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We were rolling stones.
My mother wasn't a person who enjoyed staying at one place for too long. She always felt that a place becomes suffocating and boring once it loses its shine. My father always made it his goal to make her happy so we've moved to a hefty amount of places.
When I was younger, it was exciting to meet new people, go to different places and just do whatever I wanted. I loved the feeling of freedom, the road and the different styled homes that were filled with different memories but the more I grew older, the more it seemed like a chore. It annoyed me that whenever I was used to a place and people, that my mother would already make us move to the place that peaked her interest. The more we moved around, the more I hated making friends because of the sudden departure but I still made them because of my personality and I couldn't sit alone no matter how much I wanted to.
We were on our way to our new home in China Town. My mother came home from the mall one day and told my father and I about a lovely Asian women who explained a place that was "amazing and a place you can't live without". We immediately searched the place and my mother was wonderfully surprised when she saw the vibrant coloured buildings, the life and the reviews online. My father then spent the next 2 weeks looking for vacant homes and my mother was happy when she heard that we finally found an apartment and a place where they could do business.
My parents owned a small business that only sold sweets. They had all types of sweets and it was heavenly for me because of the many options I could eat from whenever my mouth felt dry or when I'm bored. They would always find a vacant place near schools and would sell sweets the whole day. Everyone would call my parents cute whenever they saw how they got dressed for their day and how they would gift children small things whenever it was their birthday.
Overall we weren't a rich family but we had enough to get buy. We drove a Toyota Corolla that was on a verge of breaking down and wore clothes that were mostly on sale. We had more fun than anything and we had tales to tell for days that would have anyone sitting on the edge of their seats.
My mother before our trip went to the nearest Chinese themed shop and bought different chinese outfits such as piqao in different colours and patterns. Whenever I told her that it was unnecessary and embarrassing to buy all of this but she hushed me and told me that we had to blend in as much as possible. My mother was at times delusional and the best way to deal with her was to ignore her, I hope the people of this town learnt to do just that.
"Aren't you excited?" My mother asked me as she fixed her hair that was placed in a bob that reached just above her shoulders. She never liked makeup but today she wore it lightly and made sure she wore a bright red lipstick and put some blush on her cheeks to "match" the red piqao she wore. She looked like she walked out of a 1960 movie and I marveled at her beauty.
"I am." It was exciting to a certain extent to move in. The new cultures, food, friends and people was the most exciting thing about moving but what I dreaded was going to a new school and having that new kid smell.
"This is it," my mother shouted out and tapped the headboard loudly in excitement when we passed the large board that welcomed people into the town.
"Wow," I whispered when we got passed all the empty land to the hub of the town. There were small homes that looked about to be 2 bedrooms that were painted in bright colours, had white dogs around the fenced yard and wooden lounge chairs on the porch.
Everyone was in awe when we moved passed those small homes and reached the skyscrapers of the town. The lights, the cars, the loud music, the vibrant atmosphere of the whole place was much different than anything that I've ever seen. Seeing well dressed teens walking around with their friends made me look down my simple black pants and shirt in disgust. Everyone looked so cool and it was exciting to realise that we were going to live her for approximately a year.
"Come on,guys." My mother said enthusiastically as she jumped out of the car when we reached the building that my parents rented an apartment from. The building wasn't that tall with just 5 stories. It was a plain peach colour with wrap around balcony on each floor. It was really cute and I couldn't wait to hang all of my favourite musicians on my bedroom wall, call my friends and set up the home.
"Wait," we all froze at the yard and waited as my father pulled out the three suitcases from the boot. We had more belongings but we couldn't bring anything else since our car was already filled with different things that were needed. The rest of our belongings were going to be dropped off by my uncle on Saturday since he owned a van.
I grabbed one of the suitcases from my dad's hand and we walked as a family into the first apartment on the first floor that my parents rented out. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw the open concept home, light colours and the overall space of the home. There was a small kitchen, a small kitchen table by the corner and nothing else. The place was just perfect and would be even more perfect when my uncle comes with the rest of our furniture.
"This is nice," I said as I looked around the living space. "Where's my room, ma?" I asked and my mother pointed to the left hallway. Excitement bubbled up when I walked towards my room and smiled when I saw the large space in the room. "This is perfect."
