The Others

Today I went to the expat center to take my new resident permit. The first person asked me to show my birth certificate and when I told her that I had been here before, she asked me to meet her colleague since I was already in the system. So there I was waiting for fifteen minutes because I was not in the check list. I am new, but I also old. I am familiar with many things, but the documents do not say so. Thus, I have to wait. My experience reminded me to one of the stories in The Sociology of Monsters on being allergic to onion. To get a hamburger without an onion means to wait longer simply because you create a mess out of a system. I think I am quite okay of waiting, I am more afraid of being alienated from my self.

I don't know why I shifted my subject from math to social science. Or in general sometime I wonder where my home is. Sometimes being in Indonesia is just too much; too many questions and too many people ordering me what to do. Being back in the Netherlands give me fresh air. It feels almost home.