16 & Living life

           It’s always hard to respond when people ask me where I'm from. Its even harder when someone asks “so what’s your story?” because I’m not sure if they really are interested and want to hear it or its like when your parents ask you how your day was and you say good and the conversation topic changes. You see, I have a couple of places I call home, but for starters, I was born in Toronto Ontario Canada July 5^th, 1996. The first time I went to Africa I was 8 years old (turned 9 in Africa-first birthday of many in Africa). My parents felt we were supposed to move to Atlanta Georgia when I was 9 almost 10.  People don’t generally remember too much from when they are little, but I will never forget my parents telling Spencer and I that we were moving to America. We were sitting down in a restaurant, hearing a couple of bribes (my parents were marketers.. ), and hearing that Josianne, our Nanny and my best friend wouldn’t be coming. I have no recollection of packing the house or even moving, but I won’t ever forget about that conversation, after all it was kind of a life-changing event. We lived in Georgia until right before I turned 16. While in Georgia I went to a private school called King’s Ridge Christian School until 8^th grade doing things from soccer (or “football” as they say here), and competition cheerleading to Student Council. Between 8^th grade and 9^th grade is when my parents mentioned we were moving to Africa. That sit down talk was much more recent, so I remember it quite well. It had been a pretty great day, we were at Costco and we decided to grab some lunch while we were there. Then my mom randomly says, “So Chloe, what would you think about moving to, oh I don’t know, maybe Swaziland?” Yet again with the bribes, from puppies to a car etc. (still working on that so called “car” …) When my family moves, we move countries and continents. If you’re going to move, make it big, right?  By this point I had changed schools and gone over to Milton High School for freshman year (9^th grade-Form 3) where I participated in the Cirque program.

Before I knew it, the year had flown by and we, the Maxwell family, were actually moving to Africa. After saying goodbye to friends at the airport it was only a 15-hour flight and a 5-hour drive to our new home. By this point I had spent every June-August in Africa (ranging from Swaziland, Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, Zimbabwe, etc.) since I was 8 (that’s 8 summers. -winters in Africa though). That’s a lot of Africa… and now we were moving there?  We’ve now lived here in Swaziland for 5 days less than 5 months, and that’s where I am on my journey.

          My grandpa asked me to write a blog about my different experiences or views on living in such completely different cultures: Canada, America & Africa.  I don’t remember much about Canada, but where I lived everything was really close. Spencer, Alexis, Sydney and I would ride our bikes into the “town” area all the time because it was so close. I went to a small private school called NDCA and that was all I knew. My world was small, but I guess the world isn’t that big for any little kid. Our move to Georgia opened my eyes hugely that there was a bigger world out there. Living in the “good ol’ southern hospitality” was an experience in itself, but an experience I wouldn’t trade for anything. That’s were I met my best friend Jordan Keim who has been my bestfriend for almost 6 years now, where I learned you can fry anything, and just where I lived a big portion of my life, so far. Moving to Africa has definitely been an adventure. My perspective has changed yet again, due to living in such a drastically different environment, but im pretty good with change now.

           From a small world of snow, to a bigger world with southern accents, to finally a 3^rd world (and my 3^rd world) country, my thoughts and perspective on things may differ from those of others. I now go to Waterford Kamhlaba International School which is apart of the United World Colleges (UWC), that is full of kids just like me. The conversations between people are pretty interesting and just different. Everyone that goes to my school, Waterford, has different view on the world,  and people want to hear each other’s perspectives so that they can understand just a little bit more about the world, or at least based on these people. Meeting someone from lets say Uganda and hearing there story about moving from place to place to place, the people they met, the experiences they had, etc. is just really cool.  And now I get the chance to tell a story of my own that’s just as unique as everyone else’s story here. My life has been kind of crazy, but as of yet, I wouldn’t change it if I could.