Life Before 10; Took It Stop

The start of my new journey began at 10, when most of us kids start to collect our memories. At the least, for me that was it. I could not recall most that happened before that. Not amnesia but how much can we recall of it now?

Life before 10 - was simple.

Like many of us, I cry most morning not wanting to go to school.

Running and looking for my mum after school where she will have lunch ready for us.

Fighting with my siblings over small matters that meant alot to children.

Playing with our cousins during weekends.

Reluctantly doing our homeworks and going for tuitions. Getting a good grade A miraculously when the odds stays with me.

Going to my dad's factory during holiday. To spize things up for the workers which until today some of them who are still working there would tell me "do you remember that you always sing and like to draw us when you were small" when I go back for a visit.

Then again my childhood was pretty much the same like everyone. Just daily life, things that most 10 years old remember. Having fun and being in the company of their family.

One that I call the ULTIMATE memory of me before 10 was:

Us - siblings join hands to hid my mum's cane. In hope that she will forgo her persuit for us when we really needed disciplining. God knows how well she runs after us.

I, proudly climbing up top of my cabinet (prolly 1.7M high) hiding in an attempt to hear "I cannot find you" during hide and seek. Which I have kept it my best hiding spot till now because I would quietly climb down and approach them instead of letting them find me. Just to make sure that spot is mine.

Nothing significant to teach me "moral of the story is" rather than life before 10 was what family is all about. Being together, having fun.

Then over night, I said hello to a new country and a new language. When we talk about new country, it's unlike us going for a holiday.

It is different.

I have been to Singapore from when I was one. For family visits and holiday of course. But as soon as my mother starts enrolling me to language classes, buying study table and everything needed for me to settle down. I started to understand what "going to Singapore" really meant.

Living in a new country is not as easy as saying "hello" and everything falls in place. It goes beyond learning its people, its culture, its color and its language. More than that for me, I had to quickly learn to be independent because they say I am a Jie Jie (elder sister), I had to learn languages, I had to adapt to life of taking the public transport and looking out for my brother. I couldn't quite remember how we manage to share the same room for years when we fight more than Tom and Jerry.

The ordeal of living in Singapore was simply translated to me by my childlike understanding that I am going to start living here. Understanding that however did not mean I understooded fully what it means by "living here".

My mum spend almost six months in Singapore. During where everything isn't that bad. Everything is well, everything is settled. Until when I had to say my farewell to her returning back home. Leaving me and my brother with our grandmother whom we met a few days every once a year.

And so my life before 10. Took its full stop and started me on a journey to life after 10 with a full speed engine I don't quite understand. Grinding me to understand the meaning of "living here" at a very young age.

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