Memoirs of Canadian Immigrant Kids in Elementary School

As immigrant kids in Canada, we look back on our elementary school years: the classes, the crushes, the bullying, and the toys. Renting out movies from the library, playing Club Penguin. Just the good old days when life had no worries. If you grew up on a Canadian playground, tune in for a trip back to the best days of your life.

Transcript

Why Start With Elementary School

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Welcome back to Catch Up Kyle Cohen. Um here we are back again after our drug or substances series. We were thinking about what we could talk about next, and we landed on the topic of schools. We were thinking that per episode we talk about our school experiences divided by elementary, junior high, high school, and college. I think it'd make a nice little mix in talking about like what we were into, how it changed us, how it impacted us, how our values changed throughout school lives. Thought it would be a pretty interesting series to talk about because for me, I would it would get me to know Kai better and how he was like growing up because we didn't meet until until high school.

SPEAKER_03 0:50

Yeah, this is probably gonna be some more casual episodes, less informative. I more personal episodes, I guess.

SPEAKER_00 0:56

Yeah, definitely more more personal because quite literally it's our it's our personal experiences.

SPEAKER_03 1:02

Yeah, and we I guess we we lived half our lives before meeting each other, you know? Yeah, I wasn't even in the I was literally last yeah, yeah, I wasn't even in the city for uh my early schooling.

SPEAKER_00 1:12

Yeah, because I met you in grade 10. Yep. So yeah. So this episode, we're starting with elementary school.

Moving To Canada And ESL Placement

SPEAKER_00 1:21

Yeah. How actually, yeah, I'll I'll ask you first. How was it like for you?

SPEAKER_03 1:26

So elementary school. So I um moved to Canada when I was about four years old, and not in this city, it was in another city. So I I was a little below elementary school age, and then when we first got here, we actually moved a lot in the first few years. I remember moving like four times, I think. Like within like different cities or within the same cities. So it was it. So first I was in a different province than I am in in Canada right now, and in that province, it was different cities, but like in the same like metro area, kind of, if you know what I mean. Yeah, but yeah, it I was moving a lot those early days, and it wasn't the best. But then eventually, once I started school, we were like in one spot. And honestly, elementary school is pretty, pretty great.

SPEAKER_00 2:13

Question actually. Yeah, sure. So you came here when you were four. Yeah. Did you know English at all?

SPEAKER_03 2:17

Yeah, I knew English already. Oh, you did? Yeah, yeah. So even before my sisters and I had ever like even my so my I have an older sister that's two years older than me, and then another older sister that's four years older than me. And before any of us ever started like kindergarten or or preschool, even my my parents would would help us study at home, would help us like learn and practice English.

SPEAKER_00 2:38

Oh, so you learned English from your parents?

SPEAKER_03 2:40

Yes, at home. Oh wow. At home from my parents. Damn. And so we knew we completely knew English before we well, as well as like kids could.

SPEAKER_00 2:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 2:48

Before we even came to Canada.

SPEAKER_00 2:50

Like, would you say you were fully fluent? Like you could understand read and write. I mean, I guess minus the read and write part because you'd be pretty young, but you're able to understand and speak the language pretty fluently.

SPEAKER_03 2:59

By the time I was in grade one, I definitely wasn't behind anyone. Oh wow. But interestingly enough, so once I was in grade one in school, I was in ESL classes, or maybe maybe not uh ESL classes, but it was like specific classes for kids that may have English, ESL being English as a second language, kids that might have English be their second language, so they're like learn trying to learn English. Yeah. But also for other kids that had maybe some developmental struggles, yeah, or or struggles socializing, things like things like that. And I think that's mainly what I was in those classes for because once once we came here, my English was totally fine, but I guess my teachers noticed that I didn't really talk to very many people, didn't really talk much at all in classes. So I was referred to these special classes, and the the special classes were pretty awesome. I had a great time because uh so it was just like it would just be me and maybe like six, seven other kids in the room together, and we would have this teacher who was like super, super nice, like the night one of the nicest teachers I've ever had, super patient, super kind. Because you know, there were a bunch of different kids with like different needs in that in that classroom, and she would like really, really try to make everyone feel comfortable. But anyways, the classes themselves, we would just be like playing board games and like talking to each other and stuff like that. Yeah, so had a good time with those.

SPEAKER_00 4:19

Why weren't you talking? Like, was it because it wasn't because of English?

SPEAKER_03 4:23

No, it wasn't because of English. I think uh I don't know, maybe it was just my personality at the time. Maybe I was uh, you know, brand new country, quite quite uh, you know, maybe there was a culture shock or something, but maybe I was nervous or qu just a quiet kid, I guess.

SPEAKER_00 4:39

Was was there a

Culture Shock And A Pool Scare

SPEAKER_00 4:40

culture shock?

SPEAKER_03 4:41

I don't remember to be honest.

SPEAKER_00 4:43

Because I mean, I'm in a similar boat. I came here when I was five.

SPEAKER_03 4:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:47

I came here from Korea. Unlike you though, I did not speak English at all. Didn't understand a thing. Yeah. Couldn't read or write anything at all. Interesting. I I remember actually there was a pretty significant culture shock.

SPEAKER_02 4:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:00

Not in the like the language aspect, but more so kind of the environment. Because I came from Seoul. It was like concrete jungle, kind of. Yeah. And then I come here, it's like so peaceful. There's not as much buildings, a lot of greenery, like a lot of fields. Which I thought was interesting.

SPEAKER_03 5:17

Oh, yeah. So once you moved to Canada, were you like here? Yeah at this city that's like a lot of people. I went here my entire life. Oh, okay. That makes sense. Because this is a very green city. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Interesting.

SPEAKER_00 5:26

Yeah. But I was also in ESL. But that was because I actually couldn't speak English. Gotcha. I actually remember when I first came here, I went to YMCA for the first time. And I went to the deep end. Okay. I couldn't swim. But I couldn't speak English either. So I was like drowning. No way. So and then I don't know what to say. Yeah. So I kept on saying like happy me because I thought that meant like help me. Oh man, fuck it. That's that's one of the things.

SPEAKER_03 5:51

Oh, that's so scary, man.

SPEAKER_00 5:52

Yeah, that's vivid.

SPEAKER_03 5:54

I also had a I also also almost like drowned once when I was much older. Yeah, really? Yeah. I almost drowned in in high school. But anyways. Yeah, but anyways, like how is elementary school for you?

Sports, Clubs, And Loving School

SPEAKER_03 6:05

So just a piggyback on the ESL. Actually, no, first ESL or not ESL. Elementary school was uh pretty pretty awesome for me. I uh I I did so I did so much and I remember so much from elementary school. Like I was I was super involved in the tons of things. Like what? Like like I did like choir. I did uh yeah I did choir. I was like always doing like science fair stuff. I was involved in like yeah, like every single sport I played in. I was in this um I was in this running club which would run after school, and it was only in only for like one or two months or something.

SPEAKER_00 6:39

Was it like the Terry Fox day or something like that? No, it wasn't for Terry.

SPEAKER_03 6:42

We did like Terry Fox. Yeah, me too, me too. Yeah, we did that, but that was like in September, right? This running club was like in the summer months.

SPEAKER_00 6:48

Yeah. When it when it gets older, yeah, there were there was something like that in my school too.

