Meeting Again Florie at the ASEAN QA Assessor Training

It has been more than 4 years since our last meeting in Berlin and almost 3 years after the last meeting in Yogyakarta. Time goes so fast. Many developments happened. The question is still about: How to contribute more to humankind, to science, and to some extents: university development. 

 Faizal, Florie, Ika, Sudi (a husband of Bernie), and Pheni in a course.

 

It was really an unforgettable time when finally I met again with Florie, a colleague from Centro Escolar University after our last meeting in IDC-Part III in Yogyakarta (March 2009). She told me about her works in the university, the wonderful progresses she made, and about life in the Philippines. It was also nice to meet again Marc Wilde and Ahmad Faizal Mohd. Zain in the ASEAN QA-Assessor Training. I hope this will be the beginning again of our joint works.

2nd DIES IDC (SEA) Part III

We are now sitting, and reflecting on what has happened over the past year. Everyone express themselves as a type of ship and the transoformation they had gone through.

All the participants have made new friends, covered new grounds, and looking forward ahead.

We hope this site will be alive as the years go by even though the course is officially over.

Congratulations to all DIES IDC Alumni.

Meeting In Jogja

Dear Friends,

How have you been? I can not wait to see you all in Jogja. Hope you are all fine. See you in Jogja and hope we will have fruitful meeting.

Expressing yourself in Vietnam

Vietnam is well known for its expresso coffee. To savor the richness of Vietnamese expresso, you have to find the right blend and use proper percolating technique. Otherwise, your effort in making good aromatic expresso is wasted.

First, get good coffee. A good brand is Trung Nguyen. Try the Gourmet Blend.

Next you need the vinaly. This is the Vietnamese percolator. It costs only 5,000VND, about US$0.30, which is a steal.

Put just a teaspoon of the coffee powder in the vinaly and place the compactor in the vinaly. Do not put more than a teaspoon, unless you want really strong expresso.

Next place the vinaly over the cup and pour hot water at 100 degrees celcius, to fill the vinaly to the brim. Let the water trickle through and absorb the coffee flavor. While waiting, you can go over your PAP and and see where you are at. It doesn't take long, brewing the expresso, I mean. Your PAP may take longer to brew!

Take a peep in the vinaly and if all goes ok, there shouldn't be any water left, since it has been turned into fine expresso. Remove the vinaly and place it over its cover so as not to stain your fine table.

Take a deep breath over your hot Vietnamese expresso, and smell the coffee. Drink it while hot, and at the same time, go over your PAP again to ensure that you are on track.

Please be warned that Vietnamese expresso is very addictive, so much so that you may spend too much time brewing it, rather than making your PAP a success. If all else fails, I mean the PAP, come up with a nice coffee story in Jogjakarta next year!

Good luck with your PAP. (PS: I needed 10 Vietnamese expressos to keep me awake to get my PAP going.)

Orderly Chaos and Chaotic Order

Welkommen Vietnam.

Being a first timer in Vietnam is really exhilarating. One should try crossing the street. It is a marvelous experience. One cannot but notice and appreciate the fact that whatever the traffic looks like, there is no collision.

It reminds me of how a university functions.

The traffic is self-policing, autonomous, so to say. Generally, the traffic does not run the red lights. When it turns green, there is an exodus of vehicles, especially motorcycles. The majority of the people use the proper lanes. The intersection or junction is the best place to sit and watch traffic.

One can see the weaving in and out of the motorcycles, very much like the weaving of good vietnamese silk. It looks very chaotic; it is chaotic. But, it is orderly.

In the university, management sometimes look chaotic; especially when there is no clear direction as to where it is heading. That is where planning and consultation are to be done cohesively. Only when the general populace understand the rationale behind the directives, can the plan be carried out in an orderly fashion.

Vietnam pix available

The Vietnam fotos taken by the moderator is available for viewing and download here. Feel free to browse through and download at will.

Just a kind reminder that the album may not stay on for a long time as disk space is a premium. So, download your favorite fotos fast before time runs out.

Will the real Mr. Bean step forward

We received e-mails from him, we responded, he replied, we answered his queries, but yet, we never know how to properly address him.

There are some who addressed him as Mr. Tran. Then others would call him Mr. The Binh or Mr. The. Some also called him Dr. Binh. No one would like to offend anyone, especially when we are addressing someone whom we have not met. So some called him Mr. Tran The Binh, as he signed in his e-mails.

