The sweet life

Answering Gerard's request from last week, here's a photo of me at around 2 (click on photo to enlarge). Yep, I looked like a leg ham with all those layers of clothes.

And so much has changed since 1985... My current hourly income is more than what mum used to make in a month; I would not own my first CD for another 10 years; and I wouldn't have travelled outside of my province for another 5 years.

This week, I'd like to write about some of my most treasured childhood memories that I'll be sure to share with my children and even grandchildren for the many years to come.

Wontons or no wontons

From the age of around 8, I started walking to school by myself. On my way there, I'd always visit my favourite noodle house to get my daily breakfast. Eating out is such a common practice in Guangzhou (my home town) so it wasn't such an extravagance for a little kid to do the same. The most important decision was always 'wontons or no wontons'. Wontons are little dumplings stuffed with pork, prawns and mushrooms, and are usually part of your noodle soup. The dilemma for any 8 year old was whether to spend 1.50 yuan (around 25 cents) to include wontons with your noodles or just go with plain noodles, a thrifty 1 yuan. The saving would mean the difference of an ice-block later that day or no arvo snack. Decisions decisions. If only adult life was so simple!

Snails and swallows

For reasons unknown, I was fascinated by snails as a child. The way they move and leave what looks like snot trails, the way their tentacles shrink when you touch them, and not to mention the way they can fit their whole body into their shell. The apartment we used to live in was behind the main block of street facing buildings and could be reached via many alley ways from all different directions. There was a garden bed on one of the less direct alley ways that seemed to house snails en masse, especially after some rain. I'd always make sure to take that way home on rainy days so I could collect a new selection of snails, big and small. But for the life of me, I can't remember now what I ever did with them once I took them home. Another upside of taking the long way home was a swallows nest sitting on the wooden beam of an old fashion sliding door of one of the houses on that alley way. Even though it was quite high up and hard to see, hearing those little baby swallows chirp was just the best.

Summer holidays

When you're a kid, summer holidays always seemed to last a century. I'd always look forward to having my cousin, Cathy, over to play. We'd spend hours sitting in the plastic bath tub, scooping water in and out of our little pots, pretending to cook up a feast, until our skin would wrinkle up like prunes. Another favourite game was teachers and students. We gave all our dolls names of kids from our school – the naughty kids' names were always given to the boy dolls and the most well behaved dolls were always named after our best friends. We'd get really creative with what little classroom 'facilities' we had – a thin sheet of paper placed in front of the lamp would become the overhead projector, a knitting needle would become our blackboard pointer. Long days of play always ended with a nap on the bamboo weave mat placed on the tiled floor of the living room. I still love my naps till this day.

I know that our baby will have a very different life to mine. But I hope that one day, he/she will look back on their childhood and remember those simple things and moments which sums up 'la dolce vita'.