Since I was two years old, my grandparents had raised my siblings and I. When my biological father had divorced my mother, she and my stepfather later sought work in the Middle East to support our private education because most Filipino public schools lacked school materials. In Mary the Queen Academy, we were required to wear dull, light blue plaid uniforms and forced to speak Mandarin. Failing classes, my grandparents transferred me to a small Catholic school called Academia de Santa Faustina, where I learned English and the Catholic faith. During primary school, I was envious of my classmates who had parents to hug them each morning. My …show more content…
I previously envisioned Rhode Island as a tropical island filled with coconut trees and surrounded by a body of ocean. I thought that it would be an actual island because the name had “Island.” My seven-year-old self was disappointed when my assumption turned out to be false. Yet, my disillusionment was dwarfed by the surrounding nature. In the backyard, the well-trimmed grass and the pink, bulbous tulips captivated my dark brown eyes. The falling green leaves from the oak tree gave me serenity. Inhaling the air, I savored the smell of timber combined with the soothing scent of perennials. My eyes followed the startled squirrels scurrying to the nearest oak tree. As two Bewick 's Wren chirped relentlessly from the brown fence, my mother interrupted my train of