SPEAKER_03 6:52

Yeah, yeah. So in this running club, it would just be like an hour or something after school. Some teachers would stay behind, and kids, the kids would like literally, we would just like literally run. Yeah, and they would like track us every time we finished uh a kilometer or something. And I ended up running it like 80 kilometers or something in a month. What? Yeah, yeah. And I was only I was like in grade four.

SPEAKER_00 7:10

I thought do you remember um you know how you would have track and field days in elementary? You get those ribbons? Do you remember that? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:16

I remember those. I got I I have ribbons from running like like 80, 90, 100 kilometers in this running club. Damn, which I which was like I thought it was pretty sick.

unknown 7:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:25

But yeah, beyond that, I also got really into into track and field. Well, running of all kinds, like I did this running club, and that made me get really into cross-country running, and then I I would like go to competitions for cross-country and stuff. Yeah. And then um, once I got a little older, that turned into uh something about running is just I I really loved it. Cause then I started doing other events in track and field, which are like shorter distance runs, like 200 meter, 100 meter relay, or 200 meter relay, 100 meter, 400 meter, stuff like that.

SPEAKER_00 7:55

Were there like I don't remember, were there city meets for track and field than where if there were, I definitely didn't make it that far.

SPEAKER_03 8:01

Oh, okay. Because this was in elementary school. I I did pretty well in the high jump, but not not incredibly well in the in the running, at the short distance runs. Some kids are fast. I guess I wasn't the fastest sprinter, but

Bullying Outside School And Gangs

SPEAKER_03 8:15

I did okay for myself.

SPEAKER_00 8:16

So then school's good.

SPEAKER_03 8:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:20

Were you because you were an immigrant, right? Were you uh were you a victim of bullying?

SPEAKER_03 8:25

I was. Oh you were? Yes, I was. Okay. Which is interesting thinking back because the school that I went to was like all immigrants. Oh really? Yeah, like it was all immigrants. And so I was a subject of bullying, but not actually not at school. It wasn't school where I mean there was bullying at my school, and I'm sure I saw that, but I wasn't like it wasn't it wasn't something I experienced at school. The bullying was actually something that happened in my neighborhood, in like the the area that I lived in. So when we when we moved to the the the last like the house where we stayed out where where I went to school and stuff, it was like a really nice neighborhood. Yeah, like quite nice. Like you could if you like drove through it, you'd be like, wow, it was like a like a rich ass neighborhood. These houses are like huge, these front lawns are gigantic, these driveways are super long.

SPEAKER_02 9:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:17

But it's not like we were rich. We were just like renting like a unit in that neighborhood. It was like a cul-de-sac with really nice houses. And the house we were renting, it was like three uh a gigantic house that was actually three units in one, which like thinking back, the people that owned that place probably made so much bank. Like if they own that house right now, dude, they're probably making so much money. Yeah. Like renting it out to three different people. But, anyways, say uh my my parents initially wanted to be in this neighborhood since it looked like such a nice neighborhood, right? But uh turns out that neighborhood was super fucking rotten. Oh, really? Yeah, like the the something about the kids in in not necessarily in my age group, but like uh like a little bit older. Those kids just super rotten.

SPEAKER_00 9:59

They were like were you beat up or something?

SPEAKER_03 10:01

Uh no, I don't think I got beat up, but I know those I mean they would do some gnarly stuff, but I knew like I knew that they those kids, those like old, so it was always like older kids. They were like there was like a group of kids that was like five years older than us, and then a group of kids that was like my age. And the ones that were like five, six years older than us, they were like involved in like gang violence and shit like that. Yeah, they would like yeah, and there was like so we we were in this cul-de-sac, and then there was another street over that was another cul-de-sac, yeah, and that cul-de-sac had like the same issue where there were kids were like gangs. Gang wars? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then like kids from the older kids from our cul-de-sac, from my cul-de-sac would like go and have like gang wars. Damn. These kids from like these other care from this older call from this other cul-de-sac, and they would like bring like bats and like pipes and shit with them, and like and mace, like bear mace. How old are they? Dude, they were like in grade 10, like not even like grade eight, grade nine.

SPEAKER_00 10:57

That doesn't surprise me too much. Like nowadays, I I even see those though. Really? Yeah, dude.

SPEAKER_03 11:02

That's fucking crazy.

SPEAKER_00 11:04

But but you weren't you weren't like a victim of any of that.

SPEAKER_03 11:07

I was so oh you were, yeah, yeah. I was not like I didn't get like beat up. Oh, but they like what it if it's like us younger kids, like one thing I did, I I know I told you I was like into Beyblades. Yeah, so I love playing with Beyblades, and in my front yard at the end of my front yard, I like dug up like uh in the dirt, I like dug up a little dome thing so I could like play Beyblades in my front yard. And like I would play with my friends, and like when when the older kids would see us, they would like of course like make fun of us and shit like that and like make comments. But luckily, my front yard was like my front yard, so my mom would always be like you know, watching from the window. So as long as I was there, I was like safe from bullying. Damn. But then like occasionally we would like go play some something, anything like soccer or like tag or something, and end up like out of view of you know my my front yard, and then sometimes those kids would like you know push us or you know, try to bully us or something.

SPEAKER_00 12:03

At school, um so they didn't try to bully you for like being of different ethnicity or anything like that?

SPEAKER_03 12:08

No, because we were all Asian.

SPEAKER_00 12:10

Uh see. Yeah, yeah, that was that was a bit different for me. I was me and another friend that we're still friends with who are like one of the only Koreans. Yeah. So they definitely tried bullying us, like the typical slanted eyes, saying like the language stuff. But I don't know, I I don't consider it I don't consider that I was bullied because I always fought back and they couldn't do shit after that. No, that's so so they weren't they were scared of us, so they weren't bullying us. And then whenever they tried to, we just we just fight back and like physically fight back? Yeah, like we weren't started, yeah. But when they tried to do that, then they obviously couldn't win or anything. And it was back then when I was like very young in elementary school. I was like really into like martial arts and stuff like that. Like me and my friends would like spar for fun. So then when people like would try to bully us, we'd fight back and they're like, okay, well, can't do anything. And eventually we all became friends. The only bullying that I I kind of consider is that I don't know if you experienced this, but as a kid, when I was like in grade one to like three or four, my mom would pack Korean food at lunch. Yeah, and I was pretty self-conscious of it because other kids would be like, Oh, ew, what's that smell? Yeah. And I'd always cover it up, eat it, hidden away. Or would ask my mom to pack me like the sandwich or the lunchebles. Yeah. That's really the big thing that I experienced throughout elementary, being quite selfish. No, not selfish, um, self-conscious of that kind of stuff. Did you have any of that?

SPEAKER_03 13:46

So I did have that exact scenario as well. But that didn't happen to me like with the lunch thing. That didn't happen to me until junior high specifically.

SPEAKER_00 13:53

Oh, junior high. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:54

Elementary I was all good. Like I said, I guess it was because I was surrounded by Asians. So like everyone had like an interesting lunch back then, elementary school.

SPEAKER_02 14:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:04

But then once I got to junior high, that's when I started feeling like that kind of pressure. And like, yeah, just like you, I had had to like ask my mom, like, hey, can you stop giving me this delicious food and give me a PB and J sandwich in a second?

SPEAKER_00 14:18

Yeah, yeah. That was me in grade in elementary. And you know, like, sure, I could say, like, oh, like I regret doing that, but I don't know. As a kid, someone tells you that stuff.

