Interview by Myself: Traveling

Hi, let’s continue the interview. To where did you travel since living in Japan?

I traveled to wherever my friends suggested to go. Because I treasured the people with whom I traveled most rather than the destination. So, wherever it was, I would always be okay. But if you wanted to know where exactly I traveled, then I would say, we went to Hakodate, Aomori, Hirosaki, Ecorin Village, Furano, Biei, Asahiyama Park, Moerenuma Koen, Maruyama Koen, Odori Park, Noboribetsu, Yoichi, Hidaka, Tokyo, Yomiuriland, Odaiba, Kawagoe, Shinjuku, Saitama, Tsukiji and some other places I forgot right now.

Which place was your favorite?

Hirosaki, it was so beautiful during Spring. The difference with spring in Hakodate was you were not only able to see the cherry blossoms but in Hirosaki, you could also see the wonderful old castles, then both things combined beautifully. Oh my! I missed Japan again. By the way, Hirosaki is not on Hokkaido island, so you should take shinkansen or ship to reach Hirosaki. You also should prepare the itinerary, as I am pretty sure you will spend quite a lot of money.

What else is recommended to be visited around Sapporo?

As I have mentioned before, Hokkaido University is beautiful every autumn season. It was like a whole new different world, colorful and beautiful. The Ginko street near Pharmacy Department was recommended to be visited. Most of the tourists might have already known about this, so it’s always crowded during autumn. Anyway, I had another beautiful hidden place, it was around the Keteki dormitory. The building was covered with the red leaves, beautiful, you should see.

How big is your university?

Hmm, I am not that kind of person who can memorize the detail of the size and so on, you can just google it. But I would say, it covers around 14 blocks with many trees, so if you see from above, most of the green part of Sapporo is for sure the Hokkaido University. As it is spacious, so we needed to use bus or bicycle. For a slow walker like me, if I walk from the southest to the northest, I could spend 1 hour.

You mentioned before that we must plan the itinerary before traveling, if it’s okay, I would like to know how much did you usually spend?

It depends to where did we go, the most expensive were traveling around Tokyo I spent around 70 thousands yen, 3 days and 2 nights trip to Aomori I spent around 30 thousands yen, for some one day trip might be around 10 thousands yen, even I also experienced traveling without any expenses. For this case, I joined some volunteering activities, so while participating with the program I also could enjoy the city.

Who was organizing the volunteering activity, what kind of activity was it? And how many people joined the program?

Various, it’s hard for me to remember the detail of the name since mostly the name in Japanese Kanji, but as I remember something like Hokkaido International Exchange Program Division, and something like non-government organization. The activities were like teaching English to Japanese kids, doing exchange program so mostly the participants were international students from different countries, so we were like the representative of our countries, then we learned together about Japanese culture, visited historical places, and so on. So, not only volunteering, exchanging culture, I also did get so many friends.

So, what do you think about Japanese people? How did they behave?

If you asked me to answer in 3 words, then I would reply, clean, well-organized, and warm. How couldn’t you say they are clean when you couldn’t see any litter even though not so many trush bin were available. Might be, they put every litter in their own bag and throw it away when they find the trash bin. What a good habit! Everything was well-organized, all the building and home was exactly positioned in a block to another block, so no building stands out of the line. Every block forms a square with the same size so for sure the road was also well-managed, no traffic found. I also thought they were warm as every staff/officer would give their best service to you, with a warm face even though I didn’t know whether they expressed it sincerely or not. I didn’t care, the important one, they didn’t harm or hurt you. One more thing, as they behaved well and showed a very good integrity, not so many criminals caught. No pickpocket as I experienced.

So, do you like Japan?

Absolutely, I like Japan.

Do you have plan to come back? When will you visit Japan again?

Yes, I plan to. After I get the job and having stable financial, I will plan to visit Japan as a tourist. I wish to see my professors, Japanese friends, and Indonesian friends who were still in Japan.

Okay, thanks for all your answers. I am so happy to hear all of them. Hope God grants your wish!

