Autobiography Part 1: Age 0 to 9

 

I am Alexis Chen, but I did not go by "Alexis" until I was 23 or 24. My birth name is actually Chen, Yi-Hang (陳逸航). The name was picked by a fortune teller and it means "carefree travel". I was born in an Atheist family to Taiwanese parents and Mandarin Chinese is my first language. I am the youngest child of the family. I have one older brother who is 4 years and a half older than me. I usually don't like telling people about my father's job because I most of the times don't like their reactions, but I simply have to, otherwise I won't be able to continue telling you my life story: He is a diplomat. I am 28 now, but I still wish that he wasn't because because of his work I had had an extremely difficult and unusual childhood.

I was born in Taipei, Taiwan, but my family and I all moved to Uruguay when I was only 3 because of my father's job. At the time only my father knew Spanish. My father is actually a quite inconsiderate husband. He would never help my mother in any way even though she didn't drive and didn't speak Spanish. She had a really hard time adapting to the new life in a foreign country. But life wasn't easy for me at all either. I went to a British kindergarten and was the only Asian kid at school. I got bullied every day. Some Latina girls would pull my hair all the time, but I was too timid to ever fight back. For two entire years, I did not speak a word in kindergarten. I would only speak at home but never at school. I was so shy that I would hold my pee all the time because I couldn't tell my teachers I needed to go to the bathroom. By the way, I was named "Beatriz" by my father's co-worker. I hated and still hate this name with all of my might!

Two and a half years later my family and I moved to Paraguay again because of my father's job. I was about to turn 6. One day I went to my parents and told them that I wanted to change my western name. They said okay but they had no idea what name to give me so we looked it up in my bother's English textbook. The first name I picked, my brother said, was a boy's name. The second name I picked was "Cindy". My parents asked my brother if it was a girl's name, my broher said yes, so Cindy it is! I started first grade in an all Spanish school. I was still extremely shy. Kids from my own class knew that I can talk but was just shy. Kids from other classes, however, spread the rumor that I was mute. Whenever people talk to me at school, I wouldn't answer. If they asked me a yes or no question I would at most nod or shake my head. I lived in Paraguay between the ages 6 to 9 and a half. During that period of time my older brother had molested me once when I was sleeping. I woke up in shock and threw a tantrum. I immediately reported the assault to my mother. As sick as she has always been, she bursted into laughter and started to make fun of me with my brother. Despite of this horrific incident I still trusted her and loved her very much.

Then something equally disturbing happened when I was 9 and a half. It was time to return to Taiwan.