Never did we realize that his name sounds exactly like Mr. Bean, the comical actor, Ronald Atkinson. Until Sanchai announced to everyone, on arrival at Ho Chi Minh City airport, that we are meeting Mr. Bean!

Thank you Mr. Binh and all the Vietnamese officers at DAAD HCM city office for all the assistance you gave us before, during, and after the event.

A milestone in the IDC program

November 28, 2008, is a milestone in the IDC program. It marks the end of phase 2 of the program. By this time, all participants would have presented their PAP. At the presentation on November 27, it was noted that a total 3 participants did not present their PAPs due to unforseen circumstances.

Some of the participants will leave for home either on Saturday or Sunday, November 29th or 30th. However, San Chai, Niwath, and Leena, decided to extend their stay away from their home since the airport in Bangkok is closed.

We bid adieu to everyone and as expected, parting is such sweet sorrow. Everyone is looking forward to meet in Jogjakarta in March 2009.

Nice Weather Today

Hai Friends, How have you been? I am sure we are all now enjoying good times. Some of you now are having a meeting in Vietnam I suppose. Here, in Jogja, the weather is very nice. We had a typhoon ruined some of our facilities in our university but now everything has been maintained well.

Merapi Mountain from the window of my office today.

This is just to make the blog live again as mentioned by moderator. Yes, I want to have my pen run dry for this blog.

Let me introduce you to the quotation by Carlos Castenada: "All of us, whether or not we are warriors, have a cubic centimeter of chance that pops out in front of our eyes from time to time. The difference between the average person and a warrior is that the warrior is aware of this and stays alert, deliberately waiting, so that when this cubic centimeter pops up, it is picked up."

We're baaaack

Stay tuned as we're baaaack. The Jakarta meeting must have rejuvenated everyone. We are now in Ho Chi Minh City and everyone has been asking about the IDC blog.

So, make your pen run dry by contributing to this blog.

Cheers

A Meeting in Jakarta

Hai Friends, How are you? Time goes so fast and soon we will hold regional meetings of the International Deans Course. The folowing is the brochure prepared by Indonesian section.

Practicing the Action Habit

"Wisdom is knowing what to do next, skill is knowing how to do it, and virtue is doing it," observed David Starr Jordan. How are you friends? Did you receive the PAP revision from Chris?

Borobudur Temple, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Located in a valley, stupas of Borobudur are standing elegant. Picture was taken on 28 August, 2008.

Fix Your Course To A Star

Series of a guy preparing himself for a pantomime of Da Vinci in front of Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy. Picture was taken in December 2006.

Hello, Friends. How have you been? How does your PAP run? I hope great, successful, and wonderful days for you all.

I cited from Leonardo Da Vinci: Fix your course to a star and you can navigate any storm. Greetings from Yogyakarta.

What Is Collective Intelligence?

According to Pierre Levy et al., collective intelligence is a form of universally distributed intelligence, constantly enhanced, coordinated in real time, and resulting in the effective mobilization of skills.

The basis and goal of collective intelligence is the mutual recognition and enrichment of individuals rather than the cult of fetishized or hypostatized communities.

How should we then implement collective intelligence into our daily life in our institution? How have you been, Friends? How does your PAP run? Greetings from Yogyakarta.

Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze where collective collections of books are visited by book lovers. It is located in Santa Croce, Florence, Italy. Picture was taken one day in December 2006.

To Learn From Musashi Miyamoto

Mountain Batok, Bromo, and Semeru Before Sunrise. Picture was taken on July 11, 2008, from Mountain Penanjakan, Probolinggo, East Java, Indonesia.













Mountain Batok and Bromo after Sunrise. Picture was also taken on July 11, 2008.

Musashi Miyamoto (the Lone Samurai, as written by Eiji Yoshikawa) was an autodidactic person. He taught himself to learn many kinds of knowledge. One of the knowledge Musashi learned is the thoughts of Sun Tzu as follow:

Hence the saying: If you know the enemy
and know yourself, your victory will not
stand in doubt; if you know Heaven and know
Earth, you may make your victory complete.

Musashi was very modest, honest, and a tough personality to train himself. He realized the importance of timing and rhythm in every aspects of life. The most interesting point of Musashi is that he knew how to read time. He knew when to stop fighting and transformed himself to be an artist, and ended himself to be a philosopher in the end of his life. It seems he needed great intuition to decide when to stop something and when to start something else. His great intuition made him to be a real life fighter. He drove time, not the time drove his life.

Sometimes I think how great he was, while I am constantly to be a just mediocre person. Greetings from Yogyakarta to live the blog.

