A New Home
By Alex Lu
“Alex, we should go now,” my mom called to me.
I took my red and white Santa hat off of my head and handed it to my fourth-grade teacher, who we called xuan xuan lao shi. It was two days before Christmas, and I was at my school’s annual Winter performance. It was also my last day of school in Taiwan, since my family was moving to the US in just a few days.
My parents had never planned on staying in Taiwan permanently, and we actually lived there for longer than we had planned. But when it was finally time to leave, I was still sad to say goodbye to all my friends, who I shared countless, unforgettable memories with.
When my friends saw that I was leaving the auditorium, they crowded around me to give me one last goodbye. We took some photos together in memory of this moment. It almost felt like I was a movie star on the red carpet, bombarded with paparazzi.
When we were done with photos, my mom and I walked towards the clear double doors at the front of the building, where my dad and sister were standing. I glanced back at my friends, classmates and teachers one last time. Pushing the doors open, we walked out of the building and headed to our car.
A few days later, it was time to leave Taiwan. Most of our furniture was already packed up to be shipped to the US. Our apartment was filled with the sound of suitcases being zipped up. As my sister and parents packed up the last of our belongings, I ran to each room to make sure we hadn’t forgotten anything. We took the elevator down to the garage and loaded our suitcases into a taxi with a larger trunk to fit all our luggage. The taxi was mustard yellow and had the Taiwan Taxi Company’s phone number, 55688, printed in bold print on its doors. Opening the taxi’s sliding doors, I looked around at our garage one last time, trying to remember every last detail: the grey walls, the dark floor, and the ramp that we had driven up countless times. I got into the backseat of the taxi and waved to my dad. He wasn’t coming with us because of work, but he would join us in the US soon.
As the taxi navigated the dark roads of Taiwan, neon store signs flashed around us, illuminating the inky night. Small motorcycles, or scooters, as we called them, weaved through the maze of cars. In the distance, I heard the garbage truck playing Beethoven’s “Für Elise” as it drove around the city, collecting trash from each apartment.
An hour later, we arrived at Taoyuan International Airport. We checked in our suitcases, went through the immigration gates, and boarded the plane. About fourteen hours later, we arrived in Orange County.
We spent the holidays at my grandparents’ house. I loved spending time there, especially because I got to see my younger cousins: Olivia, who was 4 at the time, and Nico, who was just 3 months old. We ate a lot of my grandmother’s signature dishes, such as Taiwanese soy-sauce braised pork and spring rolls. We also made pizza together and tried to toss the dough into the air like we were professional chefs.
A few days after New Year’s Day, we boarded another plane, this time to the Bay Area. We were starting school in a few days, and we also had to move into the Airbnb we were staying at until our house was finished.
It was my first day of school. I shivered in my navy blue sweater. The chilly, winter morning made me feel like I had just moved into a freezer, not Northern California. Holding my mom’s hand, I walked with my mother and sister towards the one-story, greyish-tan colored buildings with “Corte Madera School” emblazoned in white letters above the entrance. I was very nervous because I wasn’t sure how I would fit in to a new school in a new country.
When we arrived at the office, a lady greeted us with a big smile. She had curly, platinum-blond hair and was wearing a tan dress with a white cardigan.
“Hello! I’m Ms. Ashleigh. You must be Winnie,” she said, shaking my mom’s hand.
“Yes, and this is Claire and Alex,” my mom introduced us.
“Great! Nice to meet you. Welcome to CMS!” Ms. Ashleigh glanced down at a piece of paper in her hand. “It says here that Alex should be going to room 501, and Claire is going to room 703. I can take you there.”
“Thanks!” replied my mom.
Ms. Ashleigh led us out of the office and to another building. I saw the number “501” displayed next to a door. Colored letters spelled out “Eureka” on top of the door, and I wondered what that word meant. A girl was standing near the door. She was wearing a black jacket with white polka dots. She also had red, curly hair that reminded me of the movie Annie, where the main character has a similar hairstyle.
