Showing posts with label KGSP STORIES. Show all posts
Showing posts with label KGSP STORIES. Show all posts

Saturday, 3 June 2017

BAHASA INDONESIA: Agama Ageming Aji

Agama ageming aji
Agama itu perisai diri.
Sebuah kisah hidup di perantauan.



Dari sekian serat macapat yang diajarkan waktu kecil, salah satu lirik dari tembang Pangkur ini paling membekas diingatan. Agama itu perisai diri. Setidaknya itu yang saya rasakan di perantuan.
Perisai diri bukan digunakan untuk menyakiti orang lain, perisai diri sifatnya ke dalam, melindungi diri sendiri. Di perantauan, ada banyak hal yang bertentangan dengan prinsip agama yang saya anut. Saya tidak berhak memaksa orang lain memahami agama saya. Jadi, di sini agama menjadi perisai atau penyaring budaya dari luar.

Karena sifat agama sebagai perisai diri lebih ke dalam, jika saya bertemu dengan teman yang memilih jalan berbeda maka tidak masalah. Saya tetap bisa melakukan hal-hal positif bersama. Hanya saya tidak ikut jika sudah bertentangan dengan prinsip agama. Misal, saat makan bersama di luar. Bagi saya setiap orang berhak memilih makanan yang dia makan. Tidak hanya muslim, pemeluk Yahudi memiliki hukum makanan sendiri yang disebut kosher. Para vegan dan vegetarian juga memiliki prinsip ketat dalam hal pengolahan makanan. Beberapa orang pun memiliki alergi dan ketidaksukaan pada makanan tertentu. Lantas, karena hanya makanan, lalu saya tidak berteman? Tidak. Semua bisa dibicarakan. Sering kali saat memutuskan makan di luar menu yang dipilih adalah menu yang tidak saya makan. Kalau sudah begitu, biasanya saya akan meminta untuk dipesankan menu lain. Alhamdulillah selalu ada. Sembari makan, saya bisa membicarakan hal-hal menarik bersama mereka. Di waktu ini sering menjadi kesempatan saya berbicara tentang makanan halal. Jika kita menolak makan bersama mereka hanya karena mereka akan makan babi dan ada menu lain misalnya, ada kesempatan "bercerita" yang hilang.



piknik bersama saat festival chicken and beer di Daegu. Jangan terkejut dulu dengan judulnya. Di festival ini juga ada stand Nazar kebab. Jadilah saya makan kebab dan ayam halal hehe

Saya juga belajar muslim di penjuru dunia tidaklah sama. Pemikiran dan tingkah laku juga dipengaruhi oleh adat dan budaya negara. Saya tidak bisa menerima pemikiran teman tentang posisi wanita dalam Islam. Dia berpendapat wanita sejatinya di rumah saja. Lalu, bagaimana Khodijah istri nabi saw? Beliau adalah pedagang. Setelah saya cek, memang budaya yang bersangkutan kental dengan patrilianilisme. Sementara sejak kecil saya dididik dengan budaya bipatriliasme. Lain kawan dari negara pecahan Rusia, di sana Islam dijalankan secara tradisi. Bentuk pengaruh budaya Rusia pun dapat diketahui seperti minum bir. Hanya saja mereka tidak makan babi. Pertama kali mengetahui hal ini saya cukup terkejut. Tapi saya lebih terkejut ketika kawan menceritakan keterkejutannya melihat perempuan berkulit gelap mengenakan hijab. Dia berujar di negaranya hijab memiliki sentimen negatif. Tidak ketinggalan juga ada cerita mengenai orang-orang Arab yang belajar bahasa di Korea.. Di negara tercinta, Arab selalu diidentikan dengan Islam. Menurut pendapat saya, ini kesalahan fatal. Islam bukan Arab. Islam bukan milik bangsa Arab. Di Korea, banyak orang Korea berbahasa Arab. Kalau di Indonesia, jika non muslim masuk jurusan bahasa Arab, pasti akan disebut salah masuk jurusan. Sayang sekali. Kembali ke cerita soal kehidupan orang Arab di sini, banyak di antara mereka melaksanakan sembahyang tapi juga ada yang tidak. Saya teringat cerita guru bahasa Korea saya. Dia bertanya orang-orang Arab di sini makan ayam (non halal) dan minum bir , kenapa kamu tidak? Haha Saya hanya tertawa. Saya jawab di agama yang saya anut hal tersebut tidak diperbolehkan. Tapi itu kembali ke pilihan pribadi.

