10 things you might realize when you’ve been in japan for quite long February 8, 2010
Posted by lumierre9 in chit-chat.Tags: japan thing
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1. you start to mix your native language or whatever language you use with japanese…for example “yabai!! i think i can’t do it, it’s muri da!”
2. you can’t speak english properly anymore (for non-native) because your english turned into inggurisshu
3. at least a quarter of your wardrobe filled with uniqlo clothes, and sometimes you go out not realizing that every single piece of clothes you wear has uniqlo label on it
4. when you’re called by a japanese friend, although he/she speaks to you in english, but you answer with “hai!”
5. everytime you see something interesting, you will say “sugoooi!!”
6. your facebook or messenger status started to use japanese, either written in kanji or hiragana, although actually you don’t really understand the meaning
7. the number of cards in your wallet (or in any other card holder) already exceeds ten (10), excluding cash card (ATM), alien registration card, and
teikiken (commuter pass)
8. you started to say a lot of sumimasen, even when you’re not making mistakes
9. you take the train while either listening to music or reading a book or playing with your cellphone/iphone or playing games with your psp/nds
(you can choose more than one option)
10. when you’re taking an escalator, you always stay in the left side of the escalator (or the opposite for you who live in kansai area i think), although there’s no such a ‘rule’ in that place
what do you think?
Code Blue January 29, 2010
Posted by lumierre9 in movies, values of life.Tags: character, code blue, community, do your best
2 comments
two days ago i finished watching dorama Code Blue 1st season (2nd season just started airing this month)…the main story is about Doctor Heli, emergency doctors who go to accident sites by helicopter to help the victims, and there are 4 interns who’re trying to be flight doctors…
this series reminded me of western tv series grey’s anatomy for its hospital settings, patients and operations things, only without love-love thing…and the characters are somewhat similar…the main character has a close family member who got a Alzheimer disease (Aizawa – Meredith), a character who’s study-a-holic (Shiraishi – Cristina), one who doesn’t have the charisma of a doctor (Fujikawa – George), and another one who’s kinda stylish among all (Hiyama – Izzie)…
almost every episode have something to be thought about because of the different cases, but overall, there are two main things that we can learn from:
1. wherever we are placed right now, let’s give our best on what we are doing…we may have some goal and sometimes the condition or our surroundings make us start to feel that it’s impossible, no way to reach it…when we start to feel down, always remember to get back up, at least do the best what we can do, don’t be stuck thinking too much about what the result will be…like Fujikawa when he was told to move to another hospital but he kept doing his job with all his best until finally he is trusted to ride the heli…
2. our own abilities are not enough to be successful…but we also need people around us that can lift us up, build our character, and make us a better person…the process may be uncomfortable, even could be hurting at times, but if we can respond to it in a right way, and get through it, we will become a stronger person…like what people says, “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”…yeah, “clashes” with other people won’t kill us, but it will make us stronger instead…but the thing is, not every people could build us up, some even can destroy us…so we need to choose carefully who we’re gonna let to build us…right person in the right way will lift us higher and higher…
japan hospital January 28, 2010
Posted by lumierre9 in chit-chat, useful information.Tags: japan hospital, oowaki hospital, tokyo medical and dental university hospital
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last tuesday was my second experience going to a hospital in Japan…the first one was at the beginning of the year when my right elbow got inflammated and unmovable…i, accompanied by Mr.Bahar, went to the university health center, and they suggested that we go to 大脇 (Oowaki Hospital) in Okusawa, one station from Ookayama…
it’s not a big hospital, but it’s a quite good hospital…after i made the patient card, i need to wait around 15 minutes because when i arrived there it was their break time…then i was called into the doctor’s room, he checked what’s wrong, and then suggested me to have my elbow x-rayed, then i waited around 5 minutes to get x-rayed, and after that also around 5 minutes i think to be called back to the doctor…i was quite impressed because the x-ray photo was sent directly to the doctor’s PC, so it doesn’t need to be printed out…he checked the photo and he said that he didn’t really understand what’s wrong with my elbow, but for the time being, he gave some medications for the inflammation and see the progress for a week…after that, i waited to pay the bill…it costed me 2010 yen…
