Thursday, January 31, 2008

MEMANDANG

Sekian lama nggak posting blog. Kali ini saya posting sebuah tulisan mengenai hakikat memandang. Apa ya? Silakan dibaca deh, karena saya cuma posting aja, bukan penulisnya...


Memandang adalah hakekat dari melihat dengan panca indra

informasi yang kembali dari hasil melihat dengan mata adalah memandang

memberi kesimpulan dari hasil memandang tergantung kwalitas "Pemandang"

ukuran/size menjadi acuan dari kesimpulan

pengalaman menjadi pedoman memberi ukuran

jarak pandang menentukan segala kesimpulan

Tidak jarang kita terlalu dekat memandang sesuatu, sehingga sesuatu yg kecil menjadi besar

pernah juga kita memandang terlalu jauh sampe tdk terlihat sesuatu dan hanya putih bagai awan yg terlihat

terus bagaimana sebaiknya memandang??

Tuhan membuat garis yang jelas, yang memisahkan dekat dan jauh

panca indra adalah sarana jarak pandang yg deket dan terjangkau

Hati Nurani adalah jarak pandang yang tak terjangkau dan tak terbatas

bagaimana hati nurani bisa melihat padahal fungsinya bukan untuk melihat

membersihkan hati agar bisa melihat adalah awal perjalanan kehidupan

setiap menatap pandang adalah nikmat dan syukur serta keikhlasan

Banyak ajaran agama atau keyakinan berbeda menjelaskan secara sederhana tentang pentingnya hati

tapi tidak banyak yg memahami isi dan makna yang tersirat

agama dan keyakinan ada wasilah/alat untuk mencapai Tuhan

tapi yg terjadi agama adalah sebagai tujuan


Oleh: Joko Suharto


Friday, January 4, 2008

Buruknya Pelayanan Kesehatan di Belanda

Bagaimana pelayanan kesehatan di Belanda? How does Netherlands' emergency and medical services?

Kalau saya ditanya mengenai hal ini, saya langsung jawab: buruk sekali! very bad! disappointing!

Saya menggalami pengalaman yang buruk, karena sakit dan harus datang ke dokter umum (huisart) sampai akhirnya huisart merujuk ke dokter spesialis ahli bedah (Chirrug) ke rumah sakit. Semuanya mengecewakan. Kesan saya: petugas medis dan paramedis di Belanda tidak bisa bekerja dengan profesional menangani pasien. Saya tidak mengerti sistem pelayanan kesehatan di Belanda. Tapi, dengan pengalaman ini, saya berkesimpulan bahwa sistem pelayanan kesehatan dan emergency-nya buruk!

Mulai dari daftar ke huisart, saya harus mencari di internet huisart yang melayani penduduk dengan nomor kode pos yang sesuai. Ada beberapa huisart yang bisa saya hubungi dan saya mencoba mulai yang paling dekat dengan tempat tinggal di daerah Lombok (he..he.. ada juga lho Lombok di Utrecht, nggak cuma di Indonesia aja). Di tempat yang pertama, saya harus telpon berulang kali, karena telpon otomatisnya nggak ada yang angkat, cuma mesin doang yang jawab dan itupun luama banget. Padahal itu hari kerja, bukan hari Jumat atau weekend. Akhirnya setelah dapat kontak, saya diminta datang untuk mengisi formulir pendaftaran. Setelah datang ke medical center (Gezondheidscentrum), ternyata asuransi saya (student insurance) nggak diterima, dengan alasan bukan Dutch Insurance! Giele bener..!!! Padahal kan kantor pusatnya AON ada di Roterdam? Apa maksudnya karena saya bukan warga negara Belanda, jadi dia minta Dutch Insurance? Diskriminasi juga pelayanan kesehatan di Belanda.. :(

Petugas resepsionistnya bilang saya bisa buat appointment langsung lewat telpon tanpa mengisi formulir pendaftaran. Waduh.. berarti saya harus telpon keesokan harinya, karena waktu itu saya datang ke Gezondheidcentrum sore hari. Keesokan harinya (hari Jumat), coba telpon mau buat appoitment lagi ke Gezondheidcentrum yang sama, tapi telponnya nggak ada yang angkat. Karena merasa urgent, dan saya pikir sudah hari Jumat, saya telpon ke emergency unit. Tapi yang saya dapatkan malah omelan dari reseptionist bahwa nomor yang hubungi itu hanya untuk keperluan emergency. Lho.. dia kira saya main-main dan bukan sakit beneran?