Merayakan lebaran pertama kali bersama saudara seiman. Indah kan?Tapi walaupun seiman bukan berarti kami sama pemikiran dan pilihan. 

Nah di antara kisah yang paling berkesan dengan saudara-saudara muslim adalah ketika saya membeli kebab di sebuah warung kebab Turki. Penjualnya ada dua. Satu orang Korea dan satu orang Turki. Secara budaya, saya memiliki ketertarikan dengan dua budaya ini. Singkat cerita, orang Korea bertanya tentang hijab yang saya kenakan. Selalu sama. Mereka tertarik untuk tahu alasan mengapa saya memakai penutup kepala ini. Namun, si pedagang rupanya tahu kalau banyak wanita muslim yang tidak mengenakan tutup kepala juga. Dia menanyakan pendapat saya.  Saya menjelaskan bahwa hijab itu kewajiban dan tertulis dalam kitab suci, tapi sekali lagi pemakaiannya dikembalikan pada pilihan individu. Ketika saya sedang menjelaskan ini, pedagang Turki di sebelah memotong pendapat saya. Saya sebenarnya agak terkejut. Memang saya bersuudzon dari awal. Karena  pedagang ini bertato, mungkin tidak tertarik tentang hal berbau agama. Tapi saya salah. Allah mengingatkan saya. Ini ucapan beliau yang saya ingat. " Katakanlah sejujurnya. Jangan disembunyikan. Hijab itu kewajiban. Yang tidak memakainya itu salah". Tak puas, saya menguji perkataannya dengan perilaku orang-orang muslim yang minum khamr. Dia berujar" itu juga sama saja. Aturannya jelas. Mereka salah". Wah, ini tamparan keras bagi saya. Terlepas dari pendapatnya tentang hijab dan khamr. Saya sudah berbuat salah. Perisai diri saya tidak cukup membentengi diri dari berburuk sangka. Seorang pedagang Turki bertato penuh di lengan mengucapkan kata-kata yang saya sendiri tidak sanggup mengucapkannya. Dari kisah ini saya belajar banyak. Saya tidak boleh berburuk sangka hanya karena tampilan luar.

Di perantauan, perisai diri akan ditempa. Tidak ada orang yang akan mengingatkan sudah shalatkah kamu. Apakah kamu puasa Ramadan? Apakah makananmu halal? Tidak ada. Jadi sudah pasti perjuangan. Perjuangan bukan melawan orang lain. Tapi melawan ego dan nafsu sendiri. Jika sekarang di Indonesia sedang ramai dengan artikel agama sebagai warisan, saya rasa istilahnya kurang pas. Di era globalisasi dan internetisasi, semua bisa dipilih dan ditinggalkan. Ada orang yang lahir sebagai orang Asia tapi berkewarganegaraan Amerika. Ada orang yang mengubah rupa mereka dengan operasi plastik sesuai dengan keinginan. Ada yang mengubah jenis kelamin. Ada yang mengubah agama. Karena ada kebebasan memilih, bagi saya agama bukan warisan. Agama adalah perisai diri. Perjuangan diri. Mungkin saya terlahir dari keluarga muslim dan dibesarkan dalam pendidikan Islam. Islam saya bukan warisan, tapi saya dengan sadar memilih agama ini. Jika tidak, sudah pasti saya tinggalkan. Banyak kawan saya memutuskan untuk melakukan perubahan besar dalam hidup mereka. Ada yang berpindah agama dan ada juga yang melepas penutup kepala. Saya tidak menyalahkan. Itu urusan mereka. Secara pribadi saya bersedih tapi hidup mereka bukan hak saya untuk ikut campur. Mereka juga tidak memaksa saya untuk mengikuti langkah mereka atau mencela yang saya yakini

Saya dan botol anggur. Saya tidak menuangkan anggur ini. Saya juga tidak meminumnya. Saya ke terowongan wine ini bersama kawan sekelas. 

saya dan makanan halal terfavorit di Korea. Kebab!

