summer

Another hot day. My friend, Wan told me that today is 35C. But Husna told me that she saw from Internet that today is 36C. I don't care is it 35 or 36. It`s absolutely HOT.

I planed to go to Miyako City by train with my Taiwan`s friend, Yang. But we really didn`t want to go. It was sooooooo hot outside there. Walking for just 5 minutes had made me sweating out.

I`m trying to survive this summer. I did those things recently (since no AC in my room):

• Taking shower at least 3 times a day
• Sitting behind opened window or in front of electric fan, and also let my door being opened.
• Drinking at least 2 litres of cool or cold water a day
• Eating ice cream everyday

I will show you Super Ice Cream in Japan, called Kakikori (カキ氷). Comparing with "Es Puter or Es Serut" in Indonesia, you can imagine how hot it is in Japan.

Thank`s to Aiki Sensei & Shinggu Sensei for inviting me.

HOT Summer Comes...

It`s been July..
Hot summer season comes..

Arrrghh... I hate it.. It`s so hot and it`s too hot. It`s still the beginning of summer. I just check a weather website. Miyazaki is 33 C now, but feels like 39 C. Can`t imagine how hot it will be next month. And how dark my skin because being burned T_T

I just have medium size of standing fan in my room. No Air Conditioner. I think, I will spend all my day in Lab, Library, or somewhere that I able to find Air Conditioner. hahaha..

Even it`s so hot, but it just nothing comparing how hot the hell will be.

Enjoy your summer !!

Updates

It`s been Tuesday. Time goes so fast. So many things to do at lab. I just have 1 month left here. Wish me luck...

I always love weekend. Refreshing my mind from boring routines at Lab. Thank you Pijah, for inviting me join Karaoke on Friday. I enjoyed it very much, especially the Massage Chair in our karaoke`s room. Hahaha..

On Sunday, actually I planed to stay at my room, wanted to chat with my boyfriend. But I forgot that he had planning to hang out with his friend :p So, I was so glad when Pijah invited me to go to the City. We went to AEON, our second house. hahaha. We also met Pat, Wan, Jillian an Rina there. And at night, we asked (pushed) Pat to make Thai Cuisines for us. But then, Ari, Jillian and me also made some food for our great dinner. I love something like this.

Photo courtesy of Pijah : Preparing our dinner

Anyway, I have new activity with my friends. Jogging at night, the weather is very nice at night. We need to burn calories. hahaha..

Last updates : Today`s tea ceremony class. I love this pic. It`s because Sensei & Park (my Korean friend using white shirt) are so cute in this pic. Today is Park`s Bday. Saengil chukha hamnida, Park !!

Party..Party..and Party

I`m so lucky being here. My friends are very kind to me. We do fun activities together. As I told you before, this week I have lot of parties. Party = cooking our own food, eating various food from another countries, doing games and fun activities, laughing together, getting fat together. hahaha. Party = Halal Food, no alcohol, no sake.

Lets start with the first party on Wednesday. Actually it was ICC activities. I`ve told you in my previous posting.

On Friday we celebrated birthday of Jillian (America), Rina (Taiwan) and Shoko (Japan). I loved Wan`s Pizza and Egg Tart made by Aileen ^_^

The next day we had earlier Birthday party for Sayaka, my Japanese Friend. My favourite food for that day was Choco Banana Birthday cake by Pijah.

I thought there was no more party. But on Sunday, Pijah told me that Pat (Thailand) wanted to cook Green Curry and Tom Yum for us. So, I had Thai Cuisine party on Sunday.

Photo Courtesy of Yang : very very happy face of party lovers ^_^

Another pics are available on my Facebook photo album. Thank you my lovely friends for another great days.

ICC Activity : Cooking Together

ICC = International Conversation Club. But for this week, it became International Cooking Club. LoL.. We cooked together in Dormitory`s kitchen. Very interesting.

My Japanese friends made the food very seriously. Hahaha

The menus : Fried Rice by me, Cheesecake by Pijah, Jemput-jemput by Husna, Daikon`s Food by Delphine (Ghana), and Daifuku by Japanese members.

