During my elementary school years in Yuen Long, my mother was a housewife, and a routine activity when I was in the 1st and 2nd grades of elementary school was to drive me to school. The distance between our house at that time and the school was only about 600m. In addition to sometimes going to the grandparents' house to help them, my mother also tried to find other activities to fill the time. At my school, my mother has 2 friends who can speak Indonesian, and her children also go to the same elementary school with me, and even one of them is in the same class with me for 6 years. They used to move to Mainland China from Indonesia and then married Hong Kongers. They often gather and chat during school shuttle hours. Unlike now, at that time parents in Hong Kong on average allowed young children to go to school on their own, so when I was in the 2nd or 3rd grade of elementary school, I was also allowed to go to school alone.

Taking work from the factory to the home

As mentioned in previous chapters, my mother grew up in Indonesia. When she first came to live in Hong Kong, she could not speak Cantonese fluently and did not know how to read or write Chinese characters. This made her daily life incredibly challenging, especially when it came to socializing or dealing with local matters in Yuen Long.

Managing the Housework Independently

At the beginning of her mother's stay in Hong Kong, because she did not know Cantonese, activities were also limited. Hong Kong in the 1970s and 1980s still had factories and they allowed housewives to bring materials back home to assemble such as small toys and the wages were usually calculated per sack. Mothers at that time often took materials from the factory to the house to pass the time and look for additional income.

Learn to arrange flowers and make dolls

After a few years in Hong Kong, my mother began to master the Cantonese language quite well, so she began to take courses such as flower arranging, making dolls such as traditional Japanese dolls and Japanese-style crafts with some local friends. As in one of the articles in the "Did you know?" column, I once told you that Hong Kongers at that time were raised with the influence of Japanese culture. One of my favorite toys is a dog-shaped doll made by my own mother, but we didn't bring it with us when we moved to Indonesia.

Mom also learned to make a traditional Japanese wooden racket called Hagoita (羽子板).

Taking a sewing course

My mother also once followed a friend to learn to sew clothes, so when I was in elementary school and my younger sister was a baby, some of our clothes were sewn by my mother.

One of my sister's clothes was made by my mother.

Yam Cha with a friend who lives in the same building

In Hong Kong, in general, neighbors don't really know each other, but my mother has a good friend on different floors. The mother's friend was a Thai woman married to a Hong Kong man who worked as a manager at a Chinese restaurant. They often go to Yam Cha at the restaurant where her husband works. As in the previous article, my mother's friend's children also became my best friends during my stay in Yuen Long.