Thanks a lot! By the way, I like to record every time I have the trip, you can check all the videos in my Youtube channel. Find it here, please subscribe and give like! Below is the example:

Hints:

Question word as subject:

Who was organizing

How many people joined

Question word as adverbial

When will you

Question word: more detail

Which part

How did they

How big

What else

How much

Question word as the object of preposition

To where did you travel

Interview by Myself: Cooking and Jogging

What did you do in your spare time?

When I was not in the lab, mostly cooking, sometimes jogging, and a few times traveling. Those postings about food recipes were the evidence how I spent most of my spare time in Japan for cooking (check here). I am not a licensed chef, moreover before coming to Japan, rarely did I work in the kitchen. Most of the kitchen works were done by my mother, my sisters, or the maid. I am serious. Then, realizing I will live alone, I started learning cooking from my mother and sisters before flying to Japan. Then, I found out the enjoyment of formulating dishes. Since I arrived, I continued the cooking study by following recipes from Youtube or Cookpad. For several times, I invited my friends to join me having the meals.

Who did you usually invite to your house?

My close friends. They are Om Egy, Irun, Agung, Aya, Philip, and Yeni. I also frequently invited my international friends and other Indonesian friends. Usually my cooking was a success, but for several times I also underwent failure. For all the cooking I made failed, I felt sorry.

What kind of dishes did you usually cook?

Mostly Indonesian, sometimes Japanese, rarely Indian dishes.

How did you get the materials?
Almost all the things, I can get from the convenient store, but for some uncommon materials, I went to Gyomu Supermarket or bought them online.

For common materials, which convenient store did you usually go?

Z convenient store, it was close to my apartment, only 1 block away. The price was also inexpensive. I usually bought vegetables, dairy products, and snacks there. Sometimes, I went to Lawson, this one was also near my place, but the price was like a hell, for umbrella, I spent 1000 yen, huft! Meanwhile, in Daiso, I could spend only for 100 yen.

You mentioned about jogging, how often did you jog?

I jogged every night when I was in the mood, might be three times a week in summer, two times a week during Spring and Autumn. Never did I jog during winter. Did you know? The temperature could reach under -10 degree Celcius at its coldest. Although I didn’t jog during, when the temperature was warmer around 5 to 8, I could see some runners outside. Wow, they got the nerves.

With whom did you jog usually?

I enjoyed jogging with my close friends, but sometimes I did jog alone. Miserable ☹

Check it here. 

What other sports did you usually do?

Cycling. Actually, I didn’t count this as sport because I cycled almost every day, but eventually, I did sport, didn’t I? A good habit that Indonesian people are still hard to imitate. I know the reason why, that is because of the weather. Japanese people can enjoy cycling as the temperature never as hot as Indonesia and the sunlight was not too fierce. So, while cycling we were seldom sweating. Compared to Indonesia, when cycling, the t-shirt would automatically get wet even your skin got tanned.

Understood. What a nice interview about your cooking and sports. Next, how about another interview? Let’s talk about traveling, another part of your activities that you spent during your spare time.

Ok, I’d love to.

Hints:

Questions words: more detail

What did you

Which convenient store

Which other sports

How often

Question word as object:

Who did you usually invite

 Question word as the object of preposition:

With whom

Interview by Myself: Study and Career Plan

Shall we start the interview?

Yes, please.

Could you introduce yourself?

Of course, I am Nurul just graduated from Hokkaido University, to make it brief, visit my page here.

Why exactly did you pursue master degree?

Firstly, I did have the dream to study higher to get advanced knowledge after completing my pharmacist profession program as I realized my skill was still not enough for my dream career. However, I couldn’t tell my desire to my parents as I didn’t want to leave them far away, so I planned to do job hunting rather than pursuing higher education. In a miracle, somehow my parents were moved by my professor and excited to support me to pursue higher degree. Wow, God granted my wish with His own way. I was grateful.

Who supervised your research?

