Traveler's Journal: A Brave New World...

I was born in Northern California and bred in Southern California. My family moved to small town of Whittier to be close to a school called Oralingua School for Hearing Impaired. It is an aural and oral training school for the deaf. It was my mom's decision to be trained to be prepared for real world. I had a nice childhood there.

We lived in a small blue apartment in southern part of Whittier. I lived in this apartment for about 20 years (1985-2004). I started schooling when I was about three. I started to learn to speak and listen. It was hard training for me because I was forced not to read lips or anything like that. I had to focus to listen the sounds and try to understand it. I stayed there from 1985-1994. I left the school when I was 11 years old. I started going to mainstream school (regular school leaving me the only deaf there) when I was around 10 years old. It was a public school and I liked it a lot. Actually this school had a lot of troubled kids. There was a fight started. One scary memory was when I was fourth grade and it was a rainy day which forced everyone to stay and hang out in cafeteria room. Something startled someone and there was a food fight. It went from food to folding chairs flying in the air. I had to hide under the table. Later on they started to turn the table over and even threw it in the air. It lasted about 20 minutes when one of teacher blared loud and nerve racking sound a deaf could ever hear. Everyone did stop. I was in the corner with my friends to wait for the whole thing to stop. Everyone even though they were not involved this incident had to write 1000 times, "I will not throw tables, chairs, and food in the cafeteria." I can not remember the rest. Actually it was one of my most interesting experience.

I lived in apartment and it was hard to make friends. It was not a permanent place to live. They all lived to pay the rent every month. Kids from Oralingua school are not from Whittier. They are from all over places in Los Angeles. It was not that easy to make a lifelong friend to live near by. That's one lesson I learned that living apartment is not best thing to raise your children. Everyone comes and goes. I rarely go out because we lived near Whittier College and we have seen students going wild on streets. My mom, one time, was walking along the street and all of sudden there was a dog running after her.

I love the old town of Whittier. My favorite place is Mason's Bakery. I had a thing for cupcakes and heart shaped cookie with red cherry in the middle. I revisited this place about few months ago and the bakery is still there. I bought my first American Girl doll from cute toy store, which was no longer there. I still remember Rocky Cola Cafe and they had great chicken tenders. This town is very unique and vintage like. They still have old fashioned 2 dollars movie theater. I still remember the Dunkin Donut at the corner near blue church (Whittier Christian Church-Disciples of Christ's church). It is still there. They still have great hot chocolate. I remember my brother and I being so nervous to pass by the funeral home. We were like holding our mom really hard walking pass by it. Sometimes we had to run really fast. The whole neighborhood looks the same but people are different.

My neighbor who has a house right next to our apartment is like a uncle to me. He always made a beautiful garden my family loves to take picture of. He is now suffering from Alzheimer. It was sad. He is a great man. He is still alive. His son and family are taking care of him.

Living in a small place made my family closer more than ever. It was also a place where I decided to get cochlear implant instead of learning sign language and emerge into a deaf culture. I wanted to continue to listen and talk. I remember my mom fighting for everything I should become to get the best opportunity in this real world. Before it was my mom and now it is my turn. I remembered coming home feeling loopy after the operation and then being able to hear few months later. I remembered hearing my neighbor's dog barking for the first time. Sounds came alive to me and I was never the same again.

Whittier is my first and most loved hometown. I love being there. I've never been so humbled living in this humble small town I learned to love.

My journey continues...the next destination is Hong Kong