Ini sekelumit cerita saya di perantauan. Saya mengajak kawan-kawan pembaca untuk lebih terbuka dengan perbedaan. Selama kita memiliki perisai diri, perbedaan tidak akan menjadi masalah. Jangan jadikan agama untuk tameng (alasan) Anda menyakiti orang lain baik dalam bentuk lisan maupun non lisan. Jika ada yang mencela yang kita yakini, mari doakan. Saya pernah membenci Lindsay Lohan karena gaya noraknya. lagi -lagi Allah menampar saya dengan keras. Lindsay sekarang lebih baik daripada diri saya sendiri.

Salam perdamaian!



Sunday, 6 December 2015

FROM SOLO TO GYEONGSAN : Korean Life




Hi my silent reader

long time no write, so I am back guys
Miss me? huh I have been 4 months here.  Four months living in South Korea. Living in my dream country. Hehehe  I wanted to throw back my stories. How was my first flight to Korea and how I met my new friends.


Lets back to

25 AUGUST 2015

My journey started from Solo (my lovely home town) then continued by train for one hour to Jogja.
Our family doesn't have a car so we called a cab. Since I brought many luggage so I sat between mum and sister thighs. Luckily, it was only 20 minutes and we arrived in Balapan Station



So we had to wait the train. It would depart at  3 pm We bought 6 tickets for grandpa, grandma, mum, dad, me, and my sister. Flying from Jogja Airport  is more comfortable than Solo airport. Because the train station is near from the Airport. I cant imagine if my family have to accompany me to Solo airport which will cost more than 50000 rupiahs by cab.


I brought one big 30cm luggage, one 60ml backpack and small bag. My luggage was so damn hard. I didn't bring many things though. In the next stories, I knew why it was so heavy and I should haven't brought the big luggage one.



Let me introduce my friend and my scholarship partner. Call her Hana and she is from Jogja. We decided to meet up at Airport. Our flight to Jakarta would be depart at 6:10 pm so we met around 5pm . Then, we went to baggage check and checked in our ticket to get the boarding pass.


It took one hour twenty minutes for the flight. You can notice that my lipstick already gone since it was the long stay one. However, we felt very excited. Fyi, They provided us Garuda ticket because it is one of Skypass member. So nice :)

Arrived in Jakarta around 7:30 pm. I had promise to meet the other Indonesian Scholar awardee in the airport but because we thought it was better to register baggage and check in first so we didn't wait for them. And then we got a problem. After waiting the economy line ( Korean Air divided three lines; one is the VVIP class ,business class (morning calm)  and last, the economic class), the staff in counter informed us that our luggage were over weight. It should be only 23 kg. No more. Hana's luggage was around 24 and mine was around 26 kg. Actually we could move the things. Then we decided to wait other friends. One by one our friend came to the counter. They also got the same problem. Even their luggage are heavier than mine. We met the manager and started the discussion. The discussion wasn't going smooth. The baldy manager didn't want to listen our explanation and the discussion turned to  a debate. Come on, we got information that we could seize up the baggage via email and why suddenly they could not provide it. Sshhh.. Thanks for our tante CL who finally won the debate over the manager. 
 Hope it would not happen next year. But the same discussion happened again in the next day when the second batch awardee checked in their tickets.



 What will happen if six Indonesian sit in same rows on plane? Of course so noisy. We loved taking picture so actually that pose only one of several shots. The flight departed at 11pm and arrived in Incheon at 7am with two hours time difference between Jakarta and Seoul. Okay, what you can do during 7 hours flight? you can see drama, mv or like me I saw a documentary film about Inca. kkkk
Sleeping is a must! Guys,I almost forget to say this. If you are strict with the food, I mean if you are vegetarian or want to get halal food, you can contact them by email prior your departure. My Moroccan friend did it and he ate halal food on the plane.

Welcome to Korea, the morning calm


This airport facilities are awesome so I don't deny if Incheon is the best airport in this world
My grandma can use this car ^^
They divided the line into two. One is for Korean passport and one is for foreigner
Actually they have another line for diplomatic passport

Here is the luggage claim. So big right?


