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Nothing can be compared to the fun times I had when I was young. Not even the latest technology. Though I am commonly seen as the only girl within the boys playing games at the playground, they never left me out. In the past, my brother and I loves going down to meet out fellow friends from the surrounding blocks to play. Games such as blind mice, catching and police and thieves were the most commonly played by children of our age at that time. Everyone gets sick of the same old games, we do too. Hence, coming up with new games were what we all did best. Games are the most fun when they do not include any technology but just plain nature around us. We can do magic with just leaves and branches fallen from the trees.

Gabriel, Russel and Sanon, they are brothers and live in the 4th floor opposite block of ours. Whenever my brother and I go to the playground with no other playmates, we would shout out their names and they would rush to see whose calling them. Some times, a friend of ours, Wee Kiat, would come join us in our games. He told us he wished he could play with us more often but, we all know how strict his mother can get.

There was this game, this really crazy game we all came up with, teacher teacher. Got us all wild at the playground our parents could not recognize us. In this game, it is like a small skit, we got into different roles but with no scripts. We just come up with our own lines and crank up loads of noise from the things around us and our voices filling up the whole area. As young children, we believe teachers study a lot and people who study a lot wear spectacles. We used the fallen branches and bent them into spectacle frames and wore it on our ears. Yes, indeed it is dirty but as children, we do not know that. As for students, we know that we need pencil (in kindergarten and lower primary, we use pencil instead of pen) and paper. We used the ground as our “paper” and as for the “pencil” we would use the red rocks around the small shelter near the playground. There is this rock which is covered with mud and it is dried up giving out brown or red. These stones vary in sizes from big to small just like stones. They are one of the most common items we use for drawing. What about erasers? We would just use our slippers to rub them off. It will always start from the classroom. Like schools, we do have our principal too! “Presenting… Gabriel, our principal! Applause please!” he would walk out proudly from the shelter lifting his head up walking with his hands behind his waist walking proudly. Then he would start scolding “students”, “why you not in your class get back now!”. Gabriel and I in the game were in the higher position compared to the others as we were the oldest (He and I are of the same age). So he played the principal and I played the teacher while the rest played the students. In “class” the “students” would act like little gangsters going on defiance with the “teacher” using slippers as “guns” and start creating havoc to the place. We would run from blocks to blocks, playground to playground, level to level on a wild goose chase. The “principal” and “teacher” will be chased by the “students” on their scooters and bicycles with badminton rackets, shutter-cocks, rocks, leaves and slippers throwing at you. They almost threw Sanon (he is the youngest, hence the lightest) at us. Jumping of the slides of the playground while being chased used to be one of the most dangerous acts that can be done in the playground. All those havoc could get us going on from afternoon 3 plus till 8 plus in the evening when the sun sets. We were always having so much fun we didn’t want to rest for the day and go home when our parents called. Though it doesn’t sound fun here, but if you experience them, you will think that it is one of the happiest moments in your childhood. Gabriel’s and his brother’s parents loved my brother and I and always invite us to their house for tea in the afternoon. Their house was like toy city, a place where by you can see toys at every corner of the house. Ice cream was something their mother love to treat us to.

There were a couple of times when the exams are around the corner, Wee Kiat, Gabriel and I would go to the table under my block to study. While Wee Kiat’s sister, Gabriel’s brothers and my brother will be playing at the playground.

But as time past, technology and studies got more and more into our lives… we do not go down to play as often as we did before. Slowly, we don’t even meet until lantern festival when everyone goes down to play with candles. I still remembered once, all of us together with some other friends we made who lived in my block, lit up candles around the playground. At that time, it was when everyone got together to block the win and light up the candles again. This is commonly seen in the 1980s where technology is not advanced and when children see each other more often to play. This is a very rare scene happening in the 2000s when children of different ages and family comes together to get things done. It was a very memorable experience. I didn’t go down last year; I was at my grandmother’s house but would definitely go down this year to see all my friends. Wee Kiat didn’t go down last year too. He was in Malaysia at his grandparent’s house. Hopefully, when my brother and I go down this year, we would see all the friends we had when we were young.

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Labels: childhood memories