ini report agak lebay, saya buatnya nyantai karna kata koor cuma ceritain perasaan kita aja. Jadi yah......
September 22nd, 2012
The next day after we arrived in Tono rural area, we went for hiking. It
was autumn already, so I felt so cold in the morning. I even wore 3 clothes,
but I still didn’t feel warm. We went hiking to Kasanokayou Mountain about more
than 800 meters height. We hiked with some local students and later I just
noticed that we already met them in Tono Festival. Is Tono that small or maybe
not many populations live in? Anyway, it was very exciting but to be honest, it
was tiring as well. I often go in mountainous area for field trip because my
major is geography and environmental science. However, I still do not really
like hiking, but it was so enjoyable and nice view on the top of mountain.
Having onigiri for lunch with so many funny friends and their unique
personality I usually laugh at. I will not get this moment back in my home country.
September 25th, 2012
On this day, we had to wear formal
suit. I did not expect that you and the other boys would wear very nice suit. I
mean, I thought it would be just like attending lecture at class. At least we
have to wear decent and proper clothes. By the way, you guys were looking good J so we went to Iwate prefectural government office to
meet the governor. It was an honor to meet him. He briefly explained about
Great East Japan Earthquake and I was excited to hear it. I was about to ask a
question, but then the moderator said that we were running out of time. Anyway,
I was really happy that they welcomed us very nice. We got small badge or pin
of Iwate. It was so cool. This day was fun.
September 26th, 2012
On Wednesday, we went to JOCA office
to get information about what we are going to do in Tono. We were asked to
present our feeling, challenge and favor during this program. Everyone was
feeling happy. Most of challenges were about Japanese language and food. The
last, we would like to be a big help for Japanese people and not to be a
burden. We want the world to know the actual news and what is going on in
Japan, so we will spread these precious experiences and knowledge.
After having lunch, we went to
Disaster Prevention Center in Tono that was just built right after the Great
East Japan Earthquake. We also got lecture from Tono mayor. It was very
interesting, and I wish I could clearly understand what the translator said L you know what I mean... Since I could not hear it
clearly, I did not know when the question or comment session was. Whereas, I
had prepared one question that I wanted to ask.
Tono mayor told us how important
Tono is for recovery after natural disaster. Tono is located in the middle of
Iwate prefecture. It only takes one hour by land to reach Kamaishi, coastal
area, where Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami took place. It takes about
one hour and half to reach Morioka, the capital city of Iwate prefecture.
Besides, Tono is surrounded by mountains and located in inter-mountain basins
area. It got strong granite stone covered all over the place, so Tono can
withstand with earthquake and it will be a safer place. Because of this
strategic location and its geology, Tono mayor conducted a Backup Aid for
helping the victims of natural disaster. This great idea blew me away. He was
so impressive! Moreover, Tono’s citizens are really nice people. They help
everything they can do. What a beautiful bond Japanese people have! I will see
if this method can be also used in my home country. We also got to see the
awesomeness of Disaster Prevention Center building. There are some devices that
can connect with telephone line without cable for three days, if I am not
mistaken. The foundation is made by modern technique so that it will be more
resist with earthquake and there will not be many movements of building due to
earthquake. I cannot describe more detail because I could not hear clearly what
the translator said. Over all this building is so amazing!
September 27th, 2012
This morning we went to JOCA office
to have orientation about farming. JOCA rent an abandoned land from local
people here. JOCA cultivated the land to be planted with brown paddy and become
rice fields. That was so cool to know how JOCA take every effort to make this
works, such as giving pesticide to cure the pest that infected the plants. They
really take care of this rice fields. Even the harvest will be sent to Malawi
to feed hunger people over there. So touching! This project takes a lot of
money and they will not get any profit from it. I am amazed with JOCA! In the
afternoon, we helped the farmers to bring the long woods to farm fields. Though
I don’t know what it was for, but I am happy to do anything helpful. The
farmers said they ever saw us on TV. I wish I could watch it too or record it L
September 28th, 2012
We went to Kamaishi city, the
coastal area of Iwate prefecture. There were so many sad stories about surviving during the Great
East Japan Earthquake, like how school students ran desperately to the upper area to save
their lives. Thank God they all are alive. The other story was
about hundreds people went to a building that used to be a landslide emergency
center (I don’t know what to call). However the tsunami was very high and the
water level was nearly the ceiling of second floor. In the end, only thirty
people left who still survived for three days after the tragedy while being
surrounded by dead bodies without food on such a cold weather. It must be a
hard situation. This orientation made me cry. I know a sad story of tsunami in
Aceh, Indonesia, in December 2004, and it directly crept me out. I could not
imagine if it happened to me.
In
the evening, we had welcome and exchange party with Tono local people in Aeria
Hotel. It was such a memorable night. I had so much fun there. The local people
were very nice, kind and warm. I love Japanese hospitality! We sang Doraemon song,
but we were supposed to dance as well. I did not know what was going on and why
everybody did not dance. I admitted that we did not practice it very hard, so
it turned out to be messy and unprepared. Anyway, I was surprised that you had
prepared Doraemon costume. I directly felt that you seemed so excited though
you were not going to perform, but we did not have a good preparations. So...
on behalf of Course A members, I would like to say truely sorry to you,
Koshiro-san L
Nah yg bikin saya kaget, ternyata temennya Syafarah naik mobil jemput kita :O Katanya lebih enak kalo kemana-mana. Harga mobilnya sekitaran 25 juta lebih. Emang katanya mobil di Jepang murah-murah. Tapi yg mahal itu beli bensinnya. Nanti saya cerita lebih lanjut. Dan ternyata temennya itu ga punya SIM internasional buat ngendarain, jadi ilegal gitu :x Kita dibawa ke rumah kontrakan mereka. Jadi ada sekitar 5 orang Malaysia yg ikutan ngontrak di rumah itu. Duh saya lupa harganya berapa tapi kayaknya satu anak sekitar 4 juta Rupiah sebulannya. Terus beberapa orang Malaysia yg kuliah S2 dateng, ternyata mereka pada baru balik dari Malaysia dan ngadain acara makan-makan. Alhamdulillah banget di Morioka ada jualan ayam halal, jadi mereka masak ayam bumbu merah sama ayam goreng tepung. Terus masak spaghetti juga, sama bikin kue. Pokoknya kayak pesta gitu. Aaah seneng banget rasanya bisa ngerasain ayam lagi, dengan bumbu dan rempah Malaysia yg rasanya beda tipis lah sama Indo. Oya mereka juga bawa kue kering lebaran sama samosa yg tinggal goreng aja dari Malaysia. Surga banget lah :'D Foto-foto di Morioka diambil sama Syafarah.
