2nd draft

                    Grow up

                                                                                           Nina Yang

W&C III

10/09/2014

Ms. Guarino

    “My mom is going to abandon me.” That was what I thought when I was in fourth grade and knew that my parents were going to send me to a homestay in Australia for a month. At that time, the fear was even greater than the sadness or any other feelings in my mind. Besides that, I didn’t realize how I would change after time. After the first time experienced a real separation from my parents and went to a totally unfamiliar country where didn’t speak any Chinese, I became a mature and thoughtful girl which was helpful for my future because I was independent enough to handle things by myself and always think about others.

    I actually didn’t realize the task in front of me after talking with my mom before boing to Australia. My mom said the only thing I need to do is to take English course in a University and hang out with people in my homestay. I felt like it’s not going to be hard for me. Then, I held a pleasant feeling as if I was going to travel and relax, and got on to the plane all by myself. I felt like I was an adult at that time, but a 10-year-old adult.

    After a long-distance travel, I arrived to Australia, which was a country had a bluer sky and fresher air than China had. The most people I saw was white people and the people who came to pick me at the airport were someone I had never seen before. I knew that they were my homestay parents. They were really nice to me and I also made friends with their 3 children. Two of them were bigger than me and one was in kindergarten at that time. The first task in front of me was the food because it was totally different from the food in my hometown, so it was kind of hard for me to adjust it very soon. However, my homestay parents were afraid I couldn’t use folk and knife so they prepared chopsticks for me.

    The first night in the homestay was like a tragedy because it was the first time I left my mom this far and slept in a stranger’s house although they treated me really nice. I couldn’t stop crying and thinking about my mom and my dad. My parents love me so much and I was thinking about the fights we had the day before came here only because I was too lazy to pack up the stuff so my mom did it all for me. “How are you able to take care of yourself when you grow up if you don’t know how to pack up your stuff? You have to force yourself to learn and grow sometimes.”  After came here, I really understood what my mom had said to me. I really forced myself to learn how to take care of myself since I was alone. I had to clean up stuff and washed all my clothes by myself. That’s something I had never done before. The whole night, I was thinking about my parents. They had to take care of me all the time and I felt so regret for always making them feel disappointed and angry. I sometimes dislike the food my mom makes, but right now I missed the food she cooked. I should have listen to her since she said that for the sake of my future. I was crying all night and only slept for less than two hours.

    As a ten-year-old kid, I was living for a month by myself for a month. Many parents can’t take the risk of it, but my parents decided to let go of me. They forced me to learn how to wash the dirty clothes, clean up my room, and pack up my stuff. In addition, I spoke English even though I was not good at it at that time for a month. That’s a challenge of me but it really helps me improve my English a lot.

    Despite the pretty joyful life in the rest of the month, the first night forced me to grow up immediately. I understood all my parents did for me and decided to say sorry to them for all the things I’ve done that made them feel upset. I decided to be a big girl and handle things by myself if I’m able to. This experience helps me adjust new environment very soon. The first day at Cheshire was great and I also helped others who were homesick at that time got over it. In addition, I learned that I should help my mom to do the housework afterward since she was tired of work and it’s my responsibility to help her. Last but not least, I really appreciate the decision they made to send me to Australia. I knew that life is going to be tough sometimes in the future, but people are growing up during every task they are facing. “You know what, Nina. I’m glad you understood.” Said my mom after I first time talked to her about that night recently. “This is life.”