Limited

Oh, my best mates in Shanghai! Nice pic, rite? But, where am I?

Take care, all my friends: T.A. mates, Malang brothers and sisters, Fontys friends, Shanghai family and everyone I know all around the world! May God bless you all and keep you safe and sound!

Twice

Shanghai was a lot of learning process but also a lot of fun.

Now, I am back to Eindhoven the Netherlands. Back to the life in Europe; peaceful and smooth.

I'm gonna tell two similar stories I experienced in these few days of my stay in Eindhoven.

Thursday, 27th of January 2011.
01.15. I arrived at Eindhoven railway station. Grabbed a taxi. Heading to a hostel downtown.
01.25. Found the hostel but there is no one in the receptionist desk. Checked out a hotel nearby. It was fully booked. The guy inside told me that there might be no room for me in all Eindhoven. He didn't know why.
01.35. The same taxi driver sent me to the Hotel Corso in the centrum. Checked it out but no one was there as well. A Dutch guy, jumped into the taxi, knowing that the taxi driver was going to drop me to a close hotel nearby so he could be sent home after me. Went to Sofitel Hotel, but was full as well.
01.45. Following the Dutch guy advice. Saw several hostel close to the PSV Stadium. The receptionist said the same thing too, "no room, fully booked".
02.00. Last resort. Holiday Inn hotel. I couldn't get any room as well. I was told that there was a conference in Eindhoven. A big one, supposedly. Finally called the only contact I had, Mr. C. S. and he agreed to let me stay in his house for the rest of the night.

Thanks God!

Saturday, 29th of January 2011.
12.03. At Ms. L. H. front door. I sent a message an hour earlier while leaving from Mr. C. S. house, stating that I'll be there at her house in an hour. Rang the bell four times. No answer. Couldn't call her. Phone was down. The back-up battery was inside my big 30kg traveling bag. Didn't want to open it up and unpack it.
12.05. Decided to leave the house and hoped that there would be the last bus to the city center. I thought, at least I could take a taxi from the city center. FYI, in Eindhoven, there isn't so much taxi around except you call them first.
12.10. In the bus stand. Saw the schedule. The last bus was coming in 9 minutes. Good. But that bus doesn't go back to the station. It goes back to the garage. Need to walk about 2 km to get back to the station. Well, I might be able to convince the bus driver to drop me somewhere on the way to the garage, but where?
12.15. Took out my back-up battery. Call Mr. E. S., thinking that he might still be awake and sure he was. His house is in the same bus line. I thought it was a good idea to visit him and Ms. R. P.
12.35. Did convince the bus driver to take me with him. Got to the bus garage. Walked from there to Mr. E. S. and Ms. R. P.'s house (the big bag was with me). lol.
13.00. Arrived in destination. Having great fun talking about everything in the past few months and meeting three new friends; Ms. B, Mr. J, and Mr. P. Chat til dropped. Slept at 4 a.m. in the morning.

Two nights and two early mornings, I traveled all around Eindhoven looking for a place to stay. And twice, I found a place to rest my head upon. What does it mean? I don't know. But I am glad to be able to see old mates back here. And they really did save my ass!

Are you ready for SURPRISES?

Surprises always take someone off-guard. It is sudden, unexpected and unanticipated.

There could be three types of surprises in this world, according to me, lol. First category of surprises is the surprises which make you happy. The examples are plenty, like: birthday surprises, Christmas gifts, and lottery winning. On the other hand, the second category can be related to loses; disaster, death of a friend or family member, accidents and sicknesses. They break our heart.

The later and the last is the category of surprises which challenges you to do something. It requires a right and reactive reaction at the time you get the surprise. These surprises don’t last too long. They might only come once in a life time. They could be categorized as an opportunity by some people but for the novices, it might be difficult to be seen as one.

Like this afternoon, after church, I took the metro line 6 home. I had to change to line 2. It was quite a cold day today and I was off the train and a bit rushing to take the other train (line 2’s) –couldn’t take the cold and only wanted to get home really fast. Two girls approached me and asked me a question in Chinese. They thought I am Chinese –in fact, I am Indonesian Chinese, but can’t speak Chinese, lol. I didn’t really understand what the question was and I just said that I am sorry, I can’t speak Chinese. And with a nice answer, they thanked me, “thanks”. I would never see them again.

After that event, inside the metro, I pondered I could have helped them in a better way. Yes, I couldn’t understand what they are asking for but at least I could try to understand their question more by asking whether they’re able to speak English or not. If they can, I might be able to help them and thus I created a nice memory in their mind and heart. Also in my heart.

I might not see them anymore but it becomes a lesson for me. The verse of Matthew 5:43 all at once rung inside my ears. It says “And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain (KJV)”. When people approach us with their problem and questions, are we ready to answer their questions no matter what our condition is? Can we show them that we can exceed their expectations? Would we at least show them compassion?

Even though they would rephrase their question, there was a chance that I wouldn’t be able to help or give them what they need (to know). But, an act of good will, intention and kindness can in a way or two make a difference; both in their life and mine.

Are you ready for surprises?
Are you ready to treat a stranger like a friend and an enemy like a family?
Let’s be prepared!

The beginning of an end

Today, my internship in Essential Finance is officially over.

It's been a pleasure to be able to work in a very international company like this one. Moreover, I could experience life in Shanghai.

I won't forget things and hard lessons I have learned here. Selling is not easy but that what challenges me to be better person. I wasn't born to sell and I should study really hard about the art of selling.

I hope my motivation to learn the art of selling doesn't stop here. I used to hate salesman a little bit, maybe now I still do, but I realize that there is nothing wrong to be a salesperson. It's not a bad job at all. It's a great job and can make a lot of money. It also expands your network.

Knowing it's the end of the internship, it's time to begin writing report. Lol. I have 3 weeks left to finish everything up. I am building up my faith and believing that I can do extremely well.

Crossing finger.

Happy New Year, better late than never!

As encouraged by several friends of mine back in Langma Malang, I write this post and make note that I'll keep on blogging.

This first blog for this year will be short. I just want to remind everyone not to throw away your new year's resolution list.

If possible, elaborate on the list you have and make each resolution SMART. For business people or students, I think, you can close the tab now, but for the ones who doesn't how to make it SMART, I suggest you Google it. lol.

In short, SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-framed. So, if you wish to lose weight this year. Write clearly how many kilograms you want to lose from your now-sexy body and will-be-sexier at the end of the year and how you would do it.

If necessary, break your goal quarterly or monthly. It's essential for your tracking purposes.

Have faith that you can do it! Faith is the source of everything, without it all you do is vain.

Wish everyone a great year! It's a lovely and wonderful year! I don't want to waste any minutes of it.

God bless!

Thanks to Sue for the new year's resolution sharing time which inspired me to write this post. ^^