SPEAKER_02 14:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:27

Like it, there's no way you're gonna be like, oh, I don't give a fuck. I don't give a shit. You're always gonna be like obviously gonna be self-conscious about it. Yeah, 100%. But that was really the big thing I I struggled with and kind of like that bullying realm. Other than that, yeah, I didn't really have any concerns. I had good friends in elementary, like we always stuck together.

SPEAKER_03 14:45

The the worst thing for bullying that happened to me was I I it's it's not like they were like beating us, but one really fucked up thing, like incredibly fucked up thing. I I don't even know how the fuck people like think about this kind of shit when they're kids. But it's like those older kids, yeah, they would make us younger kids every now and then. I don't know like what the the what called for this, but like sometimes they would like bring us all into a backyard and make us younger kids fight each other.

SPEAKER_01 15:12

Damn.

SPEAKER_03 15:13

And if we didn't fight each other, they would like threaten to beat us up. Damn. So it would be like we'd be like fighting our friends in like a fucking backyard, which is like so fucked up. That is fucked up. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:22

How do you think uh do you think that's that's affected you somehow? I mean that must have.

SPEAKER_03 15:27

Yeah, it must have. I mean it it uh definitely made me like really conscious about how easy it is to hurt someone and how easy it is to get hurt. And I think that's made me try to be more cautious in tense situations. Yeah. Okay. Okay. But I mean like mentally it like fucks with you for sure.

SPEAKER_00 15:54

Probably, yeah. When you're when you're that young and stuff like that happens. There's no way it wouldn't it wouldn't.

SPEAKER_03 15:59

If I could go back and I would beat the shit out of those older kids, like those fucking assholes. What the fuck? That's so fucked up.

SPEAKER_00 16:06

I mean, well so then when you're a kid, would you say you're

Strict Parents, Freedom, And Toys

SPEAKER_00 16:10

like a like I don't know, like a good kid or a bad kid, you're doing good at school.

SPEAKER_03 16:15

I think I was uh I think I was a great kid. I think I gave very little for you know any parent to really worry about when it came when it came to school. I mean, of course I did like kid stuff, like you know, tried to uh stay out more than my parents wanted me to.

SPEAKER_02 16:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 16:30

Like my parents were like quite strict, and I totally get it now. I totally get it why they were quite strict. Why? Because like, dude, like you read stuff about like kids getting kidnapped for like the Epstein files and shit nowadays, and I'm like, yeah, I was a stupid kid, and I probably would have fallen fallen for it if my parents weren't like so like please stay within eye shot, please don't like you know, go off somewhere.

SPEAKER_00 16:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 16:56

Yeah, I I something terrible could have happened to me if my parents weren't so like yeah, that's super interesting because um mine's a little bit opposite.

SPEAKER_00 17:04

Like my parents gave me like a lot of freedom to like just do whatever the hell I want and then come back whenever.

SPEAKER_03 17:11

Because how how old were you when you're like having this freedom? Like six or seven.

SPEAKER_00 17:14

Really? But that's because in Korea, that's how it is, or that's how it was back then at least. Because Korea's a lot safer, of course. I see. Um yeah, because I remember like when I was in Korea, like I was going to school, stuff like that. Like I'd be taking the bus alone to like take one do class and then come home at like 9 p.m. Like all by myself. Damn. Like that's like the norm in like Korea and Japan.

SPEAKER_03 17:37

Damn, that's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 17:38

Yeah, so my parents were kind of like, okay, just do your thing and come back. Well, I mean, luckily nothing happened.

SPEAKER_03 17:43

Yeah, I mean, lucky you in many ways, you had all that freedom and nothing bad happened. So that's great. Yeah, I had to, for the most part, when I was like, I had to like stay within like basically our front window. We had like this big front window in our living room. Yeah, and my mom could like see the cul-de-sac from it, and she would like always be like in the in the kitchen working or something or in the living room, but she would always have like a like eye shot of the cul-de-sac. So she would like always tell me, like, try to stay within this view. Of course I wouldn't. Sometimes I would like disappear and I would lie and be like, Oh, it's in someone's backyard. Yeah, meanwhile, I was like at 7-Eleven buying Yu-Gi-Oh! cards.

SPEAKER_00 18:17

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh man. Oh, speaking of which, I my first ever Yu-Gi-Oh card was the Kaiba deck, and I bought it from 7-Eleven.

SPEAKER_03 18:25

Oh, really? Damn, they sold it out. I so I got that too. Actually, my my sister and I, she wasn't into Yu-Gi-Oh at all. Yeah, but for some reason, she bought the Kaiba deck, and then my other sister got the like Yu-Gi-DOK or Joey deck or something. But basically, we got the Kaiba deck, the Joey deck, and the Yu-Gi-Oh deck.

SPEAKER_00 18:40

Fuck, I remember that so fun. Oh man, I used to love Yu-Gi-Oh! Yeah, me too. I used to duel all the time. Yeah, beyblades. I also used to love. My aunt was living in Korea, and she would send me like the new Beyblades. Yeah, in Korea, they're always like a seat in the head from North America. Yeah. So I got the new Beyblades and I'd be like fucking everyone up. Yeah. Beyblade battles. Boy, that was good times. I still I still love Beyblades.

SPEAKER_03 19:02

So yeah, me too. Dude, back then I remember when you would get the Beyblades in those packaging. It would the packaging back then, even the North American packaging was like quite legit. It would come in like those, you know, when you would go. I don't remember exactly the boxes, but they were like in those trays that you had to like pop out. You remember? Like the plastic pieces.

SPEAKER_00 19:19

Is that was that the North American ones? I know the Asian ones for sure.

SPEAKER_03 19:23

I mean, that's the one I always got. I never got any that where you didn't have to pop them out.

SPEAKER_00 19:27

Yeah, I don't remember.

SPEAKER_03 19:28

And I wasn't like ordering them, I was like getting them from Walmart. Oh, it's probably then a caster. Like the like the dragoon and stuff. And you had to like actually pop them out, just like those. Like, I don't know if you ever had like what was your first Beyblade?

SPEAKER_00 19:39

I remember distinctly which what my first Beyblade was.

SPEAKER_03 19:41

Yeah, me too. I remember mine because okay, so I'll tell you a little story. So my first Beyblade was actually we'll get through this first. My first Beyblade was uh was one of the Walborgs, the first Wallborg. Oh, really? It was Wahlborg? Yeah, damn. The very first Wahlborg. Yeah. Do you remember yours?

SPEAKER_00 19:55

Yeah, mine's mine was in Korea because I was still in Korea when Beyblade came out. I remember my friends first had the Beyblades and I was like, fuck, those are sick as hell. I want one. So then I asked my mom to buy me Dragoon, like Dragoon S. Because that was like Tyson's main Beyblade. Yeah. And they were like, nah, that's too expensive. So they they bought me this, like it's one that's not even in the show. It's called Spark Knight. Yeah. That was my first ever Beyblade. Nice. Fuck, yeah. Because I remember that. I actually bought one recently.

SPEAKER_03 20:23

A Spark Knight?

SPEAKER_00 20:24

Yeah. For like nostalgic sakes. I still have it like in in new inbox.

SPEAKER_03 20:29

Yeah, how is it? It's fucking sick. Really? Yeah. You came around? Yeah. Even though it's not in the anime.

SPEAKER_00 20:34

I remember back then for sure though, I was kind of bitter. Yeah. Because my parents wouldn't buy me the more expensive one.

