Week nine
The last week in Semarang, just rushing by! Before departure I had to make sure to have done all the sightseeing, to be in possession of a proper dataset and fundamental ideas, and to leave whilst having good connections with all the great people who helped me.
Indonesians sincerely set a value on friendship, and so do I. During my stay in Indonesia I came across this a lot. Even in the streets, when buying forms the local street-vendors. At first I had to pay huge money for everything, since they did not know me and I am a ‘bule’ (definition: caucasian), which are considered to be very wealthy. But after several small chats and just joking around with them the prices started to lower. Eventually you engage with them on a personal level, making your visits similar to being about the house of friends. Engaging on a personal level always opens locked doors in Indonesia. Even bargaining with salesmen will become more successful when you only exchanged names. This proves ones again that establishing and maintaining relationships is of major essence in Indonesia, all it takes is paying a little bit of respect, show some interest and make efforts to upkeep.
The relationships with my interviewees are also growing strong. We text, mail and call a lot with each other, just to keep in touch. Some of them even invited me to their homes for an introduction to their families and having a nice dinner together. I really felt honored by these invitations, since they are a sign of good friendship. The dinning evenings themselves were also excellent. I noticed they truly made a great effort to make everything as pleasurable as possible. A grandiose gesture, for which I am very thankful!
At the beginning of the week I also had appointments planned with my Dutch supervisors. During the last nine weeks I did have some contact with them, but only little and mostly concerning private circumstances. This was certainly not caused by dereliction of duties, but by having chock-a-block agendas on both sides, the interventions of holidays and absence necessity. Besides that, during those weeks I was always allowed to contact them for whatever reason. I can imagine that some people would dislike such situation, especially when you are debuting for a company in an unknown country. I am myself, on the contrary, really fond of this approach. It obliges me to recognize and solve problems independently and gives me the freedom to work out my own ideas. From my supervisors’ perspective I consider it as trust in my abilities, which I have experienced so far as being very supportive and motivating. Besides that, this independency will become part of my job anyway, so why not start today?!
The only tension was caused by the curiosity concerning my supervisors’ reactions. I had the feeling to possess some interesting findings, but no confirmation yet. To achieve this we decided to discuss by means of Skype. The main advantage of this webcam communication is its efficiency; the possibility to interact face-to-face spares time-consuming writing, enables instant deliberation and adds to the understanding of each other’s point of view.
My preparation for these meetings consisted out of summarizing and ordering my findings. In the meetings themselves I explained these to Mister Kops and Mister De Graaf. I just started off telling about the research so far, being confident of the quality. This confidence did not seem to be without any foundation. Both of the gentlemen reacted enthusiastic towards my findings and immediately started throwing suggestions and helped me to shape conclusions. Especially the help with shaping conclusions was very useful, since this research is involving three parties and so needs to have valuable outcomes for all three of them. Consulting each other is essential for this matter.
Previous week I wrote about the possible future collaboration between universities, this week I can proudly present you another spin-off: I am allowed to publish my research in a scientific journal. Not a common opportunity for a Bachelor-student and definitely not a small chance to express my ideas and share expertise. I consider this request as an appreciation for my work and am really looking forward to write the article.
More important, my supervisors also showed great interest in my personal condition during our Skype sessions, which means a lot to me. The last period contained some sudden, unexpected developments concerning my personal circumstances in the Netherlands. Being on the other side of the Earth was therefore not always easy for me. The understanding and support I have received, and still receive from my supervisors helped me to overcome this difficult period. Also my other colleagues contributed by taking interest and showing great sympathy. Their support made me aware of the importance of good colleagues and realize my blessings by having them at Witteveen+Bos.
Arno, Eveline and Robin, I would especially like thank you for standing by me at all times.
Wim
