After the IBM Corporate Service Corp Assignment, My Life Continuously Changes

"It is a life-changing event", many of the alumni will describe the experience as such. For me, it is indeed a life-changing event, and an experience that I will never get tired of sharing.

It has been more than a year since we were sent to the island of Makassar, and lived with 9 other IBMers from across the globe. So many things has happened, and I worry that my IBM CSC experience will soon fade away. I didn't get to blog every single day of the assignment, because I lived the experience and decided to enjoy it with the rest of the team, instead of confining myself in the room talking to blogger.com. Now, I have my bran cells to help me recall every wonderful, lovely things we experienced - and the hundreds of pictures that we took.

During our Karaoke Night with IBM Indonesia General Manager

The fun and excitement of being a part of this global program didn't stop after I landed back to Manila. I continuously grew, and continuously learn and participated as an alumna. It is always nice to give back to the program which transformed me.

Click Read More to read about my learnings and IBM CSC promotions that I am a part of.. 

Read More

Welcome Dinner at the Lara Djonggrang (Jakarta, Indonesia)

It is been a while since I wrote about my assignment in Indonesia. I am back in Manila for more than 3 months, but the memories are fresh like it was just my dream last night. I am looking at some pics this morning and I thought I would write again about this series/assignment. It is timely because our favorite noon-time show is now in Indonesia - Eat Bulaga Indonesia! But yeah, the hosts will be locals and not our favorite TVJ and dabarkads. Just the same it is good news!

It is timely because my friend is also sent for Corporate Service Corp assignment (he is in Kazakhstan now), and seeing his photos with his team makes me miss my team too! AND, the nicest part is, someone from UK sent me interview questions about my assignment in Indonesia. I am so touched because he didn't just sent me interview questions, but also wrote about me! You can read about it here.

Now, this post is about where we left off. I think after my arrival in Hotel Kempinski and a quick tour in Jakarta, we met up with the IBM Indonesia Country Manager. He basically just welcomed us and discussed about the business. I know, it is not everyday that I get to sit down with a country manager of some company, so I felt really privileged to be in the room (I will write more about our interaction with him during my next posts - hopefully that would come soon).

The main hall of Lara Djonggrang

After the meeting, and photo sessions, time to head to Lara Djonggrang. We already knew we were going to this place based on the schedule we received weeks before our departure. I made a little research and the pictures made me so excited! There would be non-stop photo sessions! I was thinking.

On our way to the restaurant, one of the welcoming staff shared with me the legend of Lara Djonggrang. It felt like listening to stories of Maria Makiling. But the story tells us the love and respect for parents.

Entering the place made me feel like I was put on a spell. It is enchanting. The lights are dimmed, and the place is truly exotic. Designs and details everywhere. I didn't know where to look, I lost focus, and completely forgotten about taking pictures. I lived the moment.

To know more about my enchanting dinner and the scrumptious food from Lara Dyonggarang, click Read More..

Read More

Arriving in Jakarta, Meeting the IBM CSC Team and Staying in Hotel Kempinski

I am home (in Manila) for a week now, but I still think and remember the great memories and experiences I had in Indonesia with my team - and all other people I met in Jakarta and in the island of Makassar. Most of the time, I find myself checking our Facebook Group for updates - posts, comments, likes, any activity from any of the team member. I miss them so much - and it is really hard to go back to my life. "Reverse Homesick" is what the CSC alumna calls it - and I am feeling it now.

People think that we had a holiday - but it is all hard work, especially for me, who had never done such type of a job. Our team had fun, that's the truth - but we just made sure to make the most of the experience - and that means sleepless nights, sleepless weekends and sleeping in the road.

I didn't find time to blog real time/timely during assignment (although I have some blogs here), but I just want to share my experience - so here I am, opening blogger and writing this post.

Let's start with my departure - or should I say, arrival in Jakarta. It was my first time to travel alone - in another country. The only thing that was keeping me secured is the fact that I was heading to another Asian country - if things get worse, I can always book a flight back to Manila. But of course, ABV and IBM took care of everything - and that made me more secured.

