Let's see how much we remember when we were 7.

[Cayte]

Hello everyone,

     Thanks to Angeline and her lucky number - 7. Personally, I don't have a favorite number myself, but 7 sounds like a good one to me now.
     Seven years old seems to be very young; however, somehow I still remember what happened during that age. You're not going to believe if I say I had already finished grade 4 when I was 7.  The memory hasn't faded away yet since there were two crucial events sticking in my memory.
     One was my very first examination that I had to compete with the other pupils from different schools in order to get a seat a public or a government school. Two weeks after the exam, I went to check a result of the test. It was a nerve-wracking day because my heart was trying to jump out of my mouth.
    The second event was not a happy one because saying goodbye to someone you care about is always painful. My close friend and her family moved to another city. I was too young to even know where it was located. We changed our photos. I remember asking her to write me as soon as she settled down but she never did. I still think about her.
     
     Tell me about your life that you still remember when you were 7.  A story of your 7 years old kid will do, too.

[luke]

Hi Cayte,

That sounds like a sad and interesting tale, and I'm surprised you can remember so much about it. I personally remember little of that age, but something did happen to me around that time which I can never forget.

I was playing outside with my brothers when I tripped and fell through a large window into the porch. Cutting my face in two areas, I lay on the floor in a pool of blood until my parents came to my aid. We rushed off to the hospital and sowed me up; I was extremely lucky as one of the cuts was very close to my eye.

I went to school the next day, swollen and usable to talk, which was a weird experience. For a couple of days I was the most interesting thing to look at, and then I faded back into obscurity.

I'll never forget that day 

[Learneng]

Hi Cayte,

Wow, All along I thought that I’m the only one who was in the forth grade at the tender age of seven. I’m not sure about you but I was always the youngest student in my class. And I think maturity come with the age. Other girls who were a bit older than me in all of my classes used to bully me all the time.

Anyhow, I vaguely remember two incidents (or you can say accidents). In one of them I fell from the stairs of my school and got a cut in my chin. I don’t remember when they took me to the hospital or what happened. But I know that when someone brought me home, my mom and grandma were sitting on the terrace. I still remember the feelings/touch of my grandma’s lap where I was laying face-up. That’s the only thing I know of her (not even her face), she died the next year.

Another incident was also happened in my school. I was playing with my friends on a merry-go-round during the lunch break, and all of a sudden someone pushed me. The teacher who was also my neighbor’s son took me to the hospital and I got two stitches on my index finger of the left hand. Now I use that mark to distinguish my hands (if you ask me to raise my right hand, I’ll touch the index finger of the left hand to make sure to raise the right hand). Well the teacher dropped me at home in a rickshaw and after a few days my dad took me to the hospital to cut those stitches in his scooter.

That's all the memories I have,
Learneng

[Cayte]

Luke and Learneng,
    Ooh!!! That didn't sound like fun to have stitches at that very young age. It seems inevitable no to hurt ourselves when we were young.

    My mother told me that we all have our own angels watching over us from the time we were born until we reached maturity. If it’s true, then I must be my baby brother’s angel.

    Thanks for sharing.

    Cayte

[Learneng]

Hi Cayte,

Is there any particular incident behind your statement "then I must be my baby brother’s angel". If so, please share it with us.

Thanks,
Learneng

[Cayte]

Learneng,

    I'm much older than he is. As you know well that kids in Asian country normally look after their younger brother(s) or sister(s) as their moms go to work, and I'm not exceptional. I was like his second mom, protecting like a mother hen. I would be there before he fail or hurt himself; in other world, I was mothering him. I guess we all have a human guardian angel or the one we think it might exist.

    Is R-learning younger or older than you're?

   Cayte

[Learneng]

Hi Cayte,

R-learning is younger than me by three years so I don’t remember helping her when we were young, but we used to fight a lot. However, I have two more siblings, who are younger than R-learning and I mothered them. My mom wasn’t working but still it was my responsibility to take care of them. I was responsible for almost everything for them. Being the eldest in the house it was my responsibility to clean the house as well as take care of my siblings. You are right about it that in Asian countries elder kid look after the younger ones. Since I was experienced, I didn’t have much problem raising my daughter.

How about you, how many brothers and sisters do you have? Where are they now? How often do you go to Thailand? We are three sisters and a brother. While, three of us are in the States, R-learning is in Canada and my parents are in India.

Learneng

[Cayte]

Learneng,

    I have two older sisters and a younger brother; they are all in Thailand. I'm here alone. It's very nice you have your siblings living here and Canada is just across the border. I bet you ring them all the times. I phone my sister (the second one) at least once a month unless I'm busy with something.  I also try to call my mother as often as I can. If my brother is around at that time, I always hear mom saying, "Mike, your mom is on the phone. Hurry."
     Anyway, I normally visit my family every other year or two years. It's rainy season in Thailand now and the temperature is still too high for my body to stand. Even though I'm dying to see everyone there, I'm reluctant to book a ticket and go.