Salam,
From left- back: Marilyn, James, Billy, Yuchun
From left- infront: Deborah, Rebecca, Helen, Kim,
DAY 3 -20TH JUNE 2011 MONDAY
OK, lets start with our very first meeting at Tang Centre, Sloan School in E51. It was on Monday 20th June 2011. It was here we (the IC students) were introduced to our fellow mates from MIT and it was here as well a briefing on the course by officers both from MIT and IC was given to us.
I sat next to the pink shirt fella (oh God forgive me, I really have forgotten his name!)
Right after the briefing, we were requested to line up according to our birth dates. I reckon it was to get us to know each other before we split up to our own groups. There was a slot too where we have to confess to our group members on the worst thing that we did as a child. I’ve confessed that I have purposely killed a bird (what I meant was a chick). Yeah, shame on me! I couldn‘t remember well what the others have confessed though, but we (the group members) have to pick the worst confession and tell the others. This was not the final group because I remember one of the confessions was from him who do not belong in the group, I’m within the next 4 days. Oh well, there was a lot of ice breaking activities on that day, I can hardly remember all of them.
Whats with my face heh?
Soon after these activities finished, we (the final group members) were taken to a different venue by our group facilitator-Paul Seldon. There, we were requested to set ground rules for this group. I mentioned that we should try not to be a ‘know it all’ person. There were a couple more rules suggested by other members including to respect each other and to listen.
Prior to this, we were asked to introduce ourselves and to explain what our interests are. I explained that I love gardening, while Adam loves yellow color, Miguel loves biking, Tempest loves arts, and Wuisiew loves taichi. However, I didn’t jot down Eli’s, may be my mind was wondered off for a second the moment he explained, forgive me.
We too were asked to draw our expectations of this course, our concerns, our idols, the reasons why we adore them and our personal objectives. The drawing has to be in a form of a shield.
My expectations were two including: I want to be more self-expressive and friendly in the nature, so I hope I’ll get some ideas out of this course on how to do it; and I hope that we’ll achieve the aims of this course which is in the theme of ‘Research Collaboration’.
My concerns were three including: 1. I fear that I will not communicate myself well due to language barrier; 2. I’m afraid that my introvert personality will get in the way and make me unable to express myself; and 3. I fear that I will be the ‘little person’ in this group despite the fact THAT I AM NOT (yes, I did wrote this in capital letters). After this course finished, I realized that my concerns were all have come true. I learnt that I was not supposed to give these ideas of concerns right at the beginning of the course. I should have known it all along and should have write my concerns in other possible ways. It was like telling my sub-conscious mind that I will not going to be this and that, but at the end, things will be the exact opposite. There was one particular example to explain this.
During my first months in London, I always ride a bike to school. It was quite a time since I ever rode one. So, for that very first riding, I set my mind not to hit anybody or anything along the way. When there was a pedestrian in front of me, I kept telling my mind ‘Don’t hit him, don’t hit him, don’t hit him!’ But the bike kept on going towards that pedestrian, instead of away from him! I managed to get my feet on the ground just a moment before I hit him, and luckily no one was hurt. I have concluded there and then that my mind will only react to the verb of my concern, which in this case was – HIT….hmm…
OK, back to the group activities. I drew Mahathir Mohamad as my idol and explained that he, as the 4th PM of Malaysia, has successfully developed our nation and at the same time kept the green at the place where it belonged.
My personal objectives were three, including: 1. I want to express myself confidently; 2. I want to have a better self-awareness; and 3. I don’t want to use ‘sharp’ but ’round’ edges in shaping my decisions. What’s the meaning of the third one, you might ask? Well, it was just the way I see my attitude while making decisions. Sharp means if I’ve decided black, then its black, but when its white, then it’ll be white, no second thoughts. So, my 3td personal objective was to re-think of this attitude. Have I successfully achieved these objectives after the course, you might ask? Well, no. They require a life-long learning, mind you, thus I need more time to fix all these, but I’ll achieve them eventually. I also believe that things do get better with age, Insya-Allah.
