Lost In Your Eyes

First Day Of School

My exchange families house was very different to mine. There were no shrines, their house was something called a 4 story house, and their bed was rather high off of the ground. Their food was delicious. The first night we had a loaf of bread filled with beef, lettuce, tomato, and a white sauce. I believe they called it a hamburger, this confused me greatly, as there was no ham, but when I asked them why it was called that they just laughed. The American family was kind enough to buy me some school clothes so I didn't look so different to the others. 

"Have a great first day at school!" Marleen the women said. "Thank you." I say with my cheeks blushing the brightest red ever. I was excited, nervous, and worried. It was a fun feeling for me when I felt like that. I walked across the street and into the high school. I was in year 11. When I saw the school I thought it was enormous, in China I couldn't have even dreamt of a building as big. On the top of the building hung a clock. Numbers were the one thing I couldn't say or use properly in English. I loved math but I had to count in my language. 

I walked into the school. The hallways were crowded with hundreds of lockers. I wondered how I would remember where mine was. The floor was made of white simple tiles. I felt the eyes of students on me. Murmurs spread like a wild fire. I tried to cover my face but there was no hood to lay on my head. "你好" (hello). A voice from behind me yelled. I turned around to face a girl with flowing long red hair and golden eyes. "I-I can speak English" I say stuttering a little. The girl nodded. "Let me take ya to ya class, i'm ya buddy" Now I kinda wished I kept my mouth shut about speaking english. I didn't know slang. I followed my buddy into the classroom. She showed me my seat. My seat was in between a guy with black hair, and a guy with brown hair. They were much taller than me. "Hello everyone" The teacher said as she approached her class late. "We have a new student today." She then continues. "Xìnyì why don't you come up and introduce yourself. Did I say your name right?" she says with a giggle at the end. I just nodded my head. "Well come on up to the front." What! I had to stand in front of a bunch of giants?! The words of my father rung in my head. "Bring Honour"  I take a breath and step up out of my chair. The floor for a difference didn't creek like the wooden floor back in China did. "H-Hi my name is Xìnyì...... I come from Ch-China and I- uh- I like m-maths, but see the f-funny thing i-is I - I can't-say-numbers-in-English." I say the last few words with a nervous laugh. "Math?! Who likes maths?!" One of the students yell. I went to answer but I was cut off by another student. "hey lady why isn't there a chopstick in your hair?" The others started laughing (most of them anyway). I look down and slightly bend my knees inward. "Now students that is not nice behaviour." The teacher says adjusting her glasses. My eyes start to sting and I have to start fighting back the threat of tears. I slowly walk back to my desk. 

"Ok Students, now let's do some Art!" The teacher says excitedly. After being insulted and embarrassed in front of my classmates I didn't know if I felt like painting a world with colour nor doing any sketching. Everyone was handed a piece of A3 paper. "For this lesson I would like you to draw a picture of a tradition that your culture celebrates." The teacher says looking at me mostly. At this I wake up. I loved a lot of traditions in China, and I wanted to learn more traditions in America. I started painting a picture of a Chinese dragon, amongst a night sky that was full of stars, and bright red lanterns. I used a fine thin brush to paint the strings that dangled below the Chinese lanterns. The desks were close enough for me to see what the boys next to me were painting. The one to my left with the pitch black hair was drawing an Wild cat, a deer, and a hedgehog standing by an British flag. I turned to my right to see the brown haired man painting some...... LANTERNS! I got excited. Perhaps i'm not the only Chinese person in this class! I couldn't hold my excitement back. "Are You Chinese?" I whisper. The man didn't answer at first, he just shook his head then said... "Japanese." For some reason his voice brought me comfort, even if he wasn't Chinese! His eyes were so black I could barely seperate his iris from his pupil. I continued to watch him draw. He had amazing technique in drawing people with cute eyes. I guess Japanese just have a thing for drawing. I finished my painting a walked over to the white rack to put it to dry. 

4 minutes later

I was waiting for everyone to finish their paintings when I noticed my painting on the floor flipped over. Oh no! I ran over to it. When I picked it up it was smudged with black paint. You could barely tell the dragon apart from the lanterns. I dropped to my knees in a gentle manner. This time I couldn't fight back tears they poured out. Only two people were paying attention though. A girl with blonde hair and pink eyes, and a girl with light pink hair and hot pink eyes. I could have sworn that they high-fived but I couldn't see too clearly as the tears made things seem a little blurry. I got up and placed my painting on my table. I tried to fix it but it was no use. I violently put my palms on my face to hide my stress and sadness. Did they even care?, or was I just being used as entertainment? 

The bell rang for our second period. The second period was English, one which I was pretty confident in because there was no numbers. 

The second period went by pretty quickly and recess came by.