Archive for February 2016

Various Activities in Bogor in February


Hello, PARE friends! 
Finishing my research in Rantau Rasau in the end of Jan, I have come back to IPB in Bogor with 240 kg baggage including soil samples and research equipment to airport by myself! The experience taught me one of the difficulty to conduct research in the outdoor field. In this post, I show you my activities in Bogor in Feb.

1. Soil Preparation

I dried and sieved soil samples to import to Japan and to analyze with kindly help by Indonesian soil science friends and my junior students from Hokkaido University. What I have to do is to put soil import permission from ministry of agriculture, forestry and fisheries on the box containing soil because soil is designated import-prohibited article in Japan.
Sieving dried soil 1, Helped by many students
Sieving dried soil 2, Darker soil means more amount of organic matter
We adjusted the soil weight because the permitted weight is very limited.

2.Taking Promotion Video of International Dormitory

Some IPB students in forestry departments planed to take the promotion movie of international dormitory and asked international students to join the movie, then I agreed the plan.

Scene of chatting in the garden in front of the dorm.

3."Setsubun" Japanese traditional activity

I scattered peanuts in the dormitory on 3rd Feb. as the event of “setsubun”, Japanese activity, to prepare new season in old Japanese calendar. Beans are believed to have power to beat demons in Japan therefore we Japanese scatter beans in order to wait for new season without demons.

Peanuts were scattered in the floor in dorm. This place must be safe from demons.

4.Celebration of Chinise New Year

My Christian friends and I ate pork to celebrate Chinese New Year, Tahun Baru Imlek in Indonesian on 8th Feb.  Not only Buddhist but also all Indonesian people celebrate the day, which make me feel that many religions respect each other.
 
Traditional pork dish from Medan, North part of Sumatra. So good!

5.Challenge to buy Indonesian LINE Stickers

I tried to buy Indonesian version LINE stickers. In Indonesia, some Japanese stickers change to Indonesian version and they are sold to LINE account registered with only Indonesian phone number. Though I struggled to change my account setting, I could buy Indonesian ones finally. The stickers motivates me to learn Indonesian and communicate with Indonesian friends with LINE.

One LINE stickers Japanese version
The same stickers Indonesian version

6.Attending Japanese Culture Club(INARI) Meeting

I attended the meeting of INARI, Japanese culture club activity in IPB and shared knowledge on Japanese animation, comic, language and so on. Their interests to Japanese culture were surprising me because they knew a lot of animation or comic even though I didn’t know and sometime enjoyed them in Japanese language not English! Their passion to the activity impressed me so much.

 
Students sit down floor during the club meeting. This is usual club style in IPB





Drawing pictures as one activity in the club
One work by a member of the club







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