State of Stubbornness

Allow me to clear things first, the reason why there is no single posting at all last month is mainly because I got occupied with several works to find an internship position and some paper works. In order to make things more relevant, I will start off by explaining a brief story behind the reason I am writing this note. So I was supposed to undergo an abroad internship program in sixth semester during my whole study period and that takes place in a country which is located in the heart of Europe, Germany. The internship starts from February 2009 and it lasts for a period of at least one semester. Prior to my departure to Germany, I was registered as an intern in an internationally well-known German car manufacturing company; paper works are at the ready at that time and things seemed to go smoothly. But then things went completely wrong, due to world crisis and financial difficulties, I was dropped off from the company for a reason of company efficiency and budget tightening. I automatically became unemployed and since I have no back-up another company, I would have to start from scratch again: find another new job in the middle of financial crisis. Headlines in local newspapers got worse day by day, particularly articles which are related to financial and economic matters. However, after obtaining an official announcement about my internship cancellation, I have become more challenged to apply in companies which specialize in manufacturing or developing car components. This is presumably a ridiculous idea to be listened since how a company which produces car components could possibly offer an internship opportunity; meanwhile the car industry is suffering from a severe financial difficulty. However, there are always reasons behind these actions and it will be explained in this note.

Quite frankly, I wasn’t uninformed regarding the era of global economic collapse, the information has been a part of my concern about one year ago when a buddy of mine mention that his boss sensed a slow down of sales growth in the company where he worked, this was however just a hunch which comes into a reality today. In Germany, some major companies respond the financial crisis by reducing their employers, salaries and incentives cut-offs, or even by closing the whole work plant. Short after being rejected, several colleagues of mine and my kind parents remind me not to rely very much on automotive industry, in this case of course an opportunity to obtain an internship position. However, there is a sense of hope that despite this hard situation, the show must still go on, which means people on the car industry might have created a scheme of budget cut off and yet presumably, it is nearly impossible that all works in the company are terminated until unlimited period. And so, not in dread of any possible upcoming negative responses, I still post my application to several companies which are related to automobile industry. Some say that this is an act of complete stubbornness; meanwhile I perceive it with an approach to principal of persistence and consistency. My very first reaction to this different perspective was completely amusing, in a natural and positive way of course, that it reminds me how a minute detail of action could illicit such a contradictory point of view. Evidently, I therefore should allocate some minutes of my live explaining people why I seemed to be so reluctant to listen to them and I start it with a very simple comment: persistence is stubbornness with good purposes. They were obviously baffled by this odd-sounding response; maybe I could have been looked like Paris Hilton explaining Einstein’s theory of relativity. I find it absolutely normal because I don’t have to redefine what is the proper action I need to take in order to make things right, that is the fact that I will hopefully get another job soon.

"Persistence is stubbornness with good purposes."

Firstly and in a nonchalant manner, I just want to make sure that those who comically referred me as a stubborn man have gain my attention and I just point out that there is a clear difference between being stubborn and consistent. Moreover, people act differently between stubborn and consistent people. I would refer stubbornness as an act of disobedience and rebellious reluctance, which is why my thoughtful friends referred me that way. Basically, I would refer someone as a stubborn if they refuse to listen to positive advices; meanwhile the negative outcome is plain to see. For instance, if I advice someone not to walk in the middle of heavy rain in order to prevent him from catching flu and yet, he still blithely breaches into the rain and eventually catches flu, he would definitely be the stubborn one. Meanwhile, both consistency and persistence show a sense of genuineness on how you stay focused on your target, it demonstrates a sheer determination in achieving your own goals, in such way that you would keep improving and developing step by step. In my case, the world of automobile has always drawn my attention ever since I was a child and even up until today, the interest remains the same and I think it grows even bigger. Over the last four years, I have tried to keep myself involved in the automobile industry because it is the world where in the future I want to be. If it is by any chance possible, I would always attempt to improve in every step until I could at least master one study branch which is related to my interest. I don’t have any idea whether I could refer this as a proper act of consistency, but I just happened to know where I am pointing myself at, because it would be tragically devastating for me if I just throw those many years of not-least efforts away for nothing.

