By Tiara Clarissa
The beginning of this month started with a 4 day holiday. A day that was supposed to be skiing, but was canceled due to covid-19. I was very sad, but it turns out that my friends and hostfam have a way to get rid of that sadness.
February 1st, 2022 I spent with my hostfamily. I went culinary with them from day to night. Then the evening we spent eating dessert such as ice cream. February 2nd, I went to pompeii with my host sis and my best friend’s family. Pompeii is a museum of Italian history. Then we also ate ramen at a roadside stall. Finished from there, we went to Akihabara. Akihabara is a world for anime lovers, on every road you pass there will be many anime shops and also many cosplayers in Akihabara.
February 3rd is the day of “setsubun” or the celebration of the arrival of spring in Japan. So I spent the day with my hostfamily. On that day, my hostdad wore a Japanese oni/ghost mask, stood outside the house, and the others had to throw peanuts outside the house while saying “oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi” which means “devil come out, luck comes in”. Then in the evening, we have to eat the amount of peanuts according to our age.
February 4th, I went ice skating with my friends. Even though I can’t do ice skiing because of coivd-19, at least I can still try ice skating. I was very happy, don’t forget I also went to chinatown. Because that day was also Chinese New Year celebration, there was a lion dance performance there. It was enough to release my longing to celebrate Chinese New Year in Indonesia.
February 12th, my hostfam took me to Disneyland. After several months of trying to buy tickets, finally my hostdad managed to get Disneyland tickets on February 12th. The first experience of going to Disneyland didn’t disappoint me at all. In 1 day, I had the opportunity to try all the available rides. It was a very pleasant day even though the next day I had a fever because I was tired.
February 25th, my last day at the flower arrangement club. Sad day to tell. Joining a flower arrangement club was one of the things I was grateful for during my exchange. Met very good teachers, friends, and juniors. Gain new knowledge about plants, especially flowers in Japan. Gain knowledge about flower arrangement according to Japanese tradition. All these things I will never forget. Flower. It’s beautiful and it makes me find a beautiful experiences too.
