Inspiring Korea: from a Palace to Shopping Paradise

Rey Lasano 7:28:00 PM
Hi there everyone. How are you guys doing? I've been doing great and having one of my-too-much-energy cycle this week! Basically I'm happy and the most recent reason has to be..............

I watched Jason Mraz's live concert in Korea!!

exactly. the Jason Mraz. and he was awesome. he was. just unbelievable. But I dont want to talk about him right now, I'll cover him up and the details of his concert in a beautiful place called Nami Island on the next post. :D so come back for updates! :)

Let's talk about the trip. If I have to conclude everything in one sentence then it would be..........
"the trip to Korea involving too much walking and running" lol!
seriously people, coming home from Korea me and Rini realized that our feet are literally begging us to stop walking. xD

We set up from Narita Airport on Thursday, June 7th (yep I skipped 2 classes back then. bad student.) and easily found in which floor the check-in port for Asiana Airlines is, thanks all the way to Akira, one of our friend in the dorm. (He's so nice, literally). Then, it turned out that we arrived way too early, and we have some spare hours to change money (Dont you ever ever ever in your life exchange your foreingn currency in an Airport, unless your condition is a life-threatening condition that FORCE you to do that in airport, meaning you dont have any other choice, meaning like me and Rini back then. Gee. they give you like the worst rate anybody could ever expected.). But I was glad then we arrived early because Rini got trouble because of her name. She has no last name printed on her passport or any of her official identification card and the people behind the counter kindly ask her to wait while they call to the office in Korea, to check if it is okay because when we booked her ticket we type 'Rini' at the first name column, and once again 'Rini' in the last name column. It was just the only thing we could do because apparentely you cant online-booked an online ticket without filling out your Last Name column.
The kind officers were smiling and told us that this is the first time they encounter case like this and quite confused and dont really know how they are supposed to handle this. Rini then told me it is not fair for the system to automatically judge that every single human being in the world have a last name. I was just laughed by then. But everything was well in the end, with Rini leaving the trace as the first person ever booked Asiana Airlines online ticket without last name. lol.
it's okay, it makes her unique anyways.

We took some pictures while we were waiting for the flights and I managed to take some sunset photos of which I thought was a very beautiful scenery. My camera is good and I love her but she is not as good as an SLR and my sense of photography is rather retarded so you might not see the real beauty but at least I'm trying to give you a clue  of what it should look like. :D



It must be aroun 5.30 pm because our flight was scheduled to take off at 07.00 pm and arrived at Incheon by 09.00 pm. The flight took a little longer tough and we arrived around 09.30 pm at Incheon. By the way I took this picture just before we entered the airplane and Rini was all about "you are such a papparazzi" to me but I was just laughed and say that because the result was good, it should be fine.

They provided a very very nice in-flight entertainment and you have a selection of good movies, music, concerts, news, sport matches and everything else. I was battling myself over watch a Korean drama or see a Holywood ones, but because we are going to Korea I feel like watching a Korea drama would add to the mood so I chose to watch this Never Ending Lovestory movie which was....... quite funny here and there but a bit boring.
I think Rini was watching some music event whit Korean bands and singer and we both pretty much trapped inside our own worlds and only talked when they served dinner (Honey-sauce chicken strips on rice, salad, bread with butter, mango pudding and orange juice) and both of us were delighted for the food because we were hungry and the food was delicious.
The flight was full of turbulence and in some time and another me and Rini would stop watching our drama and music and looked at each other, because the turbulence were pretty strong and often. But by God's grace we landed safely and happy. I practically cried when we landed, and I felt silly. I have no idea why I cried. Okay, I have an idea why I did, still it doesnt explain me crying in the airplane. Super silly. It was just the idea that I really stepped in on places my dad stepped before moved me to the point I felt like a crybaby. It was really a sentimental reason *sigh* yet i was grateful for that. The other part is because Rini is a real flat person, with less expression than anybody could normally show, so I think part of me was also displaying the expression she could not display, because to come to Korea is a struggle for her and Korea is like her dream. She almost likes everything about Korea, more than she likes Japan, in my opinion.