At the end of the day, it still feels very nice to have people call me as a stubborn person, because such thought has never crossed my mind, not more than five or six times actually. Honestly, this is just a preposterous and trivial inspiration, but I believe that we are all stubborn by nature and self-denial as a root of stubbornness is never being a subject in the school, yet we use it sometimes to protect ourselves. I couldn’t believe that I am actually writing such a risky sentence, but then I realize that I am being denial. I do hope that everyone around me will understand this odd opinion and if they don’t, it is essentially fine by me. Because the last thing I could possibly do to make them on board with my perspective is to prove myself to them, that means I would have to work extra harder to keep my words in this note. Big bet requires big efforts. Until then, enjoy!

Thanks

This poem was written by William Stanley Martin (born 30 September 1927 ), an American poet. Merwin has received many honors, including the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and the Tanning Prize, one of the highest honors bestowed by the Academy of American Poets, as well as the Golden Wreath of the Struga Poetry Evenings.

I personally believe that this poem represents the importance of being grateful to our surroundings, the nature and irreplaceable possessions of ours. I would like to dedicate this poem to those who are aware that the clock is ticking by and whether we have done something right to other people around us.

Listen
with the night falling we are saying thank you
we are stopping on the bridges to bow from the railings
we are running out of the glass rooms
with our mouths full of food to look at the sky
and say thank you
we are standing by the water thanking it
smiling by the windows looking out
in our directions

back from a series of hospitals back from a mugging
after funerals we are saying thank you
after the news of the dead
whether or not we knew them we are saying thank you

over telephones we are saying thank you
in doorways and in the backs of cars and in elevators
remembering wars and the police at the door
and the beatings on stairs we are saying thank you
in the banks we are saying thank you
in the faces of the officials and the rich
and of all who will never change
we go on saying thank you thank you

with the animals dying around us
our lost feelings we are saying thank you
with the forests falling faster than the minutes
of our lives we are saying thank you
with the words going out like cells of a brain
with the cities growing over us
we are saying thank you faster and faster
with nobody listening we are saying thank you
we are saying thank you and waving
dark though it is

Daihatsu Luxio

This week I am looking into one of the dullest car designs ever been put into production of the car history in Indonesia and straight forwardly speaking, it comes from Daihatsu and is called “Luxio”. Launched at February 26th, 2009 exclusively and specifically for Indonesian market, the Luxio is presented to offer the following all-around features: A unique and highly refined design that establishes a powerful presence; the comfort and luxury which a family of eight members could get from an affordable price; versatile seat arrangements made possible by the spacious interior; 1.5L DOHC VVT-i engine that achieves both strong driving performance and excellent fuel efficiency. I would not give a damn on car advertisements because they are frequently persuasive and sometimes tend to be manipulative as well. The name of the car sounds to be promising because it is derived from the word “luxury” and yet, it doesn’t look or feel any luxurious enough. I have read several local automotive articles and they said that the car has an “adequately” luxurious design both in exterior and interior. I honestly think that is just a “luxury edition” of a previously sold into market old brother, Grand Max and they seemed like have several things in common. For instance, they share the same platform, which means a similar wheelbase dimension; it also has an identical body width and even the suspension system are exactly the same. But then I find there is not any resemblance in other aspects, such as standard equipments and engine. More importantly, this product is targeted for different market. Unlike Grand Max which is thrown into market for customers who used it for commercial purpose, meanwhile Luxio is squarely targeted to compete in a more crowded segment of family transporter. If you want a Toyota Alphard but you think it is much too expensive, this is then a perfect car for you.

