Quang Trung House: 'Had a sweet childhood'

(Baonghean) - Childhood... Is a staircase with chipped steps, each time going up, you have to take 2 steps at a time, but going down, you have to take 3 steps, or if you slip, it's... terrible!

Childhood...

It is block A6 with pale yellow lime walls peeling from the 1st to the 4th floor.

The stairs are chipped and each step has to be taken 2 at a time, but 3 at a time when going down, or if you slip… it's terrible!

It was a handrail made of gallito stone, whose function, besides tearing the buttocks of his pants, was mainly to help the children in the neighborhood slide down from any floor and then fall with a thud! Its mark left a deep mark in the form of two scars on his younger brother's chin!

It is a noisy and boisterous communal water tank every afternoon. It is a row of buckets lined up with carrying poles that are typical of each house. Just by looking at where they are hung, one can tell which house has not yet had its turn to collect water.

It's an image of naked kids bathing freely in front of everyone, but they insist on holding their clothes and waiting until they can go into a private room to put on pants!

In the apartment buildings, there are still cars that were once symbols of a golden age, still brand new like this. Photo taken at apartment building B1. Photo: Manh Ha

It was the jackfruit tree of the houses next to the chemical factory apartment complex, but all day long, we, the kids from the MSG factory, would steal young jackfruit to dip in salt and chili. It would choke us until we choked, but we still craved it!

Childhood...

We are friends of the same age, same class, and share many interests such as hide and seek - a game we love to play all day long without getting bored, especially when the power goes out.

It is planting buds and flowers that burst the crotch. It is both boys and girls playing rock-paper-scissors to carry each other from one end of the apartment building to the other. And the game of leading a circle on the road with wrought iron rings of all sizes that almost every house has under the bed. It is the excited cheers every time a car brings sugarcane pulp to dry in the communal yard. The whole group of children climb up and down to find the remaining pieces of sugarcane or the thick peels to peel off and nibble together.

My sweet childhood probably had something to do with the mountain of bagasse or candy scraps from my mother's factory?!

Childhood is also 3 months of summer activities together with 4:30 am mornings calling each other to go exercise in the A5 yard. It is the team ceremony in August and the sightseeing in September for all the "elite" children in the summer. Exciting... bustling...

And there are also the cries: "Who wants ice cream" every sunny noon, bringing endless cravings, not just for me. Or "Who wants taffy, candy...", "Who wants to exchange cakes"... All of us have had our teeth fall out from chewing taffy or had our hair and ears stuck to that transparent, shiny candy like honey.

Back to childhood...

Bougainvillea clusters are also a common sight in old apartment buildings. Photo: Manh Ha

With first and second grade, we studied on the first floor of the apartment building. With the teacher's name... I only find it interesting now, but I loved her so much back then. Ms. Hot, Ms. Mao - I don't know if my friends still remember... We all had names that came with our father or mother's names like Ha Du, Huyen Toan, Thang Liem, Van Bao Tho, Thang Phuc My, Huyen Khuy, Nam Toai... But there were also some with middle names that I don't know if they were related to anything or had any meaning, but just hearing the name... everyone understood, like: Linh chec, Ngan Teo, Phuong Lo...

The yard connecting the two apartment buildings A6 and A7 is where many generations have witnessed the "steps of maturity" from sitting behind the luggage rack of their parents' motorbikes to pedaling and bouncing around, often getting their butts pounded painfully, until they learned to ride a motorbike. A mini-bike is a luxury that probably haunts the dreams of many people my age...

Last apartment. Photo: Manh Ha

Childhood...Yeah. It's been a long time.

Linh Dan

(Recorded from Ms. Pham Viet Dung's story)