Well then we hopped to the Airport Limousine Bus (cost us 10,000 won, which was around 675 Yen and that was approximately 80,500 Rupiah). I asked a woman in the Airport Limousine Bus front desk and she was trying to describe everything in a mix of English and body language. Rini speaks a bit Korean but she was worried because she does master the casual language, but almost have no idea about the formal ones and therefore, she was hesitant using it to strangers in Korea.
It was a one hour trip to Jonggak, Insa-dong, one of the busy street in Seoul and we easily found the guest house we reserved, Ciara920. It was so late, around 12 a.m, but the street was still crowded. This quite surprised me because in Chiba, you call it a night by around 8 p.m. The streets go so quiet and the houses decided not to turn on their lights for whatever reason they have and it makes the streets dark. So when I first stepped out of the bus,my thought was, "wow, this city looked a lot like Jakarta."


so this is where we stayed for three nights. The service are pretty nice. The staffs are friendly and they also speak English so no problem with that. The rooms are small though, and you cant really rely on the breakfast they served. But it is pretty okay if you only intended to use the guesthouse as a sleeping place by nights and want to save money to do some fun things in Korea. They have a website in English, Japanese, Korean (of course) and Thai (the owner first built the guesthouse in Thailand) and you can check them out here.

I spent the first day in Korea with Rini, because the next day I have to go to Nami Island to watch Rainbow Festival (yes, the one with Jason Mraz in it) and Rini was not really into Nami Island. The other thing I soon noticed in Seoul is that there are A LOT of coffee shops and tea houses. MY. BEARD. They heave like soooo many cute homy classy little coffee shops and tea houses all over the street. I so could live here. lol. I captured one of the homey one here.


There are a lot of cafes like that all over the streets. You can pick your choice. I did not have time to go in and try though, our time in Seoul is so limited and entering a cafe is like number 100th priority so I skipped the cafe and promised myself if I ever come back to Seoul I so have to try one of those cafes. Oh, and people you know what? Seoul is a city of free internet services. Like, they even have the "Seoul Wi fi Spot" and several free services, even in their subways. And this amazed me, since I have been living in Japan for the past 9 months and in Japan you dont get anything free. I was beyond happy. BEYOND happy for this. So no worries folk, if you ever get lost you could always check the google map. Or if you need to know certain phrases in Korean language (which I so recommend), you can always refer to the internet. lol.

Our first stop was the Deoksugung Palace. It is located in Jung-gu, Seoul and we went there by the Seoul Metro Subway. Their subway system is amazing and really user friendly, even for foreigners. All you have to do is buy a card in the vending machine in the station, pick your language (English, Japanese, Chinese), pick your destination and enter the money. Here I found a pretty useful web you can use to search the whole subway stations. It consisted the time required to go to places you want to, the fares and the information for first and last train, plus a timetable for the trains. For those of you who are familiar enough with Hyperdia, you might find it similar to this one. So click here if you want to check out the Seoul Metro site. Trust me, you might find it handy.

So, back to Deoksugung Palace. It is a super BIG complex of Palace. It is not as popular as the Gyeongbukgung Palace, but it is a place worth to visit. For a complex that big, I was surprised to learn that it was actually the SMALLEST palace among five palaces that survived in Seoul. Deoksugung means palace of virtue and longevity, and was built for Emperor Gojong, in hope that he would gain a long life. Pictures worth a thousand words I think, so just check out the photos!














Among the five pavilions they have in Deoksugung, I personally like this pavilion below the best. It was not the biggest one, but I enjoyed its beauty so much. It added a really old feeling to the whole complex, Entering this palace brings you back to the Kings Age and I was thrilled I have the chance to visit this place. :D











And guys, this pavilion look so MUCH like Jogjakarta Palace (Keraton Jogjakarta) and I was so surprised when I see it.

The view in front of this pavilion was also beautiful. It was full of trees and there was this rock path and it felt great to just stay there.



There are  a lot of spaces in the palace complex that take form as gardens and small paths. And it was so easy for me to start imagining if ever there was kings and queens, princes and princesses, royal guards and royal families who walked through this places everyday. It is always amazing to see the traces of the past. I wished I have learnt a bit of Korean History so I can even more fully understand the essence of this Palace.




Ooow!! Ooowww!!! And when we headed back home to the front gate, there were this Royal Guards guys around and they were practicing the Royal Guards Changing Ceremony and there was this guy that appear as the general and he gave commands in Korean and everything. And I was like, oh-we-so-have-to-see-this and can-we-take-pictures-with-them?? thing to Rini and was really really excited.





