Remember when did you write this? It was March 24th, 2021. You were 25 years old and sitting in your working space at the office while drinking your Nescafe French Vanilla, your daily dose of coffee since it's only 90kcal/pack. Yes, you had a strict diet, and your calorie intake was 1200kcal/day. Your lunch was just a pack of Heavenly Blush yogurt every day and consumed 3 supplements; Vitamin C & E & Gingko Biloba because your brain needs them.
And this day was your first day joining French Class at Institut Français d'
I hope by today you are able to speak French fluently than you were before!!! Holy moly, you jumped from Deutsch to Japanese and then learning French in a Dutch-speaking area of Brussels. Crazy old lady.
Anyway, this 25-year-old-you is trying to say that everything in life is always unexpected! Always.
Remember when you graduated in 2019 and had a plan to work&holiday in Australia? All was packed and ready, dude. Documents were all set. But all of a sudden Dad canceled it because of a silly reason. You were forced to move to Tokyo and expertise your Japanese. You realized it wasn't something you were looking for. You knew exactly what you wanted. You knew that it has always been Europe you were dreaming of. Even your plan to work&holiday in Australia was just an excuse to save up and study in Europe. Bruh, how did you survive???
Back to your first house in Tokyo, 上板橋. It was a horror movie set I swear to God. A super quiet area and creepy. Why the heck did you decide to live there anyway? Oh right, it was the only dorm you can afford. All the bright lighting you got was from まいばすけっと, the supermarket next to your dorm. And you gotta walk 10 minutes approximately from the station to reach your house. Every time you went back from school, you always wanted to buy this bread from the bakery at the station you couldn't afford because it costs 300yen/piece. So you bought melon pan at Famima instead. Your lunch was always this cheap (310 yen!) and smelly gyudon from 松屋.
Luckily you got Stash, a Russian guy, the 2nd foreigner who lives in the house after you. At least you had someone to talk to back then. And the day you spent with Stash a day before his leaving for Russia, you guys randomly walked around the neighborhood till 3 AM-ish until the police guy reached you out and asking for your ID cards. Stash, if you read this, you owe me your life.
March 30th, 2019. It was an hour before you go to sleep, you randomly texted an Indonesian Restaurant in 目黒 asking if they have a part-time job vacancy.
And luckily, you got them asking you to bring your CV and conducted the interview. Voila, you got the job. You survived. Well, at least you can move to a proper dorm. Sis, I extremely adore your randomness. It leads you to somewhere you don't even know. But congrats on getting another survival kit to survive in Tokyo. It wasn't that easy but you were lucky enough.
Then you met your first friend, Kak Aini, Kak Fita, Viana, Bu Tami, Tante Eni, Pak Nadir (you called him Papi Nadir!), Sachou, Tenchou, Yunita, Jessica.. Remember you used to buy Anman after work with Yunita because it was steamingly hot and help you reduce the cold? We'll never understand why Meguro is very cold at night, especially during winter. It was windy and dried your skin. Preece, the supermarket you stopped by with Tante Eni to buy discounted foods.
If you ever come back to Tokyo again, you OWE them a visit. They were there when you were at the lowest point of your life. When you silently crying for a whole week just because. You know...
Then you got your N3 Certificate. What's next? You got the job! You know it was all good until COVID-19 strikes. Wanna talk about it? Because we can't really see what's good in there except the money. And of course, you should be thankful you got all those senpai supporting you. And you got Aboy (Dude, it's been 10 years you better reach Aboy out and gossiping) as well so it wasn't that bad. Working there from early 2020 to mid was eye-opening. You knew what's a good role model and what a jerk-type of co-workers is. And this place has finally taught you for not being one.
Then you got these people, Ken, Clara, and Dennis. $1M won't be enough to show how thankful you are to have them in your life. They are the true witnesses of your journey in Japan. They knew the struggle you've been through from days to days. The moment you worked with Ken and Clara at Lawson. Bruh. It was fun because of them. Do you remember there was this evil-smelling old guy walking around the store and you locked Ken from inside of the fryer room so you can escape and let Ken handling him? Sorry not sorry, Ken.
Remember when you were poor as hell and you got a visit from Ken&Clara bringing you chicken wings and soju to eat together? You must be missing those days! And also Dennis. Dennis, you owe him his time (and money) to always a-l-w-a-y-s there whenever you need him. The time he came to visit you from Yokohama to Oomori just to hear you crying. And he listened to your mumbles while eating his chicken ramen at Oomori Station. You couldn't even eat!! You were that skinny and stressed. Unhealthy and unfresh! Even when you were back in Indo, you still asked Dennis to handle your apostille documents for Belgian Visa purposes.
Dudes and Dudette, thank you very much. They are the very first people to know when you were accepted at VUB and promised to fly and visit you at Manneken Pis. From a poor youngster in Beppu who worked multiple part-time jobs, to Tokyo Salary(wo)man, and VUB student. You owed them a pickup and McDonald's set at Schipol Airport!
Erysa Echa the MakciQue. I hope in 2031, you guys still talk to each other and burst to laugh even on a text. You can't even remember how you two first met and had your first conversation. Echa + any school subjects = The Sims 4 time. Guess you guys got more closer because of International Law by Prof. Takashiba. You and Echa can talk 1000x about James got shouted by Prof. Takashiba and walked out from the class just to eat his Yangnyeom Chicken.
Started from this class, that's how you ended up visiting ICJ like the photo attached next to this. 4 years after her class, Echa finally pursued her master at Leiden Uni + got a visit from you. Echa helped you guide and reach your master's school as well as helping you with all the motivation letter thingy. People said when you're very close to someone, you're too busy having fun you forgot to take pictures. Thank you and miss you, Ech!
You've finally gone out from Tokyo and inhaled the fresh air of Nagano Prefecture. Going out from Tokyo has never been so good after the Kochi Prefecture incident. Gonna talk about this whole experience in the other post though. *coughing* The funny thing was when we were heading back to Tokyo we got stuck in crazy traffic where we were too tired to sing any more songs and decided to listen to Deddy Corbuzier's podcast for 4 hours straight. Thanks for the suggestion, Josh!
As soon as you reached Tokyo and out from the highway, it was right at Shinjuku. Your Spotify played a Tokyo Drift song by Teriyaki Boyz. With all the laughs you shared with them Tokyo Pals, you realized it's almost the time you'll be leaving Tokyo..
And there were no days left without walking around the neighborhood of Itabashihoncho. A place you'll be missed. I hope for the past 10 years you've ever been back to Itabashihoncho and try that Fish Ramen near your house that you've been curious to try.
With all the sadness and misfortunes, never in your life thinking that your life is unblessed. You've always been this happy-go-lucky person who always believes that there's always light on the edge of the tunnel.
It took only 2 months after leaving Tokyo, you got a new job and started your life all over again.
And thank you very much for always being this positive. People might see you as naive. But whatever it is, you go live your life and use your both hands to cover your ears and do your own thing.
Eventually, you'll end up where you need to be.
