Rania's Trip During openSUSE.Asia 2018 Summit in Taipei Taiwan

Being part of the biggest open source event in Asia is a valuable experience for me. Especially in this event, I have the opportunity to share experiences as a speaker in one of the sessions.

This year, COSCUP, openSUSE.Asia Summit, and GNOME.Asia Summit were held simultaneously in one time and one place, in Taipei, precisely at the International Building (IB), National Taiwan University of Science and Technology on 11–12 August 2018.

I departed from Surabaya with Darian, Joko, and our senior, Master Aftian. Our flight from Juanda was scheduled early in the morning, but unfortunately this was not a direct flight, but had to transit for a while in Malaysia. We arrived at Taoyuan Airport around midnight. After picking up the bagage, we immediately rushed to find public transportation to the hostel. Arriving at the hostel, we didn’t do much. After cleaning the body, we go to sleep.

Day 0

The weather in Taipei is more intense than in Indonesia, especially where I live. This certainly makes me have to adapt. On that hot Friday, we came out of the hostel to find breakfast. Finding halal food here is not too easy. Only on certain spots that provide halal food. After breakfast, we headed to the mosque which was located not far from where we ate. After pray, Mr. Edwin invited us to visit SUSE’s office. At first we intended to go there by bus, but because we were confused with a map to the bus stop we finally went there on foot :(. The SUSE office is in the 26F Floor Micro Focus building. Some SUSE and openSUSE officials, including Mr. Edwin, and some friends from Indonesia are holding a meeting.

We are in this office until around afternoon. After the meeting, Mr. Haris invited all of us to meet Franklin Weng and Eric Sun at a restaurant while waiting for the scheduled welcome party to begin. Weng chose a place to eat that was not too far from where the welcome party was held later. To be honest, I was a little surprised by the portion of food served, very tasty and plentiful, almost my stomach was no longer strong enough to accommodate :D. Meeting in this restaurant is actually part of the informal meeting of LibreOffice Asia. Yes, besides us from Indonesia, at the meeting there were also friends from the LibreOffice community from Taiwan, Japan and Korea.

After the diner, we walked to the welcome party location. Many people have been there. The atmosphere was quite lively. Unfotunately, because at that time there were not many people I knew, I went around to enjoy the scenery around. Me, Darian, Joko, and Mr. Aftian returned to the hostel together. Me and Mr. Aftian wants to prepare material for presentation tomorrow morning. While some other friends are still at the location until late at night.

Day 1

Saturday, August 11 we went together to National Taiwan University of Science and Technology. When we arrived, there were some committee members directing us to take a kind of seminar kit in several spots. I was able to enter the main hall on the first floor, but because it was full and some of us were jostling behind, I, Mr. Aftian, Darian, and Joko decided to go around looking for the presentation room later. Incidentally I and Mr. Aftian will provide material in the same room, just different times.

At openSUSE.Asia Summit, I am concerned about the things I have done for icons to contribute actively in the open source environment through graphic design. Also on this occasion, I introduced a design community called GIMPSCAPE ID which is a design community specifically for users of open source applications in Indonesia, and this is a fairly large community. This community is also trying to contribute to open source, as proof, two logos in this event (the openSUSE.Asia Summit 2018 logo and GNOME.Asia Summit 2018 logo) are both made by members of GIMPSCAPE.

During the presentation, I was able to distribute souvenirs from the GIMPSCAPE community in the form of shirts. Two lucky people have this shirt, and I personally hope GIMPSCAPE can continue to take part in activities like this. After my session ended, I was able to take part in several sessions in other rooms, the Android application from COSCUP really helped me to find and mark the topics I wanted.

After the regular session was finished, in the afternoon I was invited (again) by Mr. Ahmad Haris to attend the LibreOffice Community BoF. Weng had told me a few months ago, one day I would invite me to meet experts in the design field of LibreOffice, and the day with intent in the conversation was today.

We met at a place called Art and Artist Space / A + A Space. A cool and minimalist room. Weng introduced me to several people there, one of whom was Michael Wu. Wu is a reliable designer who focuses on making artwork in 3d form using Blender. In this BoF, besides introducing the works of Wu, I was given the opportunity to share about my creative process in making motion graphics 2d using Synfig. OMG, I was very nervous at that time because I had to speak in front of experts. The BoF ends with “the ritual of spending food” :). Yes, they provide a lot of food. Again, my stomach could barely accommodate all the food that had been prepared. This LibreOffice Asia BoF gives me a new spirit to continue to contribute and make me more proud when using open source applications. Oh, thank you, Wu, for your catalog, it’s very inspiring!

Day 2

On the second day of the activity, I didn’t do much. At that time I came a little late with Mr. Haris. Today I can listen to a lot of sessions quite freely. Discussion about Flatpak, the use of FOSS applications in shoe factories, writing of Nusantara scripts, and some other topics I follow enthusiastically. In addition to participating in several talks, on this day I also visited exhibition stands that were opened during the event.

In the afternoon, when several colleagues were attending a special board meeting session, I and several colleagues who did not attend the meeting decided to take a trip to Ximending, it is said that this is a place to visit when you are in Taipei. We go there with Mr. Iwan Tahari and his brother, Mr. Didiet, and Mr. Tony, This brother from Pak Iwan knows a lot about the locations here, during the trip he was our guide.

We can’t linger in Ximending because Darian is not vit. I think he was exhausted after walking far enough for a few days, especially tomorrow in the day when we will have one day trip. Finally, even though the night wasn’t too late, we decided to go back to the hostel.

Day 3 (One Day Trip)

On day trip is the last agenda in this series of events. The first destination we visited was the National Palace Meuseum. In this place a lot of classic objects are stored in the past. Ceramics and corals are quite dominant here. I personally cannot enjoy this kind of visit, because the tour guide always invites us to move from one place to another quickly, of course this is a consequence of traveling together, no problem :)

After the National Palace Meuseum, we headed towards Taipei 101, the second tallest building in the world. To enter Taipei 101 we need to queue long enough. When in line, I talked to Sobha about Indian songs that are very popular in Indonesia. He was surprised when I said that many people in Indonesia sing Indian songs without knowing the meaning, :).

Unfortunately, the hiking agenda was canceled, so we spent a long time in Taipei 101. I, together with all my colleagues from Indonesia finally decided to say goodbye faster and separate themselves from the group. We traveled to other places, in the evening, Weng invited all colleagues from Indonesia to diner. Unfortunately not all of them can be present, Darian, Joko, and Mr. Aftian had headed to the airport for fear of missing the flight: p, then Siska, it was said that her legs were dislocated during the trip. The menu served tonight, imo, is the best during a trip in Taipei.

Even though the COSCUP, openSUSE.Asia Summit, and GNOME.Asia Summit activities have ended, I and several other colleagues did not immediately return. Yes, we want to get around Taipei first and enjoy the hot sun that I will miss one day.

Thanks to:

Our photos can be access via Flicker Groups:

GNOME.Asia Summit 2018 openSUSE.Asia Summit 2018 COSCUP