And we do not need to wait our baggage. In Jakarta, it will take 30 minutes until one hour to wait our baggage.


After arrived in Incheon safely, we just filled in the customs list and gave it back to them. Then we have to go to our meeting points which  were different for every Korean language course. Yeungnam University asked me to meet them in west meeting point. The good thing was they sent the picture so you will not get lost. I met my Malaysian friend there, three Malaysians and we took the same bus to Gyeongsan. They paid the ticket for us and it cost around 39000 won for each. hahha.
bus interior

we stopped in two rest areas

 Finally after 4 hours we arrived in Dongdaegu station and continued by taxi for 30 minutes. I was so exhausted actually. Only drank a cup of green tea latte didn't make your stomach full.
 We registered ourselves. They offered blanket . I didnt bring it from home so I paid it for 45000 won.

 
Seven eleven near our dorm. I noticed every dorm have their seven eleven kkkkk. And the elder who works there is so kind and like to have conversation with foreigner like me.


I found a domestic cat. Korean domestic cat isn't different with Indonesian domestic cat except the fur.It seems they have thick and long fur.

My first brunch was bibimbap and that was too much. Bibimbab here is a mix of vegetable, mushroom and fried egg. They also separate  the rice. I only could eat rice not the mix veggies.
welcome to the subway life. Gyeongsan is located near  Daegu;A metropolitan city in South Korea.
If i want to go to Down town in Daegu , just take the subway. It will take 30 minutes and stop for 13 stations (exclude the depart and arrival station). Living here is so comfortable. What I need to do is only walking and taking the subway. We can use T money and top up it at nearest convenient store on subway. Imagine if Solo has subway, so people can go to train station only by walk. they will leave their motorcycle at home. System will change behaviour not the opposite actually. I never imagine  that I can walk every day wherever I go. Providing bus is  also good improvement but it just stop only in several places. I wish someday my city can be  improved like Daegu.



Daegu only has three lines.

I noticed they put a lot of poems or stories in the public place


See, this is a rare thing that I can find in my hometown. This elder woman cleaned the subway mall floor. There was a sticky thing and she grabbed a tool to clean it.
OMG

That's all what I can tell you on my first day living in Korea . Keep reading my blog because I will update it with another post soon :)


Thursday, 1 October 2015

KGSP SCHOLARSHIP : MEDICAL ASSESMENT AND VISA REQUIREMENT




After announced the 2nd successful candidates, KGSP asked all candidates to do medical assesment in hospital. I was so happy and went to hospital on first week. I went to hospitals instead of laboratorium because it didnt cost too much. For a comparison, in hospital i just spent around IDR 800000 but in clinic or laboratorium my friend spent about IDR 1500000. I recommend PKU Muhammadiyah for their service. Bring the KGSP medical assesment form and give it to hospital. Make sure your doctor write the answer in English.

What kind of test that you have to undergo? Here is the list:

- Physical Assesment. In this part, my doctor just check my physical condition by asking me if i had a problem or illness. Even for skin, my doctor didnt send me to specialist , he just asked whether i had skin problem or allergies. He also checked my blood pleasure. For general assesment like this i went to polyclinic and got charged around IDR 45000

-I went to radiology to get a photograph of my lung. This cost about IDR 150000

-I went to hospital laboratorium to check my protein in blood and the narcotic pycotropica test
This cost me about IDR 600000 (My friend also got the stool test but my doctor skipped it)

I got the result on day after tomorrow. Before receiving the result, doctor tested my eyes ability to differentiate colour. So here is  personal assesment and medical assesment form. Sorry, for my own privacy, the medical assesment result  will not be uploaded.

6-7 May 2015

I got email from EWHA and they forwaded the KGSP medical assesment information to us.

This is one their emails:

Dear student, congratulations!

Each candidate has to get medical checkup individually in your own place of residence and send the result to NIIED.

Please find the attached Medical Checkup Forms. You have to fill out <Form 1> first.

Next, you could visit a comprehensive hospital near your residences and submit <Form 1> and <Form 2> to a doctor. After you get a medical checkup and get the doctor’s signature on <Form 2>, you have to send both <Form 1> and <Form 2> to NIIED directly.

