Learning and having fun! (And having some competition as well)

During our last ‘official” visit in Indonesia, we were invited to Maverick’s Headquarters, a communications consultancy led by a Malaysian businessman, Mr. Ong Hock Chuan, who advises clients on how to do business in Indonesia. And ironically he is one of the best because he has experienced how difficult it is for foreigners to do business in Indonesia. The presentation was very interesting. Mr. Chuan was accompanied by Mr. Endy Bayuni, Senior Editor from Jakarta Post, and they both talked about the importance of media, and more specifically social media, not only in the realm of marketing (when it comes to selling a product) but in politics. This topic gains more importance in the Indonesian context, as many citizens are relying on social media to express their discontent with the political situation in the country and government’s decision in terms of foreign affairs.

At the end of the presentation, Kelly and I were interviewed by some of the staff who asked us about our experience. You can check the home-spun video of our visit to maverick here… Almost famous!

But at Maverick we also had an opportunity to have some fun and get loose a little bit. Some of the staff challenged AU to play a match of foosball. Again Kelly and I rose to the challenge (I’m starting to see a trend here!!!).

We started dominating the match, goal after goal. At some point we were 7-2 and we needed to score 11 to win. I really thought we had this covered but somehow they started scoring and we got pretty anxious. I’m a very competitive person and I know that Kelly is too, so we were committed to take the ‘trophy’ back to AU. 10-10, a tie! Our last chance. It happened so fast; they scored. We were defeated! ☹

So fellow AU student, if you decide to embark on this journey, please go back to Maverick, challenge them to play a foosball match and WIN! Do it for you, and for Kelly and me. Now that I think about it, this competitive feeling might had escalated too quickly. Above all, enjoy this experience. You will learn a lot and you will also have time to have fun (but seriously, don’t forget to beat them!).

By: Luis A. Vélez Pretelt