Hejar is little kurdish girl who comes and starts school in New Zealand and faces with all those cultural differences but quickly copeing with that..very shy in first stage because of her cultural background , strong girl and very friendly...she becomes friend with Maori guy, Ratene and gains different experiences. Very different but good first day at school in New Zealand. I hope you guys will enjoy it..
Everything was so new and different. The air was crisp, her body shivering as she walked the long , icy road to school lonely. Not like back in Kurdistan- sweltering, sweaty and bustling. As she arrived at the ramshackle school in Gore, she was pleasantly surprised. School was foreign to her, nothing like what she had expected. She watched as the cheerful students ran around in the playground and played hopscotch in a desperate effort to warm their frozen bodies. Hejar had never really seen this many children before. She was always confined to her families minute shack back home. She was nervous, however a surge of excitement came over her and she suddenly felt not so lonely, not so alone. But excited to start her new life in New Zealand. The high pitched sound of the school bell rang, piercing Hejar’s ears like she was standing right underneath it. She ran into the cold uninviting school building and into her basic, very basic, classroom. As her teacher took the roll, Hejar looked around the class at the others students, rating them in her head on their potential to be her friend. The loud; rather chubby red-head throwing gum around the room? No, her parents would not approve. How about the sad, rather insipid baking girl reading comics? No, she didn’t like comics. She turned her head as far as it would go, and she spotted a boy, rather lonely. This could be good, she thought she was rather lonely too. He was obviously an native, a real Maori boy in the flesh. She had never seen a Maori before, and almost felt privileged to see a slice of New Zealand history. She caught his eye, and he smiled sweetly back. She turned back around with a sense of belonging that maybe her completely different culture really can hit into small New Zealand town. After class, she stood up to put her books away and she felt tap on her shoulder.
- Kiaora, I’m Ratene. Who are you?
- I, I, uh. I’m Hejar. And she gave a nervous giggle.
- Where are you from? Said Ratene.
- I’m from turkey, I’m Kurdish , to be exact.
" Oh " , he said with a rather confused tone, Ratene felt slightly guilty because he didn’t really know where Turkey was. After all, he fas never left the county. Trying to understand what a turkey Kurds was, he said :
- I’m Nga tapu. Its an iwi near here. Kind of like a big extended family. Is that similar to you?
- Ah, yes. Yes I guess it is, said Hejar, with a smile on her face.
"Let’s go and find somewhere to sit out of the wind to eat our lunch" said Ratene and Hejar was more than shy because perhaps that’s the first time that she shares her lunch with a boy. In Kurdistan, girls and boys never got that close , they learn it from their parents from very small ages that there is a distance between boy and girl. Girls have to know their places whereas is New Zealand its very normal to share time together with boys and mixed company. That is why how Ratene was friendly to Hejar and she was rather shy. Then she saw the all other children mixing together and finding somewhere to sit and have their lunch. However, she agreed to sit with him with a shrug of her shoulder and her cheek becoming quite rosy. Of course Ratene was quite unaware about what’s going on in her mind and her discomfort. He probably thought that is all about her being new at school but actually there was a chalk and cheese cultural differences between Hejar and Ratene. There was cute reluctance from Hejar and o boyish confusion from Ratene.Their little bodies were dwarfed by the buildings around them and they choose a sheltered place to sit and have their lunch. Eagerly Ratene opened his lunch to eat where Hejar would have been reticent in opening her lunch beside him so she would have turned a fraction away from being in front of him to eat. With a glance over her shoulder, she looked at what he was eating. Ratene was eager to see what Hejar has for her lunch so he suggested they out they put their lunch in the middle of them and shared but she was not comfortable with eating with boys. It is maybe because the environment that she come from, it was completely roking to her. Anyway, he dived in and ate his marten and peanut butter sandwiches in one gulp and looked to see what else his mother had given him whereas Hejar was chewing her food carefully before she swallow. One they finished their lunch teacher came by and said they could go and play. Ratene said;
- let’s put our bags away and go and get a ball to play with that group over there.
Hejar nodded shyly without a word and her cute little body was back would and following his instruction but it was what everybody was doing. The group was being friendly, laughing and joking as to how good they were at catching. Then there were little girls squealing and giggling as they bounced caught the ball. Occasionally, missing the catch from a boy who chortled as she had to run to retrieve the ball. Hejar seemed she was having fun with them all and getting use to her new school from the first day. Also making a lot more friends.There was a piercing school bell again which told them all to go back to their very basic classroom. Hejar was more confident this time because she knows where to sit now as well as having lot more friendly faces around her. She glanced around her and saw the class work that had been done to make the room pretty. Her eyes focused on the big painting on the wall of Snow-white and the Wicked queen which took her attention to the picture that shows queen was giving a luscious red apple to Snow-white. She suddenly felt homesick because she remembered her drawings were used to decorate the wall in her old classroom back in Kurdistan. Beside that red was even more attractive to her because it was her favourite colour. However, her heart raized when she remembered the exciment of having her work on the wall back home and she felt a flash of sadness as she recalled what she left behind. Almost by co-incidence the afternoon lesson was painting about the story they were reading that morning about Goldilocks and the three bears. They were allow to choose one of the character to draw whether Goldilocks or one of the three bears. She choice Goldilocks, with her lovely blond fare ringlets and wearing a beautiful red frock. Everybody was absorbed in what they were doing : so silent, you could hear a pin drop. After, Mr. Morgan, the school principle came in and Hejar stood up as she always did back in her own country to show the respect. The other children in the class giggled quietly because it seems unusual to them. Somehow, after a little while the teacher from next door just came in and Hejar stood up again as she had done just before. Other children in the class found this very funny and they started laughing at her. Suddenly Hejar realised that she is the only one who stood up because the way Kurdish people shows the respect was not like how it done in New Zealand. She felt very self-conscious; dropped her head down and looked at her shoes. After all, she was still standing with indecision why the other children were not standing. The teacher told her to that she could sit down. There was a blushing on her cheek and embarrassed as well as shamed. By the time she sat down school bell is rang. It was time for Hejar to finish very busy; first day at school. While she was picking up her books teacher called her to come to her table, at the corner of class and explained what do they do in New Zealand when the teacher comes in. That was new experience for her. Everybody was out by the gate with their bags, only Ratene was waiting to walk with her to the school gate. As they walked down to road, they realised that their house was not too far away from each other. However, Ratene asked her:
- Why did you stand up ?"That’s how we do in our country" said Hejar.
- Oh! Do not worry about the others. You have done what you learnt.
- Thanks for supporting me.
- They would not make a fun of you but they just did not understand what was all about.
" Hmm" Hejar said with a very small voice. As far as they got home Hejar said:
- Thank you for being my friend today.Ratene seemed more then happy to do that.
Finally she arrived home, and she straitly went her cold room. After changing her uniforms, Hejar got under some cosy blankets to think about her day; how different it was. Basically, being friend with Ratene was the best part of the day. There were lots of other new things she had to think about. Except the different understandings which makes bad feelings, she thought she would quickly adapt new life style, kilometres far away from Kurdistan, in New Zealand. To weigh up she was glad for what it happened in her day.
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