8 May 2015

 I sent my result  to KGSP and here was the first answer.

Dear Alfina,(

We have downloaded your attachment. Kindly send us the test results from the hospital as well. If not in English or Korean, as long as the Form 1,2 are in English, you may submit the scanned result in your language and English translated by yourself. (including the drug test result)
Thank you.

Regards,
KGSP team, NIIED

This meant i should attach the hospital result form too such as laboratorium test result. Since my result was in Indonesian, i translated all the result using tools in PDF. Then, i sent again my form 1,2 and the hospital form on may 9th, 2015.

11 May 2015

They replied me. 
안녕하세요.

메일 잘 받았습니다. We have downloaded your mail
감사합니다.Thank you. 
국립국제교육원 NIIED

국제장학팀 International scholarship team

16 June 2015

the 3rd successfull candidates was announced and i was the lucky one ^^

22 June 2015
KGSP sent the invitation letter.
Dear KGSP student

On behalf of NIIED, I am pleased to provide you with this letter of invitation for your visa process. Please keep in mind to take sufficient time to process your visa in order to come to Korea during the designated period. Your entry date is from Aug.25 to Aug 27, 2015.

24 June 2015

Today i got email from Yeungnam University as my Korean language institute. They attached two files. One is a letter invitation for each succesfull candidate (PDF) and another is an entry form. We ahould choose arrival day between september 24th until 26th.

Before you come to korea NIIED need Entry Information for ticketing. Refer to attached form. Fill the form and send me by 25th June.

30 June 2015

 Yeungnam officer asked us to apply for a year visa (D4). By this i had to apply visa in Jakarta. I didnt have time because of a lot of translation work. So i decided to send my pasport and requirement document (invitation letter, visa application, photo, copy of pasport). In this email the officer also gave us information about the dormitory and required document that we should bring to Korea.

Dormitory : http://eggec.happydorm.or.kr/
Please refer to above website for dormitory where you going to live. The dormitory fee is \180,000 a month(Double room)

Notice_ When you enter Korea Please bring Documents as below
- Copy of Guidebook for 2015 KGSP Graduate Scholars(생활안내서): attached PDF file
- LETTER of Invitation
- Contact Information of Yeungnam university
- ID photo 3copy

 TO BE CONTINUED


Thursday, 18 June 2015

KGSP SCHOLARSHIP 2015 (1)



Hai fellas.

I am back!
I decided to write on another post cause previous post is too long.
So,here my story goes
Back four years ago, being depressed after failed getting admisson from Universitas Sebelas Maret, i expressed my real passion on the wall.  I drew KOREA and promised my self to study and go there.

Four years has passed,
I graduated from korean language last year. Still,  i couldnt fulfill my dream. Until now i never been there.  Quite good at speaking Korea but never been studied or gone there. Such an irony.  But nevermind.  Since i am keeping my dream lives,  there is no time for regret. May God already chose the Best Way for me.

On 10th february, the last day worked in M company,  i opened link from my senior in  student facebook group and read the announcement for korean government scholarship 2015. I read it pretty well. Downloaded all attachments. And the next step to do, i made a to do list. A bunch of documents ought to prepare and send before university deadline. it was so tiring!

Why I chose apply scholarship via university?
even I had topik and embassy's korean speech contest certificate, but I have thought once that my chance to be a successful candidate is bigger if I apply via university than apply via embassy. Besides, I have decided where and what major for my two years master study. Furthermore, I have contacted the professor from related major and she welcomed me so well. I got my confidence start from that time. If you have a good relationship with a professor from a certain university, you shall apply via university. But, if you still confuse with major or university, it's better to apply via embassy. Because a grantee who receive recommendation from embassy can choose three universities. For your information,  I chose korean teaching in korean language in graduate studies of Ewha Women University.

MARCH 10th

Here  I took a photo before sending the document to Korea. It cost around $30 (rp 12000/USD) using the fastest way, ems. Took about 4-5 workdays. You can track in the website by inputting the id number.


