New Life in Another Country: The Quiet Struggles and Joys of Immigrant Life

(🎧 Audio Version) New Life in Another Country: The Quiet Struggles and Joys of Immigrant Life

[📖 Prefer reading? Here's the story in script format.] ⬇

(Scene: A Park, somewhere in England, winter morning. YOU and K sit on a bench overlooking a field. Both of you hold takeaway coffee cups.)

You: So, how’s everything, K? It’s been two years since we last caught up?

K: Yeah, two years. Feels longer sometimes. Life here is… quiet. Not really good or bad—just… it is what it is.

You: Sounds heavy.

K: Not really. Just different. I work at a factory now—dull, boring work. The pay’s peanuts compared to what I earned in Hong Kong, but it’s enough to get by.

You: How’s your wife coping?

K: Same as me. We manage. She misses Hong Kong—the food, the people, the convenience of everything.

You: And the kids?

K: Ah, they’re the happiest ones, without a doubt. They love it here. School’s so different—it’s like they’ve come alive.

You: What do you mean?

K: Back in Hong Kong, they were quiet and polite, but… held back, you know? They’d never say how they felt. If they missed me, I’d never know. But here…

(He pauses, taking a sip of coffee.)

K: Now they tell me. “Daddy, I miss you.” “Daddy, I love you.” They’ll ask for a hug or a kiss without hesitation. Do you know how strange that feels?

You: That’s… wow.

K: It’s the classmates, I think. Kids here, they’re different. They express themselves, and it rubs off on mine. It’s like they’ve learned it’s okay to show how they feel.

You: And that’s a good thing, right?

K: Yeah, it is. Every time they say they love me, or just run up for a hug—I feel like maybe this dull, boring factory life isn’t so bad after all.

You: Do you ever think about moving back?

K: We’ve thought about it, plenty of times. But every time we see the kids’ smiles, how happy they are here… we can’t do it. How could we take this away from them?

You: That’s a tough choice.

K: It is. But when I see them like this—really happy—I know we made the right decision.

(Posted on Threads on 22.12.2024)

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