When asked the question 'How did you spend your Saturday
morning?' the answer "Listening to my neighbours argue" isnt an
answer the person expects. You see, I used to live in down town Durban on the
east coast of South Africa. That is, until my parents went missing. I was
forced to live with my aunt for a while but it became apparent that she was too
busy eating/sleeping/inhaling work to look after me. It was decided that I
would go and live with my cousin and her husband in London, England. I was told
to go and pack up my room; take anything I wanted and leave the rest. The house
would stay like that until my parents were found. Packing up my room was a
mission. My aunt supplied me with boxes to put my stuff in. I had so many
posters on my wall but I didnt think my parents would be found any time soon so
I took them all down and with me; my Nirvana, Green Day and My Chemical Romance
posters along with various movie posters. I knew as I packed a painting my
friend had bought me from Zanzibar, that I would feel sad every time I saw it.
I took it anyway. I took all 24 of my CDs and my CD player, along with my
Afrikaans dictionary, other school work and my most recent report to show the
teachers when I got there. I packed all my clothes and some of my bedding.
My cousin mailed me an Oyster card so I could get to her
flat when I landed at Heathrow Airport. My clothes etc were shipped off a week
before I went, leaving me with a suitcase of clothes, a book and my cellphone.
I was due to arrive just before the beginning of the summer holidays so my
cousin would still be able to find me a school. Some of my friends came to say
goodbye to me at the airport. I cried a lot and sadly waved goodbye with tears
rolling down my cheeks as I walked through passport control. They scanned
through my passport, checked my visa and let me through. I sat in the
departures area and tried to look like I hadn’t been crying. I went to the
bathroom, washed my face and redid my eyeliner.
8 hours later I was in Dubai, taking my shoes off to go
through a security check. It was all a bit scary as I had never flown alone
before. Another 6 hours later and I was landing at Heathrow. I had to get my passport
stamped and have my fingerprints taken and then I headed off in the direction a
sign was pointing. I got on a tube and finally arrived at a station about 10 minutes’
walk from my cousin’s flat. I followed the directions she had emailed me and
arrived at a tall building. 5 minutes later I was at her front door and let myself
in, as she had advised. I went to the room she had said was mine and left my
suitcase there. The bed had been made and my boxes of stuff were waiting for
me. I kicked off my shoes and fell into the bed, waking when my cousin’s
husband walked into my room, home from work.
“Good morning sunshine” was the first thing he said to me.
“Uh, hi...” I replied.
I sat up and got out of the bed. He had his hands behind his
back and as he extended his right hand, I saw he was holding something out to
me. I took the piece of paper and looked at it. It was a ticket to see Green
Day live at the Reading festival in August! I burst into tears and hugged him. He
knew how much I loved Green Day.
“We have an interview with a school for you tomorrow” my
cousin told me over dinner. “Could you give me your report so I can take it to
them?”
I found my latest reports and gave them to her. I went to
bed early, still having not unpacked my stuff.
The next morning I was woken up and 8:00AM and told to
shower and get dressed. I had a bathroom all to myself as my cousin and her
husband’s bathroom was en suite.
The school was the closet school to where my cousin lived.
It looked just like all the schools I’d seen in movies. Massive buildings with
lots of boy and girls. My school in South Africa had been a relatively small private
convent school. I hadn’t been to a co-ed school since I was 6 years old.
The principal was a man called Mr Carter who seemed quite
nice. He looked at my report and explained about taking subjects. Most of the
other children in the school had to take French 2nd language and German
3rd language. Because I had never done either, I was going to do
Afrikaans, via correspondence from an international school back in South
Africa. They would mail me my textbooks and at the end of each section I would write
a test that I would email to them to get marked. So while the rest of the
students were in French and German, I would be in the school library doing Afrikaans.
Grand.
Time went on and I slowly unpacked my things, putting my
posters up on the walls and reading, playing guitar and listening to music.
Finally the day arrived to see Green Day. I was so excited I
barely slept the night before. My cousin’s husband came with me. We took a
train straight from London to Reading. The concert was amazing. Billie Joe kept
swearing at the organisers when they tried to tell him Green Day’s time was up.
Their new songs sounded amazing live and I loved every moment of it. I took
tonnes of pictures and posted them on Facebook to show my friends back in South
Africa.
Time went by and the school year began. This was weird to me
as all my friends back in South Africa were moving onto the last 6 months of
the school year.
My school uniform comprised of a black skirt, a white shirt,
a blue and red tie and a red blazer. I wore black leggings and black Converse
on my feet. I was told that I could wear my hair down, wear any earrings, wear
makeup, paint my nails etc which I had not been allowed to do in South Africa.
I took the tube to school and walked to the front office.
The lady there told me which classroom to go to and I hurried there. Everyone
stared at me as I entered.
“Hello!” said someone loudly.
I scanned around to see who had addressed me. It was a
blonde boy who was only slightly taller than me.
“Uh….Hi…” I said nervously.
“Who are you?” said another voice
“Im Sarah... I just moved here from South Africa” I said
A look of dawning comprehension seemed to flow over the kids
staring at me.
“Oh, so is that why
you’re so tanned?” another asked
“Uh, ja, I am against you guys I guess…” I answered.
“I love your accent!” said a girl with dark brown hair. “Im
Holly by the way”
“Hi Holly…” I said feebly.
She looked vaguely familiar.
“Did you go to the Reading festival?” she asked.
“Ja I did” I answered.
“Oh, so that’s why
you look familiar…” she said.
“You like Green Day?” I asked
“I FUCKING LOVE THEM!” she answered.
I figured my time here wasn’t going to be as bad as I
thought.
To be continued
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