西瓜割 (Suikawari), Nasi Goreng, Takoyaki in my lab’s Farewell Party…

I had a great and exciting farewell party with my adviser and lab members.

First we made Takoyaki, the famous ball shaped fried octopus cake.. I had some in Osaka, and the ones made here was as delicious, in fact it’s more

Then we had cold Soumen, Japanese noodles cooked in hot water, then dipped in ice water (it’s summer afterall). It is then eaten together with shoyu and seaweed. After that, we had Soba which was treated the same way as the soumen. (cold)

The main dish was when my tutor, Faizal from Malaysia cooked fried rice (nasi goreng). I helped…. heehee. It wasn’t really hot, but I thought it was a bit too spicy for the Japanese (Faizal just keeps on adding hot sweet chili sauce.. haha).. It was spicy for them, but the Japanese friends and profs liked it.. so no problem..

Last, when we wanted to have watermelons, I asked about Suikawari, the Japanese culture of smashing watermelon with a baseball bat and closed eyes. Somehow I was the one doing the suikawari. It wasn’t as easy as I thought, but in the end I hit a thorough, perfect middle smash. Then everybody enjoyed the sweet watermelon in the hot, summer night

It was a great night, got a very nice souvenir (traditional clothing) from my research adviser (Prof. Shibata), it feels sad to leave Japan, but excited to come home. Just one week away from stepping my foot in Indonesia again.