Merasa jengkel dengan pelayanan Gezondheidscentrum di Lombok, saya tanya kawan dokter yang mungkin punya langganan Huisart. Akhirnya atas bantuan dr. Eva, saya bisa buat appointment dengan huisart lain untuk Jumat sore itu juga. Syukurlah, saya tadinya khawatir harus menunggu sampai hari Senin untuk hanya bisa datang ke dokter. Di gezondheidscentrum ini, asuransi saya juga tidak diterima, sehingga saya harus bayar tunai. AON menjamin penggantian biaya dokter jika kita mengirim asuransi beserta formulirnya (semoga prosesnya cepat).

Sore itu saya datang ke Gezondheidscentrum di Oog in Al ditemani Anya dengan tertatih-tatih menahan sakit yang amat sangat. Huisart-nya baik, dan pemeriksaan seperti biasa, sama dengan dokter di Indonesia. Dia hanya memberi saya obat luar untuk menggatasi hemorrhoid dan bubuk fiber untuk membantu melancarkan pencernaan. Obat penahan sakit (parasetamol) dapat juga diminum. Tiga hari kemudian, saya diminta datang untuk pemeriksaan ulang.

Tiga hari kemudian, saya masih sakit. Huisart merujuk saya ke dokter spesilis bedah di salah satu ziekenhuis (rumah sakit), seraya mengatakan saya dapat minum analgetik dengan frekuensi dan menggunakan salep lebih sering. Karena waktu itu sehari menjelang Natal, saya langsung menelpon rumah sakit untuk buat appointment dan dapat jadwal tanggal 3 Januari. Ooh.. lamanya. Saya harus bersabar menahan sakit. Sempat juga bingung, apa yang akan terjadi tanggal 3 itu, apakah hanya pemeriksaan atau saya langsung akan diambil tindakan oleh dokter atau paramedis. Kedua kalinya saya telpon rumah sakit, saya diberitahu bahwa hari itu (tanggal 3) untuk pemeriksaan awal di polikliniek, jadi lumayan tenang.

Dengan hanya mengandalkan obat luar dan penahan sakit, perlahan-lahan sakit-nya berkurang juga setelah 14 hari. Saat appointment dengan dokter spesialis tiba, saya membawa semua persyaratan yang diminta ketika saya buat janji lewat telepon. Seorang kawan menemani kami ke ziekenhuis, walau saya tahu dia sebenarnya keberatan, dan saya sebenarnya merasa tidak enak hati karena sudah merepotkan. Tapi.. sudahlah..

Sampai di resepsionist, saya diminta menyerahkan paspor dan kartu asuransi, kemudian saya di berikan kartu pasien dan diminta datang ke poli bedah. Di poli bedah, seorang paramedis mengambil karut saya, mencatat data dan mengatakan: "anda datang lagi minggu depan, jam 9 pagi untuk pemeriksan".
Hah...? saya terperangah, kaget. "Not today?"
"It's too late", she said.
Memang appointment hari itu jam 17.05, dan saya datang 30 menit sebelumnya, dan kata dia "ini sudah terlalu sore".
Sialan lu..! Kuesel banget deh.. Mengapa saya diberi jadwal hari Kamis sore? Untuk apa saya disuruh datang sore itu? Kalau hanya buat appointment untuk pemeriksaan minggu depan? Kan bisa lewat telpon pada saat saya telpon pertama kali (tanggal 24 Des)?

Andaikata saya pasien yang terluka parah memerlukan tindakan segera, apakah mereka akan bertindak seperti ini juga? Apakah menunggu pasien sampai sekarat, baru mereka mau melayani dan memberikan tindakan?

Kalau bisa, jangan sampai sakit selama studi di Belanda. Nggak cuma sakit badan, tapi juga jadi sakit ati. Makanya jaga kesehatan baik-baik. Walau biaya dokter dan rumah sakit dicover oleh asuransi (dan tentunya kita atau beasiswa yang bayar juga untuk ini).

Keep healthy guys...

Friday, December 28, 2007

Is Ph.D. important for you?

I was asked by many friends and colleagues, "how did you start your Ph.D in Netherlands? "how did you get scholarship?"

Before I asked those question and share my experience, there are several questions for your self to be answered; e.g. Why do I want to get a Ph.D. degree? Is Ph.D. important for you? Is researcher or scientist is your long term goal? Do I have enough capability to pursue Ph.D. study? Those questions arise since Ph.D. study is a hard way (for many people, I suppose).

I've tried many ways and possibilities to find university and scholarships. I intended to pursue graduate study abroad since long time ago. I’ve learn that each donor agency has its own rules and regulations which have to be followed by the applicant.

What did I do prior to pursue Ph.D. study?