Taniguchi sensei supervised my research. His English was awesome as he experienced staying in English speaking country for some years. His skills in organic chemistry either knowledges or experiments was excellent. He often receives award for his best performances. Thus, I was blessed to be guided by him, he was the best teacher, he could bring me from zero to hero, from zero knowledge of organic chemistry into a skilled organic chemist. As I was only a master student, 2 years of study was not enough for me to publish my work, that’s one which I felt unfortunate.

Will you continue to PhD so you can continue publishing your works?

Almost everyone asked about this, but I would say, no, because I have another dream. Anyway, I was proud of my friend from the same batch who was able to publish his work.

Whose paper had been accepted?

Philip’s papers. Not only one, I heard more than 2. I was glad to hear that as I supported his dream to become one of the best scientist. I didn’t blame myself for not doing my best, I did my best already but there were some factors that restrained me from publishing it. In addition, I didn’t plan to become academician, so I am okay with it.

Leaving Japan already?

Yes, correct. I have already been 3 weeks in Jakarta, Indonesia.

What is your plan in Indonesia?

As I have mentioned before, I am not going to become academician. My dream is to become practitioner as a scientist, so I want to work in a company where I can deliver my passion in chemical, biology, and pharmacy. Now, I am doing job hunting. Wish me a good luck.

Why did you leave Japan? Why not stay longer in Japan? Didn’t Japan provide better work experiences in your field?

I left Japan for contributing to Indonesia where my heart stays forever. I grew up in Indonesia, so I am for Indonesia. And as you know already that I got the scholarship from Indonesian government, so I must come back after completing my study. I know Japan provides better opportunities, but if everyone thinks the same way, who will develop our beloved countries? So, I will just take my small role as one of the contributors for Indonesia by coming back home. I know, I am still fresh graduate with lack of experiences, but I believe, slowly but sure, if I get good opportunities to deliver my passion and use my skills, somehow, I can participate in developing our country sincerely. I hope God bless my path.

I see, that’s all for now. I hope all the best for you. Ganbatte kudasai!

Thanks!

Hints:

Shall we

Why exactly

Without auxiliary:

Leaving

A special pattern with why:

Why not stay

Question word as subject

Who supervised

Whose paper had been

Question word, more detail:

What is your plan

Negative questions:

Didn’t Japan

My Apartment

Only 15 minutes by bicycle from my new apartment to the laboratory, this was what I needed, closer to the workplace. There were 2 rooms: living room and bedroom, ain’t I lucky! The apartment agent told me that this apartment was rarely empty because this was popular. That’s why I was so happy.

In this building, we were three Indonesian people. My neighbor, Sion, showed me her sunflower hang on its rack in her kitchen. Lovely! 

She inspired me to put flowers in my living room, so I bought a lot of synthetic flowers from DAISO, then I arranged it into handmade vase. Could you spot my flowers? It was on the table behind my friend who wore black t-shirt.

Could you see the difference between my first time I moved in and after I spent more time. Haha, after I stayed longer time, I kept buying new things, so now my living room became crowded. Didn’t we laugh! Hahaha.

Anyway, instead of synthetic sunflower I bought, my super kind close friend gave the lively sunflower. Wonderful!

Hints:

Exclamation

ain't I lucky!

Lovely!

didn't we laugh!

Baseball Game

I want you to try watching baseball as what I did together with my sensei and friends. It was in Sapporo dome, Hokkaido, Japan. In fact, you mustn’t bring any foods or drinks from outside. However, there was no other ways as I couldn’t eat and drink anything available there. I couldn’t drink beer nor the fried chicken, so I went to the convenient store to buy onigiri, some snacks, and ice cream.

Wow, what a nice feeling watching baseball by licking the cold ice cream. Next time, come to watch with me and let’s buy ice cream, shall we? However, I couldn’t understand the game, so sensei taught us some basic rules. For you, study the rules before watching, won’t you? It’s better so you can enjoy the game, so no one will distract you.

