After A Year, Here I Am Again Nijmegen

Nijmegen train station

I know I will be back. I am bound to be back.

It was cold as expected in the Netherlands. I was prepared for the nearly freezing point of 3 degrees celcius. From Schiphol to Nijmegen, the train passed familiar and welcoming sights, and yet I felt a misplaced sensation of time and space.

Am I here?"

"Or Ï am moving to where I am supposed to be?"

The moving train settled and tied my wandering thoughts and trembling senses back to my own.

Welcome! says doraemon, flower and card

And then after an hour or so of that train ride, it felt a year of travel; here I am, in the same neighborhood, flat and room.

I was welcomed by a waiting greeting card, flower and doraemon on the table. It felt that I was not away that long. The radio, couch, bed, paintings, cabinets, and the silence in the neighborhood seemed to be unsurprised to see me back.

These are what I need to see, feel to say, "Ï'm back!"

I started to unpack my things, unraveling some memories and stories in my mind. Almost every stuff I put inside the cabinet or drawer, it carried a certain weight of home; unsettling at first in a new place.

Dominic buried in snow

Excitedly, I went down to the basement to get the few things I had left behind in the flat. They were all there, anticipating my homecoming. It took me more time to open the boxes than bringing them up and inside my room. It was like unloading the past behind to move on to the things that were immediate.

The last thing that went out of the basement was "Dominic." Remember him?!

Well, Dominic survived the most severe winter. He survived the isolation, the stationary position, the dark and hidden corners of a basement. Yes he did. And he waited, and waited, for a year.

Thanks to the oil and hand air pump!

And then finally, he was out of the basement. The wind of freedom, touch of ground, and light of movement greeted its wheels.

But his tires were slouchy; they were gasping for air. The rims were rusty; they were screaming for oil.

So I asked my landlord if he had hand air pump and grease oil to revive my Dominic.

He brought those two and I tried to put more life to Dominic. And yes, Dominic came back.

Dominic and Molen together under the sun

For my first week, Dominic brought me to Uni and home. After four or five days, his tires were slowly getting heavier and losing some air. I needed to revive him, again.

My new production place (oh, they call it here office)

With this experience, I decided to have Dominic a partner. I borrowed one bike from Ate Renna in Molenhoek. And I got that bike last week. I introduced Dominic to his new companion, Molen (for obvious reason). Dominic was quiet. I reassured him that Molen will be with us for a while; look after her. She is new in the neighborhood. Then, I left the two bikes for them to have their own time together because they will be together, bound by incidence.

View from my corner

I came back to Nijmegen to do something. And here I would do much of my work - Erasmus building at the 14th floor. I got a corner space (well, four of us got a corner in a rectangular office). The view is exhilarating. The countryside of endless plains feels like inviting me to look further than the trees, hills, and what's obvious in the eyes. (Still connected with research).

Dutch says it with flowers: Welkom!