Day 5: Thursday, June 2, 2005
I only get to know the existence of Kobe in Japan from its earthquake which happened in 1995. On the fifth day of my visit to Japan, Kobe was the destination.
I have met another friend, Nancy who teaches Japanese voluntarily. Together with Sanae-chan and Koh-chan whom I met earlier in Hippo gathering, they planned for sightseeing in Kobe Harbourland. 'So this is the world of globalization popped out of my mind when they introduced Adil, a Palestinian man and who used to stay in Europe for few years. In a big restaurant in the Harbourland, we had a wonderful seafood and chatted for hours. That one whole day was not enough for us to get to know each other. Great!
After a few days, I became very impatient for dinner prepared by Rina-chan… Incredible huh? Every dinner with both Rina-chan and Hirooki-chan would be a one very long and we became more attached to each other as we shared different opinions but similar hopes in life. That particular day, Rina-chan mentioned that she is going to miss me when I have to leave soon.
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Day 6: Friday, June 3, 2005
Like a typical Japanese man, sensei is a very shy but he talked a lot of his views about ceramic making in Malaysia. Without Miifa, I hardly understand anything!
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Friday in Japan? How would it be? Friday in Malaysia means long lunch hour, men going for Friday prayers and supermarkets filled with women fulfilling their ‘needs’.
Early in the morning, I joined Miifa, Margarita and Pure for ceramic making. We went to a house of a sensei who teaches ceramic making. He has been teaching Miifa and Pure before. Ironically, I never had a chance to make ceramic in Malaysia. I couldn’t believe that I got to do it in Japan instead!
After that, we got on train to Kobe for Friday prayer. Nana, Azah, Rina-chan and Nancy were already waiting for us at the Kobe Mosque.
As we were walking into the mosque, suddenly somebody from behind greeted salam to me. Wow… it has been a while I did not hear people giving salam while in Japan. His name is Jonni, he was on his way to the mosque too. Jonni comes from Indonesia and now undertaking a practical training in Japan.
We have met a few Muslims from Pakistan, Bangladesh Indonesia and Japanese too. We were introduced to Lutfi who comes from Bali. He spoke fluent Japanese as he has been staying in Japan for almost a year!
Sensei said I can become a good ceramic maker!
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We had buffet lunch of Indian food which I thought had a blend of Middle Eastern food too. The yogurt drink was awesome! That kind of lunch cost us ¥ 500! No wonder the restaurant owner smiled happily as we left the place.
On our way back home, I presumed that Rina-chan already started to plan what to cook that night. I did pity her. When I was organizing my things in their cozy reading room, Rina-chan called me several times to the kitchen to choose which flavor can be eaten or not. Most of the time I would say ‘gomen nasai’ which means ‘sorry’ to trouble her that way. She responded and said ‘daijeboo’ which means ‘never mind’. Of course, that was the way to treat a visitor, right?
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| Miifa and Pure joined us in Friday prayer at the mosque. |
Waiting in a long queue for the Indian Restaurant near the mosque; from left, a Bangladeshi studying Japanese, Miifa, Nancy, Azah, me, Nana and Lutfi. Man, we were starving! |
President's message
With Nancy and Adil as we reached Kobe Harbourland.
