Life goes on.. Part 2

Direct Assessment 21 Juni 2012

Wah, wah, sampai juga hari DA! Parahnya hari sebelumnya saya tidak tidur, mengapa begini mengapa begitu?
Jadi begini ceritanya beberapa hari sebelumnya I got my ear pierced (I actually had my ear pierced once before a longgg time ago, tapi berhubung salah satunya sakit waktu itu, saya lepas dan akhirnya lubangnya menutup), akhirnya setelah mengumpulkan keberanian lagi ditindiklah kuping kanan saya sekali lagi dan kali ini saya bertekad supaya jangan sampai menutup lagi lubangnya. Dengan ditindiknya kuping saya, ternyata pada orang dewasa lukanya butuh waktu lebih lama untuk sembuh apabila dibandingkan dengan anak-anak, alhasil badan saya agak sedikit demam dan ada sedikit pembengkakkan kelenjar getah bening di belakang kuping kanan saya. Karena hal inilah saya cukup kesulitan untuk tidur ditambah nyamuk-nyamuk nakal dan sedikit banyak rasa deg-deg-an menghadiri DA.
Saya berangkat pukul setengah 5 pagi bersama kedua orang tua saya, ikut gereja setengah 6 pagi di Gereja Blok B, kemudian mama turun di tempat senam dan papa saya mengantar saya ke kantor IM yang terletak di Jalan Galuh II no. IV,  setengah 7 pagi saya sampai dan mencoba untuk tidur sebentar.

Dalam direct assessment ada banyak tes yang harus peserta lalui, termasuk di dalamnya yaitu self presentation, psikotest, role play, simulasi mengajar, interview, dan focus group discussion.

Pendaftaran dimulai pukul 7, sudah ada beberapa peserta yang datang. Saya menyerahkan dokumen-dokumen yang dibutuhkan lalu mulai berkenalan dengan peserta-peserta lainnya.
Dimulai dengan penjelasan singkat mengenai program Indonesia Mengajar oleh Pa Susilo dari bagian rekrutmen tim IM. Beliau menjelaskan bahwa program IM mengirimkan pengajar muda (PM) sebanyak 2 kali dalam setahun, disebut dengan angkatan ganjil dan genap.
Angkatan kali ini ialah angkatan ke V, untuk angkatan ganjil daerahnya adalah: kab. Bengkalis (Riau), kab. Tulang Bawang Barat (Lampung), kab. Paser (Kalimantan Timur), kab. Majene (Sulawesi Barat), dan kab. Halmahera Selatan (Maluku Utara).
Setelah pengenalan singkat, kami dibagikan kertas kasus untuk group discussion, di sini kami diminta untuk menganalisa kasus secara pribadi terlebih dahulu. Kemudian kami dibagi menjadi beberapa kelompok. Kelompok saya waktu itu terdiri dari 6 orang. (ada Hesty, Ratih, Ane, Topan, Eko, dan saya sendiri) Mereka adalah sarjana-sarjana unggulan dari bermacam-macam universitas di Indonesia dengan prestasinya masing-masing, serta visi, misinya yang begitu mantap, saya sangat kagum dengan mereka.
Kelompok saya mulai dengan self introduction, masing-masing mendapatkan waktu 7 menit untuk memperkenalkan diri, sesi tanya-jawab singkat. Masih pagi, masih agak canggung, namun lama-kelamaan makin menyenangkan.
Tes kedua yang harus kami hadapi adalah role play, terdapat suatu kasus yang mesti dicoba diselesaikan bersama dan masing-masing dari kami diberikan peran dan dituntut untuk memerankan perannya dengan sebaik-baiknya. Saya sangat menyukai sesi ini.
Setelah role play ada waktu kosong sebentar sembari kami menunggu tes yang selanjutnya, dan pada saat itu tiba-tiba handphone saya bergetar, saya cek handphonenya di caller ID muncul nomor yang sepertinya saya kenal, dan benar saja itu adalah telepon dari MKKI (Majelis Kolegium Kedokteran Indonesia) hendak memberi tahu bahwa hari berikutnya which is 22 June, 6 o' clock they want me to come for the interview!!! SERIOUSLY?! Pas sekali waktunya yaaa, saya pusing, bagaimana iniii. DILEMAA. Yah tapii liburan tetap liburan, liburan yang sudah saya tunggu dari setahun yang lalu, akhirnya dengan sangat terpaksa saya memutuskan untuk re-schedule dan kembali menunggu untuk jadwal interview berikutnya yang entah kapan datangnya. Anyway, back to DA. (fyi, ini saya begitu dapat telepon langsung ngacirr masuk ke kamar mandi, telepon sebentar, pas keluar-keluar ehh pengujinya udah dateng, untung aja gpp, fiuhhh)
Hari mulai siang, perut mulai lapar, tes berikut untuk kelompok kami adalah psikotest! Aduhh saya sudah mulai pusing, mana sejak pagi tadi saya juga merasa tidak enak badan plus masuk angin, saya kerjakan sebisanya. Psikotestnya adalah PAPI test, simple, jawab sesuai hati nurani saja, hehe.. Setelah PAPI test, ada juga test gambar.
Sudahh, namun ternyata hari masih teramat panjang bagi kami. Hahaha.. Dan sebelum kamu bisa beristirahat untuk makan siang, jrenggg.. tiba untuk SIMULASI MENGAJAR, tes yang paling membuat saya tidak tenang. Hahaha.. Tiap peserta dapat giliran 7 menit untuk mengajar (materi dipersiapkan sendiri), sementara satu peserta mengajar, peserta-peserta lain berpura-pura menjadi murid, tambahan murid berasal dari PM sebelumnya dan juga tim IM yang hadir pada saat itu. Luar biasa menyenangkan sekaligus membuat jantung rasanya berdebar dengan sangat kencang. Seruuu sekali bagian ini! Kami para peserta bersusah payah untuk menghadapi anak-anak SD yang sungguh aneh bin ajaib pada sesi ini. Untunglah waktu terasa amat cepat berjalan dan sepanjang sesi ini gelak tawa tidak berhenti terdengar dari kami semua.
Istirahat makan siang, makan bersama, setelah makan ada beberapa peserta yang sholat terlebih dahulu sebelum melanjutkan ke sesi tes berikutnya.
Berikutnya adalah focus group discussion, saya pun sangat menyukai bagian ini, kami dipersilakan untuk berdiskusi antar anggota dalam kelompok untuk mencari solusi paling baik dari masalah yang diberikan. Kelompok saya adalah kelompok yang sangat menyenangkan di mana semua anggota kelompok memberikan waktu kepada masing-masing daripada anggotanya untuk mengungkapkan pendapat masing-masing, pada akhirnya inilah musyawarah untuk mufakat. Sukses untuk tim kami!
Tes terakhir ialah interview, satu-persatu dari kami masuk ke ruangan yang sudah ditentukan untuk kemudian di-interview oleh assessor dari P.T. Daya Dimensi Indonesia, satu jam kira-kira waktu yang dihabiskan, pertanyaan-pertanyaan yang diberikan cukup membutuhkan jawaban yang mendetail, tidak perlu tegang, anggaplah sesi ini sebagai sesi curhat, hehe..
Sekeluarnya saya dari ruangan interview, hanya satu saja yang saya rasakan: legaaaa, lega bahwa akhirnya saya bisa melewati hari tersebut. Sambil menunggu teman-teman yang belum selesai, kami yang sudah selesaipun bertukar cerita, bersenda gurau, sungguh terlihat kelelahan dari wajah setiap peserta namun terpancar pula kepuasan dan kesenangan. I really had so much fun that day, I am very grateful that I could meet so many amazing people and I really hope to see them again in the near future.
That's all for DA day. We were told to wait for at least until the end of July for the results, everybody will get the email (whether we pass or not), Pa Susilo is a person with a very good sense of humour.
So here comes the WAITING part, againnn..