after that i bought the medicines in the pharmacy in front of the hospital…as a first-timer, i was asked to fill some questionnaires regarding medications…i was called after my medicines was ready, and i was explained about the meds, they also gave a printout of the explanation…the meds costed me 790 yen…
and last week, i felt hurt on my inner cheek, and i couldn’t eat well because of it…the next day it was still a bit hurt, and my ear felt kinda hurt too…i told my friend about it and she recommended me to check the symptoms here and after i found out that it may be an effect from the problem on my teeth, gum, or jaw…so i tried to analyze the wound on my inner cheek, and i thought the cause was my upper wisdom tooth that grew facing outside…
so i consulted with an indonesian friend in my dorm who’s studying dentistry, and also my dentist in indonesia, and the conclusion was i need to take out that tooth…so last tuesday i went to 東京医科歯科大学病院 (Tokyo Medical and Dental University Hospital) in Ochanomizu where my friend studies…she helped me with some of the administration there…
actually we knew already that we need to go to the dental surgery division, but because we didn’t have any references to any doctor there we must go to the general diagnosis first…there i was asked to fill a questionnaire about general health…after that i was called to have blood pressure check (mine was kinda weird, 148-85 as i remember)…then had another waiting until finally my turn for the diagnosis…fortunately the dentist can speak english quite well (we asked for english-speaking dentist) although actually i wasn’t so sure how to explain my problem in english…hehe…so, he refered me for the dental surgery which is located on 6th floor…so i went upstairs, waited for a while, got a queue number and waited again while filling another questionnaire, this time about dental surgery things…that time the queue number was 22 and my number was 35, so it took quite long…after waiting for about 20 minutes, there were two dentists who seemed to be looking for someone, i thought maybe they were looking for me, but they didn’t ask me or anything, do i look like a nihonjin??but after that they call me by name in the loudspeaker, so they were really looking for me…
so here i was again asked about the problem, the dentist who were asking me speaks english very well, maybe he ever studied abroad before…and then he told me to have an x-ray photo of my teeth before he took out my wisdom tooth to see if there’s no problem…and the radiology is on the basement floor…so i went down again…but here, the doctor and the nurse didn’t seem to speak any english, so at times i was kinda confused…after the photo was taken i was asked to wait a moment for the result, and then i was given an envelope with the x-ray photo inside…oh, this hospital wasn’t as advanced as the one in Oowaki, i thought…but maybe because it was troublesome for the dentists to handle the computer while taking care of the patients…so i went upstairs again, submit the photo, and now finally the execution time…
he showed me the photo result, confirming again about the tooth removal…he said that my wisdom tooth was close to the sinus, to it has a possibility to affect it in some way, but the chance is small, so it’s safe…after that he gave me a consent and agreement form that mentions some of the risk of the surgery…he asked me to read it carefully and sign it…then he was preparing for the surgery and i was asked to read another paper about instructions for post-tooth-removal…and the surgery began…first he asked me permission to give anaesthetic and he started taking out my tooth…i didn’t expect it would be that quick, maybe only 5 minutes until it’s done…my friend said that maybe because my tooth was already tilted so it’s an easy position to be pulled out ^^ after that the dentist explain some more thing, and asked me if i want to bring the removed tooth home, so i took it 
after that i went to the cashier, and i was given a receipt for the medicine that i need to pick at the pharmacy…finally i went back to the cashier to pay the bill…this time it costed me 5550 yen…
some things i learned from these experiences:
1. the technology and the network in japan hospital is already advanced, i was impressed especially with the x-ray result that was sent directly to the doctor’s PC
2. the hospital also have some mechanism to send documents automatically to any other divisions…we can see the document traffic in some part of the ceiling…it’s so convenient so people don’t need to run around to deliver the documents anymore
3. in Ikashika Hospital, they made some kind of route on the floor to show the way to certain division, so it is much easier for patient to find their way
4. patients are treated very well, they are given detailed explanation about the whole thing, even they are asked to fill the questionnaire so that it will be easier to be taken care of in case of problems