Anyway, after an objective view of the car picture from all angles, I could say that I absolutely dislike the car design. It is completely not appealing, too boxy, dull, monotonous and quite dreary. The only part which I find acceptable is the side view mirror with turning lamp, even the chrome accent around the body doesn’t improve the overall look of the car as well. The engine itself is also not a completely upside as well, since it is equipped with the same engine as you can find in Daihatsu Terios. Daihatsu claimed that the engine in Luxio is the best selling engine in the country with total volume sales of 25%, thay also said that this engine produces an astounding power and still, it consumes merely a small amount of fuel. However, after some local magazine’s road test and objective verdict, the Daihatsu Terios could only average about 9 km to a liter of leaded fuel. This figure is not made up and several users point also an approximately similar figure as can be found in some automotive forums in the internet. Considering the Luxio has a higher value of drag coefficient, this figure could possibly plummet a bit worse. Inside, things are not going very well too, partly because there are some design elements and equipments of Luxio which can be found in the other Daihatsu’s car line-up, I believe this is performed to reduce the production cost as modest as possible. For instance, the double DIN audio player equipped in Luxio is exactly the same as it is in Terios. The material used to wrap the interior is also presumably cheap and don’t think that the customer will get a massive range of standard equipments with the car. The car featured in the official Daihatsu brochure has already equipped with some extra options, such as the chromed grill, side mirror with turning lamps, Anti-lock Breaking System (ABS), rear spoiler with high mounted stop lamp, automatic transmission, fog lamp, wood panel and HID head lamp. Tragically, these features can only be found in type X, which is the top range model. The car is so badly equipped and I think that Daihatsu only equips it with seats and a steering wheel for its basic model, don’t think of any other comfort features because you basically get nothing else. But it is normal considering Luxio is sold in the mid price range, judging from its dimension and production cost in the middle of crisis.

"If you want a Toyota Alphard but you think it is much too expensive, this is then a perfect car for you."

So far things look bleak to me, mainly because the design is catastrophically ugly, the car feels cheap, not well equipped and ruthlessly built. But, does it have any upsides? By judging some point of views, the answer will be: yes, this car does have several positive points. Hm well, no.. actually. It has only one upside and thanks to its odd-looking boxy design, Luxio has a very spacious amount of room to spare for all passengers. The spaciousness of the interior is also additionally supported by the height of the car which almost reaches 2 meters, it enables a kid with a maximum height of 1.3 meters high standing inside the car and yet, it still has an acceptably high ground clearance of 180 centimeters. Inside, a massive amount of storage compartments can be found on all third row seats. I am trying hard to figure out if there is anything else good in this car and sadly, I just can’t find anything else apart from the spaciousness of the car. That is how terrible it could get.

The monthly sales target is 1,000 units and the manufacturer's suggested retail prices range between 136 million and 165 million rupiah for the top range model type X, customers could choose from six paint colors option. The managing director of Astra Daihatsu Motor stated that the customer response to Luxio is profound considering the world financial crisis, Daihatsu managed to book more than 150 sales orders in an auto event in Serpong lately for just within two days. But it is still to fast to assume that Luxio will be the next Daihatsu’s best seller after Xenia, customers will have to look some other aspects before recommending it to their colleagues or family members to buy one, these parameters of course include fuel efficiency, reliability, service intervals and safety aspects of the car. For more information please log onto the official Daihatsu web page.

First Month in Germany

Hello everyone! It’s very nice to be back on the track after taking a break for a while, partly because it is just several days after my first arrival in Germany. There are several adjustments need to be taken into account and most important is, I am still waiting the status of my internship program, so I believe that it would be wiser to utilize the time as well as possible, which the only thing I could figure out is either checking out my virtual social gathering forum on Facebook or simply travelling around the district where I am currently staying with the free semester ticket given by the campus.

The story begins two weeks ago as I stepped on the marble floor of Frankfurt International Airport for the very first time. After crossing the immigration and custom counter, picking up my baggage, the freezing weather of Frankfurt welcomed my arrival with a shuddering temperature of -2 degree. It was therefore preferable to hop immediately onto the warmly air-conditioned bus which transported me to where I stay with my colleagues. The next destination is a city called Soest, about 3.5 hours drive to the north-east direction of Frankfurt/Main. Students which are on the administration process of the internship program, either because of paperwork issues with the foreign office in Germany or being hung-up by the company where they are applying, have to stay in this city for quite sometime. During the period of internship, students are registered as a student of Fachhochschule Südwestfalen Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft and there is of course an exam to determine whether they are eligible to hold the well-known German degree for engineering students, the Dipl. Ing degree. For the very first week, students have to take care of their paper works, such as bank account, cell-phone number, internet connection if necessary and some other minute details.

