Monday, December 30, 2013

UPDATE: How I Spent My December

I guess I've been pretty much MIA the past month. Well that's because I've been spending my December in the land of the Rising Sun, aka Japan. This is the second time I visited Japan. But, this time I spent a little over a month here as one of my faculty's obligatory modules to have an elective study abroad for a short period of time. Japan wasn't my first choice to visit to be honest, let alone Osaka City University, or OCU in short (whose college and hospital I attended for 4 weeks), but it turned out to be an experience I will be eternally grateful for. I'd like to share you my story here. It might be boring, so you can skip this one haha

This Elective Module is some kind of an observational study. My 'job' was only to see and observe the doctors. Considering that I'm still a student, so examining the patients is off-limits for me.. or at least frowned upon. OCU let us choose whatever department we are interested in, so I chose Ophthalmology (Eye) Department. In Japanese, it's called 'Ganka'. Funny though, I've always felt insecure about my eyes. I can even shed a damn eye drops into my eye and the thought of people touching their eyeballs to put contact lenses is weirdly tickling for me. So I don't know exactly why I have an interest in Ganka. Maybe I was more interested in the gears they're using to examine the patients? Or maybe my subconsciousness is telling me to grow the f up and learn to touch other people's eyeballs? Lol. Aside from observing patients' check-ups and eye examinations, I got to see laser treatments, some operations like cataract surgery and vitrectomy, which were kinda cool. The patients were of course speaking in Japanese, but the doctors always explained to me about the patients' conditions after that.

With Yamamoto-sensei after a vitrectomy surgery
Contrary to popular belief, some of the doctors (we call them sensei too) have a pretty decent and understandable English, so learning wasn't really hard. Even if some doctors couldn't speak English very well, they surely made an effort to make me understand what they're saying. That's why I have so freakin MUCH respect to them. They're really nice. Like, genuinely nice. I felt really bad when I myself didn't really prepare any Japanese language studies to at least have a better communication. I had Japanese lessons actually on my high school, but I already forgot most of it (lol, sorry sensei!!). But seriously, these sensei are very very nice. I don't really know how to express my gratitude towards these amazing people. Not only I learned about medical stuff, but also I had the pleasure to be welcomed with their generosity and hospitality for 4 weeks. I even got invited to their Christmas Party AND End of the Year party. Talking about saving my lunch money lol.

At first, the thought of living in Japan was a bit frustrating. The living cost and the language barrier were the ones me and my other 5 friends worrying about the most. And also, living in a one-season country (I refuse to consider Indonesia -Surabaya to be exact- to have 2 seasons, because it's practically hot weather all year long), my body wasn't designed for winter. I had to prepare a bunch of coats, long-johns, sweaters, scarfs, gloves, you name it. But it turned out, it's not as 'bad' as we imagined. The living cost IS still expensive, though, but not like what we originally thought. The whole atmosphere was cold-ish, but it's still in a tolerable amount, at least for me. But damn, those winds were killers. As for language, there are many students who have a great English, so they've been a HUGE help for us to survive in this country. Communicating with the Japanese people wasn't so bad either. We could still understand each other for most of the times. I actually felt a short earthquake at the middle of the night. My apartment was on the 6th floor, so I could really feel the shake. My bed was moving really hard, I thought it was a ghost lol.

With Prof. Shiraki, head of Ophthalmology Department
If I have to complain about one thing, is that my schedule was not really clear. Being a 'minor' department (comparing to more major ones like Internal Medicine, Surgery, Obstetrics and Gynecology, etc), I think Ganka is not really a popular choice. I guess it's the first time they have any foreign students observing. Even my schedule wasn't coinciding with the students there (my friends in other departments always have Japanese students as companions, but not me T.T), because they had a lot of free time in this department. One day I have a full 9-to-5 schedule observing eye examinations, but the Japanese students only have like 30 minutes conference and that's it. On one hand, I kinda envied them haha but on the other hand, I was happy that I had a 'special' privilege the other students didn't have. 