Jemput-jemput? in Indonesian may be like bala-bala, bakwan or something. You can put in your favourite things. What we had : Kabocha (yellow pumpkin), banana, daikon (Radish), nato (fermented bean).
Daifuku ? Like mochi, the filling was Red bean, marshmallow, banana and Chocolate.

Here we are (minus me, i was taking the pic)

From left: Minoda, Mido, Akiko, Yuko, Husna, Marie, Pijah, Yang, Delphine
Pay more attention to the hair of guy wearing glasses, Mido-san.
He needs almost one hour to create that hairstyle. LoL

Oke.. That`s all. Owarimasu. Need to keep my energy for aother parties. Jillian, Rina & Shoko`s bday party for Friday. And Sayaka`s bday party for Saturday. What a busy week. Hehehe...

Tea Ceremony Class, individual practical

I`m soooo tired. Getting busy in my lab. But I stuck on the same problem again. Really make me get headache, and really make me want to go home soon. I want to finish it all as soon as possible. Anyway, I already bought the ticket to Tokyo. Yippi...I will go home soon... ^_^

Here some pics of this week Tea Ceremony Class. I loved to attend this class. It`s like refreshing and taking a deep breath, relaxing my mind from my research at Lab.

This week all of us tried to do individual practical of Tea Ceremony, from the first step till the last one. Of course with a full supervisor from our Sensei. Aaargh... difficult to remember all. I will try to do my best :)

1st pic : How to use Fukusa

2nd pic :How to clean up Chashaku

3rd pic : How to add the water

Try to find out my pic? (hahaha.. narcism). I was taking those pics. I will try to post the detail steps of this Tea Ceremony including my cute pics. (weeks..)

This week is a busy week. Lot of assignments, lot of events, lot of parties... Ganbarimasu !!

Oyasumi...
Tired..Sleepy..aaarrgh...

Fireworks and Volleyball Match Just for Fun

My weekend usually started from Friday`s night, like this weekend. My friends and I did our own firework festival at Aoshima Beach at the midnight. In Japanese Language we call it Hanabi (花火). The Kanji is consist of Hana (花), means Flower. And Bi (火), means fire. In Japan, we can buy firework equipments easily.

Some of our fireworks. I don`t have the pic of our skyrocket fireworks

In the next day, Saturday, we had Volleyball match. I played for ICC team. ICC belongs to International Conversation Club, not International Cooking Club..haha..I didn`t know that it was a big match, I thought it just only for ICC member. But in fact, there was many teams from various Club in Miyazaki University.

I also played. For the first time in my lifetime, I was succeed doing Serve. It was passing over the net. Really, for the first time in my life. LoL

I didn`t play well. All ICC`s players tried hard to do the best. Otsukaresamadeshita (Good Job). Even our score was only twenty something and the opponent score was fifty something, but we were very very happy.

Photo Courtesy of Pijah : How happy it was ^_^

Finished? Not yet.. My Taiwan`s friend, Rina, had 15% discount card at Joyfull Restaurant. So, all of us went there to eat. We burned not more than 100 KCal at volleyball match. But then we ate more than 500 KCal at Joyfull restaurant. It`s one of the reason why I`m getting fat here. hahaha...

Again... Great weekend with great friends. Thank`s everyone ^_^

When Sensei Didn`t Come

Today`s Japanese Culture class is very interesting. Our Sensei (lecturer) wasn`t able to attend the class because she was busy. So, she let us to do the Tea Ceremony by our self.

Our first reaction was ... Happy!! "Yeeaah, we don`t need to sit properly for 1 hour." LoL... No one will injured like the previous class as written in Husna`s blog :p

Second reaction was ... "Oo Oow... What should we do?" No one could remember the steps perfectly, neither me.

Translated Conversation
Pak : "First, open the fukusa from this side. Eee... Wrong..?"
Sumin : "Using our right hand, then move it to.... Eee.. which side..?"
Yang : "It shouldn`t be like this. Why..Why..?"
Husna : "Not like that, but like this. See..?"
Ari : "Yeah, i can do it. But then... Eeee?"
Me : "Hahaha.. Let me take pic of all of you guys"

Next : Everyone tried hard to remember the right steps. Sometimes debating, right or wrong. Sometimes laughing. Especially when Pak, my Korean Friend tried hard to practise and remembered all the steps. Sometimes when he was arguing with another student from China, spontaneously he used Korean Language, not Japanese language. hahaha

When another students became slothful remembering, Pak was still trying hard to remember. And all of us called him Pak Sensei. Hahaha... Good Job Pak !! (Note: Please notice that Pak is a name of my Korean friend, not acronym of Bapak in Indonesian Language, hahaha).