Thus, if you have the chance to visit Hokkaido, don’t forget to visit Sapporo Dome and have a nice live baseball game, won’t you? Don’t come alone, will you? Or you can come with me ;p

Hints

Other ways to express orders

I want you

You mustn’t

Warnings and reminders

Don’t forget

Informal invitation

Come to watch

Let’s – shall we

Imperative with greater feelings

Study - won’t you?

Reminder/ Good wishes

After positive, negative

Have a nice - won’t you?

Don’t come – will you

Blueberry Picking

Seldom did we go out together. Only in Summer did we have laboratory trip. Whereas, Hokkaido is beautiful in every season, but at no time did we have lab trip in spring, autumn, nor winter. That’s why, we should enjoy the summer trip. At that time, we went for blueberry picking. Never in my life, have I seen blueberry directly from its tree. The tree was like a bush type, so I could reach them easily as the height was lower than my shoulder.

Not only blueberries, but also plums were there. Not since I was born had I tried plum, sour but refreshing. I liked it. However, there were no strawberries and persimmons that I wished to be there, nor was there ice cream made from the fruits, only snacks were available, but I wasn’t interested in. 

  

We were free to pick every fruit in that garden, but under no circumstances should we pick a lot, there were limitation, only for testing, so we were not allowed to bring home, hmm so bad. If we were allowed, I would have picked everything as much as it’s fit in my bag. Overall, I like the garden, spacious, had many fruits and free to test. Not bad.

Hints:

Inversion of subject and auxiliary because of adverbial with a negative meaning
Seldom

Only

At no time

Nor

Not since I was born

Nor

Under no circumstances

Meal Time!

Although from different faculty, we were united by the Japanese Class as we always got into the same classes since we first joined it. Then, we decided to always hang out together. We were Yadi (Turkey), Sung (Korea), Sasha (Rusia), Sajia (Finland), Risma (Indonesia), and I.

One day, we made an appointment to have dinner in a restaurant near the university, a barbeque type restaurant. Risma and Yadi couldn’t drink beer, neither could I so we chose orange juice instead. While Sung, Sajia, and Sasha enjoyed Sapporo beer, the famous beer in Japan.

We ordered some type of meats. As it was a barbeque restaurant, so the meat had not been cooked by any means, so we had to cook it by our own self. We three as Moslems were absolutely no pork to eat, so they followed by just ordering beef and chicken. What a delicious meal!

Expensive, but were not in the least done eating, so we ordered more. Sung and Sajia looked not nearly done drinking, so they also ordered more beers. We had so much fun.

We are far from a perfect friendship as we can not always be together, there will be a time when we will separate each other. This is what is called as life. I also believe there is no friendship whatsoever which is perfect as nobody is perfect, but never give up to get what makes you happy whether friendship, family, or relationship.

Hints:

Emphatic Negative

Neither

By any means

Absolutely no

In the least

Not nearly

Far from

Whatsoever

Hello Tokyo!

If not because of PPIH (Indonesian Student Association in Hokkaido), I mightn’t have had visited Tokyo for my first time. The head of PPIH was not able to attend, so I came instead of him. The conference was on Saturday, then we stayed overnight in KBRI house. We slept well there. Below picture was at the time when we were about to separate for our own's destination. A girl with the hat was unique, I seldom wear a hat while wearing hijab, I had to admit she looked stylish. I was wondering why she wore hat.

Personally, after getting harsh sunlight in Tokyo in summer, I was babbling like Tokyo is no better as is much hotter rather than Hokkaido, I didn’t think I could survive during the high hot wave in Tokyo, so I felt like I wanna go back to Hokkaido soon. But, at least, I should enjoy 1 day for a short trip. I didn’t know when I will have the other chances to visit Tokyo.

It was Alvin, my friend from the same batch of scholarship who led me during my one-day trip in Tokyo. He was so kind. He studied in University of Tokyo as known as Todai so firstly, I asked him to guide me to his campus. As we got hungry, he chose sashimi instead of Indian foods, he said, it was one of the best restaurants near the university and I could eat. It was my first-time eating sashimi.
 

