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Day 17 - SME Seminar and meeting the minister and Robots

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Our Saturday event was to kick off at 8 so we were at Technopark by 7.30. The female and disabled entrepeneurs had turned out in good numbers so were obviously interested in learning more about running a business. The three ladies in black posing for the selfie are deaf and run a sewing business. Prasetya, Arik and I can't remember the third ones name. Minister for cooperation and SME, Anak Agung Gede Ngurah Puspayoga, arrived fashionably late with a large entourage. He greeted us all and asked where we were from The ceremony followed quite a formal process - it kicked off with a prayer Then a rousing rendition of the Indonesian national anthem, Indonesia Raya (meaning great Indonesia) - clearly Indonesians are a proud people. Mayor Rudy spoke - saying that the Solo Technopark facility was fantastic and that it was important that it be used to benefit the citizens of Solo. Then the minister spoke Fina...
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Day 16 Busy weekend ahead

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We each have to present at the seminar for women and disabled SME entrepeneurs on Saturday. My presentation is on SME success stories so I have chosen Shi Jacks to present. Shi Jacks is an Angkringan or street restaurant in Solo city. It's speciality is flavoured drinks made from fresh milk. Indonesians are not renowned milk drinkers but Shi Jacks is doing a roaring trade and now has 10 restaurants around Solo city. In order to be able to speak expertly on the topic we went along on Friday evening to sample their produce. The place was hopping. The food was basic enough but the milk shakes were very good indeed. If Grace or Denis were here they'd be regular customers in Shi Jacks! Earlier on Friday we worked through SWOT analysis on the training facility and incubation centre at Solo Technopark. This was a useful exercise in bringing a summary to the research and interviews we had carried out over the past two weeks. Before heading to Shi Jacks we had sur...
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Days 14 and 15 - Plans for community service

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From the window of our hotel we can see two volcanic mountains - Merapi and Merbabu. Merbabu is dormant but Merapi is the most  active volcano in Indonesia with small eruptions every 2/3 years and larger ones every 10 to 15 years. The last eruption was in Oct 2010.  Some of the group are looking into a hike to climb one but at 3000m it would be quite a trek. Our tallest mountain in Ireland, Carrauntoohil, is just over 1000m. There are around 130 active volcanoes in Indonesia. We spent much of Wed planning the final stages of our projects  - what would be needed by when in order to meet our deadlines. When time for translating is factored in it cuts our available time down to a number of days. Evenings this week are spent organising our SME seminar for Saturday. Saturdays events are being hosted in Solo Technopark so familiar surroundings at least. On Thurs afternoon we  divided the group to save time. Myself and Aban stayed at Solo Technopark to re...
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Days 12, 13 - catchup

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Mon Oct 16th.  After a hectic weekend it was back to Technopark on Monday morning. The picture shows the Technopark incubator building where we are based. No expense has been spared in fitting it out to the highest spec and a second floor is currently being added. With the exception of the IT review most of our research is complete and we have moved onto analysis that will lead to our recommendations. Also we are happy with our scope document now - that needs to be signed by ourselves and Bp Sumadi on behalf of Technopark and summarises our deliverables for the rest of our time here. Candra gave us a song to get us back into a working frame of mind. Her colleague Bayu seems unimpressed. On top of the work that we do for our assigned organisations CSC also entails an element of community service. That will happen next weeked and compromises 3 parts: 1. Host an SME (Small Medium Enterprise) seminar for female and disabled entrepeneurs in Solo and surrounding area....
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Day 11 Car free Day

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Every Sunday between 6am and 9am the main streets of Indonesian cities and towns become car free for 3 hours. What good is a car free street at 6am on a Sunday you might ask but here the locals embrace it wholeheartedly and come out in big numbers for all sorts of activities. Our project assistant and translator Candra is standing on a street that is usually teeming with mopeds. Candra graduated this year with a degree in English and International Studies and has been a huge help in our work here. Painting classes on the streets are one of the car free day activities. People walk, skate, cycle, eat and generally enjoy the traffic free hours before the day gets too hot. Exercise classes on Solos main street. After our late return from sightseeing on Saturday night I got to car free day late but next Sunday I'll be there from the start as we are helping to launch a cancer care app. Sunday afternoon lunch at whats called an "angkringa...
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Day 10 - A feast of sight seeing

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Mr. Wasis from IBM Indonesia organised an action packed Saturday for us so up at 5.30am and away we went in a mini-bus at 6.30. Our first stop was Pramadan, a 9th century Hindu temple, near the city of Yogyakarta.  Anette from Germany plays a kind of worldwide treasure hunt called geo cash and was delighted to find a geo cash spot near to the temple. Popular for school trips - the children look to interview english speakers as a way to practice english and they love to get photos. Next stop was Borobudur  - not to be out done the Buddhists built a temple of similar magnitude to Pramadan just 56kms away. It's the largest Buddhist temple in the world. One of the bigger selfies that Ibad organised at Pramadan. Indonesia is just entering into it's rainy season so the day was a mix of sunshine and torrential downpours. This picture shows me with a snake - could Jacqueline manage this? While in this one I'm holding an Iguana...
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