5. medical cost in Japan is very expensive, compared to Indonesia, and the number i mentioned here was already cut by the national health insurance, so i only pay 30%…so if you don’t have the insurance, it will be much more expensive…so you’d better take care of your health while you’re staying in japan…but actually, come to think of it, if we see the service we get as i mentioned above, that price is still reasonable…again compared to Indonesia where we can rarely find good public service…
to conclude, well, Indonesia still need to learn a lot about all these things to become better and better…
can’t you step closer?? January 25, 2010
Posted by lumierre9 in chit-chat.Tags: friend, love, relationship
10 comments
last saturday i was meeting with an old friend (let’s call him S) and hang out with some of his friends also (only 2 i’ve known before)…at dinner time, the main theme discussed is about dating…since S has many experiences of being rejected by girls he confessed to, also dating for couple of times, he’s the one who shared the most…
one of the topic he said is that man and woman who are close friends, can’t become a couple…for a man, it’s still possible to change from a friend to a lover, but mostly the problem is in the woman, it’s so hard to change it…when a woman be friend with a man, she only think of him as a friend, but when a man become a woman’s friend, there must be something behind it…another friend gave a theory, that a man only has one stair of relationship, that’s why i think there are a lot of men who fall in love with his close woman friend…meanwhile a woman has two stairs, lover stair and friend stair, and she will put someone who she think has a chance to become her future husband (maybe considering some criterions) into the lover stair, other than that into the friend stair, from the first time they meet each other…whoever has been put into one side, can’t be moved to the other one…women takes them very differently…
i don’t agree with the part there’s always something when a man be friend with a woman, because i myself have several close friends, and most of them are women…but on the part of women can’t change from a friend to someone special, well, based on many people’s experiences, including myself, that’s true…but i still don’t understand why it is like that…for me, i can only decide if i’m going to make someone my girlfriend if i already know her well, i thought about it first carefully because i want it to be the first and the last…and there’s no way i could know her if i don’t be close with her first…i didn’t have any hidden intention at first, maybe i was interested in some way but it’s not that i be friend just because i tried to hit on her, but merely just to know her more…
is it wrong?
well, i know that not all women are like that, but most of them are, at least my experiences told me so…somehow it makes me think and think…then what should i do??should i just follow the common way, not be friend first but just go directly with someone i find interesting, hit on her, ask her to be my girlfriend and get to know her after being lovers??then what if we don’t fit each other??just break up and hurt each other??i don’t want that…
i know that when a couple breaks up, the one who’s hurt the most is the woman…a man may also get hurt at first, but he could overcome it quicker than woman…i don’t wanna hurt any woman because of this thing…but why can’t women change from a friend into a deeper relationship??
hahaha…i don’t know what i’m writing here…maybe it sounds too melancholic, but well, it’s true that men and women are totally different, and i just wanna share my opinion about it…so any opinion??
a little boy with big vision January 22, 2010
Posted by lumierre9 in inspiration, life lessons.Tags: marko calasan, microsoft certified systems engineer, vision
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i just read this news from a link on a friend’s blog about a 9-year-old kid who’s already a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer…here’s the news (source: news.cnet.com)
Marko Calasan, a nine-year-old from Macedonia, is more than just a kid who’s into computers.
At age six, he got his first systems administrator credential from Microsoft and, last month, he became perhaps the youngest Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer.
“I must say that from the technological point of view, Marko is definitely a wonder child,” said Matej Potokar, the general manager of Microsoft Slovenia. Potokar said in an email interview that he first heard about Marko two years ago and was eager to get the chance to meet the young prodigy.
“When we were informed that he is coming to Ljubljana (Slovenia’s capital) and would like to meet with people from Microsoft Slovenia I was looking forward to meet him,” Potokar said. For a half an hour, Marko made a presentation to Potokar and his team about Active Directory and its benefits and challenges.
