Couldn't manage to post this in April, but I still feel like sharing some prominent life events that I went through last month. So here it is, a new post about what happened in April, to start the upcoming May posts in Morning Hope.
Spring Fling: Cherry blossoms 🌸
What's April without some snaps, I mean, gazillion snaps of cherry blossoms?
This year marked my second cherry blossom experience in Tokyo, and I still haven't got the chance to have an ideal picnic under the cherry blossom trees. The transition to graduate school was pretty much time and mind consuming, with many stuffs going on all at the same time. Mainly on what classes to take and other administrative related things.
But it's okay, I'm not really disappointed either since I got much more proper photos of cherry blossoms, even some are with me under the trees (lol), than last year. It indeed doesn't necessarily substitute the picnic, but at least I was able to spend some times under the cherry blossom trees longer than last year! So, I was feeling content and happy for this!
Location: Nogawa Park
Here are the places where I particularly enjoyed the cherry blossoms: the above mentioned Nogawa Park, Inokashira Park, Musashino no Mori Park and uni's calming neighborhood. Except the Inokashira Park, the other places are located adjacent to each other and are very close to my dorm. Thank God, I'm very grateful to be given the chance to live in such a beautiful neighborhood!
And, below are the pics from the Inokashira Park outing with Maria and Mariko! ;)
We first planned to spend the day in Kamakura, strolling around the old town in Kimono. I know, it sounds really good! But unfortunately I couldn't make it, due to one crucial reason: financial crisis, lol.
Yeah, I dropped my old DSLR camera with my 50mm f1.4 lens kissed the asphalt first. It goes without saying that it left pretty serious damages to both the camera body and the lens. But thank God, the kids fully recovered now after being hospitalized for 3 weeks in Yodobashi Camera fix-it shop, and the repair cost surely drained my bank account at once 😂 So that's why I chose to sacrifice certain forms of pleasure in order to finance that sudden silly accident.
The lens filter was broken into pieces and slightly dented. Fortunately, the lens itself was safe. Although it became quite loose because of the strong shock when it hit the ground. My heart still hurts every time I remember that moment when I was so late to grab my camera before it eventually kissed the ground. No more careless camera handling, Shabrina. The repair cost is again, no joke, crazily account-draining!
So that's the sad story. Now let's back to the park talks!
It was a perfect sunny day on the last day of spring holiday. Everyone opted to go outside and bath in spring sunlight, enjoying cherry blossoms while they lasted. As you can see from the pic above, the park was jam-packed with people having picnics!
I forgot to bring my mini Canon G7x MII to Inokashira Park, hence I wasn't able to completely snap how beautiful the park was actually. The sunshine was a bit too glaring at the point where my old iPhone 5s' camera couldn't deal with it.
Location: Inokashira Park
Last ones from this cherry blossom section, below are some pics when Afrin and I enjoyed hanami (cherry blossoms viewing) at uni's neighborhood soon after we finished our classes. We then continued our walks to Musashino no Mori Park located just across our uni. The weather was super lovely and warm, we super loved it :)
Afrin: partner in crime, the one to lean on every time I need to get my sh*t together.
Going back and forth to the sidewalk every time we saw a car approaching, haha.
Musashino no Mori Park's giant cherry blossom trees are unbelievably beautiful! So excited to come back here again next year, and not to forget the picnic mat! :D
My favorite spot!
After all, I'm having a good time under the cherry blossom trees. The ones that I show you here are of the "somei yoshino" cherry 🌸✨. This very type of cherry blossom is the most well-known one within its genus. It's also the representative flower of spring in Japan.
Anyway, as I also have some other pics properly taken from the camera, I'm thinking to write another cherry blossom post next time! :)
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Officially enrolled in Master's 🤓
Please ignore the head on right side. Ain't got time to crop it, lol 😂 I guess it's my Russian friend, Boris' head.
Officially finished my first year in Tokyo University of Foreign Studies (TUFS) as a research student. Now I'm moving on to a whole new chapter in life as a Master's student. Things have been pretty challenging in this first month and umm... I don't feel like saying it in such an early phase but I might say that it's kinda exhausting sometimes, lol! I mean when it comes to deal with piles of weekly readings. But hey, this is only the beginning. I still got another 22 months to finally end this tough yet fun journey. So I gotta make this very phase of life meaningful no matter how crazy the hurdle might be. And I do hope that I shall pass all classes with flying colors! *fingers-crossed*
But one thing that I'm very grateful right now is that I finally found a new research theme that I surely love to conduct in this two years of study :) I know, conducting research isn't an easy peasy lemon squeezy thing, but it's the challenging thing that would make me grow. At least, that's what I believe over these recent years.
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Teaching about Indonesia! 🇮🇩
Finally, a chance to wear my traditional costume here in Tokyo!
Yep, I love wearing traditional costumes, just as much as I love being in denims and cute button down shirts. As a person representing my country and ethnicity, I plan to wear my traditional costume called "Kebaya" whenever I teach! Last time when I was back in hometown during the spring holiday, mom bought several pairs of colorful Kebaya for me to wear in the class! Yay!
So, long story short, I got the chance to teach about my homeland, Indonesia 🇮🇩 in elementary, junior and senior high schools in Tokyo. This activity belongs to "Kokusairikai", an association that promotes global citizenship education and intercultural understandings in Tokyo. Hundreds of foreign students from all over the globe studying in any university in Tokyo and its neighboring cities get involved in this program. So that's why taking a part in this program has been one of my biggest goals since last year. And finally God made it true and possible after I passed the interview last year in October :) Alhamdulillah!
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Coldplay concert!! 😳
Tokyo Dome, April 19th 2017 ❤️
My heart skipped a beat for the shortest two hours in my life.
Seeing them live on stage, witnessing how they look like in real life,
and their lively performance.
Hearing Chris' heavenly voice.
And all the goosebumps and endless mixed feelings.
Thank God, it was real.
Tbh, it was my first concert experience ever! and it was no doubt, a BOMB!
COME ON GUYS, WE WANT MOREEEE. WE DON'T WANT THE SHOW TO END 😩
For this one too, I'll make a special blog post next time!
So my friends, the pics above are just teasers 😆
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Well, those are what happened last month! I didn't stroll to some new neighbourhoods, just simply because I had no time. I spent most of my weekends finishing the following week's readings. And surprisingly, I didn't feel like complaining just because I had to spend weekends that way after I enrolled in Masters.
So now I understand when people say that universe will conspire to make things work out if you're committed to what you're doing. I've proven it lately! By being naturally loving to stay at the dorm reading pages of lecture materials, or even chose to stay for a while at the library, doing the exactly same thing. The things that I never did before, because I have always chosen to stroll till my feet hurt rather than sitting at the library for hours.
Just so you know, I never really liked library before. I've always thought that library and I weren't meant for each other! hahaha. But now, things have gradually changed! and I'm super glad about all of these drastic changes that happened in my life.
Well, I guess I need to close the post here. It's 2:05 in the morning already in Tokyo.
I'm soooo sleepy! Catch you guys soon on the next post ❤️
Good night/morning, beautiful souls!
xx,
Shabrina.
