By Anindita Prabawati, a Wahana Riset Indonesia researcher.

The call to prayer began just as I finished my shower. Luckily, the water temperature in Jakarta is not as cold as in the mountains. Even so, it's hard to get used to waking up and reconciling with the cold water every morning. This unfamiliarity apparently had an impact on my physical state when I arrived at the office around 7 am. The street winds made my body feverish during the first three days of work. A considerable distance from home to the office gives me two options: depart early with less traffic or a little later in the day with more traffic. I usually prefer the first option.

As is often the case with newbies, adaptation is not merely physical. To feel right, the rhythm of thinking requires dexterity coupled with shrewdness. Like with dancing, you need to be shrewd, agile, and graceful. Even work should be enjoyed. It is not that easy for me to chat with many people, let alone people from different scientific backgrounds, with different senses of humor and especially different thinking patterns. However, it cannot be denied that chatting is helpful in the procession of adaptation. I am a new graduate with no real research experience, as I’ve only done research in a laboratory. The conditions in a lab are maintained in such a way as to support the life of the object I observed. So, I can predict the results: if it’s not A, then it must be B. It’s definite.

The amazement comes when all my senses start to feel what is really happening around me, when I’m confronted with many of God's creations that should not be merely considered "objects". The feelings of amazement, shock, and curiosity are part of the process of adjusting myself as a young researcher in a think thank that turns big ideas into real actions: World Resources Institute (WRI) Indonesia. WRI Indonesia gave me the opportunity to study with 18 friends as part of the Wahana Riset team. This team inspires the spirit of research and scientific thinking in Indonesia’s youth.

In the Wahana team, we learn about many things: the environment, the economy, the climate, and the survival of human life. The adaptation of a laboratory practitioner in a holistic world is challenging. I was amazed to witness the scholarly struggles of the bright people around me, who even worked in the global arena. After days of change, interaction between the Wahana team and the WRI staff happens more frequently. From these interactions, the companions are beginning to observe and understand each other.

In a casual dinner conversation, Dean Y. Affandi, our supervisor and a researcher for the One Map Initiative, lectured us and that talk started to broaden our perspectives. The climate of WRI is full of coaching and thinking. Colleagues learn and work together, chat and discuss without being patronizing, and without the need to feel smarter. Professionalism is felt when working, but a relaxed and friendly environment makes it feel familiar. This environment is very helpful for me to process and adapt.

Maybe learning can be interpreted as a form of gratitude. Be grateful to God, who has bestowed upon us with reason and heart. Reason and heart are means that have been attached to the body we must manage. And in learning, there might be tests: of honesty and kindness.

We are dealing with the world of humanity: its consciousness of self and nature, the power of thinking, creating and building, as well destructive potentials. Also, our temperament and the outcome of all our interactions are not easily predictable. Events involving humans and the development of thought in the world are not like microbes in petri dishes. And it is in here the real research lies.