October has almost passed,
the leaves have fallen, the weather is getting colder, but some scientist said
“friends are almost as good as duvet”, so I’m glad because they are always around!
Lots of things happened during my second month of staying in Sapporo. Strangers become friends, friends become family. This
colourful Sapporo has turned more colourful because of them. I'm so blessed that I can be a PARE Student, I can have lots of good friends, I can study in this beautiful Hokkaido University, and I can learned so many new things.
This semester I registered to many interesting subjects, such as Environmental Policy, Environmental Leadership, Asian/African Culture, Language and Regionalism, Sustainability Science, and some other lectures that I believe can improve my understanding about environmental and social problem in Indonesia.
Other than the specialized subjects that I take this semester, one class that I love the most is my Kanji class. Yes, that difficult and complicated Kanji class. I love it, because I feel learning Kanji is like learning philosophy. Every character has its meaning.
For example, kanji 私 (watashi) or "I" is basically a picture of a man holding a rice plant. I see kanji 私 as a symbol that human life cannot be separated from agriculture. No matter how hard we strive for our future, the most important thing that we cannot leave aside is the future of agriculture. Because without agriculture, there is no future.
Another example, kanji 今 (ima) or now/present is basically a picture of a house with
somebody's singing inside it. I see kanji 今 as a message that
every "now", every "time" that we have is a gift that we should appreciate with joy and
happiness..
I feel so lucky once again, because other than learning about the sciences, here I can also learn about the culture and wisdom that Japanese and Chinese ancient had taught through the kanji.
Looks like on next February my fridge will be covered by these kanji and Japanese words :)
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