  1. Define subject
  2. Used search engine (subject, university, adviser/supervisor, rules/regulations)
  3. Communicate with good references, scientists, and others
  4. Networking (active in international seminar/congress/meeting)
Fund is one of the main constraints of study. My Ph.D. study was not secure without research grant. I’ve submitted the proposal to many donors. We can use search engine and information about fund raising and donor possibility. It is my lucky to work with some international institution at the same time. Learning is a never-ending process. I’ve been learning that working with international institution improve my skill and knowledge, better insight, wider perspective, horizon and networking. This is a long way to pursue Ph.D. study, which needs everlasting effort, spirit and hard work.

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Winter season

This week Utrecht (and all Hollands) started chilling. Dingin membeku, pepohonan di selimuti salju jadi putih seperti ditaburi kapas. Indah... I enjoy it along the way from home to de Uithof. This remind me when I was an undergraduate student in IPB (Bogor Agriculture University); there was about 3 big 'kapok' trees (Ceiba pentandra) grew in Taman Koleksi or Takol (Collection garden/yard), in campus Baranang Siang. When fruiting 'Kapok' season came, the kapoks were blown by winds. They spread on the ground and cover the grasses in the campus yard. It's really look like snow ice from far. We were happy and imagining that we were in the winter season somewhere abroad.. ha..ha.. :-)

I was here in winter in the year of 2004. Walau bukan kali pertama mengalami winter di negeri Belanda, tapi tetap saja salju masih menarik perhatianku (maklum.. dari negeri di garis ekuator). The only one snowy area in Indonesia is the peak of Cartens mountain, the highest mountain in Papua. We called puncak Jaya Wijaya in Bahasa Indonesia. I was told (do not know exactly), the snow ice there is melted due to global climate change. But.. at this time, I don't want to write about climate change, though I do care on this issue.

Holiday season is coming.. Happy holiday...



Tuesday, December 18, 2007

The weather and the words

Last Tuesday, December 11st, 2007, was the last day of Dutch lesson (level 1). A week before, mevrow Ria de Laat (our teacher) gave us a short article written by Kader Abdolah (a famous writer) entitle 'Het weer en het word'. It is a good and funny story about weather and Ducth languange. Up to now, my Dutch doesn't improve well. My daughter speaks Dutch better than I do.

The following is the translation. I didn't translate it by myself, but a software help me to do so. Afterwards, my colleague and friend at CBS, a Maroccan guy who speak Dutch fluently, corrected the translation. Dank u well, Jamal.

Happy reading...

The weather and the words
(Het weer en het word)
By: Kader Abdolah


You asked me last time if I would like to write to you about the Netherlands. Now everybody is happy with the proposed yearly government budget, I make some spaces and write you over two total different affairs: the weather and the Dutch language.
You still climb the mountains, I suppose. I do not. When I came here, I weared a pair training shoes. Seven and half year I walked continuously in the rain, in the cold and in the sun with the trims-group of the village, but every turn again I hesitate what I must pull on. A long training pants with jacket? Without jacket? An under sport shirt ? Thick? Thin? No, you do never learn it. It is somewhat peculiar. I listen to the weather report, go even outside to stand: Good weather. It does not blow. O.K., I pull a short pant on.'


I run to the work, but I see that everybody has a long training pants and a wind jacket. On the way it begins to blow a cold wind there. Once at home I go to bed.


I do not need to tell that if I wear a long training pants with training jacket, each then with a short pant on come days. Rarely, I do guess well. On a time that it a mass dark clouds in the air hung, I really didn’t know what I should do. Because: I did no longer want to race as the black sheep in the middle of the group. I went firstly outside and looked what the others put on. A trim mate runs along. He had on a training-pants and a training jacket.
‘Do you not run tonight?’ he mentioned. 'Yes of course. I directly wear my clothes.’
Well dressed I run to the trim. Everybody had good packed up same as I against the cold. Only as soon as the trainer whistled to begin, everybody pulled its warm-up suit out and began to walk in a short-pant. I didn’t. I could not. I had no short-pant under my training pants.
‘Have you not felt warm?' asked the trainer. 'No, of course not', I lied. ‘I am used to do it. I can against well.’

The hesitation that I have is not only with the weather, but also with the language. The Dutch language is also something unique in the language field. You must drink it with the breast milk; otherwise you never learn it perfectly. As a foreigner, you can go well shopping after single weeks. ‘May I have a kilo potato?' Then that get you well. Also you can read after a year with a Jip and Janneke dictionary. You understand the story, but you do not feel it totally.

