20 sen happiness

i grew up in countryside. no skyscraper, no tall buildings, the only things that reach the sky are the forest and palm trees. back then everything is cheap. foods, toys, transportation...all of them are so cheap that i can buy a lot of stuffs with just 1 ringgit. of course as a kid i never think of money not like now where everything is about money. we see things in term of money value. i still remember back in primary school, 20 sen is enough pocket money for the whole day and thats all that i get.

when the bell rung at 10 o'clock signalling the start of recess time, everyone will dash to the canteen beside the hall to buy foods just to fill their stomach. my favourite food is fried noodle. 15 sen for a full plate of fried noodle or nasi lemak and 5 sen for a bag of syrup drink is enough to make me happy and keep on going alive throughout the school period. for the rich kids, they usually bring up to 1 ringgit or even more. they have a more luxurious food like nasi ayam for 50 sen each or adding fried egg to the food. after eating, i will spend the remaining time playing with my mates. football, cop tiang or maybe galah panjang. the second bell rung signalling the end of the recess time is then answered reluctantly as the students slowly go back to their respective class.

then there are evening session school (sekolah agama). i dont usually spend any money for this session for it is only for 2 hours. sometimes when i don't spend all of my money during morning school i will buy sweets for 1 sen each or maybe the more expensive one like apollo for 5 sen each. there is also this small hut where my friends gandpa open a small canteen for the kids to come and have lunch. he was really generous for we only have to pay 5 sen for each plate of anything. i usually take fried rice and whats more we can scoop the food ourselves which means that i can have lots of it for just 5 sen. sadly he died not long after that. bless him. 

that's the great value of 20 sen.