I’ve been in Boras for three days… Still try to adapt with the different environment. Snow is everywhere…!!
White
I got a very nice room in an apartment… Have a nice lectures, friends, school… But everything is so different! How, for example, the car will give you a way if you want to cross the road. While in Indonesia, it was really hard to cross the road, because all the vehicle will ignore you who try to do that.
Will face many cultural differences, must be interesting!
I recently read my zodiac prophecy on a magazine, and I was quite surprise because it gave true picture about my life. It said something about how I would be able to travel to my dream places. Which is quite right, because this year, starting from January to June, I would join a student exchange program in University of Boras, Sweden. Funded by Sweden Government scholarship called Linnaeus-Palme.
But I still on my stance to not believe in zodiac prophecy, because it’s so unscientific… And it’s also forbidden on my belief. However, it was fun to read.. ^^
Btw. I’m back from my hometown, spending my holiday there.. This is the picture I got from a supermall on my town:
watch out
Not pants, but pen. Beware if you got those hot pen, it will burn your paper when you’re writing! ^^
We all know the stereotype about Japanese people and English: How they don’t really able to speak in it.
Well, I found that the stereotype was not necessarily true. Because mostly Japanese people I met have nice English, if not excellent.
Of course, the fact that I attend and international conference could be an important factor that influence my judgment. All the selected committee and participant must have certain requirement, including English competency, to attend the conference. See that people I met come from many excellent Universities such Tokyo University, Kyoto University, Nagoya University, etc. But still.
I’ve discussed this with Mizoguchi San, one of the facilitator in my group. He said that actually Japanese people were not that ignorance toward English. They know it, but too shy and have no chance to practice it. So they prefer use Japanese. Even if you talk to the old men in the street, they probably understand if you speak in English to them, but they can not answer it in English. In other word, passive speaker?
And the Japanese youth nowadays are more and more fluent in English. Because many of them spend their holiday outside Japan, their accent even could be similar with the native, different with Mizoguchi San’s generation, he said. Which I found true. I mean, the accent.
Ah, but it was true that some of them still prefer Japanese. Every time I went to the convenience store, the cashiers always said the price we should pay in Japanese, while they were pointing their hand to the cash register so we could see the number by ourselves.
I’ve got a memorable experience regarding the language and convenience store (They said it as Konbini, fyi) on my last night in Tokyo. We went to the convenience store to buy some foods, and I couldn’t find the shelf for warm drink (because it was 11 p.m and very very cold outside). Confused, I asked the cashier about it in English. But maybe because I pronounced it so bad, he could not understand when I said ‘warm drink’. So I decided to practice my basic Japanese, by saying, “Atatakai.. Nomimono wa… Doko desu ka?”. He got what I said and enthusiastically point to the warm drink corner –which I didn’t see before-.
I wonder if he felt happy because I could speak a little Japanese, because if it was me, I would be very happy if I met someone from foreign country could speak Bahasa Indonesia…
After I got my drink, I paid and say “arigatou gozaimasu’, and the cashier answer me, “You’re welcome,”. Hmm, bilingual conversation?
My conclusion? Japanese were just like Indonesian and other countries that don’t use English as their main language I think. The degree of English competency are varied in each citizen. So, don’t be afraid if you visiting this kind of countries. You could always use the universal language to communicate. Not English, but the gestures… ^^
bought a lot in konbini..!
I was reading Understanding Diversity by Barbara F. Okun et.all (Brooks/Cole Publishing Company, 1999), when I found interesting things related to my experience in Japan: Cultural difference regarding perception of time and space.
On the conference, the committee kept reminding us to be punctual. Even our orientation always been started with the announcement that we should not late for the next schedule. Well, indeed in several events on the conference, such as meal time, some participants came late for 5 to 30 mintues (including me..! >_<)
Now from the book I have scientific evidence why southeast asian people always come late: they value time differently with Japanese.
First, about time orientation. Japan is a past-oriented culture, that have deeper sense about time and chronology. While southeast asian country and/or country with Islamic tradition are a present-oriented culture, they value ‘here and now’, so they have more casual and relaxed life style.
See, it proof why for us coming late for 5 to 30 minutes is still acceptable….
The book also present a study conducted by Ralph Keyes (1991) that observed the walking speed of people from Japan, US, England, Italy, Taiwan, and Indonesia. The result? People from Japan walked the fastest, followed by England and US. People from Indonesia walked the slowest… Ahaha..!
But not to worry, on the observation about how fast people got served at the post office, Japan was still the fastest, followed with US, but then… Italy being the slowest.
However, Keyes also looked at the accuracy on the bank clocks, and Japan’s is the most accurate, followed by US’s. The most inaccurate clock? Indonesia’s…
But the truth is.. We hate waiting also..! We still can not accept if someone came late for more than one hour.. or two hours… We will definitely got upset too. It’s just our toleration for lateness is broader than the other culture… But still, we value time as money…
Some materials on the above writing were excerpt from: Understanding Diversity, by Barbara F. Okun. Published in 1999 by Brooks/Cole Publishing Company.
After the conference, I got new impression about Japan: That they are really an excellent host. This impression has been felt even before I enter Japan, when we need to arrange the visa and plane ticket. We almost do nothing regarding the visa -only filling some forms and giving the passport- because it has been arranged nicely by JTB Indonesia, a local travel agent subcontracted by the committee.
They also gave an informative guidebook so we could make good preparation.
When we arrived at Narita, they welcomed us warmly with the special Green Jenesys Flag (for environment), gathered us in the airport, and took us to the hotel through the bus.
They provide us convenient (and high class) hotels, such as Asakusa View Hotel, Laforet Zao Hotel, and Tokyu Excel Hotel..