Arent they look soooo coool?? And we found another cool thing!! There was this Hanbok (Korean traditional costume) stand and you can borrowed a Hanbok and wear it around (you cant enter the castle with it though) and took picture in front of the gate. At first I was really shy, because it was ike everyone looked at us, some uneasily, some with curious faces and a lot with friendly and approval smile. But 2 minutes later I was kind of getting the hang of it and enjoyed myself pretty much with the Hanbok thing.



................................And strike a pose with the cool general!!


p.s. why did my hair looked so out of control??? graaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.

After we were done with the Hanbok thing (because we were literally asked to return the Hanbok since they have people lining up now for the Hanbok), we walked around a bit, found this old church (which was beauutiful) and talked about what we should do next.


Then we decided to pay a visit to Cheonggyecheon, which was famous for the beautiful river and ended up in an unknown street. lol.
the street, once again, looked so much like Jakarta, I almost felt like Im home.


LOOK! Dont you think this is SO JAKARTA?? They have warteg, people, warteg. I am impressed.




So to speak, we finally found the place we were looking for, and it was indeed beautiful. It offers a refreshment after walking and walking and walking and it was real hot. But arriving here in Cheonggyecheon was a good thing, because, yes, it was beautiful.








We had a good time there in the river and decided to go for lunch after that. It turns out that this place was real close to Dongdaemun Market, the world renown market for every fashion item imaginable with cheap prices. It took sooo long for me and Rini to finally learn that the place we have been walking through for so many times was actually the Dongdaemun Market (feel stupid) and we were damn tired. But once we got rest for a while..................................
its SHOPPING time!!! I seriously, SERIOUSLY recommending this place to you all! This place is ridiculously fun for shopping. Its a heaven for shoppers and the prices are affordable and the items are super cute. I was crazy. Rini was crazy. We were like........ oh no there is no end to this shopping time. No way this can not be. lol lol lol.
I didnt take any picture of the place since we have been so busy shopping, lol. Sorry for that folks. But I was real happy and that concludes the adventure for the first day. I will be writing about Nami Island, Rainbow Festival and Jason Mraz on the next post so come back later and check the all the fun, okay? :)

Kisses from the stars, hug your loved ones tonight!
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Growing Up

Rey Lasano 9:56:00 AM
I spent a lot of time thinking and less talking these days. I didnt realize this earlier, And a simple question from a you can call it a lifetime bestfriend prompted my realization. 

"have you been more mature now that you have been faraway from home?" 

 .....like, exactly. That was also the question i wished i could answer. I told him that i cant measure my own maturity. It has to be another person who sees it through me. But i do learn a lot of things, and for sure, certain changes did take place. There are pieces of me that if it is not converted, then it is completely altered, or even maybe perished. To think about it again, i often wondered if he too went through pretty much the same thing. Pretty much the same.. As he described it, the "drama" of staying away from home. And i kind of understand why he behaved his way or why he think as he thought. 

For me, being away from home means you entered a a circle of people who are completely stranger to you. Raised in different cultures, laugh over different jokes, get angry over different things, and in my case, being judged endlessly. There are certain people who will never stop trying to change you, and who sees you as a perfect failure of home education. 

There are then, times when you try to explain yourself, trying to defend your own sense of self. There are then, times when you are always angry because people just dont seem to get it, especially when they see things differently by culture, and speak differently by language. Then, there is time when you finally understand it is no use to explain yourself again and again. People who dont like you and always judge you by their own arrogant opinion would never ever believe in whatever you say. And moreover, your good friends do not need your explanation of who you really are, because they see it with their own eyes,through the days they spent with you. Then you stop talking. And choose to listen. And you listen and listen and listen a lot and you find that there are million things you could understand, the better and the worse, if you stopped for a little while and listen to the sounds around you. Then you realized that there is no point in talking, really. To talk about you feelings, your opinion, your thoughts. The world has been too selfish to listen. And you want to be those small percentages who still do, and only stated your opinion when you think you should. 

But it is sad, i think, if you completely loss the ability to tell your stories. Your simple story of what you have been through today. If you can no longer tell your friends that you might be fall in love with someone. It is sad if you sees your day as just the usual, and have nothing special about it..... Where maybe, there actually is something really interesting happened, but you are just too used to keep everything by yourself, too used to not to talk about yourself, and then you stop telling your precious stories. I think, in growing up you lose certain pieces of your childish self. When you grow up, there are things that are taken from you. You changed. You just not the same person anymore. You experienced things, you learned, you fell and you stood up again. Those kind of things are phase of growing up, and it is not always easy. 