SPEAKER_03 20:39

But it is what it is, you know? They got you something. So that's nice. But yeah, so this Wahlborg. Yeah. My very first Wahlborg. So I got to Canada and I learned about show and tell class. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:49

Oh yeah. Yeah, dude. Actually, that's such a good point. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:52

So I learned about show and tell class. Someone's doing show and tell, sharing something, and a teacher asks me, because like I'm not a talkative kid, this is grade one. I still remember my teacher's name. But but yeah, she like asks me, like, hey, do you have anything that you want to bring to class? Maybe you could just use a new kid, you could like bring it. I even remember my first day in uh school. I don't remember why, but so many like everyone was like surrounding me.

SPEAKER_00 21:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:14

As if like I was like a special new kid.

SPEAKER_00 21:17

Well, was it did you come to did you start like grade one midway?

SPEAKER_03 21:22

I think so. I think I started grade one like a couple weeks after grade one actually started. Yeah. So I remember like kids were like surrounding me, and I'm like, whoa, what's going on?

SPEAKER_02 21:30

Damn.

SPEAKER_03 21:31

But uh yeah, like I took this wallborg to to school for show and tell class. Yeah. And that same day, someone fucking stole it from my desk, man. Really? Yeah. You remember those desks that would like basically be like a cubby, you know? And you could like put something in your desk and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_02 21:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:46

Yeah, I left my wallborg in my in my desk, go up for recess, come back in. Someone fucking stole that shit.

SPEAKER_00 21:51

Damn, you cried.

SPEAKER_03 21:52

I didn't cry, but I was so sad. And like I told my parents, and I was like, Yeah, fuck, someone stole it, man. And then uh and then I did. get another wallboard but then I got uh uh they they they did buy me more bait more bait blades I got I I had like a Dragoon I had like one Johnzer I had like like four dragoons or something would you say your parents are the type of people who bought you like whatever you requested it turns out not whatever I requested but they they they did make sure I had toys like it it wasn't like like if I wanted like a PlayStation it's not like they're gonna get me a PlayStation.

Cheating, Stealing, And Getting Caught

SPEAKER_00 22:25

Yeah because it's like that's too expensive you know yeah yeah my parents were kind of yeah it took me some effort to really ask for what I wanted. Yeah it it wasn't yeah it wasn't like they would get me everything but it's like they would tell me like okay today you can get something and then I would like get like a like I remember I had like an a He-Man action figure I had like a Power Ranger action figure I was like really into action figures dude I had like uh you remember Saint Seya Knights of the Philippines I had like Saint Seya action figures yeah oh my god I forgot about that good times so what was your favorite class you remember my favorite class I don't know I guess cliche would be like gym class or something but yeah do you even remember the subjects back then was it like science class class English class yeah like that social studies computer class I had one of those French in elementary yeah really yeah yeah oh wait you're right I had French as well in elementary I like I mean oh yeah I like gym I like math because I've oh yeah I I think math was my favorite subject back then hated English really yeah oh I guess because it was like yeah was it because you it was like difficult yeah I remember like I actually remember my first time cheating really it was probably in grade I think one it was a spelling test I wrote that shit on a paper and I looked and I was like I had it on my hand I got caught you got caught and I scrambled and I threw on the ground and the teacher was like what is that I'm like fuck I don't know that's have you ever cheated since then no no do yeah I've never cheated my I wonder if that's that's why like I was like traumatized probably like you had like that bad experience like tried cheating and the first time you try you fucking get caught yeah I I had a lot of similar experiences like that when I was young for example I was in the superstore when I was in like grade two or something I stole a pack of Yu-Gi-Oh cards I got caught and then the employer was like I remember this very vividly I remember it's like oh I would have I would have sent you to jail really yeah and instead and I was like holy fuck I mean he couldn't send you to jail no of course of course he was he was definitely trying to scare me yeah but back then I was I was like scared as fuck.

SPEAKER_03 24:28

Uh looking back was he being an asshole or do you appreciate him saying that at all definitely I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00 24:32

Oh okay yeah like I mean I guess because you were doing something pretty bad yeah yeah like no one should enable such behaviors right so I mean my parents just bought the pack and then they go up with it was a shitty pack too I did get anything also you did it like while at Superstore with your parents there they were shopping and then I was at like the toy section. Yeah and I just like jacked that damn you're ballsy.

SPEAKER_03 24:50

Yeah there's no way I mean I've never I've never like stolen or cheated in my life. Yeah actually actually no I take that back I kind of stole once yeah when I was I was like super super young and I wanted to I don't know if this I mean this is like nasty it doesn't really count as stealing but something gross I did it was like when we were in the uh one time I remember we were in checkout for a grocery store like leaving a grocery store. You know how they have like those candy bars outside yeah yeah yeah I wanted the Twix yeah right but I didn't like say anything I just grabbed the Twix yeah I I started eating the Twix like like chewing on the wrapper like not even opening it I was just chewing on the wrapper not hard enough to like bite into it. I was like mom I want this and I had like put my mouth on the fucking wrapper of the Twix already. Yeah she's like no you can't have this so then I put it back after like already having my teeth and mouth like on the fucking yeah wrapper. That's not that's not stealing yeah that's not stealing but it's like something shitty that I should have done. Damn like got my germs all over this fucking Twix for that was fair that was fair. Um yeah but I I've never like always been like too scared to get in do you get in trouble a lot in school in elementary school? No not at all. Damn really I mean and so if I did ever get in trouble yeah it was like almost always it would be like an uh someone that like doesn't like a teacher that has no idea has no experience with me that would like be on some power trip or something and that would be like the trouble I would get in but then like my parents would get involved and be like oh your parents would get involved well if like my parents would get involved yeah like back then I remember like if you did anything they would just call call home like did that happen to me I don't know actually yeah yeah I remember there was so there was like my school here then like we had a sh we had a bunch of fields in my elementary school but one of the soccer fields was shared with another elementary school that was across that soccer field. Yeah so I guess sometimes we weren't like supposed to be there. Yeah but then like one time I went there during like recess playing soccer with my friends in that field during like one of those times where we like weren't supposed to be there and like some teacher like comes comes and like fucking pulls us away and be like you're not supposed to fucking be here like starts going on like this power trip and like calls all our parents and our parents are like what the fuck's wrong with you yeah why are you calling us they went in the field oh so your parents were like on your side. Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah okay because they're like well they're kids they just went on a field they didn't like hurt anyone they didn't get hurt yeah what's what's the big deal like okay sorry he won't go there again damn yeah I I never really got in trouble at all really hey yeah even like later elementary years like we had six grade fifth yeah in elementary never no even yeah you know I mean pretty much like almost all of my school life I never really got in trouble I would say yeah I got into trouble a lot in elementary a lot yeah a lot do you know do you have some examples like what kind of stuff were you getting in trouble for like fighting was one fight like fist fighting kids yeah and I mean that's because they were trying to bully us like how common was this like a daily thing no it's like a weekly thing I would say yeah that's still horrible I don't know is it horrible I feel like I feel like back then I enjoyed it which is kind of crazy because like I said I was into martial arts right yeah and then like we were like I didn't I wouldn't like pick someone and just beat them up like I'd use it as self-defense. But you were like beating them up yeah yeah like how high were you going? Were you like punching them in the face?