We ended the session at 7.00pm and Wuisiew was sweet enough to bring us to a nearby restaurant for dinner. After the dinner, everyone settled in at McCormick Hall to rest and to get ready for the next day.
DAY 4 -21ST JUNE 2011 TUESDAY
So, the next day, Tuesday 21st June 2011. The theme for today is ‘The initial stages of collaboration’ and it was held at Sydney Pacific Multipurpose Room, 70 Pacific Street, at which we spent the whole course. The day started with a short talk on ‘Institutions and career paths: the international research context’ by Paul (if I remembered well), before we proceed to group activities. Each group was given a room for discussion, and we’ve got a very cozy room with a couch, a piano and an ample space. In this room, we started our very first exercise as a group.
We were needed to compare similarities and differences of research experience in our different universities and based on this comparison, we were supposed to create a poster and a human sculpture.
I realized that in this exercise, I was active in writing/drawing/giving ideas at only 10 minutes of the beginning of it, but then I started to slowly succumb to the pressure of low self-esteem until the end of this course. This is actually when my concerns started to come true. I failed to communicate great ideas due to language barrier and as a consequence, I’ve finally became the ‘little person’ of this group. This is a very sad but true fact of me which I need to jot it down here so that I can acknowledge that I have this weakness and need to fix it.
Pictures of us during poster presentation and human sculpture
OK, lets move on, shall we? After a short break, Paul gave a presentation on ‘Creativity’ where we learnt creative processes and methods to enhance our research skills. We were instructed to discuss among us on other methods that we know and put it up on posters. I did come up with SWOT analysis and the others did too for example mind mapping and etc. Each one of our group members had a chance to get up and present. We were as well got a chance to experiment the methods including forced analogy method. We were asked to use the object on our table (we were given an orange) for attribute listing and try to relate the list with the things that we should do for an effective meeting with our supervisors. We have listed a number of things for example, orange is a bright color so we associated it with the fact that we need to come up with bright ideas to discuss with our supervisor prior to the meeting so that it can be an efficient one. Among other things that we’ve discussed and facilitated the orange with an efficient meeting with supervisors were how to breakdown any problem like peeling an orange from its skin to its pulp and etc. This is when I noticed that the ideas I’ve came up will most of the time be the same examples given by Paul the facilitator in between the exercises, and miraculously he gave it right after I’ve spoken of the exact ideas in our group. Yes, it was just a coincidence you might think, but for me, I think I do have this tendency towards being a facilitator or a motivator. But certainly, I have to deal with my own personal issues first, before I can even think of being one.
I have to say that this is the time when I can see myself becoming smaller and smaller and smaller. I did come up with good ideas though, but there were times when I just couldn’t explain myself. This especially when I was confronted by dominant personalities (a dominant personality in this perspective is not negative as I do accept it as one of unique personalities, as unique as mine). I am not saying that it was other’s fault that I behave the way that I did, I’m just saying that I couldn’t defend myself when I needed to. This is especially after the language barrier issue kicked right in. I can feel that my ideas were great, but I couldn’t find the right words to defend them. I needed to take my time to think the right words but then the moment passed me by, and the others have moved on to other great ideas. That is when I became smaller and smaller which worsen the state of my already lowered self-esteem.
We had a break for lunch before returning to our group room for the next exercise. In this exercise, we were needed to explain our research in 50 words, and to introduce it in 30 seconds in front of our group. Paul then listed every research and their details on the board, and we have to decide which researcher we were interested to collaborate with. At the end of this slot, a collaborative project should be produced by each pair, and we then decide which project will represent our group in the final round.
After each group have presented their projects, all representatives were sent out of the room so that the rest can make a decision on which project can be considered as the best. After 10 minutes, we were called in and the winners were announced. It was actually a shocker for me that our project was selected, along with 1 other group, to win this final round. I was shocked because the project was actually quite simple and straight forward, but at the same time, I was very happy.
