Hanami and Senshu Park

As we all know that Japan has 4 seasons in a year. Summer, Fall, Winter, and of course Spring.
Spring in Japan is the time when the famous Sakura blossoms beautifully. Every year the exact time of the Sakura blossoms always changes depend on the weather. This year,2015, the sakura blossoms around mid April in Akita. It was our first spring experience, so we were excited to see the sakura.

Senshu park held a hanami festival during those days. Senshu Park is located near the Akita Station (check my previous post about Senshu Park). What is Hanami? Hanami in English means cherryblossoms-viewing or in Indonesia means melihat bunga bermekaran :D.

As that was our first spring, we were too excited so we went to Senshu Park three days in a row :D
It is true what people said, that cherry blossoms is very beautiful. Indeed, it was very beautiful :) And i never thought that there would be a lot of people in Akita gathered in one place :D Especially on Saturday and Sunday, Senshu Park became so crowded. People were gathering with friends put some mat on the ground and sat under the trees or in the middle of the field, chit chat, ate their lunch together while watching the flowers, the beautiful flowers.

Not only flowers, during the festival there were a lot of shops that sold many kinds of foods, snacks, toys, and beverages. In the middle of the park they built a stage for some traditional costume show, dance, and musical performance. It was a perfect festival.

Here are some pictures of the Hanami Festival and Senshu Park during spring time

Posing in front of the Sakura tree

Diego :)

One of the shop, strawberry coated with chocolate around 20.000 rupiah per pcs :D 

Add caption

Another game shop

People bring their own mat to enjoy the festival

Picnic Time

in the middle of the crowd

Lunch with my host family and friends

The famous Sakura

The festival went so beautiful, and people were aware with the environment. So, after they finished their lunch they brought their own garbage with them home or throw it to the trash bin that provided there by themselves, so no trash left on the ground. We should learn from Japan about this, being responsible to our environment! Go green, love our world.

new school, new friends, and new teacher..

After a long thought :D we finally decided to chose HIGASHI YOUCHIEN as a place for Diego to spent his days during his stay in Akita.

Youchien here means kindergarten in English or Taman Kanak-Kanak in Bahasa Indonesia :D

why we love Higashi Yochien ??

1. It is located very near to our dormitory. It took about 15 minutes by walk slowly, and not more than 5 minutes if we use bicycle. We consider this as our first preference. i know exactly it will be so cold during the winter here in Akita, so the nearer the better :D 

2. The staffs are really nice. I admitted that most of the staffs cant speak English, but they tried so hard to explain everything for me during the first week (with help from my friend of course that can speak japanese fluently :D) but recently, i usually comes to school alone and now between me and the administration staff can communicate quite well with a simple japanese :D (with the help of google translate and body gesture hihi) but at least they don't give up on us.

3. Diego got a male sensei :D it is very rare for me to see a male teacher in kindergarten :D especially as a home room teacher, alone, and handling 27 children for almost school time.. :D by the way, Diego's teacher is really a great teacher.. He tried so hard using English every time we meet and not only that, sometimes he makes special announcement in English just for Diego. He can communicate with Diego ( i dont know how and what language since Diego can only speak Bahasa Indonesia and maybe simple english at first). He is a lovable teacher, even Diego likes him very much. He teaches the students with heart, i can see it from the student's reaction when seeing him. Good job sensei. I will definitely share it to my fellow in Indonesia, especially the kindergarten school teacher :D 

4. The uniform looks soooo cool, especially the winter edition hihihi :D i never thought a kindergarten student can go to school with a suit, sooo cuteeeee... 

5. They have pool in the school and also scheduled swimming time :) although only 10 times maybe in a year but Diego always excited to go to school during the swimming time and never skipped it.

6. They provide healthy food for the students every day (except Wednesday). They gave us the menu every week so parents know exactly what food that their children ate at school. Carbohydrate, Vitamin, Protein, and also milk are always provided during the lunch time.  

7. It has a playground, although its not really big but children loves it, including Diego. School actually finishes around 2.20pm but Diego usually goes home around 3.30 to 4pm, even sometimes 4.30 :D He always plays at the playground, sliding, swinging, playing with sand and ball, or just running around with friends.

