it’s kind of sad if you don’t know the meaning…

It’s time to be thankful again. As of last month, I am a Master degree student in Kyoto University, thanks to the mixture of opportunity, connections, and a naive ambition to help Indonesia’s environment. But most of all, it is thanks to God’s awfully weird plan for me.

It is true that you are shaped by the place you live in. Everyone knows that Japan can be an extremely lonely place. It is the result of the busy life they have, their high respect for privacy, and all the technologies they have invented to create as little human contact as possible.

It is here that I came to acknowledge that friends are not easy to find.

I thought I am just a nice and friendly person and have this amazing talent of being able to be friends with anyone. But NO! Being in Japan has made me realized that that is really not the case. 
I have said this to some of my bestfriends and I will say it again:

it is a real blessing to meet the people i can talk and share with, the friends i can meet without scheduling appointments - even just for a cup of coffee to get away from the world, the people i can joke around without getting offended, the people i can count on practically any ups and downs.

and a few months here, has taught me to NEVER EVER TAKE YOUR FRIENDS FOR GRANTED.

Last week, I quit my swimming membership and joined the girls basketball club in the university . Last night after practice, I joined the girls for dinner and drinking in a Japanese bar. And at my second glass of beer, I rested my head on the wall and just watched them joke around, and I quietly smiled with relieve.
I finally found the friends I can fit in with.
You see, other friends in my lab are all doctoral program students, they are super nice but also very serious people. But these bball girls, they are extremely relaxed, they would scream and giggle on the "boys" topic, no overdone politeness or anything, and, oh man, they can drink.

Another major thing that Japan is testing me is patience. oh my god. Japan really defines perfectionism in a whole new way. In my most fragile times I do not even want to scream anymore. I just break down into tears. Just when I thought "thank god the entrance exam has passed", now all the forms of scholarship applications are challenging the health of my mind. The interview for Asahi Glass scholarship is coming next week. It is frustrating how they intended this scholarship for foreigners yet we have to give a speech and do interview only in Japanese.

But i guess, now that I am here, I have to play the game by their rules.

For those of you who are interested in Japan, I have a new blog here. Don’t worry, it is more of Japan and less of me.

*be the love generation!
RiRi

~ by dhanio on March 18, 2007.