Through this project, I’ve learnt a lot, and I reckoned Paul must have been very proud for the six of us. I felt that my self-esteem was kind of lifted a bit too 🙂
We had a break afterwards and returned to our group room. We’ve discussed our group dynamics and communication in ‘Neutraliser’ slot to wrap up our day. We were asked of whom we considered close to while doing the exercises. I’ve answered Wuisiew and Tempest, and both have included me as well (I am honored for this fact). We also were requested to circle which cartoon of the Jelly Baby Tree symbolizing our feelings today and yesterday. As you can see, I’ve circled quite a contradiction of symbols for these 2 days, despite the fact that today was actually a very good day considering that we’ve won. In addition to this, we also have been requested to list 3 facts about us, which at the end of the course, our group members have to guess which 2 were true and which 1 was wrong.
We had a dinner that night and as the winning teams, we have to present our projects to the guests of the night. I wore a purple baju kurung and tudung of the same colour. I expect that the dinner will be an appropriate occasion to wear one and it may become a good topic to discuss whenever I run out of idea on what to chat, and indeed it has.
The night started with a talk from the Dean of MIT’s Postgraduate School which was followed by cake cutting ceremony and dinner. We received quite a few guests from MIT’s faculties and departments of which they were assigned 1 table each. We were invited to join them at their table to have a chat. For dessert or for our seconds, we were requested to switch to other tables so that we can have a chat with other guests.
A boss’s body language-hand on the hip- People may think that I’m arrogant/ignorant so I really need to get rid of it
The Dean was telling her hard time studying while working. Her talk reminded me of my own experience and affirmed that I can be a successful figure like her too
With Barry
I first chose to sit with Barry, a senior lecturer from Chemical Department. We were then joined by Wuisiew, Sammy and a number of others. Barry was really kind and soft spoken. I really pulled all of my skills in communication that night until I myself felt that I have overdone it. But I reckoned it‘s better that way, rather than not to speak at all. After ‘seemingly’ conquering Barry for almost 15 minutes, I did finally give ways to the others to have a chat with him. I wish someone could have slapped me and said, ‘enough already!’ prior to this….hahhaa….
With my dessert, I joined the next table. This time around, I listened to their discussions only, and I reckoned that is why I couldn’t remember the guest’s name. I was actually nervous for the fact that I need to present, along with Wuisiew, right after the dinner. But it turned out not to be that bad, because all of our group members were there to give us moral support. At our booth (it‘s not actually a booth, but just a space near the wall where we hang our poster), we received a number of audiences, including Dr.Ricardo (Owan’s supervisor), Barry and a friend of Tempest which was doing her post doctorate at MIT. So, the night was great, and I was very happy, and I bet our group too had a great time. We finished at 9pm and I’ve decided to have a rest at my room, while the others decided to go elsewhere to chill.
DAY 5 -22ND JUNE 2011 WEDNESDAY
The next day-Wednesday 22nd June 2011. The theme was ‘Working with others: collaborative opportunities’. I hardly remember our activities of this day, I reckon maybe I was not that active. The day started with a talk from Professor Sanjay Sarma from MIT regarding the theme of this day. His talk was interesting, which I remember the most was when he said cynically ‘You’re the mannn’ hahahhaa…..but I couldn’t remember other points of his talk as it was very capturing till I forgot to note down the points.
After a short break, we continued with a slot that needed us to prepare a poster regarding our own research. We were needed to prepare them for a poster fair later on. I did use too many diagrams to explain my research, instead of using words to explain the aims of it. Tempest did warn me of this, but it was kind of too late at that time for me to create another poster, so I’ve just let it be. So, the posters were up that evening, and we checked on each other’s posters and list down the names of whom we want to do a project of collaboration with. I’ve listed a few names including Robert, Wuisiew, Ellan, Hamed and Kristin, but it was actually up to the facilitators and tutors on who we end up grouping with.