I rarely eat raw fish, I usually experience eating raw fish when I go to sushi restaurant, but honestly, I prefer grilled one. But there, in sashimi restaurant, I couldn’t find grilled one, so I chose the one which is raw, and it was so delicious. I must confess I became sashimi lover since that time. We went to Todai not long afterwards.

After that, we went to Tokyo Sky Tower, there were also some malls and we went there. We went to Pokemon shop, but I was little enthusiastic as I no longer watched Pokemon which the last one was when I was kid, but when he brought me to Studio Ghibli Shop, I was on fire. However, only few things I found in that shop, I bought some cute postcards. If I wanted to see all about Studio Ghibli, he suggested me to visit the museum and the ticket should be ordered a month before. I thanked him for telling me, if not, I didn’t have the idea to order the ticket far before the visit. As we were exhausted, for a while we were looking for some seats. As expected, there were none left so we decided to move.  

I had scarcely visited Disney sea and other attractive spots in Tokyo as one day was always not enough for satisfying my eyes. Since I should avoid getting missed by the plane so I decided to take the JR train to the airport earlier and said goodbye to him. I was grateful for meeting him because I will get lost without him.  

Although hot during summer, Tokyo is never a stranger for me, surely, I will come back as Tokyo has already become a part of my second home, dear my lovely Japan.

Hints:

Not with a verb

Mightn't have 

Not in other position

Not long afterwards

Instead of

Rather than

Other negative words

No better

None

Few

Little

Never

Seldom

Rarely

No longer

Scarcely

Avoid

Without

Lovely Laboratory

Today is her birthday, my Mongolian friend. We are from the same laboratory, Laboratory of Molecular Chemical Biology. I must admit she is a hard worker. During my first year as a newcomer, I saw her very diligent. At around 7 pm when I decided to go home, she was still working up to 9 pm every day. In 6 months, she completed her library data consisted of hundreds of extracted compounds which was not easy. We congratulated her for the success.

Talking about the lab activities, as a master student, I was supervised by a genius professor. I called him genius as his knowledge as well as skills in organic chemistry are extraordinary. As my supervisor, he demanded me for reading a textbook. However, having many classes, a new life doing everything alone (cooking, washing, cleaning, that back then when I stayed with my family, the maid helped me doing everything), labworks, and getting worse as I couldn’t balance them, I had to confess I didn’t read the book frequently. Somehow, he was so understanding so he didn’t blame me for not reading it.

He is also super kind. One day, I did a new reaction, never do it before. I followed my friend’s procedure written in her notebook. However, I followed the step wrongly. Without explaining it in detail, somehow, my reaction exploded. Of course, I was shocked. Knowing the accident, he forbade me to do dangerous reactions without his eyes on me. He blamed himself for not being around me when I did the tricky reaction.

At the time when I was skilled enough for some reactions, he allowed me to do it by myself, but he warned me not to force myself. However, in order to reach my own target, sometimes, I insisted to do some reactions though weekend or already late, but, no worries, I enjoyed it.

Laboratory activities don’t always about experiments, we also had fun. Every month, at least we had 1 party and every year, at least we had 1 vacation. Since half of laboratory members were not Japanese, international students (including me), we had food restrictions. Hence, every party if they did not have any choice for halal meat, they would just serve us vegetables. Personally, I protested for having just vegetables, so for some next parties, I voluntarily brought halal chicken and proceeded it together with my friends like what I did in barbeque party as the example.

Kindly, I had to inform the price of the materials I bought by myself to the student in charge, then she reimbursed the money. I didn’t object to do it for sure. Overall, I would agree to say that I have a lovely laboratory with good work and life balance.

Hints:

Performative verb

Must admit

Congratulate

Demand

Confess

Blame

Warn

Insist

Protest

Have to inform

Object

Would agree

Yukata

One day, when I went back to the dormitory, before I went up to the stairs to reach my room in the 5^th floor, I saw a group of Japanese old women in the common room managing yukata. An international student was dressed in yukata beautifully, so I came in casually. Probably, I would get the chance to wear Yukata that would be my first time in my life. 

