Moving Day

We moved from Bandung to Jakarta when I was eight, and I believed my life was ending — which sounds dramatic, but that is precisely how it felt. I left behind my best friend Toni, my favourite mango tree, and the familiar sounds of my neighbourhood. Jakarta was loud and fast and overwhelmingly large. For the first month, I sat on the floor of my new bedroom and simply listened to how different everything sounded. Then one morning, I heard...