Next Stop: Stockholm!

Sweden easily finds itself in the cleanest countries in the world. Why wouldn’t it? It has paid special attention to increasing the greenery so that the environment becomes clean. Sweden is so good at recycling. For several years it has imported rubbish from other countries to keep its recycling plants going. Less than 1 per cent of Swedish household waste was sent to landfill. That’s how Hazel Sheffield described Sweden’s environment in The Independent, a British online newspaper. For a graduate in energy and material recovery from waste, what can be more privilege than carrying a research for converting biomass to bio-fuels there. I am in! Well, I am not trying to hide the mixed feelings I have. You can check it in: Between Nowhere and Nowhere. Yet, I am thinking, getting excited in whatever happens is better than feeling the blues.

People said I am cursed because I have to spend lots of time to study. For them, I am going nowhere. How do I know? They said that in front of my eyes. It’s okay, I am over it, though it is hurtful for the first time I hear it. Some others express their admiration. Well, thank you, but stay put in there. You will soon know that it may not as you expected from me.

Looking back to my efforts for getting a job, I should say this is a blessing. Of all applications I’ve made, only one door is opened for me. Very well then, I accept the offer. It is good to be easy on myself, isn’t it. On how I could get the position, well, what can I say, of course I applied to the position first, after 6 months being a house manager. A house manager? Yes, you know it, don’t you. My job includes sweeping and mopping the floor, washing and ironing the clothes, watering the plants, and other incidentals (haha). Thank goodness I passed the administrations. Not long after that, I was interviewed. Then the job offer came out of the blue. What I am trying to say is fortune favored me.

What do I say? Indeed, I went through all the selection process with luck. Listen, though I’ve got a master degree from overseas university, furthermore, I was selected to be financed by government, all that adds up to nothing, at least in my case. No matter how hard I knocked the door, how hard I tried to fit in companies or industries, even government ministries, the doors remained closed.

My friend, Jojo, told me looking for a job and finding a soulmate are alike. I laughed when he said that, but now, when I think of it over, I hardly disagree. Both sides which mean the applicant and the company, for looking a job, or man and woman, for finding a soulmate (haha), should meet at the right time. It is not enough to meet the requirements or being qualified. It has to be at the right time, when there are prospective employees while there is a demand for employees or, similar to it, when both man and woman are in mature age for serious relationship.  

Alright, don’t get distracted with soulmate thing, though it is entertaining (haha). Let’s focus on getting a job. Every time I saw my friends having a job shortly after graduation, I did self-examination. What is wrong with me? Do I lack something? Is there something in me that need to be fixed? I even imitated the way my friends getting a job by directly contacting the employer, having recommendation letters, or asking someone’s help to put my CV in priority list. However, it didn’t work for me. I wonder why. So, knowing I get the offer from KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden, I realize that I am just an ordinary girl. My own efforts may not adequate, but The Creator of my life put an ‘X’ prior to the word ‘ordinary’. I almost gave up, but I didn’t. Almost losing myself, but I didn’t. Nearly crushing all hope, but I didn’t. At last, I have a confident to say, up until now, I am still standing! Next stop, Stockholm!

I now have this light shining in my hearts,

but I am like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure.

This makes it clear that my great power is from God, not from myself.

I am pressed on every side by troubles, but I am not crushed.

I am perplexed, but not driven to despair.

I am hunted down, but never abandoned by God.

I get knocked down, but I am not destroyed. 

(2 Corinthians 4:7-9, NLT, author’s modify)