Sweet Sixteen - Part 3

As soon as I got off the plane the cold hit me. Hard. Here I was coming from temperatures in the low 20’s to temperatures in the single digits. It felt like I had just entered a freezer. I was wearing a light beige coat that provided me with zero warmth. I had to wear one of my aunt’s winter coats before we went to Sears to buy my own winter coat, hat and gloves. After, my aunt, uncle, and cousin picked me up we headed to a restaurant for lunch. I can still remember the restaurant decorated like a 50’s diner with jukebox and colourful flashy booths. It was located on Richmond Row, an area in downtown London. The restaurant closed down a few years later much to my dismay.

 

The first two weeks were really hard to get through. The teachers at my new school were on strike which meant the school was closed until further notice. That meant I spent two weeks in an apartment by myself for a good 8 hours with nothing to keep me entertained but watching television. In English! Of which I spoke zero words. Nada. My aunt and uncle both had to work and they encouraged me to go with them but being the stubborn person I am, I refused. My cousin went to school so he couldn’t stay with me either. Boredom lead to feeling sad which led to crying a good part of the day and being miserable. I hated everything about Canada. The weather, the language, the food (who eats cucumbers with the skin still on?) and just everything in general. I refused to eat anything and whatever I ate were nibbles. I probably lost a good 5 lbs during those two weeks alone.

 

I hated the sleeping arrangement too. My aunt and uncle lived in a two bedroom apartment when I arrived which meant I had to sleep in the same room as them. Worst nights of my life. Their constant snoring would keep me up and I just wanted to sleep in my old bed. Sharing a bedroom with my sister didn’t seem so bad anymore. One night I couldn’t stand the snoring anymore that I went to the bathroom and slept in the tub. After a couple of days I got my own “bedroom” in the living room area. Phew, an upgrade. Or so I thought. Until the leaky faucet in the kitchen annoyed me so much that I wanted to pull my hair out. Life seemed so terrible to me those days. I’m pretty sure I was going through depression. Everything bothered me and nothing could make me feel better. It got so bad that my aunt even considered sending me back to Mexico. She couldn’t stand to see me so depressed and miserable. My uncle told her to give me a few more weeks. I would eventually get used to living in Canada and once school started it would give me something else to focus on. He was right.