I have no idea if someone asks me, “Where is your hometown?”

My life experience has been crazy throughout the past 14 years. I don’t think I’ve stayed in a place for more than 5 years.

I was born in Ruian, Zhejiang. It was also my mom’s hometown. It’s a small and a bit rural place. Since my parents had to work, I stayed with my mother-side grandma and grandpa for about 8-9 months after I was born. Since my mom lived there, she had friends and relatives and I could play with their children. Overall, I was too little then to remember anything.

Later, we moved to Shanghai, where we lived in a small apartment in a relatively old community. After living there for a few years, we sold it and moved to another community near a primary school. I went there for first grade. The second house was on a relevantly high floor, and my parents entirely decorated it. There was a wall made out of blackboard material so that I could draw on it instead of the walls; there was a little space in the laundry room that I could play in; there was a projector in my parents’ room; there was a seat hung up on the ceiling and a wall with the world map on it in my room. It was a fine place to be in, although it was the first time my parents decorated a house, so it wasn’t perfect. I can remember a floor tile cracked.

After first grade (when I was about 7), we moved to Canada (we sold the Shanghai house). Because there were few people but many land there, we lived in a house. Yes, a place with two floors, a basement, a backyard, and a garage. I spent 3 years living there. My aunt (my mom’s sister) also lives there with her husband so we would visit them occasionally. The life there included snow shoveling, snowman building, and classes with chrome pads.

After Covid 19 happened, when I was about 10, we decided to move back to China because it was safer. Although the plane was insanely expensive, we had to wear masks the whole time, and we had to endure a 14-day quarantine after landing, we made it to Suzhou and we stayed here up to today. My dad has to work in a nearby city Nantong, and my father-side parents live in Nanjing, so I also go there when I have time.

Since the pandemic is over, we plan to return to Canada for high school. That will be the start of August.

As you see, my past years are just drifting from one place to another, and I’m wondering where I’ll go in the future.

2