We were then played a game which we were instructed to stand in line with our group, and the most in front person in the line was taught a couple of hand gestures by tutors without anyone in the line seeing them. He was then supposed to tap his member in front of him and she will look at him and learn the gestures. Then it was her turn to tap the person in front of her and show him the gestures she had learnt from the person before her. It continued until the last person in the line which she has to show to every one of the gestures she had learnt from the person before her. Apparently, the gestures were really different from what the tutors had taught. I reckoned the purpose of this game was to show that people perceive and reflect a thing differently. This applies to the academia itself. When research has been conducted and reflected in a form of a publication material, researchers will interpret the findings in millions of different ways for adaptation in their own research. The interpretation might be positive, negative or neutral and it wouldn’t matter because there is no right or wrong when it comes to research. The most important thing I reckon is that endeavors have been put into finding new knowledge by pushing boundaries to get to nowhere and everywhere, and this will result into advancements that eventually make this world a better place to live.
We were then finally wrapped up the day at 5.30pm. After the course wrapped up for the day, I followed the others to chill at the Thirsties’ where we had a really great time singing. I’ve also went on stage, with the others of course, singing my heart out….hahaha…it was really fun! I also had a chance to meet a Malaysian girl who is studying at MIT-Mandy…such a sweet, beautiful, bubbly girl. I think it‘s nearly 12am that we had headed home. Before we went back to our own rooms, Tempest, Robert and Zhiwen showed me the penthouse of our hall. There, we can see a beautiful night scenery of Charles River and Massachusetts. I then went back to my room with a happy face, and no, I did not consume anything that my religion prohibits me to consume 🙂
DAY 6 -23RD JUNE 2011 THURSDAY
It was Thursday 23td June 2011 when we had a theme called ‘Collaboration development’. The day was started by a talk on this theme by Dr Ricardo Martinez. Dr.Ricardo is a reader from IC and coincidentally he is my friend’s supervisor, and he does have a number of research in collaboration with UTM and Proton in Malaysia. In fact, most of his Phd students are from Malaysia. I remember most of his points because I can relate to his presentation. In fact, he asked me to confirm that the picture he showed was really in UTM and whether it‘s true that UTM is the best technical university in Malaysia. I confirmed both are true and mentioned that I am a product of UTM. He was delighted by these facts and continued giving his opinions on how Malaysian behave, based on his several encounters with them. He said that if we want some information, it was like we wanted them yesterday, meaning that we are always in a hurry to learn or to have something that we need. Through his experience too he have learnt that we, Malaysians are ahead of Americans if to compare the time to feedback. In addition, he said that no matter where we are, or in what situation we are in, we Malaysians are in contact with each other. He later on described a situation when a Malaysian officer was having a chat with him, he noticed that at the same time the officer was typing a message on his phone. The officer’s attitude for me was not nice actually and kinda rude, but I reckon that’s Malaysians in his eyes. He did mention that if he wants to have a deal with us Malaysians, he has to make peace with the attitude too. I was a wee bit ashamed of this, but I reckoned I should look at it in a brighter side. At least, from his presentation on that day, he did acknowledge that Malaysia could be a potential market for research and development projects.
We had a short break afterwards, but I didn’t have a chance to join them. I needed to reply to urgent emails to IC and Malaysia regarding TMS2011. This is when Dr.Ricardo found me and repeated the fact that we Malaysians are in contact with each other regardless of where we are. We both laughed of knowing and confirming to this fact. He gave me his card and we chatted for a few minutes before I hurried back to Paul’s lecture. I’ve received some glares from the tutors, but please forgive me, I was being held by the guest speaker himself (which I am very honored to). I reckoned if it’s not there, then there would be no other time nor other place to have a chat with him. Until today, what I reckoned was true.
Later on, Paul announced our new group members, and I was in the same group with Robert, Hamed and Scott. There was a ‘Sheep and shepherd’ game which we (the new group) have to play. It was some sort of ice-breaking game. Hamed was elected as the shepherd and me, Robert and Scott were the sheep. Hamed got himself a whistle and the rest got a black cloth to cover our eyes. The shepherd has to guide the sheep into a barn symbolically marked with 3 sticks forming an un-closed triangle. There were 5 groups with the same whistles, so we need to find a few unique sounds for our own group. This is in order for us to recognize and to differentiate the orders from Hamed. So, we did come up with unique sounds, but when the game began, I was literally confused by other whistlers’ sounds and I became the last sheep in our group that have gotten in the barn, shame on me 🙁
| Poor shepherd, this sheep has gone wild and refused to be stuck in the barn…har har har.. |
Elaine became our group facilitator, and we discussed on the game we’ve played and the talk by today’s speaker. I did come up with some points, one of it was the warmth and good values of the speakers have to be learnt and they were not born with them, of which they all agreed.
