Phuong Ha-Sloop from Vietnam What I miss most from my childhood is riding water buffalo. Because Vietnam was a very poor country, farmers didn't have machines to do all the heavy jobs required in the field. They had to use water buffalos to do that work, and that's why all the farmers in Vietnam had their own family water buffalo. Each family let their children take responsibility for the water buffalo. Everyday, the children brought the water buffalo to the field to eat grass, and their children got together and played games. Around five o'clock in the afternoon, just before going home, children brought the water buffalo into a pond to take a bath. The first important thing to do was wash the buffalo's body with clean water.
The children yelled at the water buffalo in order to get the buffalo to move during the game. This whole experience with the water buffalo is one of my fondest childhood memories. Even though I am now grown up and am a married woman, I still really miss being in the Vietnamese countryside and playing games with my friends on the water buffalo.
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