For the first time in my life, i understand fully with my heart that someday, everyone has to grow up. And also with all of my heart i could say, i am a bit scared. But nevertheless, i want to go through it. I just have to figure out how to grow up without losing too many pieces of myself. To modify it, not to completely lose it. 

And you, have you grown up yet?
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The Grass is Full of Stars

Rey Lasano 5:23:00 PM
Spring surely brings the good mood everywhere! <3

I like autumn for sure, but spring is amazing. It feels like a good start to everything that is good. My Japanese teacher refers to spring as the season of 'a thousand good things to become'
and i think i kinda like that definition. :)


See, the grass is full of stars, fallen in their brightness;
Hearts they have of shining gold,
Rays of shining whiteness



Buttercups have honeyed hearts;
Bees they love the clover
But I love the daisies' dance
All the meadow over


Blow, o blow, you happy winds,

Singing summer's praises
Up the field, down the field,
A dancing with the daisies

(Daisy Time, Marjorie Pickthall)
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I Wonder, if you have been my knight all along

Rey Lasano 11:36:00 PM
I wonder if you have been here all along. I wonder if you have been watching me all these times. I wonder if you silently giving me my own space to grow. I wonder if you have been letting me do my mistakes, to grow from it. I wonder if you have been believing that you also need your time to grow. I wonder if you have been protecting me without showing it. I wonder if you have been noticing what I am up to in the middle of the night. I wonder, if you have been my knight all along.

I wonder, if you have been hurt. I wonder, if you wished I dont get hurt. I wonder, if you have been trusting me, trusting that I will be home to you again. I wonder, if you prayed at night wishing for my happiness. I wonder, if you have been understanding my silly dreams. I wonder, if you have been always wanting me to be happy. I wonder, if you have been my knight all along.

I wonder, if you have been worried. I wonder, if you have been smiling upon seeing my attitude. I wonder, if you have been trying hard not to over-show it. I wonder, if you have been wanting to say a lot of things to me. I wonder, if you have been always at loss for words. I wonder, if you have been my knight all along.

I wonder, if you have been angry to people who hurt me. I wonder, if you have been watching me closely to see where I am standing right now. I wonder, if you have been curious to know what places I have been to. I wonder, if you have been wishing to see those places with me. I wonder, if you have been telling yourself to be patient, that someday I'll be on your arms. I wonder, if you have been my knight all along.

I wonder, if you have been fighting the world so they will shut up and not telling me, that for all these times, you have been my knight. All. Along.
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Spring! Spring! Spring!

Rey Lasano 11:19:00 AM
Sometimes I feel like several things happened so fast and it almost look like blurry images passing through my days. It seems like I dont even have time to process anything, and to take a step back to look where I am right now and what kind of problems I have dragged myself into.
It feels like the life's pace is uber fast and I am having a hard time to keep up.

Still, there are a lot of things I know I could enjoy. The Spring semester is starting very soon, like literally next week, and the Cherry Blossom (Sakura) flowers are blooming everywhere, easiest place to see them is at my school and I passed the test to level 2, interpreted as high beginner level with a bunch of interesting new students and few of my old buddies in that class. Our homeroom teacher is Yoshida sensei, who, apparently taught me for a !conversation class (6 credits, like literally every single day for a week) and she was smiling when she saw me.

Maybe this is gonna be a really great great great class! I am going to have my first homeroom class meeting today. Which is actually totally exciting if only we dont have to do an on-the-spot essay writing so that the teacher could help us decide which elective subjects we should take. One of the good news is the Chinese character (Kanji) is now on elective lists so I dont have to take that class if I dont want to. Me he he. *evil laugh*

Still, this essay thing is bothering me so much because I really don't like test. For real. And seriously. I like studying (ahem) and I like Japanese so much (yes it is true) and I can even bear to get along pretty good with Kanji (*cough*) but I seriously have this bad relationship with test-thing. I just simply dont like it.

The teachers said this is not really a test and that we should just take it easy and it is nothing to worry about, which is so nice of them trying to tell us that but excuse me, we know exactly that this is called a "readiness test" and when you put "test" word behind everything it almost always link directly to disaster for me.

