FRIENDS

It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences. ~ Audre Lorde

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CHINA AND THE WUHAN GROUP:

The opportunity to visit China at the first time popped up as I attended a Seminar on Freight Forwarding issues in Bangkok, Thailand, in 1996.

Bangkok is quite close to Beijing and there I have friends, Mr. Anwar Wahab, the Commercial Counselor of the Indonesian Embassy at that time; and his wife Mrs. Ratna Wahab who was also my close friend.

So, I just contact them and they gladly received me and my staff (Nina) to stay in their apartment. Well, I think this couple were always unfortunate to have me lodging in their house whenever I travel abroad in the past. I stayed over in Canberra in my way back from Vanuatu in 1987, as I travel to Vanuatu as a resource person under the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN-ESCAP) to share some thought about “The Marketing Strategy for Business Women of Developing Countries. Anwar was a Commercial Counselor at the Indonesian Embassy in Canberra that time.

(I will tell the story about my experience in Vanuatu later at my other blog: Forum Bebas or Free Forum http://benanefashionartdeco.blogspot.com/

China is always in my dream to visit. My late father, a graduated Chinese High Scholl in Berastagi North Sumatra talked a lot about China though he never visited this country. He knows a lot about Chinese culture and history and he always speaks Chinese in the past not only to his friends but also to his cousin (Uncle Usaha Tarigan) who almost finished his Master Degree in Ancient Chinese Culture before the “G 30 S PKI Case” erupted. So Chinese and China is always around our family lips and that made me eager to visit this country

My visit to China in 1996 was a memorable one. I went to the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace and the Tiananmen Square, the lattest was to see the mummy of the Great Mao. I was amazed by the whole existing infrastructure in China that time, admiring the culture and said to my heart: no wonder if my dad admired the history of this country.

Then here comes the Olympic 2008; So many great news about China’s mega supra infrastructure projects appeared in mass media. This is a must to see! I realized that there are technical assistance programs for junior officials and middle managers of developing countries at that time, sponsored by Chinese government and European donor countries. Well, I think, why not joining as an observer and besides there is always new thing one can learn and share even from junior officials. So, I enrolled as a participant of the Seminar on “Globalization and Industrial Transfer” and as it proved, the Seminar was highly qualified and well organized!

The participants came from 26 countries and some were really knowledgeable; we have high qualified lecturers from UNCTAD and well experience Chinese lecturers and speakers, well, I have nothing to complain about!

This writing about The Wuhan Group is dedicated to my friends and sponsors, to express how grateful I am to them and to have such a wonderful opportunity to gain knowledge and wisdom from every single one of them, I thanks GOD for this opportunity.

Aside of that, this writing is also as a reminder how important the global relationship to all human being. As an eldest in the group, I would like to remind my younger friends that friendship will pave the way to a better future and career if one can keep the friendship as a fruitful net working forever. Friendship does not cost any penny; keeping them in our heart cost nothing than peace and happiness.

Here I provide you my friends with the list of participants, in case you forget to file them. Here I also provide you with our pictures together, so that whenever we travel around the world and bump each other, we can still be connected and share our longtime story of Wuhan , China. Happy browsing my friends…..

Best regards, Neneng Tarigan, Jakarta, Indonesia.

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Friendship is that unique relationship that knows no difference, cultural or otherwise. Time and again, authors the world over have devoted themselves to the study of this beautiful relationship. Having the gift of authorship, they penned wonderful tales about friendship, imaginary or otherwise. Here is a compilation of some fabulous short stories on friendship that inspire you to become not only a better friend and make you understand the meaning of true friendship. Enjoy these marvelous stories on friendship yourself and click here to share them with your buddies. Have a memorable Friendship Day with TheHolidaySpot!

http://www.theholidayspot.com/friendship/stories/

A FRIEND IN NEED IS A FRIEND INDEED

As quoted from: http://www.en.thinkexist.com/

“It is prosperity that gives us friends, adversity that proves them.”

“Those who do not read are no better off than those who cannot.”

"A blessed thing it is for any man or woman to have a friend, one human soul whom we can trust utterly, who knows the best and worst of us, and who loves us in spite of all our faults"

“A true friend laughs at your stories even when they're not so good, and sympathizes with your troubles even when they're not so bad”

“What soberness conceals, Drunkenness reveals”

“Every path has its puddle”

“The heart that truly loves never forgets.”

