New Crazy Life

[Syncere Arai]

Syncere Arai sat on the grass under a huge tree in the park. She was so excited to write a letter to her parents about her being a witch. Her aunt, Areva, could not afford to send her to Korea to visit her parents this fall, so she had not seen her parents in a whole year. She took her pink flute case and set it beside her. She took her backpack off and took out a notebook and pen. It was a warm day and the sun was out. A perfect day for writing a letter. She decided to write her letter in Korean, since she would be sending it to Korea. Syncere hoped she did not have any mistakes in her letter. Thai was much easier for her, but she wanted to show he father how much she had improved on her Korean. She used to be horrible, and now she was almost perfect. Near the end of her letter a shadow came over her. The little amount of sunlight she was using to write was gone. "Excuse me. I kind of need you to move." she tried her best to say politely.

 

[Ryder Straton]

Ryder Straton was exploring the wizarding part of New Zealand and stumbled across Tâkarokaro park in Brightstone Village. He hadn’t seen much of magic being muggle born and found the shops and the wares they sold to be amazingly exotic. Wandering through the park he looked around wildly trying to take as much of the wonderful town as he could. He had stopped off at Honeydukes and picked up some lollies. They weren’t anything like the muggle ones he was used to. They had weird names like chocolate frogs and pumpkin pasties. He had bought as many as his small allowance has allowed him to and he had been nibbling a pasty as he walked. Noticing a girl sitting under a tree by herself Ryder decided to go and introduce himself, she looked about his age and seeing as she was in a wizarding park he assumed that she too was magical. Walking over to her the young boy stood in front of her, blocking her sun by accident and casting a shadow across her page. “Sorry!” he exclaimed jumping to the side letting the sun shine back on the page. “What are you doing?” he asked looking at her curiously. The words on the page were in a different language and he wanted to know more.

 

[Syncere Arai]

Syncere smiled. She was sure the boy meant no harm. She looked at her letter and then back at the boy. "I am writing a letter to my parents. They are in Korea." she told him. She moved her flute closer to her and pointed to a spot next to her. "You can sit if you want." she said and finished the last sentence of her letter. She then signed her name in English. "My name is Syncere." she introduced herself and held out her hand to the boy. His English had a different accent to it. "Are you from New Zealand?" she asked curiously. She had lived in New Zealand first two years and she had never heard anyone with an accent like his.

 

[Ryder Straton]

Ryder smiled, "Cool, I love getting letters. So that's Korean?" he asked peering down at the words on the page. "That's so cool!" he added in awe, "I wish I could write in another language." he said taking her advice and flopping down next to her. Stretching his legs out if front of him. He pointed at the flute case, "You play the flute?! Awesome I play the piano. It would be nice to play an instrument that you can actually take with you. A piano is a little hard to transport." he laughed. That was the annoying thing about learning such a large beautiful instrument, you couldn't take it with you and play it whenever you wanted. Taking her offered hand he smiled, "Nice to meet you, I'm Ryder, or Ry if you prefer." he said shaking hands with the girl. "No," he said shaking his head, "I'm from England, hence the accent." he explained, "What about you? Are you from New Zealand?" he asked curiously.

 

[Syncere Arai]

Syncere smiled at the boy's enthusiasm. "Do you think it looks nice?" she asked and showed him the letter, so then he could get a better look. Not like it would matter. Only she was able to read it. Before Syncere learned how to write Korean she thought it looked really cute. "I am sure you can. You just haven't chosen a language yet." she smiled at him. "My aunt knows how to play the flute as well. She started to teach me when I moved in with her." she said. Syncere could have learned how to play the piano, but she liked the flute better. "It is a pleasure to meet you Ryder." she said. "Oh." she nodded. She was correct about Ryder not being from New Zealand. She shook her head. "I was born in Thailand, but when I was eight my family and I moved to Korea. Now, I live here with my aunt. I have been here for two years." she explained to Ryder. Her mother was Thai and her father was Korean. They tried there best to teach her things from both culture's. She enjoyed enjoyed being the way she was though. It was complicated to some people, but she did not mind explaining her situation to others. "Have you ever heard a flute before?" she asked putting her flute case in her lap.​

 

[Ryder Straton]

Ryder nodded looking at the carefully printed letters, "It looks very pretty." she agreed. He wished he could understand it, not so he could read her letter but so he could understand the language. "You think I could? Maybe I should learn a language? I would love to learn Irish Gaelic, I'm half Irish you see. It would be nice to know it." he explained sratching the back of his neck. "Cool. I was going to learn the flute but my mother knew how to play the piano so I didn't have to take paid lessons. I got them for free." He laughed. "So you've been to a lot of places? What was Korea and Thailand like?" Ryder hadn't travelled much, he had only been to England and New Zealand for extended periods of time. He had been to Ireland for a few weeks when he went to visit his father but nowhere very exotic. Not like Syncere. "I've heard one, not live but on a CD that my mother has. Will you play me something?" he asked.

 

[Syncere Arai]

Syncere nodded. "I think that learning another language is always cool beans. I do not think I had much of a choice since my parents are from two different places, but learning another language helps you understand other cultures." she encouraged Ryder. Languages was something Syncere felt strongly about. It helped you understand another person's culture and views. Of course she did not always agree with some of her parents opinions, but she understood why they thought the way they did. Syncere smiled. When she moved with her aunt the flute was kind of forced upon her, but now she really liked it. "I guess so. Korea and Thailand are cities, but then there are very rural places there too. Korea and Thailand are very respectful too. They are very interesting places and I think much different from New Zealand." she explained to Ryder. She would have told him about the honorics system, but she thought it would be too complicated. Syncere nodded her head happily. She opened her flute case and took out her flute. She placed the bag to the side and stood up. "This is the first song my aunt taught me." she told Ryder and started to play. The song was a relaxing one. When Syncere got homesick her aunt would play that song. When Syncere finished she sat back down to catch her breath. ​