Jakarta here I come

It has been a week for me to start back working in the capital city of Indonesia, Jakarta. I am moving on with my career, still in research, in a government research institution. Definitely I need to adapt in many aspects. For example, working as a government official brings you a whole different picture compared to my previous work in an international research organization. Both have bureaucracy, but in a different way. In my new work here, the research activities heavily depend on the national government budget. I instantly understand that this limits the space of the researchers to create a reliable research and hence they tried other opportunities of research outside our organization. One thing that I need to adapt as well is the working hours. It is tough, to be honest. We need to start working at 7:30 AM and go home at 4:00 PM. Fortunately, I must say, my colleagues don't really follow this rules strictly. We used to come at 9 or even 10 and fortunately our supervisor doesn't mind. I feel blessed. This week I tried many different modes of transportation to learn which one I feel most comfortable in using. One day I tried the train, another day I tried the TransJakarta, another day I tried the small minibus from Cibinong to Bogor. Other people might look at it as a useless effort and a waste of time, but to me, I guess it is fun :) I can feel the different ambience in the train, in the official buses, in the TransJakarta, APTB and even in the rusty old bus from Cibinong to Bogor.

The old wisdom proves it again: it is better to try and fail rather than not trying at all.

Rock and roll!!