SPEAKER_00 28:02

Oh no no no I was just like like trip them and they're like yeah like push them to the ground like ruffle them to the ground stuff right like nothing like I would cause injury yeah yeah yeah and then just enough so that they don't start doing stuff again. Yeah yeah yeah that's still uh yeah that's that's rough for kids and then stealing a couple times like in like book fairs I've done it. Yeah oh yeah the scholastic book fair dude those are so fire man dude yeah they were so fun do you ever buy anything or just my parents won't let me oh how come they thought it was a waste of money oh okay so was it like they had the money they just didn't want to spend it on that well I would say like growing up my parents definitely didn't have much money oh okay so how about like toys for you yeah like what was what was a toy situation like yeah I mean I'd always have like I would have to beg for for toys right I see like my aunt would always send me toys from Korea that was like big thing. Other than that I wouldn't say my parents bought me too many toys. Would you ask for toys like often I would yeah yeah like I used to I I also really used to like beat em on it's like battle beat em on yeah I had those too yeah like I like Pokemon cards but they wouldn't they wouldn't really buy me Pokemon cards. Yeah Yu-Gi-Oh was really I was really into it I got that Kaiba deck yeah and I don't think they bought me too much after that either like I got my fate like first gaming device

Anime Pride And Gifted Programs

SPEAKER_00 29:20

when I was like in grade three I think like the Game Boy Advanced SP but that was that was really it yeah like I they didn't buy me like a game cube or anything like that.

SPEAKER_03 29:31

But yeah interesting so I was definitely more envious of other yeah that makes sense other kids did you uh what kind of stuff were you into back then like were you into so if like you know games you need money for but things that you don't like did you play any sports were you into like those kind of stuff no in elementary I I actually think I I don't think I was that athletic.

SPEAKER_00 29:48

Like I was into martial arts that's that my number one yeah but me and my friends we just like go out to the park go into the fields and play out until like 10 11 p.m like jungle gym and stuff yeah and like we'll role play a lot because it used to be I I was really into anime yeah like really into anime yeah yeah like uh started with Inuyasha yeah yeah dude I was like Inuyasha's like my favorite dude we were probably watching the same shit on TV when we were kids yeah like on like bionics and stuff like that like Yu-Gi-Oh Pokemon for sure Beyblades as well but then like my top two things that I was most into in elementary that's more memorable is Inuyasha and Naruto.

SPEAKER_03 30:23

I was so into Naruto Shaman King oh yeah yeah so good yeah like all those all those uh YTV anime shows yeah and then yeah I I guess that's something they try to make fun of me too in school like liking anime oh yeah yeah but I wasn't really it didn't affect me yeah I would say I was pretty proud of it actually rather really yeah yeah I was I mean I was into anime too but I never like expressed it I think for some reason I think I probably knew like it was like not cool yeah it was almost like shaped that way back then like now it's pretty cool right yeah yeah now it's chill you know that back then people were definitely making fun of other people yeah yeah yeah like I like I remember going to like libraries and reading just manga really yeah I didn't know they had I used to go to the library a lot too I didn't know they had uh mangas back then yeah but yeah I wasn't I wasn't too good at school in elementary either I would say so I got into trouble a lot from my parents for that like they always had that pressure for me to do good in school even in elementary they made me do like like workbooks and stuff like that um tutoring yeah I did as well were you like really uninterested or do you just like not get it?

SPEAKER_00 31:34

No I was good at math. But that's because I came from Korea and I already had like much more advanced or something yeah but yeah like English install I was was never good at in elementary. I got way better at it later on. But then yeah well I wouldn't say yeah I was saying I was never really interested in school when I was young would always play a lot with my friends but you know but I I I enjoyed elementary quite a bit like I think of it very fondly.

SPEAKER_03 32:03

Yeah me too I I did like everything so I said I was in I th for the for the first um two years I think grade one grade two I was in those like ESL classes. Yeah me too yeah yeah but then after I got finished with those ESL classes and I like started like talking more and stuff then like I guess the the teachers realized or thought maybe not realized but thought that I was like like a like gifted. So then I was in a gifted program in elementary yeah in elementary for for three years after that. So I went for ESL doing ESL for like one or two years and I was in a gifted program for three years. And in this grip gifted program we would me from my school and then like other kids from other schools we a teacher would drive us all to like a certain high school and then we would have like special classes where we would like research topics together.

SPEAKER_00 32:51

Damn what the fuck yeah oh I think I think my school had one of those but I was never in one of the gifted classes.

SPEAKER_03 32:58

Yeah I remember because I was in the gifted class for like two years and then teachers were like asking me like oh who else who do you who else do you think would be like a good fit for this they would ask you like ask for prospects? Yeah yeah yeah no joke and I remember there was this one kid who was my friend but he was kind of an asshole but he like he like really wanted to be in this like gifted program. Yeah so he was like telling me like refer me refer me refer me um and then I did end up referring him but he like did not do well at all in that class and that was also my last year of doing the gifted program because then we moved again over here.

SPEAKER_00 33:35

But yeah that's one thing I regretted I shouldn't have re referred to do you think um did you do good in the the the gifted classes?

SPEAKER_03 33:43

I did well in every class. Yeah were you like top in the class oh yeah easily yeah I was um I I I did super super well in school I was like super interested in everything. Yeah was that out of your own yeah motivation in terms of motivation I was just I just liked doing all that stuff like I I don't know if I I don't know if I mentioned like I did like choir I was doing like fucking I was I was doing like it wasn't band but it was like something like band I was doing like xylophones yeah music class yeah no no but it wasn't music class it was extracurricular. Oh damn like choir yeah I was in do you know handbells yeah yeah I was in fucking handbells as well like I did I did like everything that extracurricular that you could do I was interested in doing it.

SPEAKER_00 34:26

Do you think um being in that gift to class being involved in so many extracurricular activities when you were that young it impacted your life in any positive or negative way?

SPEAKER_03 34:36

Impacted my life in a positive way for sure 100% because I I I look back very very fondly on those days at that period of my life specifically like the the schooling stuff that I did it was always like everything was really new everything was really interesting everything was really fun.

SPEAKER_00 34:54

But like leading up to your later junior high high school and college years do you think those experiences like I don't know made you smarter made you more prepared made you or whatever well since I stopped in grade five I'm sure the the effects of it well I mean maybe you know starting at such a young age I'm sure it did help.

SPEAKER_03 35:14

Yeah with critical thinking and stuff like that. I'm sure it did help and you know I wish I could have stayed in that program throughout all of my schooling rather than which is like the big thing that sucks ass about moving. Oh you move yeah yeah I moved and that's I I moved to provinces so that's why I wasn't in like any kind of program like that anymore. And

Libraries, Early Internet, And YouTube

SPEAKER_03 35:35

thinking back it would have been it would have been pretty awesome to like just continue on that path the whole time. I wonder like where that would have led. But yeah I the there was a just like adding on to the extra clickers I did the there was this science thing that I did there was like this bridge building competition that I did in like third grade or something or fourth grade.

SPEAKER_00 35:53

I did want something similar in fourth grade oh yeah how'd you do I used Legos.

SPEAKER_03 35:57

You used Legos? Yeah okay well we weren't allowed to use Legos we had like specific materials that we could use. How'd you go?

SPEAKER_00 36:04

Oh mine wasn't like it was first place.

SPEAKER_03 36:05

I mean there's no way you can be Legos it just builds down pressure in there yeah so for us we were only allowed to use like popsicle sticks glue cell phone tape stuff like that. Yeah and then like the the bridge that I built ended up like winning the whole comp not just in my school but like with the broader competition yeah ended up winning the whole fucking thing. Damn damn and I still remember that so it's like definitely felt good.