But the spring's season and the fragrance of flowers everywhere really could distract me from any negative thoughts so i think i'm just going to take it as easy as i could and convinced myself that I go to the university to enjoy Spring, not to do this so-called "readiness test" whatsoever.

So, wherever you are guys, go out there and i'm sure something good will happen to you today.
Will catch you soon and I'll try my best to fetch those Sakura's pictures at my school!
:3
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English Village in the Mountainous Fukushima

Rey Lasano 10:14:00 PM
Hey there everyone! I know it has been like ages since the last post. It is quite hard to keep up with the blog since there are million things to do around. Luckily most of those things involving eating super yummy foods, travelling to nice places around and having fun with friends here in Japan.

My seniors were serious when they literally commanded us to go have fun and explore Japan till drop on our spring break. The weather was quite nice, mild and not as cold as winter. Although sometimes rain pouring all day long, it was still nice. :D

Anyways the girls from the dorm wanted so badly to visit this English village called the British Hills so we went there from March 10th to March 12th. The Hills was located in Fukushima, yes, the place where the quake destroyed the nuclear plant a year ago. It was a place designed as a model of Highlands of Scotland on Victorian period in Britain. For short, it looked like Britain in Middle Age. And it was super wonderful. I feel like staying there FOREVER.

It was still snowing - A LOT in Fukushima. When I stepped my feet there, I was like, "you called this spring??" xD xD

but it was really pretty, almost feel like going back to Hokkaido (i know, i know, i haven't report anything about that, either) but with a slightly warmer temperature. This picture was taken soon after we arrived there (around 1 pm and we were walking around because the room would not be ready before 3 pm.) And luckily these girls I went to British Hills with was so excited with taking a lot of pictures, so we literally went here and there and take pictures at every place.



Okay, so we took 4 hours trip from Chiba to Fukushima, it involved changing the trains for around 3 times but was not that troublesome, because there were 7 of us and you can't gather 7 girls without chit-chatting for hours. So the journey didn't feel THAT long and it was quite fun. When we entered the Manor House, where the reception desk was located we were greeted by this statue (look to your left).
I'll give you three guesses, go on and see if you recognize this person
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
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All the girls reaction was like:
"Who's that?"
"It's Snape."
"Who?"
"Snape. You know, the character on that popular movie."
"Oh, that guy."

So we agreed (and laughing endlessly) that this guy is Snape from that popular movie and we went around for three days calling him the Snape until on the last day, I found out the harsh truth. He was, actually, ladies and gentlemen, is William Shakespeare. He was SHAKESPEARE, for crying out loud. I felt half amused, half embarrassed. Amused, because we went around for three amazing days with the joke of calling him professor Snape and half embarrased because how couldn't we recognize Mr. Shakespeare?? lol

Anyways, this is how the front door looked like and we spent quite a long time taking pictures here.


The lobby was also had a breathtaking atmosphere because we were like "Woooow" and "Whoaaaaa" and "Wooooow" all the time. I don't know if it was just me or what, but the rooms were quite........ dark. No, not dark as in pitch black but it was dimly lit, with
red and brown sofas and small lamps and a grand staircase.... and although i seriously admired the design, it was sort of.....it feels like coming to a very oldish building where you can meet witch cooking some weird poision in a dark place with the fireplace also dimly lit and........

well, it was not like it was scary, it was just ......old.
The chairs were empty when I took the picture below, but when we came in, a woman was sitting there, reading something. Thank goodness she was reading something normal like The Daily Yomiuri (English newspaper in Japan, one of my main source of knowing what is happening in the world since Japanese news and TV- AND commercials are subject to my low-level of understanding either maybe i am still too stupid to understand the language, or I simply don't under
stand the concept, seriously.), and not something scary like Witch Daily or something.

Because------------

British Hills was nothing like a ghost house, but, but, but, I couldn't help to get that kind of impression on the very first time because they decided not to turn on brighter lights. But then again if it was not a deliberate action mainly to re-create the atmosphere of Middle Ages manors in Britain, then it probably have something to do with energy saving program. As I said earlier, British Hills was located in Fukushima, one of the area that suffered a great deal from the big earthquake last year. So they probably trying to use the electricity as efficient as they could.
After walking around the Hills complex, we went for some late lunch at the pub, which was not really lunch because I ordered this delicious cake set, and you don't eat cake for lunch. :D

But it was really really delicious and i really liked it. They let me chose what drink I would like to order, and they have selection of tea, coffee and juices and I ordered some warm tea - I forgot the name of the tea but it was indeed delicious. The cake has some sort of sweet and mint flavor, and I really liked it. Rini ordered the Chicken Basket and it came with two pieces of chicken breast and french fries. I didn't take the picture of the Chicken Basket (was too hungry) but I did snapped a picture of the cake set!