“It is amazing how much time and energy he dedicated to study this complex and extensive material. On the other hand, I hope that … he still finds time for his second biggest love, which is football.”
Marko already has his first gig as a system administrator, remotely managing a network of computers for a non-profit that works with people with disabilities.
“The employees … are very glad that there is a good administrator,” Marko said in an email interview. “I think that it’s true, but who knows.”
Marko said he typically spends about four hours a day at the computer, but concedes that it is sometimes 10 hours or more.
Marko is also a teacher with his own computer lab on the grounds of an elementary school where he teaches eight- to 11-year olds the basics of computers. The lab houses 15 PCs provided by the ministry of education. That’s on top of the five computers already in the Calasan home — Marko’s dad is also an IT systems manager.
To allow him more time with his computers, Marko has permission from the government to attend school infrequently. Sometimes it’s only several times a month. And he also has a set of keys so he can go into the lab at any time.
“Sometimes when the other classmates are sleeping, I go and practice in my lab,” Marko said in an email interview.
His latest project is trying to devise a way to send high-definition television (HDTV) signals over a comparatively slow network infrastructure. To support his effort, a Macedonian telecommunications company has given him a direct connection to its network backbone.
Marko proudly says that even over a basic DSL connection one can get HDTV without glitches. “The buffering will be very short,” he said. Marko hopes to demonstrate the technology at this year’s CeBIT show in Hannover, Germany.
The one computer-related activity Marko is not all that into is video games.
“I do not play games on computers because there is nothing serious about playing games on computers,” Marko said. “If you want to play, go outside and play with your friends.”
Although he is something of a celebrity in Macedonia, Calasan said he really wants to move to the United States to be closer to the latest technology — and to Microsoft itself.
“That’s my biggest wish,” he said. “I want to live in America because there are the highest technologies.”
wow, i think he’s even much better than a computer-science-graduate-student-to-be like me…even he likes going to the lab to study while the others, his friends, and including me also, prefer to sleep at home…he already knows what he wants to do while a lot of people still don’t have any dream, wasting a lot of time not knowing what they will be in the future…
this is also a slap for me who sometimes still slacking off, not using my time optimally for studying…but well, i don’t wanna lose to a 9-year-old boy…it’s never too late to learn…although it will be hard because that means i have to sacrifice a lot of my playing time, put more efforts studying what i still don’t understand, and a lot more to-do list…がんばりましょう！！！
thank you and sorry January 18, 2010
Posted by lumierre9 in values of life.Tags: sorry, thank you, worthy
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these two phrases often be the hardest things for some people to say…either one for many (especially sorry i think, that’s why there’s a song: “sorry seems to be the hardest word” 
) or even both for some…but these two phrases are powerful…they could change people…by saying them, it can make people’s hearts touched or make people happy…but in the other hand, forgetting these words could bring a disaster…
just a simple thank you can make someone feel appreciated, feel worthy…the thing we receive may not be that significant for us, but the “thank you” from our mouth could mean a lot for someone else…but i found out something in japan that makes me feel that japanese people always feel unworthy of themselves…for me, and maybe for any other indonesian people, or even for people from another country also, saying thank you is common…one example that i want to mention here is in letter or mail…usually when i write e-mail to someone else, especially to someone i respect, maybe just asking simple thing or give information about something, i write “thank you” in the end…well it’s not always “thank you” because i already receive something, but maybe just saying gratitude in advance or thanking them even just to read my mail…
this semester i took one of a japanese writing class where i need to send the homework via e-mail…at first when i sent the e-mail, i said “thank you”…then on the next session, the teacher was explaining about how to write e-mail correctly…and one of the point she corrected is the part of saying “thank you”…she said more or less like this “what is this thank you for? it’s not necessary. it’s not that you’re asking me for something”…it made me think, why should i ask you something first to say thank you…there’s nothing wrong with saying thank you…and i concluded that it may be because japanese people feel unworthy, they feel that they don’t deserve it because they feel that they didn’t do anything for someone else…
