Blog by Fridus Steijlen at standplaatswereld.nl.

There are things in daily life that seem to always continue without notice. For me, one of them is going to the hairdresser, more or less every six weeks. I only changed a hairdresser when he retired or when I moved. Visits abroad could always fit in between visits to my hairdresser and I would occasionally accept slightly wild and a bit longer hair coming home when the field trip exceeded my regular hair-cut-period. But this time is different. I landed in Ambon, the Moluccas, Indonesia, at the end of February to become visiting professor at Universitas Pattimura (Unpatti); as result of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), the cooperation between VU and Unpatti. When I came to Ambon last May (2022) to revive the MoU after covid, the rector, knowing I was going to retire soon, invited me to become visiting professor at Unpatti. So here I am, working at Unpatti for a longer period.

When the time for a haircut came, I asked around at Unpatti. Where should I go? In most of the barbershops I had seen, men were cut short and shaved in the neck, in, what I would call, a military style. I was looking for a barber that will be able to handle older people, I told my colleagues. It was just a shot in the dark. Then one of my colleagues told me that close to her house, in the area called Benteng (fortress), there was a barbershop named ‘Gunting Rambut Holland’, or ‘Hardresser Holland’ or very literally translated ‘Hair cutting Holland’.

Read more at standplaatswereld.nl.

Photo: ‘Hair Cutting Holland’. Photographer: Fridus Steijlen.