SPEAKER_00 36:30

Do you remember in elementary like do you play like were you playing any video games? Yeah I was I remember I remember I personally remember a very slight few that's very memorable. Like which ones?

SPEAKER_03 36:39

I mean like Maple Story for sure oh yeah but that's okay but I'm talking about maybe other ones that's that other people might not know is like um adventure quest yeah battle quest yeah yeah so good I remember I remember asking for my birthday I remember asking my parents for a guardian yeah guardianship yeah yeah yeah yeah for adventure quest and I was like fuck no I'm not putting my credit card into this yeah it was like you know understandable that was so fun though I I had like like 10 characters once yeah because like every single class I had to have a character and like you could only level it to like level 30 or something before you needed to get guardian. They had like Dragon Slayer right or something yeah they had like dragon slayer they had like vampires yeah vampire like a beast man like other you could be like a regular knight or some bullshit there was so much bullshit in that I would say other than Pokemon that was like my first like RPG game I was really introduced to and really into I think that was my first one. Yeah yeah and I remember other than that I remember things like you know when I was in computer class I'd play like mini clips I remember like mini clips yeah yeah I would do a ton of that too I remember a after school so after my sisters and I did our schooling my mom would pick us up or like after like running club or whatever my mom would pick us up and then she still had like work to do right so she would like take time off work pick us up and my dad would also be at work. She would pick us up take drop us off at the public library yeah and then we would be at the public library and my mom would go back to work. Yeah and so we'd have like a couple hours at the public library and then over there I would you could get like one hour on the computer. I remember that's what I did yeah you have to like sign up for it and stuff and there was also like a separate room that was like supposed to be for people like quiet computers for for people like doing like research and shit.

SPEAKER_01 38:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 38:25

But then my sister my sister figured out like well you can just like sign up for a computer in there and game it there.

SPEAKER_00 38:31

Yeah. That's that's where I was playing Battle Quest. Oh in like those like research rooms no just like in in the libraries.

SPEAKER_03 38:37

Oh okay yeah me too yeah that's that's where I got into adventure quests. Yeah but then like you know I only had one hour on the computer so after the hour was up had to like kill the rest of the time.

SPEAKER_02 38:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 38:48

So for the rest of the time I would make photocopies my mom would like give me change to use the copier machine so I would make I would take encyclopedia books and like find an animal that I like really liked. Yeah and then I would take it to the photocopier and photocopy the encyclopedia page so that once I go home I could read the encyclopedia page damn you're reading encyclopedia pages about animals. I was like really into like like all kinds of cats like bobcats, lynxes, tigers, jaguars, cheetahs, like leopards, every kind of cat. So I would uh I would like read encyclopedia pages about cats and like different kinds of birds and fish and stuff.

SPEAKER_00 39:23

Damn yeah that's so that's so like academic.

SPEAKER_03 39:26

Yeah I mean I was really into I wasn't like doing it to try to be an app like smartass or academics or like trying anything like that. I was just super interested in that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_00 39:35

All my interests were like purely anime and like um Beyblades Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh. Yeah. And like I'd rent out movies and like things from the and from the public library. Oh my god rentals yeah like uh it not blockbusters there was something before blockbuster do you remember no blockbusters is the last thing I remember there was one before blockbusters not that not that I I like my parents didn't weren't rich enough to get stuff from Blockbuster I did just go to the library.

SPEAKER_03 40:04

Yeah I I since you since you brought it up so I I didn't know you could actually rent games from the library.

SPEAKER_00 40:09

Did you know that you could like request games I think so I remember I I never knew that but like that but that wasn't relevant to me because I I didn't have like a console where I could rent out games.

SPEAKER_03 40:18

No like computer games. Oh really you could like request like computer CDs and stuff and they would uh they would uh allegedly they would like try to get it for you I never did it but uh I don't remember that yeah yeah apparently we could do that but uh did you have a computer at home yeah but it wasn't like it wasn't mine it was in my parents' room but you but you could like play games on it yeah I remember I would have like a GBA emulator oh really Pokemon games I I would play a Game Boy color emulator at the library PCs. Oh really yeah yeah it was like an online emulator like in the browser oh was it that yeah it was a Game Boy color emulator in the browser and since I only had one hour yeah you can't like save your games so I I played the first hour of Pokemon yellow like hundreds of times. Damn first hour first hour of Pokemon I I think I got up to get that far in no yeah I was like trying to speedrun it every time like I would like make it to Mount Moon or like I think there was like a couple times where I barely make it to barely make it to the misty battle and then times up.

SPEAKER_00 41:20

No you probably can't even make it to the misty battle by by an hour.

SPEAKER_03 41:23

I don't know I was like rushing it I think maybe once I made it or something.

SPEAKER_00 41:27

Yeah one thing I also remember is that elementary was when YouTube first came out yeah yeah I remember in the grade five grade six I remember like Ryan Higa I think huge right like smosh yeah there would be like kids in the in like grade six class quoting like how to be a ninja yeah how to be a ninja that's so iconic like how to be a gangster or something like that. I thought actually what's so funny about it me too I thought it was hilarious.

SPEAKER_03 41:52

Yeah and you remember like have you ever watched like anime on YouTube like in like four different parts yes yes like those doing all the time yeah like Naruto part one episode 137 part like one part two part three part four yeah yeah and it would always have like they would always have like their own like fake like intro song or some shit. Yeah oh my god I remember that so much good times wow it it's crazy

Crushes, Worries, And Growing Up

SPEAKER_03 42:15

that I mean it's been like 20 years so I guess it makes sense that things have come so far but things have come so far.

SPEAKER_00 42:21

Yeah do you think um as as an elementary kid do you remember having any worries not at all no like pretty much nothing.

SPEAKER_03 42:31

And if I did it was it was very very fleeting it was like in the moment and then it's like doesn't matter anymore.

SPEAKER_00 42:37

Yeah mine mine was only about academics because my parents were pretty hard on it other than that I don't think I had much worries. Yeah. Did you did you have any interest in girls?

SPEAKER_03 42:49

Yeah I did. I mean I had like crushes on girls actually yeah yeah crushes crushes yeah yeah I totally had crushes I remember in like as early as like second grade I don't think I had a crush in grade one but I remember in second grade there was this girl that I liked and I still remember her name. Oh yeah it was like it's saying yeah why would I still remember her name have you have you looked her up never damn really yeah because I don't know I don't even know how I would do it because I'm in a completely different city. What do you mean you just do Facebook or like I don't know Instagram I don't know I mean I get I I think she moved away before I moved away too though. I don't remember her being there in like grade five I think she moved away in like grade three or four. Yeah so if I do go on Facebook and like look through like my old friends my elementary school's friends which I only have like I only have like five of them on Facebook in the first place because Facebook wasn't a thing back then.

SPEAKER_00 43:42

No it came out in elementary actually when I was I remember grade five maybe grade six.

SPEAKER_03 43:46

Yeah I think I think grade six is when I got Facebook. Yeah. So yeah I don't even have like a bunch of those those kids from my elementary before I moved added on Facebook.

SPEAKER_00 43:55

So I don't even know how I would stalker do you have like girlfriend elementary? Never yeah me neither I I had crushes like same same as you. Yeah. I'm like grade one, grade two. Like I in grade six though, I remember like actually really liking a girl.

SPEAKER_03 44:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:07

And I was like pretty like all over in my head and I was like pretty dramatic about it.