After eating the so-called-lunch we decided to come back to the reception desk and ask for our keys. There were 7 of us and we booked 2 rooms, one for 4 persons and the other for 3 persons. We did a little lottery at the pub to determine who sleeps where and I join the other three girls in the room of 211. It was........ a quite big room with a big closet which............ housed the winter coat that could be used freely by the guests. They looked more like robe than coat, in my opinion. Somehow we picture ourselves like witches from, again, that popular movie and couldn't help but feel so happy about this.



Yep, yep. That is the robe I have been blabbering about. See how Rini's look shorter than mine..? Exactly. Because she got the size of 72, whatever it meant, and mine is 110. But later I was kinda grateful for the length of the robe because when we went out for dinner, gee, the snow was uber thick. The robe helped save my leg! :D

Speaking about dinner, they got this awesome refectory, or the dining hall, that has this four long table in a grand hall. Kind of reminds u, again, of that popular wizards' movie, isn't it?


And since you need to dressed properly (smart casual), Rini was real excited about everyone's gonna dressed up nicely and why don't put make up on everyone so the night would be a special night. So Estela and Marina ended up putting the make up on everyone else, since we were less experienced than they were on make up department and ta-raaaa... I seriously surprised with the results and was like, no waaay, this is not my face.



But it felt quite nice because everybody puts on the make up and everybody looked different because of those make ups and I do think that sometimes we do need the skill of doing the make up on our own. By the way they served us appetizer first before we headed to our private buffet section (long live KANDA, by being its student we got all the privileges!). The food was really really delicious, and complete with fruits and desserts.
I came from a tropical land where you can find fruits easily and of course, cheap in every street in the town. And upon coming to Japan I realized that fruit is a LUXURY. So I was real happy when they served pineapples and strawberries and other fruits and that is one major point why I would like to live there forever. :D :D There were rice and pastas, beef, chicken, scrambled eggs and other delicious food. I was grateful for our two nights and three days stay, because it was like being in a COMPLETELY different world. Like, literally, I was not in Japan.


This is the full team of British Hills explorer. The nice waitress there caught our pleading eyes of PUHLEEASEE-take-our-picture-together and so she took the pictures for us. Behind us were senior high school students who apparently staying at the Hills for an English learning camp (since they don't speak Japanese at all at the Hills, and which was the other reason why it was literally not Japan there). We then realized that actually the British Hills was an educational-based resort to learn English and while people are struggling learning we were playing and having fun there. :P But it was okay, since all we did here in Japan is learning Japanese and there were a lot of not so good things happening in the dorm, so it was nice because it feels like for just a moment you leave all the Japan world with all the struggling and hide in a perfectly fun place. Everyone did realize that it will be cruel jungle once we came back to our residence in Chiba and we better make it as fun as possible here in British Hills.

So after dinner we went for a little tour at the library. This library the British Hills had was amazing! There were a lot of nice and old books and I was happy. Although they seemed to provide little care to the books, which is too bad because some of the antiques are really starting to show that they need more appropriate care, but I did enjoy the library. They got a huge book on the Windsor Castle, the complete Shakespeare (laughing) and Edgar Allan Poe's, all the classics and children books and everything. I was expecting those kinds of books in the library since we realized that the Hills was an educational based resort, but they
caught me off guard with these books. They had a complete series of cooking books from English cooking to Spain cooking, and Italian and everything and those books were quite old but I was really surprised. So I asked one of my beautiful friend to take a picture of me holding this Spain cooking's book with the delicious Paella on its cover.

No, I still don't know how to cook Paella.. :D

but Marina (the Spain girl) swore that before we get back to our own countries, she would cook us some Paella. (yaay!!) and we took A LOT of pictures in the library. The library was also quite spacious, so we did a little "fashion show" runway and recorded it. *giggles* but the girls are going to kill me if I dare posted it anywhere in the internet so I could only tell you that it was a fun moment with them.