One thing that I find amusing that most stuff related to paperwork in Germany should be taken care of by ourselves and yet, the progress runs very smoothly and quickly as well, very German and as it should be. For instance, unlike in Indonesia where the PIN number of your debit card can be changed every time when you want to, the same thing doesn’t work here, well at least for the bank where I have my account. Once the PIN number is issued, it can not be modified at all, even if you accidentally forget your PIN number, there is nothing the bank could do instead of resetting your account. I do believe that the word “reset” will be accompanied with a mind-blowing number of fine and puzzling piles of paperwork, they say that it is done to safeguard the security and secrecy of customer identity or whatever. Anyway, our card was issued by a local bank in Soest and my colleague, who happened to live far away from Soest and had once wrongly inputted the PIN number of his bank account up until three times, which resulted his account to be blocked. As a result, he had to travel hundreds of kilometers back to Soest and claim his card to the bank where the card was initially issued. There was no additional charge by the bank, but it was presumably uncomfortable, time-spending and of course a not-likely-to-be small amount of money on a train to Soest. Bottom-line is, just be careful and avoid any short term memory when it is related to your PIN number or password of some important documents. One more thing, never sign any contract papers if you haven’t read the contents or if you don’t understand them. Further claims are unacceptable once the contract is signed and either parties is obligated to follow the rules.

"The progress runs very smoothly and quickly as well, very German and as it should be"

Also when it comes to have a cell-phone number or internet connection account, the system here is also quite different compared to Indonesia. Here, you could have a cell-phone which costs around 3 millions Rupiah in Indonesia for just about 1 Euro, yes… 1 Euro in Germany. But, it is bundled with a specified local cell-phone provider and customers should use the product for a period varied from 12 to 24 months. The provider will charge a minimum amount of usage fare and it increases along with your usage, then they will send the bill to your address at the end of the month. Meanwhile, I brought my own cell-phone from Indonesia and jammed it with a pre-paid cell-phone provider by Vodafone, the service is agreeably satisfying. I get a clear voice during calls, a great coverage in all cities I have visited and it is also reasonably priced. Sending a short message to the same provider is just about 5 cents, meanwhile sending a short message Indonesia costs me around 25 cents, phone calls to the other Vodafone customers is free during weekend. There are two options how much you want to charge your account: 15 Euro or 25 Euro. Please be advised that an international call is somehow quite expensive here and it would be better to use the VoIP or internet call.

The rest is mostly related to customs and habits, which I found the most interesting part during my first several days in Germany. Some facts that I could observe are: Germans love eating pork (they refer it as Wurst), mainly because it can be found everywhere and in various types of packaging methods; Germans love to drive fast and yet, they are very safety conscious and respect each other street users, such as pedestrians and cyclists. They will completely put their cars into a halt when you are about to cross a street, or even just a small alley, pedestrians trump car drivers here but don’t try to cross the street when there is no street signs which allow you to do so, never cross any streets if the pedestrian light still shows read, they won’t slow down and it is of course for a very sensible reason. By the time of winter, snow covers the street and it makes the road completely slippery. So, if you don’t want to be hit by a car which slips because of a sudden breaking, don’t even think to cross the road carelessly. 65% of German’s Autobahns have a strict rule of speed limit, meanwhile the rest 35% are the sheer paradise for the biblically fast-car driver, which means you can go as fast as you like. The car driving license from Indonesia is also valid here for a limited period of just six months, more than that a local driving license is necessary; Germans are nationalists, they are very proud of their country and local products, most Germans only drive a car which is produced by a German car manufacturer. My friend once said to me, you would be isolated by the Germans around you if you tell them that they don’t make cars better than other nations.

That’s it for today, considering up until today I haven’t got a job. I would therefore allocate some of my time to find one. Until then, enjoy.