Thesis Proposal Seminar

Alhamdulillah....

After, I have passed the n-th step of master thesis process. On November 13, 2007 at 15.00 CET, I've done my thesis proposal presentation. The title of my master thesis is PLEF: A Conceptual Framework for Personal Learning Environments. The presentation file is shown, as follows.

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Actually there are several accidents which put me under pressure and anxious. At first my seminar was scheduled at 16.00, so at 10.00 I still rest in my cozy and comforting bed. Suddenly, this cozy situation disappeared with a sudden call from Mr. Chatti (my thesis advisor) who told me that due to one-several reasons Prof. Jarke (my first supervisor) could not attend presetation at 16.00. So, my presetation time was changed to 14.00. Not only that, Chatti also asked me to fix several errors in my presentation file.

This lazily-laying-in-bed thesis struggler (which is ME, ofc) jumped from his bed, rushed to his computer to fix the presetation file, took a shower, ate and then did the last rehearsal. At 13.30, I arrived in my institute and met Chatti. The first thing Chatti said is "Do you receive my last email? Your presentation is moved to 15.00". OMG, suddenly my mood went to the lowest level. Why didn't I check my email before I went to the institute T_T. Na ja...no problem, at least I could still do my presentation that day.

Finally, my presetation is started at 15.10 because Prof. Jarke came a lil bit late (only 10 mins) due to his business. Alhamdulillah, my presentation is not attended by fixed trio-seminar-attender: me, my supervisor and my professor. FYI, it's very common in my institute if a presentation is only attended by the presenter, the supervisor and the professor. Some of my friends also attended my seminar, i.e., Ai, Henry and Cuong (my vietnamesse friend). I am really thankful for all their support and attendance.

So what next? Ofc, it's time to develop the software

Library SIALAN!!!

WH@+ +H3 F*@K!!

I am very angry right now! I have been working on my thesis coding for several days and I've been depressed and under great pressure since I found an error in my codes. I tried many possible ways to fix it but it came with no result.

Then, suddenly I tried to substitute several library I used in my code. And then it worked. SCHEISSE BIBLIOTHEK!!!! Even though the version of the library is more up-to-date but it contains errors which the older one don't have.

Na ja, Alhamdulillah...at least now I know what's wrong with my codes.

Suddenly Racist

Wew....what a terrible day. I just realized that sometimes I can became an ugly, hatefull racist. What I mean with racist? In my own definition, Racist is someone who thought the difference in race as a bad thing, like what I did yesterday.

I went to my campus to work on my master thesis. However, most of my plan (to work there) were ruined, since I could not meet with the network and computer administrator. I really needed to create an (UNIX) account to work in my institut's laboratory. It was a bad day. And then I logged in using my windows account. When I was working, suddenly a chinese student entered the lab room and spoke not really loud to two of his friends. Since I was concentrating on my work, I felt annoyed. In my mind, I shouted "WTF, you just came in here, disturb my concentration and speak the language I dont understand (chinese...I think). Huh..chinese!". Felt distrubed, I did not feel like to work anymore and then I decided to go home.

In halte bus (bus terminal?), I found three people talking. When I stood near them, I acknowledged their languange, its english. But when I heard them talking, I felt something weird in their conversation. Basically, they argued about the stupidity of Steve Jobs to share the codes of Mac to his rival, Bill Gates, in the beginning of PC history. OK, that's not the problem. But then again, I heard an indian (or pakistan person?) who argued really hard almost without giving any chances to his friends to talk back. I felt really annoyed with his accent (why the accent? maybe because it is very funny) and his behaviour. Then I shouted (again...only in my mind), "Indians!!!".

When I think again, I felt really bad. I threw all of those words just because my day was really bad. However, it was not a good reason to just throw all bad words and become a racist. Actually, I should also think my own condition. If in a bus, I talk with my fellow Indonesians, I think other people would also think "what kind of languange is that?" and perhaps they will also think that the Indonesian language and accent are very funny.

First Day in Cairo, Egypt

I slept at 5 am (Cairo time) in the morning (of course..it is AM, right) since I waited for fajr pray (sholat subuh). I woke up at 8 o'clock even though my body was still tired since I was very hungry. After took a shower and dressed, I went to have my meal. I met Mr. Chatti there who were having his breakfast. It's a good choice to wake up at 8.00, since at 9.00 we would tour around Cairo.

Mr. Faiz and Me

At 9, the representatives of Cairo University came, introduced herself as Dr. Magda and then she introduced our guide, Mr. Faiz. "Faiz" which means "winner" in arabic. He acknowledged that he can speak german but not english. It's a sad thing though since there's a representative of INT, French who can not understand german. His name is Joseph Pablo Escobedo.

