Wonder last.
The stars didn't fall today; Wednesday, March 26
So I decided to track the #passport tag on IG and it was quite fascinating. The formation of the modern state makes it necessary for us to have a passport if we want to travel. I learned in a class that the most basic reason why people migrate is because it is a human characteristic to move. Kind of blows my mind how a natural instinct is now hampered by the oh-all-hail modern man and the importance he attaches to a bounded volume of PAPER. Aaaanyway, I digress. My point was that I tracked the #passport tag and it was interesting to see the different passports from each country. (I didn't track very far but I couldn't see SG's o.O)
The USA has quite a nice passport and if I were to take up an Australian citizenship because they have a kangaroo on theirs, do you think the authorities will call me out on it? Haha. It's also interesting to see how Tunisia still has French on the cover of its passport despite its independence more than a half-century ago. I wonder why a such a manifestation of colonial legacy is still so obviously printed on such an important document for international movement? Talking about colonialism and independence, the Philippines also have Spanish on theirs. Hmm..
Most interesting for me yet was the European Union passport. From what I understand, movement within most of the EU states is quite free so maybe that's why the participating EU states have the same maroon covers for their passports though the covers still state which country the passport holder comes from. Also, I wonder if it's any coincidence that the Turkey passport is in the exact same maroon as the EU passports? Haha or is it just because of the filters in Instagram? Well then.
Okay this is just a short post about what went through my head as I decided to track the hashtag. I think all that talk about human movements and economies and policies are starting to get to my head. The other day my mum was preparing to go to Larkin so I asked her to buy some peanut butter. I always assume things are cheaper in Malaysia (current exchange rates are quite favourable, by the way) but my mum said "Alah kat sana pun sama je harga dia ngan Singapore." And the first thing that shot through my head was "I wonder if Malaysia imposes a tariff on imported peanut butter." Most amazing yet was that this happened when I was still groggy in the morning, having only taken a few sips of my coffee. I think school's affecting me too much. That said, I'm not getting any positive vibes about school this week. At all. Help me.