Laforet Hotel Zao
They took us to various restaurants and provide various food, from the traditional Japanese meal (Tempura… Nabe… The fishes… Kamaboko..) to the modern meal (Cordon Bleu, etc)… Or even to food from other culture..! In my case, they took us to Indonesian Restaurant, that provided almost authentic taste of Indonesian food… (There were also Nan & Kari and other ethnic food in the farewell party)…
They made a very tight schedule so we would never waste our time for nothing. Every second of our time there was effectively used for something precious, whether it’s for field trip…
discussion… party, chatting, or even orientation…
But the most important thing is their nice and warm attitude that made us feel comfortable living in foreign country for a week…! The rumor that Japanese people are shy and rigid? Not true at all!
Aoki San, Endo San, Ibu San, Saki San, Erito San, Yao San, Kitawaki San, and all other staffs, they were really nice, full of smile, and really care toward the entire participant…
To think that I’ve fussed them quite a lot..! >_< For example when my temperature increased and made them worry… Or when I was separated from my group in the photo session, so I ended up taking picture with other group (and made a very weird expression in the picture.. duh).
The farewell at the airport with them was really touching… I don’t know whether we will meet again in the future or not… We’ve only know each other for one week, but I’m sure, I will never forget them… As I will never forget all my new friends from the conference too…
This is my confession: I know more about Japan (thanks to their manga and anime and doramas) rather than Laos, my neighbor country. I know more about US (thanks to their media domination and of course, Hollywood) rather than Thailand, my other neighbor country. I never care about this fact until I attend Japan-ASEAN Student Conference at Japan, this November.
Meeting so many people from ASEAN, but know so little about their home country, made me a bit embarrassed. Fortunately, that forum is a good venue to fulfill the hole of my knowledge. We shared stories about our countries, though in my case, we shared more about environmental problem, because we were in environmental group.
So, I’m really grateful to attend the conference. Not only I got many precious experiences and new friends, but I also managed to know more about my neighbor country, and know the real side of Japan, that I never found in manga or anime…
More stories about the experience, in next post.. Here some pictures I’ve taken…
I thought it would be warmer… BEcause in Yogya, the temperatures were like around 25, and even 37 at the noon… But here, wow… every time I breath, I could see it…!! White…!
Soo… After not updating so looong, I’m back. I supposed to report about all my trips around Indonesia lately, but still have no time to it.. And I’ll also report the trip in Japan… But not today… Need some sleep…
Euh, a quick news from me… I’m still here..! Only, couldn’t manage my time well, due to a lot of things to do: doing my green project for DYLA, practice for tWo debate competition, preparing new student orientation (I’m old already…!)…
So many stories, so many things to share… Just wait…
Now I’m in SUrabaya, having the debate… A nice city..!
Geez… It was terrible… I’ve sacrificed many things for this, only to find that they didn’t really have the guts to also do it.. Or maybe they do, it’s only the matter of time… Wish it will be better next time…!!
Unnecessary post, sorry… A little bit upset about punctuality… Who can stand waiting for 5 hours???? Why not everyone believe it’s really important to be punctual?!
Duh.
Btw. RIP for the king of pop… Really. One more proof that life is unexpected. Reminded me on the WCYF days, in the quiz night, there was a question, “What is the best selling album in the world??”. The committee giving clues, ‘it’s a he’, ‘he is still alive’, etc… Still, I couldn’t answer it… “Thriller”.
…
Now the clue would not be the same…
And we sang “We are the World” after the concert, together! A good memory…
Until I was in high school, I never know that Seven Wonders of the World are always changed every year. I mean, we used to memorize it in the elementary school, on the social science class: that The Sphinx and Pisa Tower and Borobudur and everything are an unchangeably Seven Wonders. They even ask about them in the test. So, it was kind of a general knowledge, just like, Rafflesia is the biggest flower in the world, and Yen is currency of Japan. It’s hardly to change.
But here I found that the Unesco committee actually always update this seven wonders thing. Which, if we thought it deeper, maybe fair. There are so many beautiful and unique places in the world, how come we can only appreciate seven of it? But still, it will make the student confuse then, the question on their quiz will might be like, ‘name the place of blahblah that became one of The Seven Wonders in 2000’, and the student could mistaken it with the one listed on 2001, or something like that.
Now the important thing is, who decide that? People from all over the world, indeed. At least, that’s the mechanism in this time. Only, the one who can vote is those who have access toward internet… After the committee select the nominee, then we, the citizen of the world, can give a voice. I don’t know about the old 7 wonders, how people vote, through letter?
However. Now I came to my point. On the voting about new 7 wonders, Indonesia nominate some of it’s places, and the one who last until now is Komodo National Park. An Island of Indonesia, where Komodo life.
Who never heard about Komodo? A living fossil of dinosaur, or you can call it as dragon, that only live in that Island?
Even Aiba Masaki –The funny guy from Arashi– have already seen them, the Komodo, on his Shimura Doubutsuen variety Show, right here in Indonesia (When he did funny things with the dragon.. Massaging them so they can get well from heat attack on the summer, and feed them..). Well, not in the Komodo Island but in Yogyakarta’s zoo, back then in 2006. But you get my point. And the people watching the movie was like, “oooh..!”.. Because they are so big and look powerful…
So, in the end, I’d like to encourage you to vote for Komodo National Park as one of the Seven Wonders in National Park category.. BEcause, only in this place you can see the living fossil. Not to mention that the Park itself is located in the beautiful Island of Indonesia. It’s a complete set..!
Here the links:
Got the lovely banner from this creative guy , thank you so much! Too bad I’m not really good in wordpress setting so I couldn’t put the banner on the sidebar.. BUt at least.. ^^