SPEAKER_03 44:11

Oh, really? Like you really want to. Okay. So but do you remember like in those moments, like what was the plan? Are you gonna like ask her to be your girlfriend? That's true. Yeah. There was no plan. Yeah, exactly. Same here. Like thinking back, like I it's not like I was gonna ask her to be my girlfriend if I if I did, like, what does that even mean? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Like, are we gonna hang out together every recess from? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:32

But I would say, yeah, I don't know. I think my sexual awakening was probably in elementary, like like definitely like grade six. Really?

SPEAKER_03 44:40

I don't think it was for me. I think it was a while, I think it was a while after. I think it's like junior high. That's when I started thinking about that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_00 44:47

Yeah, I guess yeah, because I guess for me, I think puberty kind of started around end of grade six.

SPEAKER_03 44:52

Yeah, I think I think for me too. Yeah, but I I really wasn't like thinking about any of that at all. Like m in terms of like girls, yeah. I was just thinking like, you know, oh, I think this girl's like really pretty.

SPEAKER_00 45:04

So then what do you think was the most important thing in your life back then in elementary school?

SPEAKER_03 45:09

The most important thing, I don't think there was a singular important thing. I was just like living life, having fun.

SPEAKER_00 45:14

Yeah, worry free, hey.

SPEAKER_03 45:16

Yeah, yeah. We're really worry free. Just like trying to, and not even thinking like trying to be happy. I just was happy.

SPEAKER_00 45:23

Did you ever wish that? Oh, I wish I was a grown-up.

SPEAKER_03 45:26

Yeah, all well, very often back then in situations like, for example, when I would ask my my parents for like a guardian membership for a request for my birthday, yeah, they would say no. I'd be like, Man, I wish I was a fucking grown-up so I could just like do it myself.

SPEAKER_02 45:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 45:40

You know, in those situations, yeah, I would I would want to be a grown-up, or like if I was like, this isn't happened very much at all in elementary school, but a little bit older when I was in junior high, like I think it's like kind of common kids get like belittled by adults.

SPEAKER_02 45:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 45:54

And then like those situations, I'd be like, I wish I was a fucking grown up. Like now as an adult, like take me

Moving, Identity, And Lasting Impact

SPEAKER_03 46:00

back.

SPEAKER_00 46:00

Do you remember like as an elementary school kid ever seeing like junior high or high school kids and you're like, Whoa, like they're so they're so grown up, they're so they're so big.

SPEAKER_03 46:10

No, I didn't because so so that original elementary school I went to before I moved here. Back then, it was a primary school secondary school system. There was no junior high. So elementary school went up to eighth grade.

SPEAKER_02 46:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 46:23

And then secondary school went from nine to twelve. So I guess like the there was no like junior high kids, but I guess like high school kids, yeah. I thought they were like, I thought they were huge, you know.

SPEAKER_00 46:35

Yeah, and that's so interesting. Cause then and then when you're a high school kid, it's just like, oh, it's it's whatever.

SPEAKER_03 46:40

It's yeah, it's literally just the same thing, like still feel like a kid. Yeah. I mean, how about you? What'd you think of older kids?

SPEAKER_00 46:47

I thought they were like kind of cool, you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, me too. Like so mature and yeah, like they're huge, yeah, stuff like that.

SPEAKER_03 46:54

I I viewed them as like uh the main characters in whatever story I was. Yeah, yeah. Rather than me being like the main character, I was like, oh, these are the big shots.

SPEAKER_02 47:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 47:04

But then when I was in like their position, I didn't view myself as the big shot at all.

SPEAKER_00 47:08

Me too. Me too, me too. Do you remember do you remember like Halloween in elementary? Yeah. How'd you buy you would buy candy for people?

SPEAKER_03 47:16

Well, I don't know about I don't know about the candy buying process. Like, that would be my parents, but I remember buying like getting my own costume and going trick-or-treating. Did you do that?

SPEAKER_00 47:23

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Did you remember your first costume? It was uh it was uh cheetah. A cheetah grade one, I think.

SPEAKER_03 47:30

I was uh I was I mean, I like to believe I was sub-zero from Mortal Kombat, but I think I was just a generic blue ninja.

SPEAKER_00 47:37

Sub-Zero in elementary school? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 47:39

I mean like the costume looked like sub-zero from Mortal Kombat. Yeah, but I think like look, I think I wanted it to be sub-zero, yeah, but I think actually it was just like blue ninja.

SPEAKER_00 47:49

Yeah, damn, that was so fun.

SPEAKER_03 47:50

Yeah.

unknown 47:51

Fuck.

SPEAKER_03 47:52

That's what I would be dressing up as. Do you remember those it there would always be like the UNICEF drive around?

SPEAKER_00 47:57

I I was doing that too. Yeah, I was getting money for unique stuff.

SPEAKER_03 48:00

Yeah, same here. And then I would never be able to like get very much. So then I would ask my parents, like, can you like throw some change in there?

SPEAKER_00 48:06

Yeah. Yeah. In in elementary, did you ever get a sense of like popularity hierarchy? Or was that too early for you?

SPEAKER_03 48:14

No, I it was definitely too early for me. Like, even thinking back, like the friends that I had, I was just super happy having those friends. I didn't think at all about like, oh, I wanted to be friends with like popular kids, or even think about like who popular kids were. I think back then I I uh reserved that for like older kids. It's not something to concern myself with.

SPEAKER_00 48:37

I definitely saw more of that in grade six, I would say. Yeah. But up until then, no, not really.

SPEAKER_03 48:43

Yeah, I guess I'm not I'm not thinking much about my grade six experience. I'm thinking about like five and before, because that's before I moved here. But yeah, in grade six, I guess I I was at a brand new school again, so I had to like make new friends.

SPEAKER_02 48:53

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 48:53

Yeah. Actually, I went to I went to two different grade sixes. Damn. Yeah, not in the other province. So end of grade five, I moved here. Yeah. Went to a grade six, went to a school on one end of the city, then halfway through the year, I fucking moved again. So then I had to switch to another elementary school in grade six.

SPEAKER_01 49:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 49:12

And like for half a year make these new friends. And then after half a year, now junior high starts. So now I gotta make new friends again.

SPEAKER_02 49:19

Fuck.

SPEAKER_03 49:19

Yeah, that shit was ass. I think I actually think when when you got like kids, I think moving is like one of the worst things you can do.

SPEAKER_00 49:27

No, I agree. I I actually I agree. Yeah, I agree.

SPEAKER_03 49:29

I think it's like I think it's uh so tough on the kid.

SPEAKER_00 49:33

Yeah, for sure, 100%. Yeah, even for like adults, it's tough.

SPEAKER_03 49:36

So imagine it's just for a kid, like yeah, because like as a kid, literally all you have is like your friends.

SPEAKER_00 49:43

Yeah, that's like everything you have. Like your peers are the ones who define you.

SPEAKER_03 49:46

Yeah, you don't you don't own anything, you know. There's like there's you don't have much about your identity, it's just the friends that you have, and like whatever achievements you've had, like those achievements that I had in school up until grade five, move here, that shit doesn't matter anymore. Never happened. Oh, that's true, none of it ever happened. Damn, think about that. Yeah, that's like so like I like I was in a different position that I that I worked hard to be in over there, and then have it all like not matter, yeah, kind of fucking sucked.

SPEAKER_00 50:13

Fuck, yeah, that's true.