The library also had several nice sofas and chess game, which no one played because we couldn't find the chess pieces anywhere. The library also had this little folding ladder that looked as old as the other things in the library and we had some photo shoot using that ladder. Now that I think about it, it was strange because you got the impression of antique, and Middle Ages, and oldish atmosphere but I can guarantee you that all the properties (sofas, tables, flowers, lamp decorations, ladder) and everything is....... fairly new, I think. These people at the Hills are uber smart on shaping the look and setting the lamps because we did feel like we were in the old times of Britain.

From the library we strolled to the Queen and King's room, with this "Her Majesty" writings on top of the door. It was said to be the duplicate of the Queen's and King's room but I am not 100% sure that it was. Nevertheless, the room was beautiful and the bed and the sofas are nice and actually I liked it. Even if it was not really the room I would like to be my own room, it was beautiful in its own ways. The girls were also quite excited at this place because the room was big enough and had a lot of things to be looked at. I opened one of the closet in the Queen's room and find a wedding dress inside. Why, exactly, a wedding dress is stuffed at the closet, I really can't think of the reason. One of the girls asked if we could try it on but later realized it will be too much of a trouble trying to put that beautiful white thing on and then put it off and arrange it at the closet again so she didn't try it on.

The Queen's room had all the feminine side of a room. The crystal glass, the grand lamps and fireplace, the big mirror, flowers - like, everywhere, and sofas and feminine bed and everything. The King's room is definitely more masculine, with big work desk and simple sofas. There were not much of flowers inside but it had a decoration of a bear skin on top of the bed. And I was like, Uh-huh. Like anyone would sleep on a bed like that. I'm a kind of strict animal pro and if i have to look at the bear skin on top of my bed every night I will definitely never sleep there. I wonder if the King really DID use that bear skin as a decoration on top of his bed.
Anyway did I tell you that the King and the Queen's room is united as one? They had this door that connects the King and the Queen's room. The funniest thing happened when one of the girls asked, "So the King and the Queen sleep in a separate bed?"
This could not be the real duplicate of King and Queen's room. :P

So then after looking on those beautiful rooms, everyone was already in this photo-shoot-mood and Estela (the Brazilian) made me posed like this:


Which supposed to be a sexy pose and turns out to be not sexy at all. xD

It WAS a sexy pose when Estela did it though, but when I did it it is nowhere near sexy. Maybe it was because I smiled too wide. You dont smile that wide when you're trying to be sexy... lol.

But it was quite fun and I enjoyed every seconds with those girls, from eating to doing this photo-shoot thing, from trying to read the books in the library and discuss the possibility of the King and the Queen's sleeping in separate beds and everything. It was a moment to remember, the British Hills trip. :)


Oh, and before I forgot! The outside view was as amazing as the Houses and the Manors view! There was this famous England's red box public telephone and the girls happened to took a picture of me and Rini with that little red box.
This picture is one of my favorite because it was just funny, looking at Rini's expression and me being locked down in the box. I guess even if we had certain troubles before finally arrived there at the British Hills, it really did worth it to visit. And I wonder how the place would look like in summer, when there were no snow and the colors are not merely white. Because in the end, at night it was too cold to stay outside longer and we decided to come back to our rooms and take this sweet picture.


So guys, if you happened to visit Japan someday, please do give this place a visit. It is amazing, and I assure you will get that "England" feeling upon your arrival here. You can easily access the information here:


Thanks for visiting the blog even when I'm on hiatus for some time. Hug your loved ones tonight, I'll see you soon!

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Fall for 700 Times, Rise Up for 701 Times!

Rey Lasano 10:35:00 AM
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
It's a bit slow (ahem), I know. I'm sorry about that folks. You cant believe how many things and works I so have to do by the time I was home in Chiba. There are final tests and reports waiting, and a lot of things to do and I found it really really hard to update the blog. The stories I want to share now is like a mountain of stories and seriously I dont know where to start. Mwahahahahahha....

Well since there is still a New Year atmosphere around I'll start with my resolution this year. Speaking of resolution, for me new year's resolution is not a mere trend I followed because everyone else doing it. For me a resolution is like a.... a spirit booster! It contains my determination to reach what I wanted to. Yet, I cant deny that life is too much full of surprises, and sometimes it leads me to places that is totally out of my expectation. :D

Last year, i wrote my new year's resolution like this:

1. To be a better J's disciples, and leaning closer to HIM, and finding more surprises and blessings and finding HIM bigger in my heart.
(.............ummmm....... i think i havent succeeded in this one. T.T)

2. To be a better girlfriend for A, a more easy going one, a deeper understanding, a better supporter, wise with words and emotion.
(Uh-huh. Exactly. -.-" we are still good friends, though.)

