I remember the rolling pin my parents used to roll dumplings.
I remember the display of fireworks on New Year’s Eve.
I remember my mother used to tuck my quilt around me on cold winter nights.
I remember the snail running competitions after the rain, which were held by me and my childhood friends when we were 6 years old. The rule was that every one had to find a snail and put them on the starting line to see whose snail ran the fastest. And I still remember how sticky the snail was when I put it on my hand.
I remember hide and seek.
I remember trying not to fall asleep and hanging my head in a small distance from the pillow when everyone was supposed to take a nap in kindergarten, just because I was afraid my hairstyle might get messy.
I remember the sound of coins colliding in my grandpa’s piggy bank. The magic power of this piggy bank is that it can always cheer me up when I am down. I guess it is because the smiling look on its face reminds me of my grandpa, who is generous and kind.
I remember the first English vocabulary I learnt in kindergarten was “Apple”.
I remember my first math homework was to write down numbers from 1 to 9 in my notebook and I tried so hard to write numbers in a beautiful style.
I remember the first piano song I played was “Mary had a little lamb” when I was 4 years old.
I remember Tom and Jerry.
I remember the background music of Tom and Jerry.
I remember 101 Dalmatians.
I remember Journey to the West.
I remember the Krtek (the mole, an animated character in a series of cartoons) DVD my mother bought for me.
I remember Snoopy.
I remember Doraemon (Japanese animation).
I remember the Tiger-Team series by Thomas Conrad Brezina (an Austrian writer of children’s books).
I remember Goosebumps, a series of children’s horror fiction by R. L. Stine.
I remember my dad bought a whole DVD series (the DVD series ends up at Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire at that year) for me and my sister after his business trip.
I remember once I waited for two hours for my mother to take me home after I finished class at elementary school. However, she did not show up in time, so I decided to go home by myself but then found out I was lost in the middle of nowhere. I was so lucky that I bumped into my sister’s homeroom teacher so she took me home. My parents were going to call the police when they found me. Later I knew that my mother was so busy that day so she just missed the time to pick me up. After this accident, I became terribly bad at locations, maps and directions. I just could not forget the feeling when I was standing in the middle of the road and did not know where to go or who to talk to.
I remember Jay Zhou (Taiwanese singer)’s movie Secret and his song Faraway.
I remember the Chinese Wuxia TV series the Return of the Condor Heroes starring Yifei Liu and Xiaoming Huang.
I remember the watermelon and spoon my maternal grandparents gave to me and my sister while we were watching the Return of the Condor Heroes during the summer vacation. We used to use the spoon to dig a hole in the middle of the watermelon, and there was a pool of watermelon juice every time after we ate the watermelon.
I remember watching the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games on the TV with my parents together in my hometown in Shanxi Province.
I remember I refused to take part in the school competition of radio broadcast calisthenics with the class as the unit to enroll because I thought the uniform we were supposed to wear was so ugly. So, on the day of competition, I lied to my teacher that I felt sick and then did not go to school that day.
I remember how unsafe I felt when my parents were having an argument. Although I was not the one who caused the argument, I felt nervous and uncomfortable. The air seems dark when people around me are having an argument.
I remember a scene in the library, a mother and her daughter sitting on the floor, each of them holding a children’s book, reading quietly.
I remember the first night after I arrived at my residence hall, when I gazed out of the window, I could not help myself from crying silently in my dorm without my roommates and my parents knowing it.
I remember the first morning after I arrived in New York, I locked myself out when I planned to brush my teeth.
I remember the first fortune I got at a Chinese restaurant in New York was “Be yourself and you’ll feel at home anywhere.”
I remember Reyes said that sometimes New Yorkers are rushing for nothing. They are just rushing for no reason.
I remember I bought a desk organizer (to put my cosmetics) at the Basic Plus store which cost me 17 dollars and suddenly my desk became very clean and organized.
I remember my brain definitely went wrong when I bought a pile of 20 alkaline batteries) at the Basic Plus and only used 4 of them. I did not know what to do with the rest of the 16 batteries. I was crying internally when I saw the price after I bought it (26.99 dollars…such a waste of money).
I remember the fuzzy backrest I bought in Bed Bath and Beyond.
I remember the pillow and quilt I bought at MUJI with a student discount of coming back to school.
I remember the kit.
I remember the taste of the coconut drink (recommended by my friend). And every time I drink it, I like to smell the lid because it has a unique scent of coconut, which is similar to milk.
I remember how disappointed I was when I found out that most of restaurants in New York were closed before 11 a.m.
I remember not knowing how much I should tip at a restaurant.
I remember the old second-hand magazines I bought (they only cost me 5 dollars) at Strand bookstore.
I remember the coupons I got at the block party.
I remember I was exhausted after the scavenger hunt.
I remember the weird look on people’s face while I was rushing in the scavenger hunt.
I remember my drawing teacher told me that for the cadmiums I can save some money by getting the student version which says “Hue” after the color name (e.g. Camium Red Medium Hue).
I remember asking a person about free workshops in Parsons and then surprisingly found out that he was “Parsons Cue”, who sent students emails about free workshops.
I remember the collage I did in integrative studio Avatar class.
I remember I borrowed two books from the school library.
I remember sometimes I have to swipe the dorm access card more than one time to open the door.
I remember I still do not know how to open my mail box even though the RA showed me how to enter the code correctly once.
I remember the kimchi hot pot and rice I ate in Ootoya Chelsea (a Japanese restaurant nearby the campus).
I remember the braised beef noodle at Han Dynasty (a Chinese restaurant near my residence hall).
I remember once I was so tired that I fell asleep at Han Dynasty while I was waiting for my food.
