Town Hall
Town Hall On May 12, 2002, at 7:05, my daughter was born. While I was in the room with my wife and the baby, a nurse came in the room and gave me some papers. Everything in Thai language. I asked the nurse what the papers were meant for and her answer was that the papers were for the town hall to register my daughter. We agreed that she would be named after my aunt, "Carmen", who had passed away a few years before and at 9 am, I left for the town hall with the papers. Arrived at the town hall, I took a queue ticket and after a short time it was my turn to be attended. The lady at the counter spoke a little bit English and I told her that I came to register the birth of my daughter and gave her the documents I had received from the nurse. She started to fill in some papers, in Thai script, and after a few minutes she looked up and asked me "What name have you chosen for the baby?". "Carmen" I said. Her face turned pale and she looked at me as if I was...