3. To be a better friend for my precious besties out there. To be a comfortable shelter for Jude, Tyaz, Fly, Aloince, Rinane, Bombina, Dee and for Wiramiharja, wherever he is.
(I do think everyone have closer relationship and stronger bound now. With the fact that i'm away, they are still the same. still crazy friends, still make me feel loved, they are still..... them. :) i do love them.)

4. I wanna be ON TIME! And, please, please, reduce that last-minute habit of mine! It's 2011, for goodness' sake.
(WELL.............. not done! ahahahhaa. but improved, since i've been in Japan it has been so much better. I really learn to put the discipline even stricter on myself)

5. I so have to start saving money. For everything.
(.... cant say anything about this. I did start saving though, not a regular ones but.......)

6. To Vietnam with Jude! More saving. ouch.
(cancelled, we changed it to local travels: Jogjakarta-Surabaya with additional member: Iin.)

7. Massive hair make over! nyaa....~
(I DID it! Yaaay...~~)

8. I want that scholarship to Japan. Yum.
(This is a total God's work because there is no way I could get accepted on my own. :3)

9. To be more organized, neat (Jude please dont pass out), and discipline!
(It's not that PERFECT yet, but I think i'm improved a bit)

10. And at last, to stay true to myself wherever these resolutions and the efforts to accomplished them take me, to stand for what i believe and what i dream for, coz i'm amazing just the way i am!
(i got the chance to do this since Japan is so much different and often i felt like i'm losing my own identity but thanks for helps God sent to me, i think i know now where to stand, and how to stay to be myself).

That's the last year's evaluation. By the way, earlier this year, i got a daruma doll from a friend of mine. She is Brazilian, her name is Estela and she bought it at Fushimi Inari, a temple in Kyoto.

Daruma is like.............. it's something like this:


The picture of the daruma is taken from here

He is said to be a..... rather "cute" duplication of father of Zen Buddhism, the Bodidharma. The tradition is you received this from another people, with both of the daruma's eyes are blank. Upon receiving this, you think of something, your goal, thing you want to achieve. After deciding that you paint one eye for the daruma. Later when you accomplished your goal, your dream or your wish, you give the daruma another eye and completing his sight. The daruma doll was made in such a way that when you throw him, knock him down or let him fall, he would stand back to his actual position again. This become your spirit, for no matter how many times you fall when you are chasing your dream, you would stand again, and run once again to reach your dreams.
It's like if you fall 700 times, you rise up 701 times, untill you complete your goal. The daruma doesnt have arms and legs because it pictures the Bodhidharma who lost the use of his own arms and legs after sitting for 9 years in a cave, meditating. Thus, it reminds you to have the same self discipline and positive outlook in reaching your dreams.
This picture of daruma i put here has a kanji character on his chest, and it reads "yume". "yume" means "dream". Not every doll has writings in his chest, though.

Anyway, that's the spirit of daruma and I have painted my daruma's eye some time after I got back home from Kyoto. Everytime i see him standing in my desk I am reminded of the wish i painted his eye with and got excited in the morning. :3

So this is my 2012 resolution!

1. To become a better disciple of J
2. To be a better friends for my besties, and to prove to Loince that friendship could go through the ocean.
3. To be more discipline, organized and neat
4. To finish college at Atma Jaya University and get my bachelor's degree
5. I want to see England and New York
6. Actually, I want to study in New York
7. Travelling to Vietnam and Kamboja with Jude and Iin
8. Go to Larc'en'ciel concerts
9. Participate with organizations that gives me opportunities to do field work and community services. :3
10. Take my youngest brother and mom to travel somewhere they could have total fun and (especially for my brother) where he could learn a lot of new things.

Basically, that's all. I dont think they are easy to do and if Jude sees this she might be giving me her "flat" look and ask me if I know i dont sound realistic by writing this. hahahhaa... still, these are things I do want to achieve and i'm running to my dreams. So, what about you folks? :) whether you are writing resolution or not, I wish you all have a wonderful year ahead!

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