My flight was at 7:00 in the morning, and the night before, I was packing and re-packing - ensuring my luggage weight did not go over the allowance. I told myself that this time around, I would travel light and just bring the essentials (I would talk about my luggage more on the next post). I registered a new blog (check it here) for the IBM CSC assignment and published two entries on it, but decided to publish everything here - since this blog  feeds through the CSC site.

The Philippine Airlines (PAL) brought me to Singapore then to Jakarta. On our way to Singapore, I was seated next to a guy from USA and his girlfriend (Chinese) - they are on their way to Singapore for vacation. How nice it is to travel with your loved one? What is sweeter, the guy was reading a book about Chinese culture.
 

The aircraft that safely brought me to my assignment

To know how I met my team in Hotel Kempinski, click Read More...

Read More

IBM CSC Team Indonesia 3: The People from Different Countries Who Changed and Inspired Me - You Guys Are Missed!

Blog written/started on April 7th - Saturday


I am sitting here in seat 06B of Philippine Airlines aircraft bound from Singapore to Manila. It's all over now. It is funny that I almost missed my flight - probably it just showed that I am not yet ready to go home.

It seems like only yesterday when I boarded the flight to Jakarta, and it was my first time to travel alone. Now, I am heading back home - with swollen eyes, dry lips and sad face. I cried alot, and it seems like I was the only one who cried. I admire how the rest of the team can control their feelings. "Don't break the seal.." - is something that I learned from Jessica (USA) - but it seems that she was the first to break hers yesterday.

I would be the first to arrive back in my home country, but most of them will be on vacation - so the CSC memories might soon be overshadowed by new memories, new pictures, and new people. Before, I dread the day that I would be heading for assignment - because I didn't know if I would like the people, if I would do good in my assignment, and if there are new things to discover because Indonesia is alot like Philippines. But after one month of being on assignment, I realized it was the people who made the difference.

To know more about the people who changed my life, click Read More.. 

Read More

Meeting/Presentation with "Green Team" in the Hospital

Seems like everyone in the team had a great day today. Nitu (India) and Sabine (Austria) - working for the Marine Conservation Team had a village tour and witnessed a local wedding. Marcelo (Brazil) and Jessica (USA) working for the Library and Archives Group attended a story-telling contest. Cheryl and I met up with the "executive" Green Team and some doctors of the General Hospital of Makassar this morning. I am glad that the meeting went okay and everyone is so engaged.

We first started with introducing IBM. We shared that IBM stands for International Business Machines. For them to better understand IBM, I told them that they must have encountered the brand when shopping (one of the things I love!). Most of the POS (point of sale) are products of IBM. But now, IBM is not just focused on hardware, but is also doing other businesses such as consulting.

To know how the meeting went, click Read More.. 

Read More

Working in the Team Room with Interpreter & Lovely Dinner at New Dinar

I thought we would finally get the chance to visit the hospital again but no, we were not allowed to go out of the hotel because of the same reason. Some of my teammates got to visit and meet with their clients. For Cheryl (USA) and I, we had to stay in the hotel and work on our presentations.

Our interpreter got a call from the hospital and advised that the director will send a memo to the hospital's "executive" team to meet with us tomorrow morning. We spent the day working on our decks and we are so glad that our interpreter, Lia is so nice to help us with our deck's translation to Bahasa Indonesia. What is amazing about her is that she just did not translate the texts but also created a new Powerpoint presentation complete with animation. I should be ashamed of the presentation that I did - especially that I claimed that I can make fireworks with it.

I, Cheryl and Lia in our Team Room

 (we got another room in the hotel to serve as our common room)

 

 See how many Powerpoint presentations opened in my ThinkPad

To know how my day went yesterday, click Read More..

Read More

Something New for Lunch and Learning an American Dance

We are on house arrest. For two days. Per IBM Security's advised, we need to stay in the hotel for our safety and security. There had been demonstrations in Jakarta and Makassar, and students are participating in rally against fuel price hike.

We were working in the lobby and caught the news update..

 
We had to stay in the hotel again yesterday and today (although some of my teammates got to the client sites). I and my partner, Cheryl (USA) stayed in the hotel and worked on our presentations. We received a call from the hospital this morning and the staff are actually waiting for us. I kind of miss them - the giggly, happy employees of the General Hospital of Makassar.

Read More