This post is inspired by a chat with someone I know about the games that we play, the things that we eat/buy during our innocent, playful, memorable childhood days...
HAPPY CHILDREN'S DAY!
(I believe there's always a child in everyone of us)
The Play Thing (in primary school)
1. One-Leg ("tok kar")
Ah, this is my all-time favourite. I was among the highly sort-after team member for this game. No joke. I also remember the “Long Chiam Pas” and “Oh Ah Peh Ah Som” that we used to split us up into opposing teams. Particularly loved the challenge from other classes.
2. Catching, Police-and-Thief, Hide and Seek (“be-be”)… are some other games we played if we are really sick of One-Leg.
3. Pepsi-Cola One-Two-Three
Love stepping on the shoes of those proud ("hao lian") guys. Best part: Need not apologize for that.
4. Hopscotch (跳飞机)
The school banned us from using chalk to draw boxes and boxes all over the school compound and designated one area with only two painted hopscotches – helping to cultivate the ever-famous “chop place” practice.
5. Zero-point
Two people will hold a rope made of rubber bands at gradually increasing heights (from ankle, to knee, to waist-level, to armpit, shoulder, ear, head, above head with hand fully extended) for the opposing team members to jump over. Many a times, I was deemed not tall enough to hold the rope.
6. Five Stones
Home made. Filled with green beans. Erm, sometimes my eyes, hand coordination skills are just not steady enough – they seemed to fumble at the most critical moments.
7. Rubber
When I was in primary five, the “rubber/eraser” game becomes popular and every one of us brings quite a number of rubbers (or erasers) to school. Use your thumb or fingers to flip your rubber piece until it lies on top of your competitor’s rubber piece and you win your competitor’s rubber. Yah lah, play play play lah… play until our form teacher cannot tahan (tolerate) and made those who play in class hold ears stand-squat 20 times in class. Haha… those were the days.
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The Play Thing (after school with my cousins)
After school, I go to my grandfather’s place – in Jln Ulu Sembawang – you can relate it to a kampong area if you like… I think I play much more than I study.
8. Catch Spiders
The spiders that I caught seemed to have slight resemblence of me – KiaSee one. ;p Made me lose 8 out of 10 times in the spider fights. I must add that mine isn’t those lousy ghost species…
9. Catch Grasshoppers, Tadpoles, Dragonflies
Just for fun.
Once one of my cousin made a kite out of a dragonfly (you go figure it out how). Evil.
The adults forbid us from catching butteflies saying they may be recarnation from someone we knows... "Huh? Okie lor... like that we catch other things."
10. Play Marbles (“Go-Li”)
Place all the marbles in a circle and try to hit them out of the circle at a distance.
11. Play Cooking ("zi cha")
We got hold of a large worn-out wok that we keep aside for our "zi cha" stall. With the fine sand as salt, sugar, and pepper; large pieces of leaves as plates; grass and green leaves as leafy vegetables, stones as meats, and whatever other things we could grab hold of from the nature… btw, we also kept a knife (tsk tsk tsk) to cut things up. ;p
12. Baseball
The place is big enough for this. One piece of wood and tennis balls are all we need. Oh, the person supplying the tennis balls does not like a Home-Run hit (usually equate to lost and gone forever).
13. Others
Make our own stupid plastic-bag kites.
Organize our own trekking trips to the less-traveled paths in the ulu areas.
Shooting game using the pen barrel of ball point pen, the transparent stick holding the ink (what's this part call?), and orange peel.
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The Must Buy/Eat Thing
There’s this ma-ma shop at my grandfather’s place (again in Jln Ulu Sembawang) that my cousins and I patronized every day.
1. Whistle sweets
Looks like the polo sweets except that it’s slightly larger and in yellow, orange or green (I think).
2. Tubes of frozen ice lollies
Nibble, nibble, nibble and twist, twist, twist before the top comes off… then suck up the syrup and then finishing up the “plainer” ice thereafter.
3. Xiao Ding Dang
Contain chocolate coated biscuit balls and a “ma-sar” (toy).
4. Yakult
Definitely not because of its beneficial probiotics… how would I understand what that L casei Shirota mean then? Not important so long as my parents voice no objection and give me money for this cold, sweet drink. ;p I love checking out underneath the peel-off lid… sometimes can exchange for toys some more if lucky.
5. Tikum
Comes in all black packaging with the mysterious contents wrapped in newspaper. Sometimes can win money (I once won so I know – can't remember if it’s a dollar or two). My cousins and I know the shopkeeper well enough… so sometimes we pressed, pressed and pressed to guess the contents first before we buy. Hahahah…
6. Milk
“Others order, so I also order…” ;p
Sometimes I purposely don’t drink so that I can bring it home and have it chilled before I drink (cold is nicer). I think at one time, there’s this pyramid-shaped packaging milk but subsequently, they all turned cuboids.
7. Bubble gum with tattoo stick-ons
We chewed so many gums until the excess tattoo stick-ons become a nuisance… anytime (worst is when you have a nap) there could be a surprise attack that resulted in stupid tattoos at places where you don’t want it to be (face, foreheads… etc). Then you just have to scrub, scrub, and scrub until it’s super red.
8. Kaka corn snacks
9. Fruits (freshest possible - straight from trees)
Grown by my grandfather. Durians, rambutans, guava, chiku, papaya, bananas…