A new home, a new different world

When I was six, my dad bought a piece of land somewhere closer to the center of the village and bought a second hand plank from Singapore to build a house on that land. I knew that they were overjoyed as it was my dad’s and mom’s hard earned money. As a small kid, I didn’t really know what difference will it make. Only a little excited, that we’re going to move to a bigger house with rambutan orchard across the street and lots of other houses nearby. At the same time, I was a little sad and nervous.

Sad because this mean I had to leave my old playground. A very big ‘Jambu Bol’ trees that my brother tied a rope at one of the branch where I used to climb and swung myself while pretending that I’m a tarzan, a wooden bridge that cross a canal that water the paddy field where I used to fish, using a bamboo twigs that my brother made for me. And until now, I remember vividly how I will throw away that fishing rod whenever my bait was caught by an eel rather than fish. I would scream my heart out and ran away when I snatched the rod and find that creature on my hook. I don’t know why, until now snakes and eels, really scares me. My brother grumbled a big deal every time this happened because that means he has to do another one for me. I was nervous too when I think that there will be a lot more other people. Will I be able to find my own secret kingdom and play without them seeing me?

After two months of hard-work, the house was almost completed. Only that they didn’t have enough plank for a wall for the kitchen. So, they decided to use the plank in the house that we stayed at that moment. My eldest brother had to demolish the wall in one of the bedroom where I was sleeping, two nights before we’re scheduled to move to our new home. At dawn, my dad will light a camp fire beside the broken wall of my bedroom to chase away mosquitoes and any other insects. And for that two nights me and my sister almost didn’t sleep but keep on talking and giggling all through the night while thinking that we’re camping out in the woods.

That very day came, I sat on my dad’s motorbike and he brought us to our new home and that was in the middle of 1980’s.