Afterwards, we were requested to have a brainstorming session to decide what project that we should do collaboratively. It was a very interesting process of learning, and I reckon there will be cases like we had in the future, might be good to face it now rather than later, just so we know how to deal with them.
So, we collaborated on 1 project and came up with a row of posters and presented them to the rest of the groups. However, our project did not make it to the final round, but its ok, it‘s not that of a big deal. We’ve enjoyed listening to finalists presenting their projects later on and I noticed that Eli has such a powerful presentation skill, thus made me respect him more. We were then wrapped up the day with our new team members.
Look at that fake smiles! We were pretending to look busy which was the cameraman’s idea ^__*
Later that evening, I followed the rest to Harvard town for dinner, which we passed along the residence of Harvard students. What was my feeling you’d ask? Well, nothing actually. I will feel great if I were to be accepted as a Harvard student though. But I was feeling grateful for the chance of walking and dining on the same ground and in the same restaurant of where the geniuses have walked and dined. Nothing more that I can say to describe the feeling.
We had our dinner in one of seafood restaurant and I had black salmon with rice. After dinner, they pursued to one of the clubs but me, James and Kristin headed back to our rooms with a taxi.
DAY 7 -24TH JUNE 2011 FRIDAY
The last day of this course was on the 24th of June 2011-Friday. We gathered back to our old groups and were assigned to finish a task call ‘Regional heats’. We were given 2 ropes, 2 buckets and a box symbolically marked with salotapes. We have 10 minutes to plan on how we should simultaneously put the buckets at the center of the box without us touching the buckets, without the buckets touching the ground when we carry them, and without any of us were in the box. I hardly gave any ideas on how to do it, because personally I need more time to think and plan. Yeah, I know I am slow, but I did try to help in any way that I can. I was even grounded that day because of touching the salotapes (which is forbidden by the law of this game) and this has made my group less of 1 person. We did not successfully follow the time, but we did put the buckets at where they belong. I reckon there’s none of the groups that have successfully done it on time as well.
We’ve discussed the way we handled this task afterwards. Paul requested for us to stand at which side we think we belong to, whether on planning side or execute-straight-away side. I was a Contracts and PLANNING engineer before, so I certainly know where I belong. Nevertheless, this discussion clearly explains of why I couldn’t function well in this task. I need to learn how to be in the middle, meaning that I need to consider time when making my decisions.
Later on, we were divided to 2 big groups based on our personalities. I was kinda burnt out that day, so I’ve picked the wrong group. We have answered some questions to determine in which group we belong, but like I said I was burnt out. I was in that state due to my English test result which added up the pressure. After 2 weeks home, I read the notes again and decided that I belong in the ‘Intuition and thinking’ group. Nevertheless, after we’ve been divided to 2 groups, each of the group has been assigned to create a poster of a party that we thought will attract the attention of the other group. The other group was ‘Sensing and feeling’, so they are abstract thinkers and a bit artistic in nature. I was in the group of ‘Sensing and thinking’ which this group tends to pay attention to facts and made decision based on logical analysis and principles. I may have switched between these two, but its not that important though. The most important thing is I’ve learnt on which basis did I used to make my decisions. After this exercise ended, we went for a short break.
Then we were assigned to a new task which we were required to make our very last presentation, using colorful papers as our prop. We need to show our different personalities in this presentation. Our group have decided to use the superhuman theme which each one of us will have a drape with our initials written behind it. We introduced ourselves, before reading a poem to describe our different personalities. Adam then led us while playing piano singing our group song. My initial is A, so I was supposed to shout out the first lines of the poem, and demurely I have shouted. Adam and the rest of our team did really well in this presentation. Frankly speaking (and shamefacedly so), I have not given any ideas towards the success of this presentation.