Faculty of Dentistry, UGM

Building of the Faculty of Dentistry, UGM.

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication
(Leonardo da Vinci). Greetings!

Synchronicity #2

The pictures I took in Bangka Island: Just before sunrise in Tong A Chin (Now Batavia Bangka) Beach, Sungailiat.


I was on my way back to Yogyakarta from Bangka Island, in the East part of Sumatra Island, when thinking about my first post on synchronicity (Synchronicity #1).

It does not take the mystery of a new millenium to convince us that something is shifting in human conciousness. For those with a perceptive eye, the signs are everywhere. To stay alert and to make the time necessary to explore a moment occuring in our life, as well as to mean the connection among moments, could be the key in order to shift our lives in a new, more inspiring direction in this millenium.













It was so silent in a dawn time at Tong A Chin (Batavia Bangka) Beach, on July 5, 2008.












Traditional pancake stall of Bangka Island: Martabak Manis. Ayung is a famous martabak manis stall in Sungailiat.















Sixty year old building used as the first telegraph office in Bangka Island, located in Sungailiat. Now it is used for local television office: Bangka Tivi.

Talking about shifting in human conciousness, Swiss psychologist Carl G. Jung was the first modern thinker to define the mysterious phenomenon. He called it synchronicity, the perception of meaningful coincidence. Jung, as written by F.D. Feat (Synchronicity: A Bridge Between Matter and Mind), maintained that synchronicity was an acausal principle in the universe, a law that operated to move human beings toward greater growth in conciousness.

Let us seize the moment. Groetjes from Yogyakarta!

Condolence to Sanchai and family

It is with great sorrow and sadness that we feel with the passing away of Sanchai's beloved father on Saturday, 28 June, 2008. We offer our condolences and prayers to our friend Sanchai and family on this sad occasion and wish him well through this time of bereavement.

Comments are opened for anyone to express and extend their condolences to Sanchai.

Synchronicity (#1)

Charlie`s brother at Check Point Charlie, Berlin.

Most of us have learned to pursue life with our egos alone, waking up in the morning and thinking we must take complete control of the day. Even sometimes we drive life with mathemathical calculation and drive it like we are doing lab works: hypothesis-designed experiment-proven hypothesis.

In reality, life is full of unplanned moments. It is full of significant coincidences. Coincidences can be dramatic, but they can also be very subtle and fleeting, and thus easily dismissed. Then our personal challenge is to overcome the cultural conditioning that leads us to reduce life to the ordinary, commonplace, and nonmysterious.

I remembered two months ago on the third day of May, I was in an aeroplane which flied me to Schiphol. I did not even meet most of you. But now, you have been a part of my life, Friends. Do you still believe that to answer questions on life is to mean moment and to understand connection of moments? Greeting from UGM.

Almost Two Months: The Tao of Jung

Zoologischer Garten Station, on Pantecost Day.

The life journey through many different dimensions, meeting people, as well as facing different life situations have been influencing my life view, life paradigm. One day I hated person, for example, but later he or she has been being the person I respect more and more. One of them is Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961). He was not only a psychiatrist, a psychologist, but also a meta-physicist with wide area of interest.

Jung liked to stay alone and sat on a big stone. He usually asked himself: “Is it me who is sitting on a stone, or am I a stone on which I sit on?” This question is an analogical one by the one from Chuang-Tse, a famous Taoist, after he woke up from his dreams: “Did I dream to become butterfly or am I butterfly who dreamed to become Chuang-Tse?”

Time goes so fast, although sometimes we feel it goes very slowly. Almost two months ago when we met each other in Osnabrueck on May 5, 2008. How have you been, Friends? Do you believe that life is a path that you beat while you walk? All the best!

East meets West

Checkpoint Charlie is a very historical location that refers to the crossing point between East Berlin and West Berlin during the Cold War. It is located at the junction of Friedrichstraße with Zimmerstraße and Mauerstraße. I'm sure many of IDCSEA2008 participants would have visited this place.



Another location not to be missed is Checkpoint Curry where Eastern Food meets Western Palette. It is located behind the Friedrichstraße railway station. It may not be a historical site, and it should not be missed by the participants. So, the next time you are in Berlin, make this one of your destination!

A Poem From A Mother

This is one of the poem from a mother to her daughters.

I know my dear daughter,
The arrowhead you throw by your bow,
Will not point the star.
But I am sure,
The arrowhead you have,
Will fly far away beyond you,
Beyond everything,
And it will fly towards the star.