Sekitar seminggu setelah DA berlalu, datang sms dari Topan (teman sekelompok sewaktu DA) menanyakan tentang apakah sudah ada yang dapat hasilnya ataukah masih waiting list. Saya segera cek email pada saat itu dan ternyata ada email yang menyatakan bahwa peserta diharap menunggu untuk hasilnya. Fuh, membuat saya deg2an sekali, bikin gregetannn, hehehe.. Topan memberitahu bahwa sudah ada 2 teman dari kelompok kami yang lolos, wahhhh, hebat!! Congrats to Ane and Ratih!
Saya tidak begitu banyak berharap untuk lolos tahap kedua ini karena obviously all the other applicants are superb! They have this amazing long background (either scholarships or experience in many organizations or other great achievements related to their hobbies, passion etc), it takes more than good grades to get into IM.
And believe it or not, yesterday I got a call from an old friend, she is a figure whom I really have respect to, her name is Ka Novi, she called and she said she was surprised that I applied for IM. Haha.. She said someone from IM called her to ask several questions about me, I felt so happy at that time. I said to her that I still don't know whether I am going to take this IF let's say I got accepted into IM, but I probably will take it since this is like once in a lifetime opportunity.
So, she told me to just wait for the news and wished me all the best. I told my mom about this, and surprisingly she is quite supportive about this.
So later that afternoon, I checked my email again, and there there: "Hasil Seleksi Tahap II". AAAAaaa, I started to panic, not sure of how I was supposed to feel. I opened it and started looking for the key word: "LOLOS", whattttt, I PASSED, I PASSED the second round of the test! I can't believe this!
Setelah mendapat berita ini, senang sekali, walaupun masih agak bingung, tapi bulat sudah saya akan ambil ini apabila Tuhan memang mengizinkan. After this comes the Medical Check Up (MCU), status for now: waiting. I am still waiting on the schedule. Pray for me, will you? :)) Thanks a bunch!

As for the med field, I believe that if it means for me there will be a way to go there, someday, when it's time, just not today. Have faith!

If they can do it, I can do it, and that means you can do it too! Nothing is impossible! 