We wrapped up the day with a review. We gathered with our final groups and were asked to list down the weaknesses and strengths of each of our group members. Then we need to face them, eye to eye, and tell them the list. Paul have set some rules in giving our opinions that we have to be sincere and to use nice and appropriate words. Each one of us had our turns and were given the post-it notes as a symbol of love and respect from our group members. This is in order for us to remember our strengths and to realize our weaknesses.
The 3 facts from the 3rd day have finally come to use that evening, which we have to find 2 truths out of 3. As expected from the very day I jotted them down, the others will pick ‘I am proactive’ as a false, thus I am not sad nor shock. I believe that regardless of our languages and backgrounds, everyone has our own strengths and weaknesses that made us unique. The tricky parts are to know what they are and how to embrace or change them so that we can succeed in our very own life. By embracing this, I have put myself at ease right from the very beginning. In fact, I did prove of my worthy as one of the talented organizers of TMS2011, which being organized before, in between and after this course.
It was really interesting and amusing to watch presentations from other groups. This has certainly put my smile back on my face after going through this stressful week and the heartbreaking English test results.
After we ended this task, we had our dinner, and this was when the fun began! hahahha…Right after the dinner, Elaine and Paul leaded us to line-dance and Achy Breaky Heart dance. It was really fun! I wish I can put up the videos here, but I really don’t have the time to upload them.
We wrapped up the day with smiles on our faces. It was the final day, and it was the last time ever will I see Hamed, Eli, Ellan and all other MIT colleagues, including the MIT tutors too. It was fun, but sad at the same time. I did not follow the rest of our friends to chill that evening as I was too tired and had a good rest that night.
DAY 8 -25TH JUNE 2011 SATURDAY
The day after I joined Tempest, Marta, Amelia, Robert, Sammy, James, Zhiwen, Luke and Leon for a city tour. We went to Boston Harbour and Quincy Market, before me and Tempest went to pick her begs at McCormick to her new place. She and Marta were staying a bit longer there for their research placements. We did promise to have dinner together and at 7, we were accompanied by Wuisiew, Leon, Marta, Sammy and Scott for our dinner at one of the restaurants nearby. We were then hanging out at Wuisiew’s place where we watched tv and chatted. That was actually the last time I saw them at the States except for Tempest.
awwww….sweet Wuisiew. Miss her already 🙂
The lovely Marta
Leon
Sammy
DAY 9 -26TH JUNE 2011 SUNDAY
The next day, Tempest and I went on a boat to look for Moby Dick. It took 2 hours to the whales’ feeding ground and 2 hours to get back to the harbour. But in between that 4 hours, not one whale can be seen. The sea was rough, it was raining cats and dogs, and both of us were having seasick. Well, not a journey that I nor Tempest would choose if we had a chance. But I did bump into a Malaysian on that boat who is on his work tour- Siva. Yeah, it was actually a fine journey. After we got off the boat, Siva and Tempest hang out in front of the harbor while I get my lobster from a seafood restaurant nearby. We did spend quite a time enjoying the lobster and chatting, before myself and Tempest took a taxi home. This is the last time I saw beautiful Tempest. We bid our goodbyes and promised to stay in touch.
Siva
After picking up my begs at McCormick, I took another taxi to Boston Logan International Airport. The plane was on schedule, and I flown off back to London. I was air sicken this time and I can still taste the salt on my lips, but I did arrive safely in London, 7 hours after, bringing back a lot of good memories.
We gathered up a month or so afterwards for dinner here in London, but we know it won’t be the same without our MIT colleagues. Wuisiew did spent her holidays here in London at the end of the year, but I was in Malaysia at that time. Marilyn, Deb and Kim are in London now for the second batch of this course. There will be a talk by the Dean of MIT Postgraduate School next Wednesday and a poster fair in Alexander Fleming Building. I am not sure whether I will attend both of these events as I have a number of tasks that need to be done. But I will make it a time if I can, Insya-Allah.
Wuisiew’s visit to London 2012
After a very long hours, I have finally written all the things that I remembered on this course. I hope I will always remember the bitter and joy of this course and apply all the knowledge that I gained into my everyday life, Insya-Allah. Till next time, take care.