SPEAKER_03 50:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 50:15

How do you think then looking back on it, how has your elementary school years affected you as an adult, you think?

SPEAKER_03 50:25

Well, I definitely think about that time. I g I guess I think about all a lot of times when I pass a lot, but I think very fondly of those days in in elementary school.

SPEAKER_00 50:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 50:36

Yeah, very, very fondly.

SPEAKER_00 50:37

I think it But like rather than just thinking about it, but like how do you think it's affected your values, your interests, and like things like that?

SPEAKER_03 50:45

Well, it affected my interests because around that time I I guess it doesn't really have to do much with being elementary, but more with the with my age, like stage of life I was in. But like that's when I fell in love with like anime. Yeah, you know, that's when I learned that I really like certain sports. Like I I found my my love for high jump in like a random gym class just one day in uh in elementary school. It opened me to some of the some of the fucked up nature of some kids, specifically in like those, you know, like backyard fight club moments. Yeah. But I think it was generally like a I think it was generally positive things from from my childhood. And those things shaped the way the effect that they had on me was generally positive. I was able to uh do a lot of things, explore my interests. Unfortunately, I didn't keep up with a lot of those interests after that time, but I think it was still valuable for me to like go experience all these different things.

SPEAKER_00 51:46

Yeah, I agree. I think I had a very privileged elementary school experience, I think. Very stable.

SPEAKER_03 51:53

Yeah. I mean, considering you were you had uh face bullying weekly.

SPEAKER_00 51:57

But like I said, uh for me, I I didn't perceive that as bullying. You know what I mean? It was like almost like a hobby because what the fuck? Yeah, like oh that time of the week again. Yeah, yeah. I mean, yeah, I mean they're they're asking for it. So but yeah, I had really close-knit friends that I'm still friends with till this till this day.

SPEAKER_02 52:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 52:19

I think laid foundation for my interests now, which I really take, don't take granted for. I think it's part of the reason why I'm still living in this city why I am. I'm very attached to a lot of the experiences. Maybe it's a bad thing, actually, because I'm now so dependent on some of the things that I grew up with because I think so fondly of it.

SPEAKER_03 52:40

Yeah, I've noticed you, you know, we've talked about this a lot, and I've noticed that you you really do feel attached to the specific city and and the people in it, and and you're like you're you're you're chill, you've you've always been really cool with just this being your home base.

SPEAKER_00 52:56

Yeah. I guess actually, yeah, maybe maybe that is a bad thing.

SPEAKER_03 52:58

Is that a bad thing? I don't think that's a bad thing.

SPEAKER_00 53:00

Well, I do because I think moving around like definitely widens your worldview and perspective. And I and I think that's important too.

SPEAKER_03 53:07

So yeah, but you could just travel. That's true.

SPEAKER_00 53:10

I mean, I think living in somewhere different is different than traveling, though.

unknown 53:14

True.

SPEAKER_03 53:14

Yeah.

Cops And Robbers With A Rabid Dog

SPEAKER_03 53:15

Yeah. Can I tell one more story? Yeah, yeah, yeah. One like little story. So we used to play this. Was one of my favorite things to do back in the back in the cul-de-sac uh before I moved here, is we played the have you ever played cops and robbers? Yeah. Yeah. So we used to play cops and robbers all the time. This was like one of the few activities where there were not many fights in the cul-de-sac. The older kids would join in, the younger kids would join in, everyone would be like, everyone loves playing cops and robbers. Yeah. So it would just be a good old-fashioned game of cops and robbers. And I like being a robber all the time because I like running, not chasing.

SPEAKER_00 53:45

Really?

SPEAKER_03 53:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 53:46

I was the opposite.

SPEAKER_03 53:47

Oh, really? Yeah. You always like being a cop, yeah, chasing people down. Dude, I loved being a robber, running away.

SPEAKER_00 53:53

Being a robber made me so anxious.

SPEAKER_03 53:55

Really? Yeah. Dude, that's like that's like so thrilling for me. Damn. I was like the thrill of the hunt, dude, or like being hunted, I guess. Yeah. I I fucking loved it. Like sneaking around. Okay. So, dude, our cops and robber games were awesome. So we fled, we played in our cul-de-sac, like I said, and we would be the strat would be so the jail, you know, there's like a jail in cops and robbers.

SPEAKER_02 54:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 54:15

The jail would be my front yard. For some reason, that was a jail. And my front yard had like two tiers of bushes. So the jail would be like right at the end of the front yard, then over here there's like bushes, and then behind it, there's like more bushes. Yeah. And those bushes kind of connect to the door that's like the backyard of the front house of the my house. So, anyways, the strat back then was to jump fences. Like go into, you know, you can't just like run over willy-nilly to the fucking jail and try to free people. Yeah, you gotta sneak around. So we would jump over fences across like 10 backyards to finally get to my backyard, then like sneak out and try to free people, right? Yeah. One time. So so behind my house was another house with this dog. And it was like a fucking rabid dog. It was like some gigantic, like I don't know, man. It was like some really aggressive fucking dog. Anytime I would play in my backyard, the dog would like like ram against a fence. He would like fucking tackle the fence and shit, like trying to break through the fence. And um, I'm I'm almost in my backyard. Gotta jump over the last fence. I'm with two other guys, my friend and his little brother. And we're trying to get his little brother over the fence first, because he's the smallest and he can't do it himself. So we're like trying to get him over. And the the fucking dog that I was mentioning earlier, he's going fucking crazy. He's going ballistic. I don't know why. I probably thinks like we're like trying to break into his house or something, which we're not. We're like super far, like we're like 20 meters away from like their fence.

SPEAKER_01 55:39

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 55:46

Smashes a hole in their fence and starts charging at us. My friend, the older brother of the kid that we're trying to get over the wall, he books it. He starts running away the other way. The kid falls down, and now it's just me and him in front of this fucking dog. And I'm scared, like shitless. I thought I was gonna actually die at that moment. Yeah, luckily, the I don't know if it was the owner or someone else. They like whistled, and this dog was like right in front of us, and it was like going crazy. Thought he was gonna eat my ass, bro. But uh yeah, the owner fucking calls him, calls him back. The dog goes away, and you know, I survived. But man, that was a scary fucking story. But I love cops and robbers. No, yeah. They just abandoned you. Sorry? They just abandoned you. Yeah, the one kid. He abandoned me and his brother. It was me and his little brother there. He just left.

unknown 56:36

Damn dude.

SPEAKER_03 56:37

But I mean, can't really blame him. We were like eight years old or something, seven years old.

SPEAKER_00 56:41

Yeah, that's fair. Maybe I probably would have done the same.

SPEAKER_03 56:44

It is what it is. Yeah. But yeah, this was our uh I think that's it for the episode, huh?

SPEAKER_00 56:49

As I talk about it, that there's just so many more that comes up to my to my mind. Yeah, same.

SPEAKER_03 56:53

I feel like I'm still not still not done. But but that's all the time we have.

SPEAKER_00 56:57

Good old times, good old times, man. Good old times. But yeah, I mean, next episode is gonna be our junior high experience. For me, it's a lot different than it was, but yeah, tune in for that. But anyways, yeah, thanks for joining in. I just want to say I was not a delinquent. My last fight was in grade three. I was never the bully. But, anyways, yeah, thank you for tuning in and hope to see you guys. No, wait, no, tune in next time.

SPEAKER_03 57:27

Thank you very much for tuning in. This was Catch Up with Kyle and Cohen. Nice.