november 23, 2007

Here I’m, sitting in a spacious room in Jakarta, Indonesia. It’s the first time I’m visiting this country since my departure to the Netherlands, more than 3 years ago.

The flight from Amsterdam was good. I slept almost the whole time. Got the news of England defeat when in transit in Kuala Lumpur international airport. That was absolutely devastating. Too bad for them. But, that’s life. Steve Mclaren already got sacked within the 24 hours after that embarrassing lost. Anyway, I spent the 1.5 hours after that on the plane to Jakarta.

Soekarno – Hatta international airport was more or less the same as back then. It just became more crowded. Once my feet stepped out the airport, I instantly recognized something, the air of Jakarta. It didn’t change that much apparently. The next 30 minutes were spent on the way to the hotel. It was busy due to preparation for upcoming jazz event at the same place.

Well, that’s the journey in short. I’m here now preparing myself for Holland Education Fair, which is going to officially start tomorrow morning. There is only technical briefing taking place later this afternoon. That’s about it for now.

national curriculum, november 9, amsterdam

hey …

it’s me again. running from opera this time. this entry is about existente students. i wanna share a little story around their national curriculum in amsterdam a couple of weeks ago.

if you dont know what national curriculum is, it is a national meeting of existente students, which takes place periodically. for 2007/2008 academic year, the first was in the hague in august. the second one was just about two weeks ago in amsterdam.

during national curriculum, they talk about tips on finding job in the netherlands, what to expect from prospective employers, interviews, and more on how to deal with rejection, and so on so forth. the session in diemen last time was quite interesting though. but, that came after a long-boring-not interesting-unpractical presentation of high demand of technical students in the netherlands. it would have been much more interesting, if only the presenter took the perspective of asian students in explaining the situation.

the presentation from one of the existente alumni was much more interesting. he explained practical stuff that he went through to find internship and job in the netherlands. to tell you about it, it is very difficult for asian students, especially indonesian, to be hired as an employee in this country. from his presentation, some companies didnt even care enough to apply for working permit and a few of them couldnt afford the minimum salary, as required by ind (the dutch immigration organization). but, i saluted him for eventually getting hired at vodafone in maastricht.

well, ’nuff about the presentations. they also went on canal cruise around amsterdam. it was pretty cool. you can see the pics taken that day on this link. too bad the weather didnt cooperate with us. otherwise, it would be much more enjoyable.

we ended the day by having dinner at indrapura (an indonesian restaurant located at rembrandtplein). the food was good. the service was even better. so no remarks on that.

so, that was a little story around the national curriculum of existente students in amsterdam. the next one is gonna be in the hague (again … ). and we will visit madurodam, where the mini holland is.

vion.

lamentation 3:25-30

3:25 GOD proves to be good to the man who passionately waits, to the woman who diligently seeks.
3:26 It’s a good thing to quietly hope, quietly hope for help from GOD.
3:27 It’s a good thing when you’re young to stick it out through the hard times.
3:28 When life is heavy and hard to take, go off by yourself. Enter the silence.
3:29 Bow in prayer. Don’t ask questions: Wait for hope to appear.
3:30 Don’t run from trouble. Take it full-face. The “worst” is never the worst.

another version of one of my favourite pericopes from the bible.

p.s.: thanks to Ivan who told me this

conclusion

At the beginning, this article has showed you the difficulty in finding out someone’s real identity. The given example has pointed out how visual appearances can deceive the others easily. However, this difficulty is not exclusively only for the others who look inside into his personality, but the person himself may find the same or, perhaps, even more problems in formulating his own identity.

In the case with me, the second part of this article has pointed out the development of my identity in the last four years. The discussion in that section somehow supports the idea that identity is a fluid concept that constantly changes throughout different periods of time. Arguments in that section also show you the effect of environment on one’s perception on how the world works.

My current identity is somehow reflected on the latest marketing campaign of “WE”, as discussed in the third section. Its tag “I’m a little bit of everything” fits perfectly into the concept of treasuring human emotions. The preceding discussions have also informed you the contradiction that somehow taken place in my situation. Although the commercial and campaign have successfully put “WE” on top of my brand awareness, it is not successful in turning me into a frequent buyer of its products.

This paragraph ends the whole analysis and discussion on the personal and brand identity. It expectantly provides you with knowledge on how a brand develops its identity and the effect of the meeting between the brand and one’s personality. Suggestions and feedbacks are welcome in order to produce better analysis in the future.

Diemen.
Autumn 2007