my first chewing gum experience.

one evening when i was a pudgy 4-year-old, my dad came back from work with a surprise. he shook the package and told me, “i’ll let you try this after dinner, ok?”
“what’s that?” i eagerly asked. he replied, “chewing gum!” and he showed me this.

[courtesy of www.dutchvalleyfoods.com]

after dinner, my dad took out the box, and like a sacred occasion, he slowly opened the box flap and put one square piece in my palm and one in his.
“now, this sweet, you CANNOT swallow, understand? you can only chew, until it no longer has taste, and then you spit it out. CHEW. understand? DO NOT SWALLOW, ok?” he explained to me the basic rules of eating chewing gum. i nodded solemnly, feeling like a big girl with an important task.
i popped it into my mouth and chewed. at first, i sucked on it. that hard sweet outer layer tasted nice. then i started to chew. i felt like i was eating a lil piece of plasticine.

[courtesy of http://www.hosokawa.com]
about 10 minutes later, my dad announced, “ok, time to spit out the chewing gum!” and led me to the kitchen and stood me in front of the basket/dustbin.
“now, spit.” he instructed. he demonstrated by spitting his into the dustbin.
i spat into the dustbin.
he peered in.
“nothing also. SPIT!!”
*CaaAAaCk*
i stuffed my lil head into the dustbin.
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my dad looked at me.
i looked back at him innocently.
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“make sure you just pangsai (shit) it out later……..”