and about “sorry”, indeed it’s the hardest word to say…i agree with the song…it’s human nature to have pride…what people think is that in a fight, the one saying sorry is the loser…that’s why soooooo many people don’t want to admit their mistakes, because they’re afraid to be said as a loser…i think it’s wrong…i could say that they’re the winner, because they can overcome their pride, their fear of being a “loser”…
and again about japanese people, they also have a bad habit about saying “sorry”…they always say sorry (sumimasen) although they didn’t do any mistake…this also shows the feeling of unworthiness…just today a senpai in my lab told me something about my research that my sensei asked, well it’s just a small addition what i’ve been told before…after that i asked him “sore dake?” (“that’s all?”) because i want to know if there’s something else that i need to do, and he answered “hai, sore dake. sumimasen.” (“yes, that’s all. i’m sorry”)…i was confused…why did he say sorry??he didn’t do anything wrong…he even helped me…
well, maybe what i’m writing here is a bit confusing…maybe it’s not coherent for one paragraph with the others…i’m sorry for that…i just suddenly felt to write this and i’m kinda lazy to think hard to make a good composition for this…hehehe…
but what i want to say here is, let’s learn to say thank you properly, let’s make other people know that we respect and appreciate them…and let’s learn to say sorry, to admit our mistakes, however small it is…and the last thing is, let’s learn to realize that we’re worthy…
5000 hits! January 18, 2010
Posted by lumierre9 in chit-chat.Tags: 5000 hits
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last time i wrote a post about 4000 hits to this blog…it was written on November 10…and yesterday my blog officially got 5000 hits…i even captured the moment it’s exactly 5000
it means that i got 1000 hits in the last two months…it’s a huge progress for me, because it took me 2 years to reach 4000, or in average 1000 in 6 months…i looked at the stats, the monthly number of visitor reached 500 for the first time this month…well, it’s still nothing compared to any other famous blog, but for me it’s quite an achievement…even my friend’s blog that’s just made couple of months ago already got 580 hits last month…
but somehow, it motivates me to write more, so more people can read my blog, and can get something from it, get inspired, and even get their lives changed…although many times i don’t know what to write, absolutely had no idea, or even too busy to write, but i wish this year i can write more…
if there’s any comments, suggestions, critics, or anything regarding my blog, i’d like to hear it from you…
and thanks for visiting my blog
SMILE January 11, 2010
Posted by lumierre9 in movies, values of life.Tags: discrimination, dream, joy, smile, vision
5 comments
i watched another dorama last week…the title is “Smile”…it’s about a half-Filipino-Japanese named Hayakawa Vito (Matsumoto Jun) who always being discriminated for being a half…he’s trying to have a normal life by working at Machimura Foods with a dream to have an international restaurant where people from any country can eat there…troubles keep coming to his life, but people around him always support him no matter what it takes…
one thing i like from this movie is Aragaki Yui who’s playing as Mishima Hana, a girl who lost her voice due to an accident and then she fell in love with Vito…because she can’t speak, she uses a lot of expressions to tell something, and it’s soooooo cute!!hehehe…
about the story, sometimes i feel that what Vito experienced still exists in Japan until now…as what’s being told in the series, that if we hold a foreigners name, it will bring many inconvenience…as a foreigner an alien in Japan, i also have experienced some of the inconvenience, like a difficulty to find a part-time job or to find an apartment to live, or in a bank where i can’t transfer money because they differ the account type…well, it’s still not as bad as Vito, where he is always thought as a bad guy just because he’s a half, because some of the police think that foreigners are criminals…
not only in japan, but in the whole world, there are still many case of discrimination…why should we discriminate?we are living in a plural world, but to God every single human being are the same, no matter what the gender, race, skin color, etc…maybe it’s because of human’s natural character to be like that…maybe from the Seven Deadly Sins, it’s related with pride and envy…try to conclude that…