Yukata, a Japanese traditional dress worn in summer, is different from kimono that it has fewer layers than Kimono as the weather is hot during summer. Japanese girls usually wear yukata when going to firework festival or other public events or activities. 

Presumably, one of them offered me to wear Yukata as I couldn’t speak Japanese and just read from her gesture, so I replied, “haik” by nodding my head which means “yes” in English. I was so happy if that was true as I also had the dream to experience wearing Japanese traditional dress as the price of the original clothes are mostly expensive. Luckily, it was correct. I chose the color and the motif I wanted to wear, then she started dressing me. 

Together with the other international students who dressed in Yukata we took photo shoot. I voluntarily became the photographer. They looked like Japan ambassador, a global face in Japanese traditional dress.  

I posted the picture of mine wearing yukata in instagram, then my friends began to give comments. One comment made me laughed so hard was a comment from friend telling that I looked like the wife of samurai, the name for Japanese warrior. How come he had the idea like that, haha. 

Hints:

Adverb

Casually

Probably

Presumably

Apposition

HUISA Trip to Moerenuma Park

I spared my weekend for HUISA trip. HUISA is the name for Hokkaido University International Student Association. We went to Moerenuma Park. Although raining, we continued the trip. I couldn’t believe the park so large. The iconic building, I don’t know the name, is triangle shaped. I called this place futuristic because the place considered modern-unique architecture. So wonderful. 

Not only that futuristic building, but also other attractive spots that I hadn’t explored yet were interesting. If not raining, I might already use bicycle for sightseeing. If I had another chance to visit, I preferred the trip full day so I can explore all the spots. Because of these facts, I found this park recommended. Wish to come again with my beloved ones.

Together with international students, we had some talks and they thought me Malaysian. It was not a joke, everywhere, someone with Hijab familiarly recognized as Malaysian, may be this is because Malaysian visitor numbers were higher than Indonesian, so they were more familiar with Malaysian. By this post, I declared myself Indonesian. If you keep recognizing me Malaysian, should I paint my face red and white? It drove me crazy. Haha, just joking. FYI, red and white are Indonesian national flag composition. 

Under the rain, I used my umbrella. But wait, I was left alone. My new friend, a Chinese, enjoyed talking with the Bangladesh boy. Moreover, I was envy as he held the umbrella for her, the feeling was like I wanted to pull her away from him and send him to the canal alongside. At final, it was her right to choose with whom she wanted to talk with. Though I am introvert, I still wish to be with friend, not being left alone. Anyway, that was fine, the scenery was more attractive than watching them.  

Out of the topic, I met the Bangladesh boy again in the same class and the same group. I couldn’t find him positive. He liked to deny our ideas so we couldn’t quickly reach the conclusion. Even though he popped up some new ideas, those were unrealistic while we need something realistic because we will technically practice it. The worse was even he never joined our fieldwork, so his contribution was zero. Not only me sick with his behavior, the other 2 members also felt the same. From that case, I appointed him the parasite.

Haha, sorry for keep babbling about someone you don’t know. That’s all what I want to tell, overall my short trip with HUISA was amazing.  

Hints:

spare-for

send-to

object-object complement

noun & adjective phrase

believe

call

consider

prefer

find

think

declare
paint

adjective phrase only

drive

pull

noun phrase only

appoint

Jogging Drama

I started my life in Japan staying in university dormitory. The secretary suggested me to stay there as I was a newcomer so it would be difficult for me to rent an apartment. At that time, I didn’t know how difficult it would be, so I followed her advice. Most of new students also started their life in the dormitory. I heard, not all of them finished staying until the end of the contract for some reasons. For my case, I believed, I could stay there for 6 months. 

