Passport for Alien

If you think that the title has anything to do with The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, you are wrong. I went to the Indonesian Embassy yesterday to renew my passport and up there in the wall in the notice board, was written: Passport for Alien as translation for Passport untuk orang asing. I, of course, couldn't help smiling Surely, I'm not the only person who think that the notice is silly. The fact that the notice stays is just mind-boggling. I don't know, maybe we are just being stupid Indonesians or maybe they just want to be funny Anyway, met a lot of people there. Nice coincidence. Met Trisna, Derry, Cindy and her friend. Then met this 1st year student from NTU, Ari, who generously lent me S$100. I was so panic that instead of breathing and making my way to the nearest ATM which is in Tanglin mall, I just asked the money from him, which I returned in less than half an hour, after eventually making my way to Tanglin mall.

This brings us to my complain about the Indonesian Embassy here in Singapore. I arrived there around 9 am plus. I knew I had to get there early because there are always so many people, but I thought I didn't want to be a moron who waited there in the front gate even before the gate was open. A moron, I should have been. There were so many people there. There even a queue to enter the embassy. Inside, it was so messy. My first thought was that it's so Indonesian. There were so many people and I'm so sure everyone weren't sure what's going on and what to do. To have our passport done, there were 2 counters. Each only had 1 person in it. 1 person was calling people to have their picture taken and on the same time answering people's questions. People were not sure if they have to queue or what the queue is for, where to take the form, what documents to bring, so they all just gathered around in front of the counter, trying their best to get the attention of the people in the counter. It was so messy! The 2nd person took in our form when our queue number is up. He would inspect what we filled in one by one and filled the things that we didn't fill. He would inspect our documents and then he made photocopies of our documents eventhough we already brought copies of them. All were done by himself so the time he needed for 1 person varied from 10-30 minutes. Imagine that! He was nice doing that for us, but just imagine that. The bottleneck in the processing and remember he still had to answers questions from people who gathered up there in front of the counter. Man! I just found it so inefficient and so unorganized. Can't they just put the form there in the queue area so that we don't have to ask it personally. Can't they just put a notice of the documents that need to be brought so that the people there don't have to answer all these questions. Another stupid thing was that in the web, it was written we could just download the form from the web and submit it there. What a lie. We still have to ask for the green form. Me and Derry had to do this, it's just stupid stupid stupid. Warning that there's no ATM within walking distance and that we should pay cash upon submission of form would also be nice. Gosh! I'm just pretty pissed with how the things work. My next visit would be this coming Tuesday to have my picture and fingerprint taken. I will really be kiasu this time and come there even before the gate is open, otherwise I will rot there again.

Okay, enough complain. Must stop complaining otherwise I will be sued for the things I said Anyway, it was a really nice surprise to meet people I knew there. Had an interesting talk with Derry. Trisna and Cindy looked nice and alright. One interesting person I saw there was Audrey, the Mauritian girl *sigH* only a few people would share my curiosity on why she's there. Well, I guess simplest reason is that to get a visa to visit Indonesia, I suppose. So many Indonesian people there, which is kinda mind-boggling, but come to think about it, if there are around 50-100 people coming to the embassy everyday to do their passport or other things, then it's not really that surprising. I am sure there are so many indonesians in Singapore, though I couldn't get the exact number. Anyway, one good thing out of this, is that I'm so happy that my documents are alright. I just gave them all that I had and luckily they seemed to be enough. If I had been missing something, I think I would have exploded on the spot

Little note. Met an interesting person this week, that as our conversation went on, I really felt like God was trying to say something to me. I think He was trying to tell me about being brave, humble (one can not be humble enough), and being strong. This got me thinking, it's really in God's plan about whom you get to meet in life, about the people that will cross your path. Though they may only stay in your path of life for a while but they may make much impact in your life, maybe even more that someone who has stayed longer in your life. So I guess, we should also try to give something to the people that we are fortunate enough to meet. Who knows, we might bring something in their life, we may trigger good changes in their life. That would be so cool, wouldn't it? To know that your presence in this world has a good impact on someone else's life. For me, that's just cool. I really hope I may be that good blessing on someone's life

:) eKa @ 9:05:00 PM •

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