So, i sent the complete document to ewha admission office. But I was afraid they didn't get the document. For those whom apply via university, please make sure the department office has received your document or not yet. Here is my email ( i took some screenshots) to the office.  Make sure to email them at 7-10pm or right after lunch time(korean time, Git+9).
                                       

The answer was they could receive my document, only if I let them know the track number. So, another important thing to remember is the graduate studies's mail address. 
         안녕하세요보낸 사람 이름과 tracking number가 어떻게 되는지요?
         확인되면 저희가 받을 수 있습니다.
          국제대학원 행정실
Hello , Could you please write the sender name and the tracking number?If you let us know the information, we can receive your mail package. 
GSIS Office

MARCH 27th

Admission in Ewha closed on Friday march 27th. I was so happy after checking mail on Saturday ( i was little bit late) . They informed me that i would have an interview next Monday. Oh, i just came back from Jakarta and had to prepare my self for 5-6 minutes phone interview. So, i wrote the possible question and started to practice my korean since the interview would be done in Korean. My tips: Read again your self introduction and study plan. they only asked what i've written there. Besides,  try to imagine and answer this question :  if you would not been selected by NIIED, what would you do then?

MARCH 30th

        면접은  3 31() 한국시간  2부터 3 사이 전화로 진행될 예정입니다.
          학생이 지원서에 쓰신 번호로 전화드리게 됩니다. 반드시  시간에  전화를 받으실  있도록 해주십시오.
         시으로 인해  드려 니다.
         면접은 한국어로 진행됩니다.
         감사합니다.
          국제대학원 행정실

Interview will be held today (Tuesday, March 31th)around 2pm until 3pm (Korean time) via phone. We will contact the written number on your application form. You must answer the call from us during selected time. We are sorry for the inconvinience. Interview is in Korean.Thank you. GSIS office. 
 They changed the scheduled time. Might be they need more times to prepare the interview. At time near the interview's time, suddenly i worried many things  anxious so much. I passed the interview within 6 minutes. I did not get any call again that day. Becoming insecure for several days and really gave all my heart to God.

APRIL 1st

I opened email to check any good news and found this!


    1 에서  니다.   되어 2   되며, 2   4 30 니다.   셔서 다시  리며    니다.Hello! I am happy to inform you that you have passed the first step of university screening for 2015 KSGP.Your documents will be sent to NIIED for the 2nd Screening Process and the result will be announced on April 30 at NIIED website.Thank you again for applying to our school and we hope for the best of your hard works

Thanks God! one step closer to be Ehwa's. I boldlined the announcement day. They asked me to wait for a month. Sure, they need an extra work to check one by one our self description and study plan. I spent my whole time to read book and started to teach Indonesian to Korean.On April 28th, Hana (my friend who applied via Embassy and passed the interview) and I got  a chance to be interpreter for a business meeting. It should be our job to interpret the product explanation. But I swore that was so hard. Let me forget it!

JUNE 16th


Helloo.. I am keeping this a draft and now i am writting about the NIIED's result today. I saw my name on the list and found out that my language course will be spent in Yeungnam University, Gyeongsan (영남대). Hana, my friend will go to Dongseo University in Busan. This is such a destiny or not but i had a conversation before with business woman from Gyeongsan. I thought Gyeongsan is inside or near Busan. She corrected me that Gyeongsan is located in GyeongsangBUK-do while Busan is located in GyeongsangNAM-do. ah and one fact that i already knew about my future city is its dialect. what? DIALECT! 괜찮아 ( gwaenchana) spoken in Seoul while in Gyeongsan it's spoken 괜찬재?(gwaenchanje). That will be my challenge to understand and follow the dialect. Overall, i really grateful to ALLOH who gave me this chance and let me fullfil my dreams.


I want to thanks to all people (my beloved family, Cetar Gayamsari, Korean Language year 2010, Miwon's SAP implementation project, etc) who always support me. I will use this great chance as best as i can do to make a better future of mine, community and country. Love you all!

ENGLISH : God is always with us



Although we pray with different names of God
But God whom you believe in and my God never let us Alone.