What is inside? This poem is just to seize the day and to practice: Scripta manent, verba volant (The writings remain, the words fly away). Greetings from UGM!

Interpretive Literature

This is my first posting from my beloved town, Yogyakarta. After returning back again from a semi-long journey, it is so good to enjoy time in my small library. I found again "50 Great Short Stories" edited by Milton Crane where inside there is a short story about "The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse". I found also "The Old Man and The Sea" of Hemingway, "The Necklace" of Guy de Maupassant, my great junior high school book "Musashi" of Eiji Yoshikawa, some literatures of Kafka, series of "Winnetou" and other books of Karl May, etc. I also found "The Myth of Sisyphus", essays by Albert Camus. Last but not least, of course some Indonesian short stories and novels.

I think interpretive literature helps me to understand more about human existence, to broaden mind, during my school days.

However, my question is: In nowadays activities, do we realize that it is really good to have 10-30 minutes rest during our hectic days to stay alone, read inspirational pages, write, or think? Most of the time, I forget to do it. And I think I miss to do it.

Have a great day ahead! Salam saking Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat.

Qu'est Quela Vie Sans L'Amour?

Verona, where the love story of Romeo and Juliet began.






Qu'est quela vie sans l'amour? What's life without love?

Yes. Love of a mother to her son named Daoed Joesoef was recently written by Daoed Joesoef, an Indonesian. His recent book, "Emak" (Mother), is a tribute to his beloved mother, Djasi'ah Joesoef. Even though she was not well educated, she had progressive thoughts. She liked listening to other people's ideas and asked many questions. Daoed Joesoef finally found from his mother that, "Our mind is like a parachute, so the adage goes, it only works if it is opened. Therefore, the people should open their minds."

A part of his book told how his mother taught Daoed to choose the pathway in the forest that have never been passed by others. "But I will get lost, Mother," said little Daoed. His mother replied, "No, wherever you go, you will find the way. Evenmore, Daoed, if you find a new way and people finally follow your way, that will be very meaningful in your life."

His mother sent him to a Dutch elementary school, despite the opposition of their neighbourhood, including the ulema (Muslim cleric), who said that the Dutch school was kafir (pagan).

Daoed, whose father owned a dairy farm, was born in Medan and graduated from University of Indonesia. He taught at the University's School of Economics from 1954 to 1963. In 1964, upon the sponsorship of the Ford Foundation, he left Indonesia to study at Sorbonne in France. He was the first Indonesian citizen to study economics at a French University, Universit‚ Pluridisciplinaire de Paris I-Panth‚ on-Sorbonne and obtain the title of doctorate cum laude.

In fact, Daoed had fallen in love with France as a high school student, long before he saw the country for himself. His drawing teacher, inspired by the youth's artistic talent, had suggested that he set his sights on study at a French art school.

"I became more interested after reading Jamaludin Adinegoro's book, Melawat ke Barat (A Journey to the West)," he said.

He returned from France in 1973 and became a minister of education in 1978.

"Someone once told me that I must be rich after my time a minister. That made me angry," said Daoed, who lives in a nice house with a spacious garden in the Bangka area of South Jakarta. He shares the house with his wife, his only daughter, his son-in-law, and his two grandchildren.

"I owned this house long before I was a minister and I never lived at my official residence. I only went to the house to receive guests," he said, "because many of the guests smoked and I do not like people smoking in my house."

In fact, as many people visit his house every year at Idul Fitri, he has placed a "No Smoking" sign in the living room.

"If they want to smoke, they can do it outside the house," he said firmly.

That is Daoed Joesoef to a tee, a man who never hesitates to speak out his mind who wrote a book about a pioneer mother with full of his love to his mother.

Yes. Qu`est quela vie sans l`amour? A posting during my transit back to Indonesia, as I promised to write about a book entitled "Emak" (Mother).

The Lion

Have you ever heard why lion is called the King of the Animal, the King of the Forest? I found this in Indian folklore.

Suppose there are two pathways in the forest. One pathway seems to be easier to pass through since other animals/ creatures follow the path, and the other seems to be difficult to pass through. Lion will surely choose the difficult one, the one which other creatures might never choose. Not like an elephant. Big body, but always follow the path passed by others before. The lion is the pioneer. That is why lion is called the King, and inspired literatures, sculptures, and paintings as well.

A last posting from Nijmegen this period, 2008. Alle beste for you all, and happy father day!

PS. Nijmegen is the oldest city in the Netherlands which is also called Noviomagus (Romans), symbolized by Lion.