New_Lands

Creative Writing Paper 1 “Japan, isn’t it magnificent Stuart'” asked my mother. Tokyo’s metropolis was bustling with movement even at midnight. There no sign of stars, only the neon lights of, SONY, TOSHIBA and names written Japanese, illuminated the night. “Yes, it is”, I whispered back as I looked out the limousine window. We approached the Ocean hotel and our luggage was carried towards our new apartment, on the twenty second floor. The whole apartment was itself was very small, only three rooms. “You got school tomorrow, so go to bed as soon as you got everything unpacked!” yelled my mother from the other room. I set the alarm to 7am and jumped into the small bed wondering how tomorrow would unfold. “Brrrrring-Brrrring” yelped the alarm. I woke up half a sleep and brushed my teeth. No sign of my parents, they must have already left for work. I got dressed in what seemed more like a sailor suit than a uniform. My stomach was craving for some eggs and bacon. I opened the fridge to my disappointment; I couldn’t recognize anything except the leftover sushi I was eating last night. Luckily I managed to find Cheerios stashed away in the alcove next to the fridge. After I quenched my appetite, I head out to “Tokyo High School”. As I approached the school, I saw the beautiful pink cherry blossoms sweep across the sky. I walked into what was supposed to be my classroom “2-C”. I opened the door to see a neatly set classroom with kids already in it. At once all the eyes were on me. Ignoring them I walked to the back of the classroom and sat at an empty desk. Most of the kids seemed to ignore me after that and began conversations in Japanese, which seemed more like gibberish to me. A young looking male teacher walked and immediately stopped talking the kids raced for their seats. The teacher read, what to me, was the roll was and then recognized me. He asked me something I did not understand. “Ohh, you must be the new boy, come and introduce yourself, My name is Mr Suzuki.” Replied the teacher in an accent which took me a while to realize what he actually said. I went to the front of the classroom as all the eyes were on me. “Hi, my name’s Stuart, I’m from Sydney, Australia”, I said to the room full of blank faces. Most of the kids did not seem to understand anything expect for “Australia”, where one kid replied in awe back. Mr Suzuki translated for me and then whole class said “Konichiwa Stuart”. The class continued as we went through many subjects, Geography, History, English, Biology. Nothing really made sense to me expect for English and bits of Math. The bell rang for lunch and students started rushing out of the classroom. I followed the stampede to what looked like a cafeteria. I got myself a cup of noodles after a series of pointing gestures with the cook. I looked around for a place to sit. Chatter seemed ring in my ears, there were students as far as my eyes could see. There was no room for me. I explored for a secluded spot. I spotted some stairs which led to the roof. The cherry blossoms were exceedingly beautiful and I sat on the roof, with the legs relaxed on the edge of the building, and ate my noodles in silence. The rest of the day was no different unit the bell rang again. “Sayonara”, all the kids were saying to each other as I walked out of school. No one was really paying any attention to me, as if I wasn’t there. I met my limousine at the corner of the street. We got held up by the immense traffic of Tokyo. Parallel to me was a park. There was a family there, playing around with their children. The mother holding up a baby, while a father was chasing his two little kids around the park. I felt I was missing out on something.” I want to be like that, normal” I thought. I made my decision that as soon as I get home, I’ll explain to my parents that, “this is no place for us, we belong in Sydney, we should be a normal family, no travelling”. The moon came out as we approached the Ocean hotel. With ardor I raced out of the limousine. Running up twenty seven stories, with my heart racing i opened the door to a void of darkness. There weren’t home yet. After about half an hour of watching tv I couldn’t understand I gave up. “Ring-Ring” “Hello” I asked. “How was school today honey” asked my mother. “Horrible, I don’t understand anything here, lets go back to Sydney!” I replied. “I’m sorry honey—“Mrs the boss wants a word”—I’m a bit busy, I’ll call you later.” I was left with the dial tone of the phone. No one wants to change for me, “Ill change for them’, I screamed into the empty silence. I started learning Japanese with the help of Mr Suzuki. Nearly after a week I began to get close to people and make friends, with this new found knowledge. That same night though I walked home to the apartment to surprisingly find my parents. They were getting ready for a formal evening with their boss. “Stuart, I’m sorry but we…they are relocating me to Germany”, said my mother sincerely. “But--…I want to stay here now, I have friends!”, I said. “I’m sorry honey, the flight is tomorrow night, so say bye to your friends tomorrow”, said my father now. After they left, I was left in awe. I realized this was inevitable, my family is always moving, they do not want to change. I never seem to belong at first to anywhere, but afterwards I do. That’s why I decided to wait for Germany as a challenge, I made friends in Japan and so will I in Germany. No matter what I will force my way to belong! Humans can grow anywhere they want, even in the soil of rejection!