LOOKING AT CHANGE
2009 was the year my whole world turned upside down because of change .I was born in Auckland, New Zealand and I changes I went through then were either with school or moving house as I was there for nearly fifteen years. During the years in New Zealand I had many commitments and lots of friends along with learning Buddhism, a religion which my parents have passed down to me .My school friends were mainly Asian as the school I went to was multicultural so there were all kinds of races .I felt a sense of belonging and did not have to deal with racist comments. Those were the greatest years of my life until the unfortunate day came when my parents decided to move to Australia.
It was difficult for me to accept this change of moving to a new country. Being a teenager, I did not want to make new friends or change schools .I was angry towards my parents .My resentment changed of feeling. My parents finally forced me into accepting the move.
On the plane, I thought to myself, ‘what changes are likely to occur when living in a new environment?’
My parents said that our relatives are living in a city called Perth and decided to move there so that we could be closer to them.
I already had negative thoughts in my mind, ‘How am I going to make friends?
What are the people like there? Will I learn to adapt in a new country?’
I recall the first day of school as the worst day of my life .Everyone I saw was unfamiliar to me. I felt so lonely and isolated by everyone’s appearance. I heard the chit chat between students saying how great the holidays were and how quickly the school year has started.
Then a guy called out, “Hey there’s a new student”.
From a distance I could hear, “He’s one of those Asian blokes”.
Another student remark, “He’s an outsider. He doesn’t belong here”.
I quickly moved away from those guys .During class , I would sit by myself as no one offered to introduce themselves except of course, the immature students who were making racist comments directed at me . Recess and lunch gave me a break on the racist remarks. Everyone would then gather in designated areas with their friends. I felt sad and depressed. I would sit on an empty bench behind the tree next to the school library and ate my lunch with no one to talk to.
The days at school, I try to hide myself from everyone laughter at me .In most of my classes, someone would either say a racist word to me or bully me because I was different from everyone else .There were hardly any Asians at my school. It seemed as if Asians were rare in this part of the country. I never though thought change could make a big impact in my life. I wasn’t coping very well at the time and I wasn’t really confident due to my illness. I was quite awkward around everyone and many people would call me a freak! I felt my school let me down as I was put into a group who refused to learn. These were the people who would be likely to cause trouble for others at school. When it was home time, I would be overjoyed as the school day had finally ended.
At home I would act differently because there was no one to bother me. I was happy, especially at the weekends where I would visit my cousins and get advice to cope with the problems at school.
I would always ask the question, “Where are all the Asian?”
My cousins would reply, “There are a lot but spread out everywhere”.
That still didn’t convince me. School still continued to irritate me as I was tired of being lonely and the racist remarks were getting old. My parents tried to help but they didn’t really understand. I had a talk with my uncle over the phone and to my relief it seemed as if he knew what I was going through.
My Uncle gave me the best advice with the ways to cope with change. All I remember my uncle telling me is,” You cannot change them but you can change yourself”.
Drastic changes for the better started to occur in my life especially during school. I became more social and I started to make friends .I ignored the rude and racist comments said about me as I knew they were just ignorant and finally they stopped bugging me .I joined a in various events at school and became known as Randy and not “ That Asian guy”. I joined the local badminton club and found that many Asians gathered there. It seems my cousins were right, ‘That Asians are spread out about the place’. I now know and feel like I’m not the only Asian at school.
=D P.S WOW YOU ACTUALLY REACTED THIS LOL
2009 was the year my whole world turned upside down because of change .I was born in Auckland, New Zealand and I changes I went through then were either with school or moving house as I was there for nearly fifteen years. During the years in New Zealand I had many commitments and lots of friends along with learning Buddhism, a religion which my parents have passed down to me .My school friends were mainly Asian as the school I went to was multicultural so there were all kinds of races .I felt a sense of belonging and did not have to deal with racist comments. Those were the greatest years of my life until the unfortunate day came when my parents decided to move to Australia.
It was difficult for me to accept this change of moving to a new country. Being a teenager, I did not want to make new friends or change schools .I was angry towards my parents .My resentment changed of feeling. My parents finally forced me into accepting the move.
On the plane, I thought to myself, ‘what changes are likely to occur when living in a new environment?’
My parents said that our relatives are living in a city called Perth and decided to move there so that we could be closer to them.
I already had negative thoughts in my mind, ‘How am I going to make friends?
What are the people like there? Will I learn to adapt in a new country?’
I recall the first day of school as the worst day of my life .Everyone I saw was unfamiliar to me. I felt so lonely and isolated by everyone’s appearance. I heard the chit chat between students saying how great the holidays were and how quickly the school year has started.
Then a guy called out, “Hey there’s a new student”.
From a distance I could hear, “He’s one of those Asian blokes”.
Another student remark, “He’s an outsider. He doesn’t belong here”.
I quickly moved away from those guys .During class , I would sit by myself as no one offered to introduce themselves except of course, the immature students who were making racist comments directed at me . Recess and lunch gave me a break on the racist remarks. Everyone would then gather in designated areas with their friends. I felt sad and depressed. I would sit on an empty bench behind the tree next to the school library and ate my lunch with no one to talk to.
The days at school, I try to hide myself from everyone laughter at me .In most of my classes, someone would either say a racist word to me or bully me because I was different from everyone else .There were hardly any Asians at my school. It seemed as if Asians were rare in this part of the country. I never though thought change could make a big impact in my life. I wasn’t coping very well at the time and I wasn’t really confident due to my illness. I was quite awkward around everyone and many people would call me a freak! I felt my school let me down as I was put into a group who refused to learn. These were the people who would be likely to cause trouble for others at school. When it was home time, I would be overjoyed as the school day had finally ended.
At home I would act differently because there was no one to bother me. I was happy, especially at the weekends where I would visit my cousins and get advice to cope with the problems at school.
I would always ask the question, “Where are all the Asian?”
My cousins would reply, “There are a lot but spread out everywhere”.
That still didn’t convince me. School still continued to irritate me as I was tired of being lonely and the racist remarks were getting old. My parents tried to help but they didn’t really understand. I had a talk with my uncle over the phone and to my relief it seemed as if he knew what I was going through.
My Uncle gave me the best advice with the ways to cope with change. All I remember my uncle telling me is,” You cannot change them but you can change yourself”.
Drastic changes for the better started to occur in my life especially during school. I became more social and I started to make friends .I ignored the rude and racist comments said about me as I knew they were just ignorant and finally they stopped bugging me .I joined a in various events at school and became known as Randy and not “ That Asian guy”. I joined the local badminton club and found that many Asians gathered there. It seems my cousins were right, ‘That Asians are spread out about the place’. I now know and feel like I’m not the only Asian at school.
=D P.S WOW YOU ACTUALLY REACTED THIS LOL