The first tour started with withdrawing money from ATM. I dont know the kurs (between Egypt Pound and Euro) and how much do I need, so I only withdrew 100 LE. What is LE? LE is "Liver Egypt", a french term, it means "Pound Egypt" in english.

Mr. Faiz first explained how "Egypt" word came from. The delta in the middle of Nile river is named as "Kemet" in old egyptian language. Then, after a while, people also refered it as "Kebet". People said "a kebet" or "e kebet" to say "to kebet", in other word, "a" or "e" there become the preposition. From this "e kebet" then come the word "e Gebet" which transforms into "egypt".

See those three Pyramides? Le-Ri: Qiops, Kefrin and Makatoros.Me and Sphynx

First destination is Pyramides in Giza. Giza is another province near Cairo. Mr. Faiz said that there is only subtle border between Cairo and Giza, we can not clearly distinguish them. We visited the most popular pyramides of Egypt: Qiops, Kefrin and Makatoros. Actually I want to explain more about them, but I dont want to bore you by telling you the stories about it. After that we went to see sphinx and tal temple which are located near those three famous pyramides. The price to enter the Giza Pyramides location is 25 LE, since I am a student. So never forget your student card (especially international student card) when you visit Egypt. You'll get a lot of discount for that.

Me and the papyrous seller of Mena Papyrous Institut

It's already 12.30 when we left Giza, but hey it might be once in a lifetime opportunity to visit Egypt funded by other people (european people, to be exact). We then visit a store named "Mena Papyrous Institut". In store, we are told how to create a papyrus. It was very exciting moment since now I know how to create a papyrus from papyrus tree and also I saw a lot of beautiful painting on papyrus. I bought some papyrous painting for my families and friends.

Then I went to Cairo museum. To enter the museum, I payed 25 LE again (non-student pays 50 LE). The museum consists of two floors. You can see many historical or archeological things in this museum. Sadly, we were not allowed to bring our camera, since it is forbidden to take a picture inside the museum. However, later on my egyptian friends said that actually it was not forbidden. They forbade to take pictures since it would make a lot of crowds and disorganizations. However, my egyptian friend also said that it was many years ago, so maybe the rules has already changed.

Fata with Lamb

Left to Right: Cinnamon with Milk (in the cup), Lentil (in empty plate)

Then I went to eat in Felfala restaurant. It provides many vegetarian food and also traditional egyptian food. I try Lektil soup, Fata with Lamb and cinnamon with milk. To me, they are not to my taste, however I was very grateful to have opportunity to enjoy the traditional flavor of egyptian food for FREE. Huheuehuueh...the cairo university treated us, so that I should not pay for any food I ordered. It's a shame though that I felt really full really fast so that I can not order more foods. I just knew at the day after (the second day) that fata is not an traditional egyptian food but lebanese food.

At 18 o'clock I went to see Masjid Al-Azhar, Khan El Khalili market (the oldest market in Cairo) and tourist market. That time, I could not enjoy the tour anymore. I felt too tired. I just wanted to go back to hotel, found the bed and had a rest. However, Mr. Faiz was so excited to show us around and I could fully understand it. It might be once in a lifetime opportunity to see the situation of Cairo guided by a professor of Cairo university. I was very shocked and honoured to be guided around by a professor. Mr. Faiz is not ordinary person, in actual. He is a professor who gives lecture on tourism and history. That is the reason why he can explain all the details about Pyramides, Temples, Papyrouses, archeological history of things in cairo museum and many things. Last, he brought us to enjoy the scenery of Cairo night by drinking tea in the nearby cafe. We saw many people came and passed us by: muslims who just finished their praying in a nearby mosque, tourists who'd like to buy things in the nearby market, sellers who always try to sell us something and other things. After that we got back to hotel to rest.

One thing that I learnt in todays tour. 100 LE is not enough. When I wanted to pay the tea in the cafe, I realized that I only had 5 pounds (or 5 LE), but the price is 10 pounds. With a lil bit of shame, I asked my supervisor politely so that he could lend me the rest of 5 pounds.

I'm back

Wew, after a long time pause, here I come again.

Actually, it is not because I dont have time to create and publish new posting, it's just that suddenly I feel a lil-bit lazy to use blogspot. Why is that? Wew basically, because lately I dont feel like to create or maybe translate my posting in my other blog into english.

Now, I'm back. I have several idea but I'll inform you later, OK.