8. It has a very well scheduled program, i can see it from the weekly announcement which is very detailed, sometimes too detailed for me :D (because i can't read too much kanji, so many times i just skipped it hihi)

9. They have Parents Association that worked together with the school for some events. I surprised seeing how parents really involved in school activities. Not only collecting fund, but also as a organizer and committee. ( will tell you more about this later, since i once helped the sport day event so i know exactly how parents involved in one event).

10. The school is open. Open here means they never restricted parents to come and see the classroom. Mostly, me or my husband always take Diego to school and takes him until his classroom. The school gives us change to drop our child between 8.30-9.00. During the time, Diego will change his shoes and clothes (by him self)  and also prepare his daily agenda and hand towel which is not more than 10 minutes. After he is ready, he will go to his classroom and i will go home as well. Sometimes sensei will come out and greet the parents :) Although the school is open, not all parents come every morning. Some students goes to school by bus school with no parents.

And many more things that i might share in the next blog.

11 April 2015, was the opening ceremony for the new students in this school. (The school year is different with Indonesia. Indonesia starts school year in July, but in Japan, it starts on April)

The opening ceremony that day was only for the new students in this school. Because kindergarten is not a compulsory thing in Japan, so it is common here to enter Kindergarten in any age between 4-6 depends on the parents (with no entrance test of course).

We were so nervous. Not only Diego, but me and my husband should came and wore a formal suit for that event. 

First the introduction by Diego's sensei in their own classroom, and then together parents left the children in the class room with sensei and went to the hall. After  a while, the students in line form came to the hall and sat on the chair that already provided. Teachers did some music performance and the principal gave some speech. After the ceremony finished, we went back to the class room and got the final announcement from sensei, and students got some souvenir from the school.

It was a relieved for me, since Diego well behaved during the ceremony. Little bit crying the moment we left him, but i guess its make sense since he cant understand everything hihi (by the way, now Diego can understand and speak little japanese :D, proud!)

Here are some pictures that we took :

2 April, we officially enrolled Diego to Higashi Yochien

our first formal picture together :D

look how nervous he was :D

Thats HIM in front of the line, next to sensei :))))

looking for us hihi 

Teacher performance (gurunya dikit yaa padahal muridnya banyak bener :D)

Each students has their own tools box. With their name written on all the things. Since the kindergarten student cant read, so each student will get their own symbol. Diego's symbol is trumpet :)

they have their own pianica. The school lend this pianica for the students. The parents only need to buy the tube or pipe for it. 

Sink in each class room, provided with soap

A place to hang their own hand towel, so after they wash their hands they will use their own towel

Shoes rack. So Diego should prepare 2 extra shoes, 1 for indoor and 1 for sport.

each sticker shows the location where they should seat

classroom decoration for this month. on the whiteboard written : congratulation for the new kindergarten enrollment  

Each fish represent for each month, the student's birthday date was written on it. This is March Fish, and on 17 will be Diego's birthday. SO that is Diego's name in Japanese letter, DIEGO SAMUERU :D 

clothes and hat racks, outside the classroom. Here they hang their uniform, apron, hat, bags, and bottle drink. 

This is for extra clothes. So each semester we have to prepare extra clothes (not uniform) from shirt, pants, socks, and underwear just in case something happened and they need to change their clothes. Of course, it should come with NAME on each thing. 

of course, mini library in each room. Not to mention piano in each room hihihi

Well, that is my little introduction about Diego's school. Keep hoping that i can catch up our stories in Akita, since today is actually September :D

See you in my other post :) 

Host Family

Back to April 2015,

Hahaha saya akui sulit sekali rasanya mencari waktu luang untuk menulis di blog sejak kedatangan daddy dan diego ke Akita. Tapi saya usakan mengejar ketertinggalan walau sudah lewat berbulan2, better late than never right? hihi *alasaann :p

Baiklah, saya mulai

Salah satu program yang disediakan warga asing yang di tinggal di Akita oleh Akita International Association (AIA), adalah Host Family. Host Family berarti sebuah keluarga yang diharapkan akan menjadi keluarga baru bagi kita di sini. Tujuannya apalagi kalau bukan pertukaran budaya dan sekaligus saling melengkapi dengan pengetahuan baru terhadap negara lain.

