During the COVID19 outbreak, all of us has been ‘forced’ to keep stay at home and minimize our activity outside like the other day before.
Temporarily closed schools and stores, even some offices, restaurants…
Because the outbreak ranges getting wide once we have interaction with the infected person. And *clicks fingers* it happens really fast.
So you know, the daily “I just want to stay at home and hate to leave the bed.” is being a mandatory and it’s one of the way to save your life. No kidding.
It feels unbelievably like a pre-apocalypse with an ‘unseen’ disease, but at the other hand, there’s not much changes going on—well we still have to keep the economy running and balanced the society life.
But there are still lots of interesting things going on, especially, people on the Internet (talking about PRESENT DAYS!), are getting more and more creative.
We are talking about social distancing but, keep the distance!
So what I found out lately through the media and from my office, is a trend that called “Tele-Nomikai” or simply said ‘Online Drinking Party’.
Drinking Party or Nomikai (Nomi（飲み）-drink and kai （会） assembly/gather/meet), is a very common in Japan when you spend it with your friends, colleagues, or even with your own family. You gather in a place (usually izakaya or Japanese pub), drinking all the sake you like, eating, and having a very nice conversation.
Most of Nomikai events are often throws in some welcome party or farewell. To get to know to each other, or another purpose like… looking for someone charming.
But during the COVID19 outbreak, there are no absolutely going out from your home and we are not going to take a risk over a drinking party.
This is what I could feel, most of Japanese are missing it; the fun, the noisy, the kampai together, the chit-chat… it is very human where we missing to talk to real people, to interact… so for a while, we have to bear with it.
But thanks to technology and it is not an 80’s or 90’s anymore, we have this thing called ‘internet’. To keep us ‘socialized’ and communicate with the others, and ‘help’ us in this kind of situation. A VIDEO CALLLLLL!!
So I guess the whole world now experiencing the long-distance-relationship at the same time! (oh shut up that is a very sad experience)
Back then, my first time video call happened through Skype, and right now, I just knew there’s another apps (what they call it, not a ‘program’) called Zoom.
It’s just like a Skype meeting, but it is more simpler, and has the same function. Through this, you’re drinking in your own place, talking through your laptops/computers/smartphone, or whatever you call it with your friends.
Last night, I had a reunion with my old ‘senpai’ from my campus. I received a message from my former band guitarist fellow—Amami, he sent me the ID and the password to join the meeting. And here we go!
Although I figured out someone couldn’t be able to go online, with the only available members, the chit-chat went very nice and fun!
(I wrote the ‘Japanese’ wedding blog about the guy on my left (from the photo). You can read it again here–but sorry, in Bahasa Indonesia)
(The photo description: One of the nice rehearsal moment before the show in one cold acoustic night. Probably around 2014?)
Of course, they brought me back to when I was in the university. They are a bunch of people who gave me lots of memories. With music, togetherness, the first sake, the first hangover, first love, first broken-heart, everything.
You can read more about some of them (or mostly my University life) in my old blog post here and here (but sorry, it’s written in Bahasa Indonesia). Most of members on the photos are on my blog 🙂
(not so fun fact: I was literally crying when I went through my old blogsposts… I missed my University life so much…. I don’t want to be an adult 🙁 )
It is just funny how I see they are mostly never getting old. Just the same senpai I knew, nothing changed, not even their ‘shape’. They just looked good as the first time I met them in the festivals, jams, lives…
So, how about everybody?
Are you doing good during the #SelfQuarantine? Are you dong the online-drinking party as well?
We are usually feel so far away, but the outbreak honestly making people are remembering the others and suddenly there’s an urge to make a call and seeing how it goes. During my life in Japan, I’m barely having a call (or video call like this) from the old friends. But this time, well, people are intend to getting know how their old times beloved friends doing.
But I guess, it’s not only the ‘society’ who’s having the trend of ‘online-drinking.’ HEHEHEHEHE.
Care to do the online drinking with me? *wink*
#StayAtHome
#StaySafe
#BeatCOVID19