Child's Play

Thursday, 28 September 2006
11.18pm
Koningsstraat, Amsterdam

After a tiring day in Den Haag arranging data collection for my thesis, I finally took a seat on the train back to Amsterdam. Listening to Spinto Band's 'Oh Mandy' and daydreaming for a bit alone in a four-seater... Life is all well until 5 seemingly 10 year old children 'yang bau matahari celingak-celinguk' and talked to each other loudly.

Don't sit here, don't sit here.

"Zullen wij hier zitten?" yelled the boy with the blond hair.

I closed my eyes.

So I kept ignoring them and enjoyed the view. I was alone with my playlist but could still here some words mumbled in the background.

"MEVROUW!" three kids yelled at me. From their grins I could tell this seems to be the third time they tried to talk to me.
Inaya: Ja?
Little girl with Afro: Acharhsarhuerhjf (something in Dutch).
Inaya: Sorry?
Little girl with Afro: Acharhsarhuerhjf (repeated that something in Dutch).
Inaya: I don't speak Dutch very well.
Little Indian boy: You going to Amsterdam Central?
Inaya: Yes.
Little Indian boy and friends: *sigh of relief and proud that they didn't make a mistake*

My heart skipped a beat. They are adorable. I started paying more attention to them.

One Indian boy with black eyes and black hair, one very Dutch boy with blue eyes and blond hair, one African-Dutch girl with a Fro and huge hoola-hoop earrings and two blonde Dutch girls that look too much a like.

I think they're a good example of how the Dutch are. Despite them being bad dressers with a culture of 'basa-basi', they are by far the most diverse society in Western Europe. These kids, in front of me, are a walking example of how multicultured the Dutch are.

The nice event made me reminisce a bit about my first flight to Amsterdam. I was sitting next to an Irish man named Neil (or so I would remember him with that name) who was telling me about his son in Bandung.

Neil: It's amazing how much children can teach us. I put my son in public school in Bandung and his friend drew him a picture when he moved to Jakarta. In the picture, all of the children had black hair but he drew one of them with blue eyes. Isn't it astounding how he sees all his friends, including my white son, as the same. And that the only thing that distinguished my son is the colour of his eyes.
Inaya: *Menangis tersedu2 dan gebuk2 lantai* (ya gak lah)

As we are forced to grow up with bills to pay, chores to do, food to prepare, we forget how nice it was to just, well, be kids. To see things simply as they are, not with pretentious glares and judgemental thinking. If we can no longer be one, let's just learn from them. If we get real lucky, we might be able to see the world as a big playground like we used to.

PS: Kaindaaaa lihat fotonya deh. JC Penney heiwheihwe..