I remember I ran around topless and was reprimanded by our priest, lol. Hey, I was only 5 years old and being topless at that age (at that year) is harmless fun. I must admit that nothing is more fun that your childhood days. Everything is beautiful and the best part of it is, it all belongs to you. When I say beautiful, it does not mean that I came from a well to do family.
You see, we were once living in a small hut (beri) in the middle of my dad's rubber tree subsidy and paddy plantation. Oh, not a big plantation, in fact you can even count the number of trees on that small piece of land. We had to live there to look after my dad's plantation because it was subsidies and also it was the first place to be called "home". My father still had to keep his job. He had to ride his bicycle miles away to work and my brothers and sisters had to walk miles away to reach school until we were permanently moved to our village called Sinjok.
To me it was a perfect home. Life in our small house was not all that bad. It was so cozy and warm all at the same time. I like it the most when it rains, the "tack tack" sound on the roof. Though we have no tv, we still get to have our own entertainment. My mom was fun to observe, for example. We all would sit by the fireplace watching her barbeque sweet corn while telling us folk tales. Or at times, we would go to our neighbor's house who owned a tv and just spend few hours watching whatever it is on, while my parents would chatting away with our neighbor. Often I would fall asleep while watching tv and when it is time to go home, my dad would carry me the whole way home or when he is too tired, I would walk with my eyes closed while my hand is held by mom or my dad.
During the day I got to play by our paddy field and fish and swim in our famous creek called Yang Burung (boo-ruung). Well, not literally swim. It was more like walking under the water with my hands simulating a freestyle swimming movement, as I don't know how to swim. And to this day I am still afraid of deep water. When I became tired I would be lying on our bamboo floor balcony with my head looking up to the sky. I would be looking all over the cloudscape for any imaginary image I could see. My favorite image were angels. It felt so soothing; I would believe that angels are watching over my family and me. I also like to watch tree leaves move rhythmically to the wind, enjoying watching the tree "dance". I would be doing that for a while until I fell asleep (afternoon nap). That was my siesta. Siesta is like a ritual thing for me to do up till now.
My dad used to hunt with friends. Hunting is like the only way he could satisfy our craving for meat other than chicken. Otherwise we had to wait by the end of the month for his salary to buy meat. That is why jungle is like haven for us as it had so much to offer. I mean it offered aplenty in those days. My dad's bagged were reindeer, will boar, anteater, porcupine, fruit bats and many more (no worries we don't crave for those cute exotic animals anymore). Sometimes my dad had to take hours and hours to find something. And we would be waiting anxiously for him to come home with his catch (our dinner), which of course sometimes was no dinner at all. But it was okay as we knew there would be better luck next time.
