3 Months in Yokohama
FATHIR FATHAN (INA AFS to JPN Asia Kakehashi YP 19–20)
Assalamualaikum, Peace be upon you, good luck to us all wherever we are. My name is Fathir Fathan, but here I am called Fatiru (フ ァ テ ィ ル). I am an AFS Kakehashi student 2019/2020 from Palembang, South Sumatra, Indonesia. Because this is my first newsletter, so I’m going to tell you about my life in the past three months.
It all started from August 4, 2019, when I and my Indonesian friends first set foot in the land of the rising sun of Japan. Everything went smoothly at the airport. In addition of it, we were also provided with a special lane when many other people were queuing in a very long queue. Then we were escorted by volunteers who had been waiting for us to go to a hotel in a city near Tokyo called Chiba, where we would undergo a one-month arrival orientation. Here we join AFS Kakehashi students from other countries. We were taught some basic Japanese, presentations about each country, and Japanese customs. We also went to Tokyo University, the number one university in Japan. Then we took part in a discussion forum about United Nations sustainable development goals at Nagoya University. While in Nagoya we also visited Nagoya Castle. This month ended with beautiful memories.
Entering September, I parted ways with my Indonesian friends, and went to my placement school together with a new travel companion who shared the same school with me. Summer changes to autumn. At this time my life in Japan actually began, accompanied by nine afs students from Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Philippines, Myanmar, and Thailand. The first trial came. We turned out to come at the wrong time, because my school students were in the season right before the test. That’s why we just spent time playing table tennis. In addition to table tennis, our dormitory also provides rooms with air conditioning, piano room, television room, laundry, and others. This dormitory is a ten-storey dormitory. Not many things happened this month. The exam ended at the end of the month, and in closing, we went to Disneyland Japan together with other students and created a lot of new memories. This month ends peacefully.
Continuing to October, we went to another high school to present about our country and about our culture. We also went to various places and malls with some of our school friends. We also went to Kannou temple located in the next city with our teacher. The best part in this month is our school festival that was held this month. Each class is required to display something, and I also play a role in the drama that my class makes. Tiring month.
November is coming. Autumn is getting colder, touching 5 degrees Celsius. I am forced to wear a winter coat wherever I am. Because Indonesia is a tropical country, this is my first experience seeing leaves getting yellow and then turning red. In this month, I and my friends went to Yokohama to explore Minato Mirai (み な と 未来, City of the Future), a famous tourist destination in the city. We also went to a park in Yokohama for a picnic while looking at the vast ocean, because Yokohama is a port city. After that, we went to China Town. A happy month.
Actually a lot of bad things happened in those months too, but I will only tell you one incident that made me rather upset. In November, all the photos I had stored on my smartphone were vanished without a trace. And this is the end of my story. Three months that are very valuable and thankful for. Now I will go and face the remaining months while I am here, and surely there are many memories I can make. Wassalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh.
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