Me...? I just remember the steps how to use Fukusa and how to take Okashi (snacks) hahaha.. Surely i will remember all the things about food. LoL... But I couldn`t totally remember the other steps. If I have to do a test about this class, I`m sure I will fail. Hahaha..

Window Shopping ?!?!?!

Participants : 8 Peoples
Midha (Indonesia), Yang (Taiwan), Jillian (America), Pija (Malaysia), Husna (Malaysia), Ari (Korea), Wan (Malaysia), and Pat (Thailand)

Plan : Window Shopping
Reason : Half of us stated that we had no money (including me)

Destination :

• SHIMAMURA shop in Kiyotake.
• Photo Station or something. My friend Wan, want to participate in a Photography contest to win 100.000 Yen. We wish u luck Wan...
• AEON Mall. Lunch at 3 PM
• DAISO, 100 yen Shop.
  
• Baskin Robin 31 Ice Cream
  
• Yamada Denki
• Pet Shop
• Cake House
• Husna & Pija`s house
  

Left : Special ice cream by 31. Right : Cake House

Japanese doll to refuse the rain

Left : Husna`s car, enough for 8 person. Right : Eating the Roll Cake

Conclusion : It wasn`t Window Shopping
Reason : All of us bought many things even we stated that we had no money. hahaha

It was fun. Thank you my lovely friends ^_^

Tea Ceremony Equipments

Learning something about Japanese Tea Ceremony is very interesting. As I told you in my previous blog about tea ceremony, one of the principles is Tranquility. You have to do everything calmly, patiently and beautifully.

Even only to clean up the chawan (bowl), or to use o Hashi (chopstick) to take okashi (snack), you can not do it as what you want because there are special ways and steps to do. You really need to be patient.

Today I will Tell you about the equipment first. It`s my Tea Ceremony set for this week.

Sorry for the resulotion, I used my Cellphone to take this pic

Let start with the red one, look like handkerchief. It`s called Fukusa (帛紗). The fukusa is a silk cloth approximately 30 cm or a little less than 12 inches square, used for the ritual cleansing of the tea scoop and the tea caddy, and to handle hot kettle or pot lids.

Another red (or orange) is Natsume, the container of green tea powder. Actually, the container is called Chaki (茶器). There are two main types of Chaki: the ceramic caddies called cha-ire, and the lacquered or plain wood caddies called natsume. I used natsume in my class.I try to find out a better pic of natsume. Here it is. The pattern of the natsume itself is very beautiful.

The long bamboo is Chashaku (茶杓) or tea scoop generally about 18 cm in length. It is used to transfer the powdered tea from the tea container (chaki) to the tea bowl (chawan). A bowl in the left side is Chawan (茶碗), usually made from ceramic and has beautiful pattern. An unique shape bamboo in the right side is called Chasen (茶筅) or tea wishk. It`s used to mix the green tea powder and the water.

And the white thing in my first pic is Chakin (茶巾), a small rectangular white linen or hemp cloth mainly used to wipe the tea bowl. It`s just a napkin but you need to obey special rules using the chakin to clean up your bowl.

Difficult to spell? And difficult to remember? Yeah.. me too... hahaha...

special thanks : Google sensei (LoL), Wikipedia, and another sources

BBQ Party and Hotaru Matsuri

Yesterday I had BBQ party, held by an International Community at a very very nice park of Amago Castle, 1 hour from my Dorm. The participants was about 83 peoples, 30 of them are foreigners (I didn`t count.. hahaha).

I paid 1000 yen (Rp 85.000) for this BBQ. All you can eat, if you want and you can ^_^ What I got from 1000 yen was : All you can eat Seafood, salad, snacks, fruits, drink, fun games, a looots of fun, new friends,and a bunch of priceless happiness.

