Let me put it out there. I studied abraod, as in United Arab Emirates till my 12th alright? Though I didn't start out like that. I did study in India till mid grade 1 and then I transferred abroad (At this stage, I feel akward saying "abroad"). I still remember the first time I visited my soon-to-be school. It was nothing like the ones here, or atleast, like the one I had attended. I remember that day very clearly because I thought I was in a hospital, that didn't smell like one. I got my books and my uniform, or rather my dad did as I was to busy looking at everything like a retard.

I was sent to school the very next day and thus began a day that I will never forget. I had an air conditioned bus to pick me up from the doorstep and drop me at my doorstep. Well, technically not at the doorstep, but you get what I mean don't cha? *wink wink * Now, as I sit in the bus I am mortified because no one, and I mean NO ONE, is speaking my language. When students my age were surprised at seeing me and came forward to make small talk, my vocabulary consisted of nods and shakes. FINALLY, the got a keralite from goodness knows where, and she acted as our de-facto translator until we had reached school. God bless her soul!#prayingforher

Upon reaching the school, I was surprised to see the school buses enter the school compound. You see from where I was, the nearest our bus could stop was 2 blocks away, or if we were early, right outside the school compound. The bus entered the compound and everybody started getting off, but I was worried because that wasn't the entrance through which I entered the school yesterday. I decided to play safe and followed my newly found friends to the kindergarten. Once I reached kindergarten, I decided that I was done for because IT WASN'T WHERE I WAS SUPPOSED TO BE!! IT WAS KINDERGARTEN AND I AM IN GRADE 1!! ONE!! *sigh~~* Thankfully, a grade 6 student and her friend were in the vicinity to drop off their younger sibling and helped me to my class. Thank you my great saint! *clasped hands for prayers*

So then, I enter my class apprehensively and sat my butt on the first empty seat my eyes fell on. But hey! like every movie made on a transfer student, I too sat on an "occupied" spot and was soon confronted by its owner.*crying*  However, I was smart enough to open my mouth and proclaim myself as a mallu before the angry owner could start spewing, what might as well as be profanities to my non-existent understanding of the english language. The case was thus averted with zero injuries to both the parties due to the timely assistance of my soon to be best friend V, and the late assistance of my class teacher Mrs. S. *crying tears of joy*

The classes were in complete english. The school authorities weren't fooling around when they said 'english medium', let me tell you that. The day was progressing, and just when I thought that it couldn't get any worse, I learnt that life is a beep~~. You see Arabic over there was like Hindi over here, no one wants to study it because they ain't gonna be usin' it, but it is compulsory to. Ah~~ childhood! For every teacher that came to class was met with sheisanewstudentfromindiasoshedoesntknowenglish from my classmates , and my classmates were hit with okwhosinthisclassfromwheresheis?youare?okyouhelpher (that was annoying to type because my thumb kept clicking the spacebar). 

All jokes aside, it was scary, to be a honest. I was thrust into this situation where I am in completely new environment with no understanding of the language barrier whatsoever! For all that I know, a stranger might have asked me to go with them somewhere and I might have! There is another reason why I remember my first day of grade school and the scenario is as follows. Our last class of the day was second language, which is basically a cool term for saying your mother tongue language class. So I, throughout my whole life of education till then, had no concept about moving between classes for anything other than Computer science, 'cause then we had to use (more like, look at) the computers. We had to move to the class that was prescribed to us based on our language of choice, and my class was on the upper floor. Being the new kid, you are bound to not have any friends too. So there I was sitting in my class, waiting for the driver's helper to pick me up from the class, like they did while I was studying in Kerala. The class kept getting emptied but I was still on my seat, until a teacher pokes her head inside and asks me what I was doing inside. I blinked, and said, "Malayalee-?" It was the teachers turn to blinked, and she did. She hen proceeded to remover her head that has hanging inside the classroom and called for a student who was proficient in my language. The student then poked her head and told me that the school was dismissed for the day, and if I didn't reach the bus ASAP, they would leave without me and I would stuck in the school for the day. I ran for my life - and I fell down the stairs, infront of what seemed to be the entire school. But I did not have the time to be embarassed, I got up from the ground, disregarding that polite soul who had asked me whether I was fine, ran to my classroom, stuffed my books in, grabbed my backpack and ran, as if to escape from the evil clutches of Thanos's finger snap.

Following the ascending and descending numbers on the buses on the school compound, I found my bus and ran to it. The driver and helper must not have seen a student this joyous to meet them, before or after. I got on the bus, walked up to an empty-looking seat, asked the person who was sitting there, in my own language, if anybody else is sitting with the. With the shake of a head, I was their new seatmate. For if it is anything that I had understood that day at school, it was be your own self where ever you are regardless of where you come from. People will understand your troubles and cater to your needs if you are sincere enough. Plus, I had to learn english as soon as possible. *sigh~~*