Childhood Memory

Helen Lee

A band from Swiss named Bandari made a piece of music named “Childhood Memory”.  It could remind people of their own childhood moments; it might be full of happiness and grown-up-sorrows. When people come to a certain age, they begin to think of their childhood stories: the most happiest moment, the most embarrassing moment, the playmates, the horrible experience, the favorite food, the game they addicted to. Those moments have already gone and will never come back.

Two girls from different culture backgrounds talked about their childhood.

Kristy Chan is a girl from Macao and she told me “there was a big playground in the Casino Lisboa, my father used to take me there, unfortunately, the playground has already changed to gambling area”. She said the playground was large enough that children could drive the Bumper car, there was also Sweet Shot. But what she misses most is “Threw the circle.” She also told me that there was also a playground at Yaohan Department Store named Panda Paradize, many girls loved it. There were full of colorful candies, cute and cuddly toys and the most important was “Swing” which attracted a lot of girls. “You know, the girls, they love daydreaming”, she said. She also showed me the game coin of Panda Paradize on which there is an adorable panda head.

Jing Li is a girl from northeast part of mainland China, when she was talking about her childhood memory she told me she missed the fragrance of old cosmetic. She said in the northeast winter, the chilling wind made skin uncomfortable and even “cut” the skin like a knife. “That’s really hurt”, she said. Every morning her mother will put some “Friendship Vanishing Cream” on her face for protection. She said, “I like the smell, and it protects my skin from the chilling wind but the product was not produced any more.” Nowadays, there are many big brand cosmetic but the old one is really helpful she insisted. “They are expensive and I am kind of skin allergy,” she said “while the ‘Friendship Vanishing Cream’ is suitable for everyone and my friends also used it when they were little kids”. When she was a child, every winter she can get protection from the “vanishing cream” but now even she is using the expensive cosmetic she is still missing the old one.

As for another thing she missed a lot is the “Children Park” near her place, which has been changed to a real park opened for everyone now. It means all the entertainment facilities were moved away.  “When I was a child, every Children’s Day and my birthday, my parents took me to the Children Park there was Sky Wheel, Bumper Car and Mad Tea Party. ” she mentioned. But it seems that the park did not operate well, for the equipments were old and kind of dirty. When she was 11 years old the park closed down formally. “That’s really petty, I want my every birthday celebrating there but it closed down!” she said.

Two old men from different culture backgrounds also shared their childhood memories.

Mr. Ping who is aged around 50 said his mother put “shell cream” on his body in winter since the wind was “unfriendly”.  He grew up at Macao and now worked at Macao. “I missed those people who sell food made by them, I remembered the fish ball and fish congee”, he said “when I was a child, people were poor, the economy was bad so there were many people they made food at home and sell the food on the street”. Those vendors they spoke loudly to attract people to buy their food. Mr. Ping said the food he missed a lot is the grapefruit peel. The vendors they peel the grapefruit and put them into the hot water boil them until the peels become soft. Then they make the peels dry and boil them again. After some steps, the grapefruit peels become tasty. “People were very poor at that time, so we don’t throw away the peels, we made it food and sell them”, he added.

Mr. Fang said the thing he missed so much is rolling iron circle with friends. He is 52 years old and he is from Heilongjiang Province, however, he moved to Macao ten years ago. “Rolling iron circle can practice the balanced capacity”, he said, “the reason I love this game a lot is that I am always the winner and I’m so proud of myself ”. Children use a stick at the end of which there is a hook to control the iron circle and who can run with the iron circle for the longest way without any mistake is the winner. He said “my father made me the first iron circle in my life, I love it and play with it every day, unfortunately, I think my mother threw it away already”.

You can compare the Kristy’s memory with Mr. Ping’s memory to find out the differences between two generations and so does the comparison between Jing’s memory with Mr. Fang’s memory. You can also get to know the differences between two different culture backgrounds among the same age group when you compare Kristy’s memory with Jing’s memory and compare Mr. Ping’s memory with Mr. Fang’s memory.

Time is ticking out, the playgrounds, toys and many things were gone but memory never gone.