Business Meeting in Manado

On Friday we had arrived on Bangka but we had to go back to Manado on Sunday already. On Monday morning we went for a meeting with Prof. Markus Lasut, our Indonesian counterpart of the Sam Ratulangi Universitas, Manado, Indonesia. We decided to go once again for public transport and got to the university well ahead of time. The first person we asked on campus to find Prof. Markus, was the dean of the student council and former Miss Indonesia (1993). We had a very nice little chat with her about Indonesia, Germany, Prof. Markus and our Flip-Flops.

During working hours (8.00 – 16.00) it is mandatory to wear shoes on Campus. What a faux-pas. Yet, I am still not sure what “shoe” means, as she wore high-heel-flip-flops which did not seem to bother anyone.

Super excited and nervous we reached the office of Prof. Markus. In fact, we were just waiting outside the building as we were still early and were trying to quickly organize some shoes. We were even willing to pay one of the Indonesian students some money if they would lend us their shoes. Just for the meeting, of course. Halfway through our negotiation, Prof. Markus appeared to pick us up. Someone had seen us and reported to him and he didn’t want to keep us waiting.

He was very happy that we wore traditional Batik shirts, but we had to learn that white shirts are to be worn on Monday and Tuesday, Batik shirts on Wednesday and Thursday, and Friday is a free day. Luckily this counts only for employees of the University.

Prof. Markus introduced us to two of his post-docs who will be joining our project. We had another 2 ½ hours meeting with them about our project, the sampling sites, and the logistics, and afterward got a tour around the labs of the University. We are looking forward to working with the Lasut-lab!