SOMETIMES WE ARE TIRED TOO, IT IS ONLY HUMAN:

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God grant me the serenity to accept the people I cannot change, the courage to change the one I can, and the wisdom to know it's me.  ~Author unknown, variation of an excerpt from "The Serenity Prayer" by Reinhold Neibuhr

A day is Eternity's seed, and we are its Gardeners.  ~Erika Harris, lifeblazing.com

People cannot go wrong, if you don't let them.  They cannot go right, unless you let them.  ~Augustus William Hare and Julius Charles Hare, Guesses at Truth, by Two Brothers, 1827

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Books are delightful society. If you go into a room and find it full of books - even without taking them from the shelves they seem to speak to you, to bid you welcome. ~quotations on Books Reading by William Ewart Gladstone

The man who thinks he can live without others is mistaken; the one who thinks others can't live without him is even more deluded. ~inspirational words about death by Hasidic Saying

Education... has produced a vast population able to read but unable to distinguish what is worth reading. ~saying about words death by G.M. Trevelyan

That man is successful who has lived well, laughed often, and loved much, who has gained the respect of the intelligent men and the love of children; who has filled his niche and accomplished his task; who leaves the world better than he found it, whether by an improved poppy, a perfect poem, or a rescued soul; who never lacked appreciation of earth's beauty or failed to express it; who looked for the best in others and gave the best he had. ~Robert Louis Stevenson

Success is more permanent when you achieve it without destroying your principles. ~Walter Cronkite

The two hardest things to handle in life are failure and success. ~Author Unknown

Pray that success will not come any faster than you are able to endure it. ~Elbert Hubbard

THE WUHAN GANG:

Pictures taken during the Seminar on Globalization and Industrial Development, sponsored by UNCTAD and the Government of the People Republic of China, organized by CEVTC (China Europe Vocational Training Centre), Wuhan, China, 2008.

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Dear Wuhan Group, if you find any difficulty in finding out the address of our group, here I attached their complete address for your information. I hope we still keep in contact. Ciao, Neneng Tarigan.
http://www.4shared.com/document/J0M9YNy4/contacts_of_participants.html

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Sometimes, participants are just too tired to concentrate on the seminar and easily fallen into half asleep.Here some of that sweet momentos.

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Every each of the participant is so unique, but all of them are friendly and lovingly people. We can always speak so openly almost about anything. So, when I made this counter available to all of my fellow participants, Keba our youngest in the group was protested because she hardly seen some of the participants appeared in the slides which I think this is a very good info, so with her help I made some more slides available in this counter. I wish other fellow participants will help me as Keba did, so that our counter will be much more complete and with new info about each of you if possible. Thanks keba for your help; and here one of the slides. Happy browsing............

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Grown-ups love figures.  When you tell them that you have made a new friend, they never ask you any questions about essential matters.  They never say to you, "What does his voice sound like?  What games does he love best?  Does he collect butterflies?" Instead, they demand:  "How old is he?  How many brothers has he?  How much does he weigh?  How much money does his father make?"  Only from these figures do they think they have learned anything about him.  ~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince, 1943, translated from French

Just remember, there's a right way and a wrong way to do everything and the wrong way is to keep trying to make everybody else do it the right way.  ~M*A*S*H, Colonel Potter

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The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra.  ~Jimmy Johnson

What a strange narrowness of mind now is that, to think the things we have not known are better than the things we have known.  ~Samuel Johnson

To sensible men, every day is a day of reckoning.  ~John W. Gardner

There is a time for departure even when there's no certain place to go.  ~Tennessee Williams (Thomas Lanier)

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The paradox of our time: These are days of two incomes, but more divorce. These are also days of fancier and bigger houses, but more broken homes. It is a time when we should care those things, and yet most of us don't.

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As quoted from: http://www.quotegarden.com/wise-words.html

Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be.  ~Thomas à Kempis, Imitation of Christ, c.1420

Anyone can carry his burden, however hard, until nightfall.  Anyone can do his work, however hard, for one day.  Anyone can live sweetly, patiently, lovingly, purely, till the sun goes down.  And this is all life really means.  ~Robert Louis Stevenson

Give thanks for what you are now, and keep fighting for what you want to be tomorrow.  ~Fernanda Miramontes-Landeros

Enjoy when you can, and endure when you must.  ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Laziness will cause you pain.  ~Slogan on T-shirt worn at the Vee Arnis Jitsu School of Self-Defense

Never miss an opportunity to make others happy, even if you have to leave them alone in order to do it.  ~Author Unknown

Have courage for the great sorrows of life and patience for the small ones; and when you have laboriously accomplished your daily task, go to sleep in peace.  ~Victor Hugo

You can tell more about a person by what he says about others than you can by what others say about him.  ~Leo Aikman

The first and greatest victory is to conquer yourself; to be conquered by yourself is of all things most shameful and vile.  ~Plato 

Don't look where you fall, but where you slipped.  ~African Proverb

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Friend's quotes:

“A brother is a friend God gave you; a friend is a brother your heart chose for you.”