Situation of BBQ Party

The weather was nice, not too hot, cloudy. Then it was raining for a while. No problem, we had finished eating the foods. Hahaha...

I loved Ika Yaki. Special menu : Onigiri Yaki (baked Onigiri Rice)

Then we moved to Kobayashi, to see Hotaru Matsuri. Hotaru (ホタル) = Fireflies, and Matsuri (祭) = Festival. Kobayashi was about 45 minutes from Amago Castle. Another awesome place.

Imagining I was sitting on that chair with my boyfriend T_T

The night came, and it was going dark. I could see the fireflies. Woooooow... It was sooooo beautiful. Don't know how to express that feeling. It just like seeing a millions of stars flying arround you. My camera couldn`t capture the pic well. So I try to find a similar pic from a search engine. Here it is, fireflies...

Almost 85 % same with the situation that I saw.

We finished at 9 PM. Then going back to Dorm, back to normal life again. I arrived at 10.30 and directly turn on my laptop, since I know someone was waiting for me ^_^

I`m so tired. My backbone is painful now. But I`m happy. What a nice weekend...

Karaoke.. Me..? Singing...?

Hanging out on the weekend, last night.

First we visited AEON mall since Pat (my Thailand`s friend) wanted to eat Sushi. Previously I ate Kimchi and toast bread given by Ari & Jillan. So, while waiting for Pat, we just looking around, I bought some groceries for my weekend`s project ^_^

And then, we went to Round One, a famous game centre in Japan. Previously I did Bowling there, I loooooved bowling. But based on request, for last night we did karaoke. Whaaat..? Karaoke..? I know my friend in Indonesia will shock reading this. And questioning is it true that I`m singing..? hahaha.. Even I couldn`t sing well, but It was so fun.

Just acting. I wasn`t singing ^o^ Guess who is Japanase..?
Answer : No Japanese in that picture. I swear..

Conclusion of last karaoke :

• Yang`s voice was awesome. Mine..? Of course One Million Percent bad ^_^
• 3 hours karaoke, result : 9 cups was broken bcoz of my voice. LoL
  
• I was sooooo sleepy

Then we did another things :

1) Pat says : "Concentration, it`s my third coin " Result : FAILED
2) The Staff says : "You should move the machine to this point, I will make it easier"
3) Pat says : "YATTAAA... I got it"
all member say : "Hhuufff... FINALLY"

Before going back to dorm, we took Japanese Photo Box, called Purikura. Every time we go somewhere, Photo Box is a must. Here we are, 9 cute foreigners. Hahaha
Thank`s guys. For that great moment last night. I`m so lucky having friends like all of you ^_^

Japanese Tea Ceremony

Every Tuesday is interesting for me, since I have Japanese Culture Class. It`s about Japanese Tea Ceremony. First time when I knew that the class will be held for one semester, I was really questioning about the reason. How come it take so long time "only" for a tea ceremony.

But then I know the reason. It`s a culture, every single step is really meaningful. I try to find out the reasons from search engine.

A Japanese girl doing Tea Ceremony

There are 4 principles in Japanese tea ceremony: harmony, respect, purity, and tranquility (wa, kae, sae, jubuo)

• Harmony: with other people and with nature. The tea ceremony is the way of bringing one’s self into harmony with nature.
• Respects: a harmonious relationship with others.
• Purity: clean yourselves through the five senses - sense of hearing when hearing the sound of water(which remind one of the silence outside), sense of sight when see the flowers, sense of touch when touch the utensils, sense of smell when smell the scent of the flowers, sense of taste when drinking tea.
• Tranquility (Means : Quite, calm or something similar)

I will tell you later about the detail of this Tea Ceremony. The hardest thing to do is sitting like the girl for one hour. It was so painful T_T All students are injured for today`s class.. Hahaha.. I don`t have the pic, waiting for Husna to upload it in her Blog. Hehehe

The most interesting thing for me is eating okashi (sweet snack) :p It is sweet in order to minimize the bitterness of the green tea itself.

MOCHI. Okashi for today are like this. Not the original pic ^_^

I really love this class (the snack) hahaha.. ^_^