Just A Story

Now, I am not in Japan, this is my first blog post live from Busan, South Korea!


Today, as my relative that guides me around Busan had an urgent meeting in her campus, I strolled around near Pusan National University. It's quite big and lots of shops to see. After went around for almost an hour, suddenly I passed a shop that sells a thing that my friend wanted for a very long time ago. So I decided to enter.


The bad thing is, I cannot speak Korean beside 'Annyeonghaseyo'. Oh, no.


Two clerks that's been chatting near the door welcomed me.
「어서오세요」"Welcome,"
I don't know how to answer it in Korean and all I can speak is Japanese or English, so I just nodded and look at the thing that I wanted to buy for my friend. The two clerks looked at me while arguing about something in Korean.


Then, they spoke up.
"Are you Japanese?" Again.
"Oh no, I am not," answer me.
"Then, Chinese? Taiwanese?" asked the girl clerk. I still said no. Then the boy clerk tried to guess.
"Oh! Bangladesh? Nepal? Philippians?" Come on.
"I am from Indonesia," I said finally with smile, followed by long "oooowhhh" from the two of them. Then, the girl clerk got away.
"How old are you?" The boy clerk tried to start the conversation with his English-Korean accent.
"How old do I look?" I asked back, my usual answer whenever someone ask my age.
"Uh.. huh?" Seems the clerk cannot understand my English.
"Well, nineteen," I answered, still looking for some souvenir for my older brother.
"Aah! Nineteen!" He said, glad that he can communicate with some foreigner in English. Still, he wanted to talk more, "Are you studying in Pusan National University?"
"No, no. I am just visiting here," I said.
"In Busan?"
"Yeah, in Busan," I said lightly.


The clerk followed me to the cashier as I finished my shopping, then with smiley face, he even gave me some discounts for the things I bought. And the funny thing is..


"Total is 14,000 won. Here you go. And here is my telephone number," 


He happily slip a small paper with his telephone number on it to the shopping bag. After receiving the shopping bag, I got out from the shop as fast as I can to burst into laugh. Hahahaha! What a day. What a funny guy. Simple meeting? Yes. Made my day? The most. 

The Thing I Never Think Of

When I came to Japan one and a half year ago, I didn't really get homesick.. at all. Everything seems so brand new and all in my head was I want to explore this country as much as I could. Being busy everyday, meeting new friends from different backgrounds, joining bunch of activities, and enjoying every minute of my stay in Japan kept me away from homesick.

Before I came to Japan, I read some book about studying abroad, and it always mentioned about how people will get homesick during their first 3 months or so. That time, I honestly thought it won't happen to me. I didn't feel homesick at all for my first year so I think I won't get homesick until the rest of my year in Japan.

As usual, I was wrong. Since last December, suddenly something that I never think will happen to me happened. I miss home. That's it. I said it honestly. I miss live in Jakarta. I miss how I spend my time with my brother to Bandung which was my routine activities since I was in my 3rd grade of elementary school. I miss hanging out with my friends in malls. I miss being so young, carefree, watching DVDs at home, hanging out with friends on Starbucks, going to Kinokuniya Plaza Senayan, going around Jakarta, laughing with my high school friends like there's no tomorrow, wearing things I like, reading magazine every month, watching movies every week, talking about the latest trend, going to hair salon every month, watching Disney Channel everyday, studying AS Level, going to bookstore to buy some books and others.

There are so much things that I miss. Not about the foods, but I miss the memories. Now, I am willing to pay with everything I have to get those moments back. I miss just doing nothing with my friends on Friday. Miss those big city life where I always go to malls to check the latest sale or just window shopping. I keep listening to Indonesian songs and old songs I used to play in my iPod back home. Seems I really really miss home right now. Moreover, I miss my friends so bad.  Miss spending time with them. And now, I really can't wait to come back home.


I think the reason I can overcome the homesick during my first year is that I didn't meet a lot of Indonesian back then. I was too busy to enjoy my new life. This semester, I gather with Indonesian Community quite frequently so I started to miss home. So badly that I didn't realize I am... this homesick. Maybe this is one of the reason I cannot concentrate recently. Well, guess I cannot do a thing but wait until summer to come back and meet all my friends in Indonesia.