Here I am not going to speak about my faith. I want to share what I have got after believing HIS plan. Last year, I was strongly believe that I was able to enroll Korean government scholarship. Even I have not officially graduated yet but there was an exception which allowing a scholar to enroll their submission companying with a statement letter from faculty. Unfortunately, my head Department refused to give me recommendation for applying master scholarship because of my status. I was so angry, so mad, so disappointed and I lost my confidence. "why you are so rude".. I could not sleep until three oclock. I was crying all night. mom woke up suddenly after hearing my cries. "Soon my daughter, God plan would start to work. Believe in Him as she wiped my tears.

Then God showed His plan

I believe in him 
His power and his plan 

Just several days before my graduation, someone called me in early morning for offering me a job in a bank. really thank you for her intention but working in a bank is not my passion. So I was sorry to her by for refusing her offer. I let one chance gone 

when I started to worry about job after refusing the first offer, my senior asked me to replace her position in a University project. while in same time, another senior linked me with one of Korean junior consultant who offered me to work in Korean company . Being confused to choose between two. God once again showed his power. He knew what i need. Mom recommended me to pick the third offer. Working in a company project was my choice then. 

I joined a Korean company sap's project implementation

I have been worked for 8 months. Yesterday was my last time going to office. I got so many things to learn,to observe,to understand too. My Korean and my business process understanding were getting better and I got so many new collagues. I will share my experience as a translator and interpreter in another post. here I couldnt tell the detail. 

As a result of practicing Korean everyday, I passed 4th grade of topik 

It will be very easy if I live in Korea to get 4th grade. But living in my home country where in daily life speaking two languages or three languages is not a piece of cake. I speak Javanese at home, speak Indonesia in University and speak English with my friends abroad and often with my sister. Mostly I just practicing Korean with my korean friends using kakao. well, I appreciated my self as a big achievement in 2014. Fyi, I never get chance to do student exchange and I didnt take the exchange scholarship in a purpose. 

After project life, God still give me a chance to catch my dream

I came back to my hometown after all project work were clear. I am being 백수; a term for some who doesn't has job. I refused some offers from previous company. Rather than being an employee, I prefer to follow my heart desire. I am going to the right way again to catch my dream.

I had once gave up my dream. Throw back several years ago, me and my best friend shared same dream. Junior high school students who want to study in Nanyang Technology of Singapore. Yes as a teenager we didnt know what we should prepare for or what kind field of study that we would take. Simply, we just wanted to study abroad. amazingly, with a lot of effort  and hardwork, my bestie enrolled NTU for several years later and last year has graduated from Nanyang. Not stopped there, she also got a prestigious job in one of American company. Wow..a super achievement of someone who believes her dream and make it happens.

And now come back to talk about my dream. I've learned a lot from my besties. HARDWORK never betray. It always paid off.  So, on February this year, I decided to apply KGSP Scholarship program 2015. though felt little a bit last year trauma, but I was successfull convinced my self that I ought to submitt the scholarship. Being grateful for finally got a chance to apply, I consulted and shared my plan to several friends. I thankful to God because last year I got chance to help my senior research for her magister program thesis. By having a superkind and generous senior ( more like a mentor than a senior), I was allowed to introduce my self to her professor. Such a big honor for me. I emailed her professor and discussed my desire on research. The professor welcomed me and asked whether I could meet her soon (God has opened one door, thanks God).

Then, I spent almost two weeks for preparing the requirement. Having strategy is a must have item on  the list. Since i have a good connection in one of university so i decided to apply scholarship via university. Besides, I don't need admission process. Just one time interview.

I sent my submission on march 10th via EMS and stupidly didn't ask before where I should send the document. I just wrote admission office. So I emailed the graduate school, asking for a hope, and they replied one day later that my submission could be received only if I let them know the tracking number and sender name. Oh God, you saved me.
while waiting for the document screening, I went to Bali (detailed story in next post) and got four days Job in Jakarta. After had a rollercoster week, I've almost forgot to check my email. Gratefully, i was lucky the interview still on two days next.

Having an interview by phone is first experience for me. Took only 8 minutes and answered only three question. They ended up my interview by telling their graduate admission office will inform the result later. Three or Four days later, i got the notice by email and i just couldnt stop thankful to God. Although i still have one more screening process but I was grateful to pass the university selection.

Selection still on progress...waiting for april 30th. i'll BE back.


Write down your dreams
Get up and Hard work for it.
Pray to God and share His love.

alfiana raharjo