Although I moved far away from my hometown, I didn’t want to leave my jogging habit. I tried to find jogging partner. In my batch, Indonesian students were only two including me. I like to talk, hang out, and doing outside activities a lot, but she didn’t like. She might not like my jogging idea. The others were international students. Luckily, I got along with one Indian student with whom I went jogging together. As she was sometimes busy, mostly I went for jogging by myself. Jogging alone for one time was not bad, but when I did it frequently, I felt bad. How come my life smelled cheesy.   

When I prepared to jog alone

Going to the lab, coming back home to the dorm, shopping in AEON, cooking, sleeping, those were my regular activities. I just realized, I could not find other Indonesian students when there should be many of them. No communication, no friendship, made my passion of living including studying burnt low. “What is the meaning of pursuing study higher when you don’t have the basic of life?”.

Everyday I fell silent, I couldn’t hear the happiness. It became worse when the summertime came. It was raining frequently.  To reach my laboratory, I spent 1 hour by walking or 30 minutes by bicycle, but it became heavier because of the rain so I often fell ill. Usually I am okay with the rain, but it seemed my health was worsened by my bad mental health. Having no good life rang true. 

In my fourth month in the dormitory, I decided to move out. I couldn’t bear living without friends. I found out, most of them prefer staying at the other side of university, different side from the dormitory that's why I never met them. Thus, I broke my contract and immediately started my new life in my new apartment and new environment. Wishing to have many friends.

Briefly, once I moved out, my desire to have friends ran wild. I knocked every door. Sadly, most of the doors were closed, but when my tears ran dry, the last door was opened widely. You might not know how happy I was. The feeling was like I dare to give my heart just for them. This is how I value them so much. I got friends so then I started my ritual with them. 

Jogging was not done alone anymore. Once again, I got friends! Yippiee!!!!!!

Hints:
Linking verb
Smell
Burn low
Fall ill
Fall silent
Ring true
Run dry
Run wild

My First Hanami

Watching cherry blossoms (sakura) in Spring is named Hanami in Japanese. my first Hanami was in Hakodate. Together with LPDP awardees, we went there by JR train. It appeared to be a long journey as I saw mba Vera brought her hot coffee in her thermos. Occasionally, she sipped the coffee while staring at the rain through the window.

in JR Train

Bang Freddy talked a lot about Hakodate cherry blossoms that sounded to be worth to see. I couldn’t wait for it. Pak Eko, who was living in Hakodate, told us already that the cherry blossoms had already bloomed since a few days before which means if we were lucky, we could still see the beauty, because there was a chance of seeing nothing as the cherry blossoms might have fallen already once we arrived. With 50:50 possibility, we were still determined to go and see.

Hakodate Station

Five hours we spent, finally we arrived in Hakodate precisely in Goryokaku Park where the cherry blossoms trees formed a star shape that can be seen from Goryokaku Tower. I witnessed the beauty of cherry blossoms live. Some of the flowers had already fallen so Pak Eko’s worries was proved correct. However, it was not fully true as some of the pretty cherry blossoms were remained awesome though the green leaves had appeared already harmonized beautifully with the flowers. 

Goryokaku Tower

View from Goryokaku Tower

Taking some pictures, having lunch under the cherry blossoms, going to the market, eating sushi were the activities that described how we spent the one-day trip.

Hints:

Linking Verb

Name

Appear (to be)

Sound (to be)

Prove

Remain

Sensei Managed to Win!

During the summer trip, we stayed in a hokudai dormitory. After the weary of sightseeing outside, we had dinner and took a rest in that house. Most of the rooms had sliding doors (traditional style). I was in charge of processing the chicken. Certainly, I made sure already that the chicken brought was halal. They said, it was delicious. 

The Japanese students and sensei got drunk already because of the alcohol. After dinner, they asked me to join playing board game. It was my first time that in the middle of the game I was about to win, but my sensei managed to win after all, though weakened by the alcohol. Unbelievable!

We just transited in that house for sleeping, but it didn’t mean I couldn’t enjoy the surrounding. It was so beautiful, just in front of the house, a sea with a clear sky and white cloud was there. So peaceful.

Hint:

Slide

Weaken