ASEAN Students Career Fair has passed away, on the 20th Feb 2011. The event has brought upon us many sweet memories, throughout the 4-months of its preparation and especially on the final days of its being. The impact of its presence has not only left its mark on the Career Fair team, who has raised it since its wee early life that was an Idea, but also on the many visitors who have visited the event on its final day. We hope they may benefit and find a lot of good from the event.
It is indeed sad for us to say goodbye to you our dearest ASEAN Students Career Fair 2011. However, let us not say that this is the end; instead let us all mark this eventful day as the beginning of a new journey :)
I've had my moments too: feeling frustrated and helpless, not being able to see anything beyond tomorrow.. Time and patience, prayers and lots of unrelated-cheerful conversations with parents and friends made them bearable. People do say we need to face up to our problems, but I think we don't have to rush.. It's not about trying not to think about them, it's about not dwelling on them. Whoever said I need to feel sad and depressed all the time?? I'll deal with them when the time comes, in the meanwhile I'll hold my head up, smile and just do my best :)
A nice song, like the lyrics.. Mariah Carey's Through the Rain
When you get caught in the rain With nowhere to run When you're distraught and in pain without anyone When you keep crying out to be saved
But nobody comes and you feel so far away That you just can't find your way home You can get there alone It's okay, what you say is
I can make it through the rain, I can stand up once again on my own And I know that I`m strong enough to mend And every time I feel afraid I hold tighter to my faith And I live one more day and I make it through the rain
And if you keep falling down, don't you dare give in You will arise safe and sound, so keep pressing on steadfastly And you'll find what you need to prevail What you say is
I can make it through the rain, I can stand up once again on my own And I know that I'm strong enough to mend And every time I feel afraid I hold tighter to my faith And I live one more day and I make it through the rain
And when the rain blows, as shadows grow close Don't be afraid, there's nothing you can't face And should they tell you, you'll never pull through Don't hesitate, stay tall and say
I can make it through the rain, I can stand up once again on my own And I know that I'm strong enough to mend And every time I feel afraid I hold tighter to my faith And I live one more day and I make it through the rain
I can make it through the rain As stand up once again And I live one more day And I can make it through the rain Yes, you can You're gonna make it through the rain
************** Don't let your problems pull you down yeah? Take care and put faith in God.
One more day till the rotation's over; it's been a short one week :) I can't say I've enjoyed everything there though ..
Displeasures: 1. having to arrive at uni, change into operating room(OR) scrubs and be seated at the AN conference room by 8am 2. standing for hours during a surgery just watching (doing nothing) 3. seeing disgruntled people (luckily only one lady doctor i saw was)
Pleasures: 1. sometimes the tutor of the day actually lets me do "stuff" hehehe 2. i witnessed the delivery of a baby, my first ever!!! :D (caesaeran section) 3. kind tutor goes out of her way to drill me w questions (which was partly uncomfortable ahah) and make me understand what's going on
Sure, it was tiring and sleepy at times, but all in all I had a fulfilling week :) Nothing can replace the sense of joy felt when everything finally makes sense; it's like the world opened up a little more!
These past few days have seen several natural disasters hitting the southern hemisphere, especially in South East Asia. Typhoon Ketsana in the Philippines, Vietnam and Cambodia, and the 7.8 Ricther scale earthquake in Sumatra Indonesia, both claiming hundreds (maybe even thousands?) of lives, causing widespread damage and panic within the affected areas.
Luckily for Brunei we're just barely out of range to feel anything, and the Malaysian peninsula protected us from direct influences from tsunamis. Typhoons have never put us in their path. Surely we've had cases of haze and rainstorms causing flashfloods, but face it, these are nothing compared to what damage these natural disasters wreak.
Brunei is very lucky (maybe too lucky?) Let's not take our lifes for-granted.
Count your blessings, learn from the past, be prepared for anything.
Mudah-mudahan dijauhkan dari timpa bala, Amin..
P.S> remember this story? we're not that immune u know.
I've thought of some simple ideas for further development of AYNJ: (this is a self-note; i'll email the reps about this anyways)
1. advertising for recruitment of representatives Honestly, we need more people who have time or/and really interested in organising AYNJ activities. Sometimes the current representatives are too busy with studies it's difficult to get them to meetings where we discuss plans for activities. So what we can do is appeal to the general student population (not through student organisations) and if they are interested in actively participating in the meetings/organising then they can apply through their respective countries' student organisations.
Thing is, we've never reached out to the student population. Well maybe we have, as participants for the various yearly activities, but not when planning and organising events. We would need more people to do brain-storming together especially when we intend to organise something new (like the AYNJ Academic Forum coming up, soon?).
How to carry out: presentations and posters. During AYNJ Festival or career fair, we can set aside 5 minutes for a simple presentation (PR) about AYNJ, and appeal to students the other part of AYNJ, as in the management, inter-student-org communication, brain-storming sessions. Then leave a note at the end: to those interested to represent their countries please contact ur student organisation :) Posters can help; times when time is limited to do presentations, you can just stick a poster or 2 at venues (example AYNJ Sports). You can use the catch phrase "We Need You!" - okay maybe that's lame :p But yes, something is better than nothing.
2. Academic forum The academic forum is a totally new event for AYNJ and is still in the works. I 'd recommend reps share it among their own organisations now and bring along whatever conclusions they've reached to the next meeting. It'll save time on decision making, and we can get an idea of response (level of interest) among students.
3. Students section on homepage And let's add a student section to the homepage :) Since we are indeed a network of student organisations let's put up something that might be helpful for students: for example about health insurance, visa renewals, university applications, upcoming seminars by JASSO etc etc. Do I have to elaborate about how this can be good to the students and AYNJ?
You read through all this?? You must either already be in AYNJ or interested in it, come come!! How do you transform ideas into action? Cooperation; that's why we need you :)
Shy, funny and passionate, kind yet selfish, conservative but receptive. Critics yet imperfect, traditional but tolerant, proud and humble. Well-meaning critical thinkers with warm hearts, making mistakes and clumsy at emotional expressions.. I've never said it out loud, but I'm proud of the both of you. I love you very much, my parents, I really do :)
