Chapter one

Introduction

My name is Malcolm Noah Ali, and I have lived all over the world during my parents time With USAID  and The state department, some examples of places I have lived include (In timeline order)  the Philippines, Ukraine, Bangladesh,  and Morocco while that might not seem like a lot of places for some people let me remind you that at the time we left Morocco I was eleven years old. And that we have visited an uncountable number of places for work and leisure, while some people think that this is the dream, I assure you, there were times when it did not feel like a dream, and that is what I think should be known.

Chapter two

The Philippines

While I don’t remember much about the Philippines there are some core memories that I have, for example one time I was driving to my preschool that I did not like very much ( It smelled like hay and did not have carrots for lunch… I got switched to a different one very soon) and at this time let me remind you that I was somewhat four or five years old. So as we rode through the skyscraper part of Manila I looked up and saw the dark silhouettes of people jumping from rooftop to rooftop, let me remind you ON ROOFTOPS so understandably I was excited and was nagging at my nanny named Maria who was very nice and understanding but in this moment she was irritated at me so she refused to look out my window and simply told me “Psst Yeah right” which I deserved I was a attention loving child. (Maria is actually doing really well, she recently got married YAY also dont take what I just wrote to mean that she is a mean person she was SOOOOO nice ) Another memory I have is going to my favorite breakfast  shop down the street right before we left Manilla and I got the french toast which I got every time with whipped cream and maple syrup, definitely no strawberries. Our second to last memory follows me talking to my other nanny Cheryl which I could not pronounce at the time so I called her Cereal… I don’t think she liked it  out conversation went something like this:

Baby Malcolm

“Hi Cereal, do you need help?

Cheryl

(Schocked) yes I would like help here you can fold these clothes for me that would help, Oh and also my name is not Cereal it is Cheryl

Baby Malcolm

Okay Cereal

Cheryl

Umm it’s C-SHHH-ERRR-AAALLL

Baby Malcolm

I know! Cereal!

Cheryl

(Looking disappointed)  Drops basket of clothes 

And that is where my forgetfulness starts to kick in. In fact there is one more memory that I can recall that still haunts me to this day, but in order to tell it you will need some backstory. In Ukraine our living room had a MASSIVE door so one evening on my way to swimming lessons I got my shoes on a walked up to the door where my brother was waiting for me. He went through the door and I followed after stepping into the doorway, my brother thinking I was already out, shut the door closed with all his might, I dodged backward but it was too late for my pinky finger. To this day one of my pinkies is shorter than the other. Make sure to keep your eyes peeled because the next volume follows my time in… UKRAINE!!!!! (If enough people care)