“A true friend is someone who is there for you - when he'd rather be anywhere else.”

“If you hear that someone is speaking ill of you, instead of trying to defend yourself you should say: "He obviously does not know me very well, since there are so many other faults he could have mentioned"”

“You meet people who forget you. You forget people you meet. But sometimes you meet those people you can't forget. Those are your 'friends.'”

“A friend is a hand that is always holding yours, no matter how close or far apart you may be. A friend is someone who is always there and will always, always care. A friend is a feeling of forever in the heart.”

THE GENEVA GROUP:

Pictures taken in various occasion before the WTO meeting on trade in services.

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“A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words.”

“The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart.”

“A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out.”

“Never above you. Never below you. Always beside you.”

“The best way to get along is never to forgive an enemy or forget a friend”

“The ideal friendship is to feel as one while remaining two.”

ME AND MY FRIENDS.

The pictures are taken in Lima and and Arequipa, Peru, during APEC meeting in 2008.

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“In order to have an enemy, one must be somebody. One must be a force before he can be resisted by another force. A malicious enemy is better than a clumsy friend.”

“In this world of change, nothing which comes stays, and nothing which goes is lost.”

“We deceive ourselves when we fancy that only weakness needs support. Strength needs it far more.”

 “There are two ways of attaining an important end, force and perseverance; the silent power of the latter grows irresistible with time.”

THE DEPUTY ECONOMIC GROUP:

Pictures taken, right after a consultation meeting with regional government of Bengkulu Province, representatives of local banks and small scale enterprises, 2009.

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“Courage is the discovery that you may not win, and trying when you know you can lose.”

“If you only do what you know you can do- you never do very much.”

“There are no failures - just experiences and your reactions to them.”

“Getting what you want is not nearly as important as giving what you have.”

“When life knocks you down you have two choices- stay down or get up.”

“Try and fail, but don't fail to try.”

“Anyone can give up, it's the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that's true strength.”

“Man can live about forty days without food, about three days without water, about eight minutes without air, but only for one second without hope”

“Only as high as I reach can I grow, only as far as I seek can I go, only as deep as I look can I see, only as much as I dream can I be.”

Below are Confucious quotes, China's most famous teacher, philosopher, and political theorist, 551-479 BC

“When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don't adjust the goals, adjust the action steps.”

“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.”

 “He who learns but does not think, is lost! He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger.”

“Learn as though you would never be able to master it; Hold it as though you would be in fear of losing it”

“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.”

“What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.”

STAFF OF DEPUTY ECONOMY AND RELATED MINISTRIES:

Pictures taken after a consultation meeting on One Village One Product (OVOP) in Pekan Baru, Riau Province.

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100 BEST FRIENDSHIP POEMS:

As Quoted from: http://100-poems.com/friendship/poems/#poemlist

Friendship isn't always easily described. The Eskimos, they say, have a hundred different words for snow. Unfortunately, the English language isn't quite as innovative, though it has vast opportunities to differentiate meaning. Certainly, Love is one of those opportunities. And so, too, is Friendship.

Instead of different words, however, we're stuck with simple adjectives. Close friend. Best friend. Childhood friend. Intimate friend. Trusted friend. Beloved friend. But whether you use adjectives or different words, few could deny the nearly infinite meaning in such a simple word.

Friends are special people. We can't pick our family, and we're sorely limited in the number of them at any rate. Society and mores (and often our own conscience) dictate we select a single mate. But our friends can be as diverse and infinite as the adjectives we choose. Our friends, in a very real sense, reflect the choices we make in life.

Here are some words about friendship, which I (Neneng Tarigan) loved the most:

• Sometimes we have to learn to accept friendship. And learn to be a friend in return.
• Friendship can be very beautiful. And it can be very beautifully expressed 
• Learning to trust and to share are integral aspects of the development of true friendship.
• Childhood friendships may wan, but their memories will never leave us. 
• Saying goodbye to a dear friend is never easy. But, sometimes, it's the only right thing to do for them.
• Sometimes, friendship is fleeting. But that makes it no less important. 
• When you have a special friend, you need to tell them so ... 
• The strongest bonds are those that remain forever unbroken. 
• Common passions can bring two people together, and unite them in a unique, on-line friendship.

 What is friendship? Oh, so many things ...


IN THE OFFICE:

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“Enthusiasm is excitement with inspiration, motivation, and a pinch of creativity.”

“Communication is about being effective, not always about being proper.”

“A dream becomes a goal when action is taken toward its achievement.”