Untuk mengikuti program ini, tidak dikenakan biaya. Prosesnya dimulai dari perkenalan yang didampingi oleh salah satu staff dari AIA, lalu untuk jadwal pertemuan berikutnya diserahkan sepenuhnya oleh peserta dan host familynya.

Untuk kasus saya,
Host family saya adalah sebuah keluarga muda yang sangat baik. Suami istri, Watoru dan Mari, dengan satu anak yang berumur 2th, Yuito. Awalnya saya berkenalan dengan Mari via email, lalu kami janjian untuk ketemu. Saat itu kira-kira bulan Januari, saya diajak ke apartemennya, makan bersama dan banyak cerita mengenai keluarga masing-masing.

Ketika mereka tahu keluarga saya datang, mereka sangat senang. Kami pun berjanji untuk bertemu, kali ini dengan formasi lengkap dengan keluarga kami masing-masing.

Akita Station, bersama Mari san dan keluarga

Hari itu, kami pergi ke sebuah perpustakaan anak umum yang ada di salah satu mall di dekat stasiun Akita. Perpustakaannya seperti tipikal perpustakaan anak di Akita, nyaman, bersih, dan bukunya banyak sekali variatifnya dengan kondisi yang masih sangat bagus. Diego girang sekali, bolak-balik ambil buku, dan baca buku yang beraneka macam.

Setiap sebulan sekali, perpustakaan ini mengadakan kegiatan story telling dalam bahasa Inggris. Pada saat kami datang, pas sekali dengan kegiatan story telling tersebut. Anak-anak kisaran Balita bersama orang tua berkumpul bersama mendengarkan cerita pendek dalam bahasa Inggris, bernyanyi dan menari bersama. Keseluruhan acara kurang lebih 30 menit.

Alat peraga digunakan sebagai pelengkap cerita

ice breaker

dalam satu sesi, ada 3 cerita pendek yang dibacakan

menari bersama

Setelah puas membaca buku, mendengar cerita, bernyanyi dan menari bersama, kami pun mengundang marisan keluarga untuk mampir ke apartemen kami, dan makan siang bersama.

Sederhana, indomie goreng ala MommyD hahahaha plus keruduk udang. Mereka senang, kamipun senang hihihi.

Senang sekali rasanya punya keluarga baru di sini, walaupun mereka masih sangat muda, hampir seumuran dengan saya, tapi saya beruntung dapat menjadi bagian dari keluarga Mari-san. Seperti punya kakak di sini. Mari san juga ternyata bekerja di Akita city hall. Jadi sering kali hal-hal yang berkaitan dengan dokumen yang rada ribet (faktor saya ga canggih baca kanji), saya minta bantuan Mari dan Mari senantiasa membantu, ahhh senangnyaaaaa hihihi :)

Thank you Mari san, Wataru san and Yuito kun. Your friendship means a lot to us. Always remember that you have a family in Indonesia.

Welcome son to Akita :)

Tanggal 22 Maret kami sekeluarga, akhirnya terbang menuju Akita. Dari Indonesia, dengan Korean Air, kami terbang menuju Seoul untuk transit selama 3 jama, lalu langsung terbang lagi ke Akita. Total perjalanan kami 12 Jam sudah termasuk transit. Puji Tuhan, Korean Air sangat nyaman. Pelayanan yang ramah dan memuaskan termasuk untuk anak-anak. Penumpang anak-anak diberi menu khusus dan mainan selama penerbangan, supaya tidak jenuh.

Diego saat di pesawat, ngantuk karena pesawat pertama berangkat malam :D

late dinner at the airplane

menu anak-anak. Diego pesan pizza.

3 jam di Incheon Airport tidak terasa lama, karena di sana banyak sekali kegiatan yang bisa kita lakukan. Dari membuat kerajinan tangan, main di play ground, makan, shopping, cuci mata, bahkan ada tempat istirahat untuk tidur dan juga mandi.