Last but not least, to summarize everything: I can't believe it's JULY already!! The first 6 months of 2012 have passed! I can't believe I was still in China till last December doing medicine, I can't believe I had the chance to work in Bambino, I can't believe I got to go to Malaysia and celebrated my birthday with my loved one there, I can't believe I passed the second round of Indonesia Mengajar, I can't believe that I might be living somewhere really remote by the end of this year. I still can't believe all this, but this is it. This is God unveiling His plan for me, and ready or not, I HAVE TO BE READY because I am ready to work for Him, for the greater good, to actually do something for the society. I have never been more excited. Wish me luck, and please do pray for me. :)) Whatever lies ahead, bring it on!
Thank you God, your gift of life is amazing and I will try my best to live it joyfully so that in whatever I do it will be for the glory of Your name only.

and for verse of the week:
"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thes 5:16-18)

Have a good day friends! :))

Home Sweet Home..

I know I haven't written again for weeks now. I have been busy getting my life back on track in my home country. God has been so good to me despite of some things that has been going on for a while in my family, but anyway everybody have their own issues, who doesn't? So for once, let's just look on the good sides, and be thankful for everything God had given us.

I've been back for almost 3 months now, and yet I haven't started my adaptation program (for the med field thingies). The reason was because I need my bachelor degree certificate, graduation certificate, etc (it was still being notarized etc in China, the process took weeks), but as for now, one more baby step, I just got all the documents and made copies of it and I am ready to move on to the next step which is going to DIKTI and let the government do its job. I probably will go to DIKTI next week (there is this one document though [read: LOG BOOK] which is required for the 'penyetaraan ijazah' process, and what a coincidence my uni doesn't have yet, someone in the uni is working on it and I heard it will be about 500 pages or so which means I have to print out 500 pages myself, mannn, more money to spend on nothing). -_- Sometimes I feel like stopping, I just want to take the easy way out, just quit on medicine and start looking for other options. It's not that I don't want to be a doctor, but it really take lots of my time (and my parent's money). My parents are getting old and I am so afraid of losing them. God help!
Anyway that's for the medicine thingies. Status: complicated.

Still about me and my working life. While I was waiting on my certif etc, I looked for job vacancies in schools, hospitals (this one is tricky, since I don't have license to practice medicine, I basically can't work as a doctor eventhough I am a doctor already, except if I have a strong connection, but that would be a nepotism, but that's a part of INDONESIA culture) - back on the joba vacancies: I finally got one interview on early Feb, it was for a position of Assistant Teacher in one of International Preschool in South Jakarta, I was called on Tuesday afternoon, I did an interview on Wednesday morning, did a teacher trial on Thursday and officially became a Teacher Assistant on Friday, February 10, 2012. FYI, I love children! Many people keep on asking me why did I apply for the job (outside med field), but for me doing something is so much better than doing nothing, honestly, I can't just spend time waiting and doing nothing and also I want to know what working life is all about and get experience (getting to know new people) and plus I really want/NEED to earn my own money (kalo ga kapan marriednya?? - #jeritanhati #curhatcolongan). I actually got another chance to interview as a doctor in one of 'Lembaga Swadaya Masyarakat' in Bogor, but since I already took the teaching job and decided to commit to it for now, I didn't go to the second interview. I hope I made the right decision, I hope this is what God plan is for me. I trust my life in God and I believe everything happens for a reason.

"Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer"- Romans 12:12

Bible verse of the week.

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
2 Timothy 1:7

 

For now, I really have no idea about what my future life will be, am I gonna be a doctor? (I certainly hope so, I pray to God to be with me every step of the way since it's gonna be a long wayy before I can finally get my license and practice) I doubt myself so much sometimes I think other people have more faith in me than me for myself, how ironic. -_- Am I strong enough to endure whatever comes next?

Sometimes we may feel insecure or afraid for reasons we can't share with others. We may feel so alone, so sad, and so down we don't even know how to live another day (kedengarannya emang lebay but it happens once or twice in life), we may have so much fears inside us or we may have so much doubts about ourselves or what future holds for us. Whatever it is that makes you feel this way, fear not, it WILL pass. Just know that you are NEVER alone. Hang in there! Pray, surrender yourself completely to God, and let God works. Know that God is always there, He has great plans for each of us, the obstacles we face in our life will only make us stronger and become a better person in the future, and all is for the glory of His name only.

Am I afraid right now? YES. Am I nervous right now? absolutely YES. But I have my faith in Him, I believe that God's plan is always good. Is my journey gonna be a smooth one or a bumpy one? I have no idea, hahaa, but I rather have a bumpy one with Him guiding me throughout my journey than a meaningless smooth one.

In the spirit of Christmas, let us pray for one another! :) Let us pray for Christmas full of blessings for everyone with no exception. Mari, mari berdoa dan berbagi berkat untuk satu sama lain.
I also would like to pray for one of my junior who had been hospitalized since last Sunday. May God's healing power come upon her so that she can be healthy again. God heals every illness she still has in her mind and body. Amin.