Reminiscing about the June holidays and how carefree life was back then? Here're ten other Singaporean childhood memories.
#1 Classroom wrestling
Back when the World Wrestling Federation was huge, we – okay, just the boys – used to group our classroom desks together to form the squared circle, gather on top, and start clotheslining and suplexing one another. Whoever falls off is out. Ah, if only we could settle disputes at work the same way.
#2 Midday naps
Kindergarten was great only for the half-hour naps bosses teachers would order you to take after lunch. Miss you, sleepy time.
#3 Yakult (with a toy)
We all miss cheap canteen food (wonton mee for under a dollar!), but Yakult deserves a special mention. Not only did it cost about 50 cents, it came with a toy. A free toy, people. To be fair, the trinket was cheap, plastic junk, but try telling that to a six-year-old. Chances are he’ll take the toy, leave the beverage.
#4 School bus fights
The gladiatorial arena that was our school bus trained us well for the state of public transportation today: it’s every man for himself.
Someone’s sitting in your preferred spot? Muscle him out. The person beside you fishes out candy from his bag? Take, don’t ask. God only knows how many times we’ve ended up in a brawl on the floor of the bus. Fun – if a little painful – times that we wish we could rekindle on the MRT these days.
#5 Eraser battles
This pre-iPad game’s simple: each player starts with an eraser (those rectangular ones emblazoned with the flag of a country), and the goal is to flip your eraser until it lands on top of your opponent’s, with no part of it touching the table. We’ve spent many a recess waging war between elastic nations, and even ‘modified’ our troops with staples to make moving them around easier.
#6 Sweating
Go to class, sweat. Recess, sweat. PE lessons, sweat. On the bus back home, sweat. What is it with being a kid and stinking up whatever room you’re in? And why was it totally comfortable back then when a drop of perspiration now sends us scurrying for the sweet kiss of air-conditioning? We’ve gotten soft.
#7 Primitive console systems
Sonic, Mario and Link were our best friends growing up, and adventures into a 16-bit wonderland were a big part of our post-school, pre-shower routine. Plus, you’d probably have had a shop nearby that rents out game cartridges to fuel your princess-rescuing, gold coin-catching, hallucinogenic mushroom-consuming ways.
#8 An iron stomach
Fast food was our staple diet back in school. We’d gorge on Big Macs and Whoppers with impunity, the carcinogens in the burgers no match for our young, strong stomachs. But oh, how the mighty have fallen. A McDonald’s meal now comes with a side of heartburn and a one-way ticket to the toilet (especially the McSpicy) – not pretty.
#9 Morning assembly
Wait, who’re we kidding. This sucked.
#10 Chao-ing class
In school, it only took a quick pair of feet to secure freedom for a day. Which meant spending it at the mama shop (20-cent ice pops!) Imagine running out of the office, jumping the fence of your building and running back home, middle fingers in the air. Waitasec – nothing’s stopping us from doing it now, right? See ya guys next month.