Me and Diego membuat kerajinan lantern di booth korean culture, gratis!

Indoor playground yang bener2 bikin hepi Diego

Shock karena makanan ini hampir seharga 300 ribu rupiah

Tgl 23 Maret, suami dan anak saya tiba di Akita. Kami disambut degna cuaca Akita yang sedang tidak bersahabat, angin kencang dan hujan salju. Walaupun musim dingin sudah usai, namun suhu di Akita tetap saja dingn, terutama bagi suami dan anak saya yg baru pertama kali merasakan suhu 0 derajat hehe.

Langit Akita yang gelap saat kami tiba, padahal ini jam 12 siang

 Hari-hari pertama kami sibuk diisi dengan kelengkapan dokumen dan kepindahan rumah. Karena tadinya saya tinggal di Apato yang single room jadi mau tidak mau harus pindah ke dormitori kampus yang menyediakan family room dengan harga terjangkau :D Untuk apartemen family room di AKita harganya kisaran 4 juta sampai 7 juta perbulan. Tapi puji Tuhan karena kami dapat kamar di dormitori kampus, setiap bulannya kami hanya perlu mengeluarkan 950ribu rupiah untuk sebuah kamar yang sudah full furnished, dengan kamar mandi, kamar tidur, dan dapur. Luar biasa memang berkat Tuhan. Walaupun perlu berhari-hari untuk membersihkan 'studio' kami ini hehehe.

bagian dapur dari studio kami.

Setelah 3 hari, akhirnya kami memutuskan bahwa kami harus membeli sepeda, karena ternyata kasihan Diego kalau jalan jauh pasti capek, dan tentunya mommy dan daddy bisa sakit pinggang kalau harus gendong Diego kemana-mana. Awalnya kami berharap dengan sepeda lungsuran yang di beri oleh senior saya, kami hanya perlu membelikan boncengannya.. tapi ternyata tidak bisa sembarang sepeda yang bisa dipasang boncengan anak.. Harus yang dengan spesifikasi khusus, terutama dengan rangka yang kokoh. Tapi memang, Jepang ini luar biasa. Sepeda benar-benar dihargai. Setiap sepeda punya nomer kendaraan, dan kami dapat asuransi bila sepeda hilang lho hihihi.

ini dia sepedanyaaa.. tempat boncengan untuk anaknya juga nyaman, yang jenis ini bisa dipakai sampai anak umur 5 thn

Selain kamar dan sepeda, Diego juga mulai berkenalan dengan makanan-makanan khas Jepang. Walaupun di Indonesia juga banyak di jual masakan Jepang, tapi memang rasa asli lebih enak. Diego paling doyan sama udon. Udon itu jenis mie kaya kwetiauw tapi lebih gendut dan kenyal. Kalau di Akita, yang terkenal itu restoran udon yang ada di stasiun, nama restorannya HANAMARU. Udonnya bisa disajikan dingin dan panas. Harga termurahnya permangkok adalah sekitar 13.000, kake udon. Isinya cuma udon dan kuah kaldunya. Enaaakkk tinggal di tambahin kremesan (gratis) atau beli tempura dan gorengan lain (per pcsnya kira-kira 12.000 sampai 20.000). Jangan tertipu, walaupun dibilang porsi kecil, tapi nyatanya, isinya banyaaakkk hehehe. worth it lah dengan harganya.

kake udon + kremesan + ayam

kake udon plus gurita+ayam

Yang pasti, sudah hampir sebulan Diego di Akita, pertumbuhan fisiknya semakin oke, udah ga pernah batuk-batuk lagi, makin mandiri, semangat sekolah dan makin ceriwis dan pinter. Udah mulai bisa ngomong beberapa kata bahasa Jepang :D i am soooo PROUD of him. Enjoy your life ya Diegooo kun. Life is indeed an adventure.


Maaf ya daddy, fotomu belum banyak di sini hihihi. Secara kamu yang jadi photographernya :) Nah nanti saya mau share lebih detail tentang sekolah Diego di sini, ditunggu yaaaa ;)

Love, live, and life
Priceless!