“I’m Lily!” she told me, “You must be Claire.”
Hearing this, I was a little less nervous, since Lily seemed like a nice person who I could become friends with. I had been worried about going to a school where everyone spoke English to each other, since everyone had spoken Mandarin at my old school. But when Lily introduced herself, I realized that understanding English came easily to me, which made me less worried.
“Actually, my name is Alex,” I corrected her, and pointed to my sister. “This is Claire.”
“Oh! Sorry, we must have swapped your names by accident,” Lily said apologetically.
“That’s okay,” I said.
I noticed a girl with shoulder-length, brown hair standing outside another classroom. She was wearing a t-shirt and shorts even as I was freezing in the California winter! I couldn’t imagine how she was surviving without a jacket or something to keep her warm.
A woman with short, white hair walked up towards the classroom. She was wearing a blue jacket with the letters “CMS” on it.
“This is Ms. Lebsack, your new teacher!” said Ms. Ashleigh.
“Hello, nice to meet you!” exclaimed Ms. Lebsack.
“Hi,” I said shyly.
Just then, a beeping sound reverberated through the school.
“That’s the bell,” explained Ms. Lebsack. “We have five minutes before classes start.”
“Oh, I should get Claire to her class too,” said Ms. Ashleigh.
“Alex, I’m going to go with Claire. Can I leave you here?” asked my mom.
I hesitated. “Ok,” I finally agreed.
A few minutes later, class started. As I entered the classroom, the heated room felt like a warm embrace, away from the cold outdoors. The polished, wooden desks were arranged together in groups of four or five. Each desk had a decorated name tag on it that showcased the unique characteristics of each student. There was a whiteboard on the front wall of the room and brightly colored posters hung on the walls. Ms. Lebsack’s desk was at one corner of the room, surrounded by a few lime-green wobble stools. Ms. Lebsack directed me to a desk without a name tag. It had a pile of new workbooks and composition books on top of it, along with a folded piece of paper that said, “Claire Lu, Welcome to Room 501!!!!”
“I’m sorry, we somehow got your name mixed up with your sister’s,” apologized Ms. Lebsack.
“That’s ok,” I said, sitting down at the desk.
I noticed that my new desk didn’t have a slot on the side like the ones we had in Taiwan. Instead, the top of the desk opened up, revealing a hollow space to put my books and pencils. I placed my new books in a pile under my desk, then closed the top of it.
“Good morning, everyone!” Ms. Lebsack said, “I hope you all had a good winter break! We have a new student with us today, Alex!”
Twenty-one heads swiveled in my direction, and I awkwardly looked around at my new classmates. Luckily, Ms. Lebsack directed everyone’s attention back at her.
“Would anyone like to share a highlight about their winter break?” she asked us.
A boy with brown hair shot his hand up in the air.
“Yes, Henry?” said Ms. Lebsack.
“We went to Tahoe and got snowed in for a week!” he exclaimed.
“Wow, that sounds eventful,” said Ms. Lebsack. “I heard that Tahoe got a record-breaking amount of snow this winter!”
A few other students shared highlights from their winter break. After that, we got started with Math. I had been worried about catching up to the level of everyone at my new school, but I already knew the math concept we were learning, which gave me some confidence.
After Math was over, we had recess. I got to talk to some of my new classmates, who were all very inviting and kind to me. They also explained the schedule to me and gave me a tour of the campus, which felt huge.
Although it took me a while to adjust to living in the US, I’m grateful that my classmates and teachers were so supportive and inclusive to me. I was excited about the later start time and earlier dismissal time, and the lighter workload compared to the two hours I had been getting in Taiwan was a relief.
Moving from Taiwan to the US helped me learn to adapt to living in a new environment. Both countries have very different cultures and lifestyles, but that doesn’t mean one of them is better than the other. Moving to the US also helped me broaden my perspective and learn about the views of other people in California. I’m very grateful that I had the opportunity to live in both Taiwan and California.