let’s learn not to discriminate people, let’s learn to see people from God’s perspective, every people deserve the same treatment…don’t see other people as “someone from other country” or “someone who’s very different from me” but, try to just see everyone the same as “human” and don’t add anything else…if we can do it, i think this world will be a better place…
the other thing about the series, as mentioned in the title itself, is smile…Vito always face everything with smile…yeah, it’s the right way to respond to problem…many times we face problems and just start to get depressed and it seems like the problems are getting worse and worse…but let’s try to face things differently…have joy always, like the Bible says “Be joyful always” (1 Thes 5:16) or “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” (Phil 4:4)…many times God reminds us to rejoice at all times, always…it means including in our difficult times, God still wants us to have joy…well, the problem won’t be just *poof* solved if we smile, but at least we can think more clearly on how to solve that problem and it will be felt much easier…
one more thing is about dream…the dream that Vito has, always encourages him to stay alive, and to fight for it…it will be a long session to talk about dream (maybe i’ll write about it some other time), but i just want to say, let’s have a dream…not daydream, not a dream that is just for ourselves, but a big dream that can bring impact to this world, can change this world for a better future…
targets of the year 2010 January 8, 2010
Posted by lumierre9 in chit-chat.Tags: target of the year
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because of the long training time for my system, now i have a lot of time to write…
today i wanna write about my targets this year…it’s good to have targets because we will know what we have to do in order to achieve those targets, and not waste too much time doing useless things…
1. everything go well in the master program entrance exam
2. finish the speech synthesis project well before entering master program, n i wish i could publish a paper about it
3. get a good result for jlpt i took last month…if failed, try again this year…
4. find a good place to move to, that has good facilities, close to ookayama but cheap rent fee
5. discipline myself more…study more, use my time more effectively…
6. doing well in the master program, perfect GPA!:D
7. exercise more and gain more weight
8. save more money, maybe try to find some baito
9. going back to indonesia for holiday, and also travel to somewhere outside japan (and to a lot of places in japan also )
10. wanna buy psp, nds, and mbp
11. join more volunteer projects (of hands on tokyo etc) and learn a lot of things from them
12. …
for the time being, those are what i can think about…maybe i’ll add more as time goes by…
これから一生懸命頑張ります！！
神様は乗り越えられる試練しか与えない January 7, 2010
Posted by lumierre9 in movies, values of life.Tags: beautiful future, faith, jin, lean on God, trial
4 comments
recently i just finished watching a japanese dorama titled “Jin” (仁)…the story is about a surgeon who time-slipped to Edo period and he uses his skill from the future to cure a lot of people that makes the history changes…
there’s a frequently said quote in this series, that is “神様は絶対に乗り越えられる試練しか与えない” (God absolutely won’t give trials that we can’t overcome)…it’s the same with what’s written on the Bible:
No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. -1 Cor 10:13 [NIV]
and a Moslem friend also said that it’s also written in the Qur’an…i think this statement is very powerful and suitable to be given to especially Japanese people, considering there are so many suicide case occurred, where i suppose it’s because they feel they can’t handle their problems anymore…i believe that this statement is true, so there’s no way that we can’t handle our problems…no matter how hard it is, there must be a way out…but the key is God…as it’s said in the Bible verse, in the last sentence, He will provide a way out…many times we feel that we can’t do it is because we lean on ourselves too much…God is the one who gave the trials, and He’s the one who will give the power to overcome it, so don’t use our own power, but just lean on Him…learn to know His will, hear His voice, and find the way out of the problem…
there’s one more quote that i like from the series…”Keep moving forward, because life will surely be much more beautiful than we think“…many times we keep clinging to our past, maybe our failures or bad things happened in the past that makes us can’t go on…we become too afraid to move because we’re afraid that another bad things will happen in the future…King of Solomon said in Ecclesiastes: “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.“…indeed we don’t know what will happen in the future, but i want to have a faith like in this verse and quote, everything will be beautiful, even much more beautiful than we think…all we need to do is just do our part, keep moving forward, give our best, have no fear and trust Him fully that He will make everything beautiful…