If you live eight year in the Netherlands, you still always hold your words under the molars and you speak them with hesitation. You always fearful that you use a wrong article, that you set your stress on a wrong part. (That) you pronounce a long ij shortly. And a short o too long stretches. And yet, you always have problems with ‘ui’s and eu’s. I still can not pronounce well the word schreeuwen. Hollanders also have a difficult small word, the word 'er'. If you have thirteen 'er' -and, you can place them in six good (position), but with the rest, you remain sit. The Dutch language is the language of the Dutchmen. If you as disguise Dutchman, everybody knows that you do not have a short-pants under your training-pants as soon as you do open your mouth.

Friday, December 7, 2007

Sinterklaas



“Zie ginds komt de stoomboot uit Spanje weer aan.

Hij brengt on Sint-Nicolaas, ik zie hem al staan.

Hoe huppelt zijn paardje het dek op en neer,

Hoe waaien de wimples al heen en al weer”

Dutch celebrate Sinterklaas in December 5th. People sing the song of "Zie ginds komt de stoomboot".

History

Saint Nicholas of the Christian church was a 4th century Bishop of Asia Minor (now Turkey ). Very little is known about him but he was credited with miracles and over the centuries many legends have grown up around his activities. He is said to have made extensive pilgrimages and he has thus become the patron saint of sailors and travelers. According to one legend he picked up a shipload of fruit from Spain and delivered it to starving people in villages of the Low Countries . From legends such as these the Dutch tradition has arisen with the feast of this saint becoming centered primarily on children.

Sinterklaas gathering

Today’s children are told that Sinterklaas arrives each year in November on a steamboat that comes from Spain and that he then rides at night on a white horse over the rooftops distributing gifts. In the week prior to December 5th small children, before they go to bed, now put out their shoes, usually filled with carrots for Sinterklaas’ horse and notes with gift suggestions. If the children have been good, they find next morning that Zwarte Piet has replaced the carrot with sweets, for example ‘pepernoten’ (small spice biscuits), or a similar small gift. During the night of December 4th there is one last visit with the big present which children find on the morning of December 5th. However, if the children have been naughty Zwarte Piet will have bundled them into his sack to take back to Spain .

A child said that he would be happy if Sint and Zwarte Piets take him back to Italy, so that he would be naughty... :)

Peopla may hire actors as Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piets and invite them to come home and gathering party at home.Children get presents from parents and relatives, and adults exchange present in the evening party. Various cakes and sweets presents in this celebration, such as: pepernoot, spekulaas with amandel, chocolate letter, spoorbanket, marziepan, etc. Allemal is lekker! When Sinterklaas and Piets go away and party ending, people will sing this song: "Dag Sinterklaas".

“Dag, Sinterklaasje,

Daag, daag, daag, daag, Zwarte Piet.

Dag, Sinterklaasje,

Daag, daag, luister naar ons afscheidslied”

Friday, November 30, 2007

Museum for education and fun


Museum for education and fun (Museum sebagai sarana pendidikan dan bersenang-senang)

Netherlands has many museums over the cities. There are more than 50 museums,
woww! I visited several museum in Holland, such as Kroller-Muller museum, Openlucht (Open air) museum in Arnhem, Naturalist (in Leiden), Panorama mesdag (is it a museum?) in Den Haag, Molluks history and Train museum in Utrecht, Madame Tussaud (wax museum) in Amsterdam. Some castles I visited is also like a museum. Many others museum I haven't visited yet.

Each museum has its own characteristics and topic. They are all have lots of information related with subjects and collections. Moreover, they also have lots of fun and creative playground for children and adults. Museum here in Holland is a place to get knowledge and enjoy the atmosphere with creative things.

Compare with museum in Indonesia, museum in Holland is amazing! Students and children in Indonesia would come to a museum only if their teacher asked them to do so in order to fulfill task or assigment for subjects, such as social (history) and science. Children and students never have fun at the museum. They never enjoy it.

I remember when I was a kid, my mother who worked as an archeologist, sometimes brought me to her study sites, an historic place or museum. My first impression was museum in Indonesia (generally) is an old building and not interesting at all. People do not care with museum and their collections. Hence, thief can easily steal those valuable collections!

One more thing, in the beginning when I told Anya to come along with me to the museum she didn't want to join, but we went there. I got special discount rate as a member of International Neighbouhood Group (ING) Utrecht Univ. After we explore the museum, finally she really interested and she said that she wanted to come there again!

Here I attach a picture from Spoorweg (Train) museum.

I'm dreaming some day Indonesia has a good and interesting museum for education and for fun. Duh, kapan ya museum di Indonesia lebih atraktif dan menarik?