I am Flying to Makassar in a Few Hours!

Starting this new blog dedicated to my assignment to Indonesia for the IBM Corporate Service Corp. I actually did a lot thinking on what blog title to use and finally decided on this - after all it is about me, about the island of Makassar, my experiences and my journey.

Per our Vice President for Corporate Citizenship and Corporate Affairs, "It’s not just philanthropy, it’s leadership development and business development, and it helps build economic development in the emerging world.”

We will also have a team picture like this! ;)

It is not the first time that I going out of the country, but I find it hard to do the packing. Like in the previous trips, I wanted to bring the whole closet - I feel that I might need an extra dress, a cute top, the pretty hat I bought in Beijing, the new swimwear sets I hoarded during a midyear sale, and lots of other things including my favorite nail polish. But I obviously cannot bring everything. There is such a thing as baggage allowance and I want to pack like I am a prepared woman who knows about planning and strategy. Besides I want to save extra space for stuff I want to bring home from the trip. What makes packing so difficult is the consideration of the country's culture and religion.

I only have a few hours to prepare and I am still anxious about the baggage allowance.I would like to think I have finish all the tasks that I need to do (e.g. settle credit card bills, prepare gifts for my team - I am meaning to do some accessories but I am out of time, etc).

What frustrates me is that I cannot connect to our intranet connection and I spent 1.5 hours with an IT support only to have my concern be escalated to Tier 2. I missed the call last night and I need to listen to the recording before I leave.

Anyway, I really cannot believe this is happening. I am leaving in a few hours.

I have to log off now and spend the remaining hours with my mom (and my baggage).

Please come back and follow me on this journey.


Blogging from Manila,

Ruth