Living In Different Countries As A Little Kid

What it was like to live in a different countries as a kid?

Every kid's experience probably differ and for me, living in Singapore had opened my eyes
to many things.  I moved to Singapore after finishing grade 1. From grade 2 to 4, I attended
elementary school for Japanese school students. This school was such a big school. One grade
had more than 10 classes and for sports day, we had to rent a stadium so the whole school can
get together at once.  It was a big change for a girl who had grew up attending school where only
people who live around me attended. There were tones of school buses lined up infront of the school
and for the first few days had shocked me.  At the time I attended, there was busses coming from Johor Baruh, Malasia. In Japan, it is quite common for students to walk to school and only those who go to private schools have school bus or take the train to the school.

In Japan, I used to live in a somewhat quiet neighborhood where I was close to mountain. I spent
lots of time outside to play. There was a garden to play with and there were lots of parks to go.
But in Singapore, it was too hot to play outside for hours that I spent most of the time swimming
at the pool that is part of the condominium. To be able to swim whenever I wanted had became
part of my life for many years and now that I am back in Japan, I really miss that life style.


I think most interetsing experience I had when living in Singapore was to meet people in different
countries in the international school I attedned. It had shaped my identity now.  Through talking to
my classmates from Korea, I had learned of the disturbing facts about Japanese people during the
war. It had made me want to change my identity as a Japanese citizen because it was so shocking
to find out about what Japanese people did at young age. I would probably not have had this
experience if I lived in Japan all my life.

For the first time in my life, I realized that some people may have uneasy feeling about getting to know me because of my identity as Japanese.  This experience had made me want to get to know
people from other cultures in hope to change the way they feel. I want people to know who I am
on what kind of a person I am and not judged by my nationality. I try to do the same when I get to
know people from other culture. 

What's your experiences living where you are/were?