But of course I didn't go to Japan only for studying. Me and my friends also went shopping and sightseeing around Osaka. We went shopping at this humongous shopping arcade street of Shinsaibashi; we went to Universal Studios; we went to one of the largest aquariums in Japan, Kaiyukan; we visited the great Osaka Castle; we ate sushi and Osaka's traditional Takoyaki and Okonomayaki and we visited Nara, where I saw snow for the first time in my life haha. Even if this was my second time visiting Japan, I still can't get over the fact that this is an amazing country. Japanese people might not have a strict firm to one type of religion (they said so themselves), but it amazes me that most of the people I met here are extremely polite and good-mannered. They might uphold individuality but at the same time they have this mentality to not be 'an inconvenience to others'. It's hard to explain this, but they also really practical in their daily life.  I could go on and on and on about this country, but it would take a whole day, and I'm still not going to be finished by then.

In short, I had an INCREDIBLE time in Osaka. I learned a lot, I walked a lot, went to lots of cool places, met great people, students and doctors, experienced things I wouldn't have imagined before, and many many more. Again, I have to thank Professor Shiraki as the head of Ganka Department for letting me observe there. Yoshida-sensei, Ueno-sensei, Tsuboi-sensei, Yamamoto-sensei, and all the gang from this department for an amazing experience. I feel extremely grateful and honored to be in Ganka Department. Thank you for everything! Last but not least, Happy New Year, dear readers. Wish you all the best of luck in 2014!

PS: I will post movie reviews just after New Year, when I get back to Indonesia. Until then.... enjoy your holiday!

14 comments:

  1. Wow what a great month you had! I'm being honest that I skipped reading the entire post (LOL, it's long you know) but from the photos it feels like you're really having a great time there! Good luck for you! Happy new year and can't wait for your upcoming reviews (and your annual lists, too!) :D

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    1. Totally! Haha it's okay :) and yes I had a great time. Good luck to you too, Bar! Ditunggu ya, I'm working on it hehe can't wait for your list too!

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  2. four weeks in Osaka, i bet you've mastered to say "nandeyanen" now =))

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    1. Haha had to google that actually... Mungkin student2nya sungkan ya ngomong itu ke saya jadi gak pernah denger mereka ngomong itu hohohoo atau mungkin gak sadar x)

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  3. Wow, seru sekali (I read the entire post, #subtweet, lol). Argh, dari dulu pengen bgt ke Jepang nggak jadi2. Tapi cuma ke Osaka riz? Dan berarti lo sekarang udah official jadi dokter yah? Happy *almost* new year btw. Year-end-list time! :D

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    1. You have to go there! Such an amazing country :) Ini yg kedua kalinya gw ke Jepang, Dan, kmrn2 udah sampe Kyoto ama Tokyo, jadinya sekarang krn buat ngehemat duit stay aja di Osaka hehee belom kok, dan, masih panjang bgt perjalanan gw haha masih 2 taun lagi T.T yep, lagi nyusun, tapi harus ngejar banyak film bgt >< waiting for your list too!

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  4. Wow! what a Year ya Riz! (and yes you lost me at You Can Skip This One. lol). pantesan Blognya jarang Update, dan musim2 year-end lists gini belom ada tanda2 ngepost, anyway, ditunggu listnya!

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  5. wow! asik banget! what a great 4 weeks you had! :)
    pingin ke jepang, tapi.... nabung dulu :p
    happy new year, riz! :D

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    1. I really did have a great time, mbak :) Semoga berhasil nabungnya supaya cepet ke Jepang juga hehe Happy new year to you too!

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  6. would love to go back to japan and visit the kansai area! I only went to tokyo and fukuoka back in 08 but Osaka and Kyoto is definitely in my most wanted list. (I have a certain fascination towards Osaka-ben to be honest)
    I'm glad you have fun in Japan!
    Looking forward to your in pending movie review though!

    Happy 2014!

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    1. You should! Thanks :) Working on it! Cant wait to see yours too... Happy 2014!

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  7. Whoaa... Urayamashi!!!
    i always want to go to Japan but never had a chance. Good for you :) Tho I have never been your teacher but as your alumnus I am very proud.

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    1. I hope you have the chance to go there someday, Miss :) And thank youu!

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