A Visit to MINT Museum of Toys (YSM)

Last Sunday evening, we attended our first get-together with our host families in an MoE’s activity. We met in a museum of toys. Sound exciting, right? I’ve never imaged that there would be a purpose-built museum for toys, but this time I saw a wonderful one.

At first, the friendly people in charge designed some games for us, in order to let us be familiar with each other. The fist game was looking for people born in the same month as you. The room suddenly turned out to be in a mess. I saw hands rising highly gestured one, two, three, four… At last people gathered in groups, and the first group in order got chocolate as rewards. The second game was looking for people who satisfied the requirements on a chart. This time people rushed around like ants on a hot pan, the atmosphere became so lively. Then we were divided into two groups, one visited the museum first, one ate buffet first. We were the second group. Though there were not so many kinds of food, they were very delicious. We had soup, rice with raisins and pine nuts, fried fish with fruit, roasted chicken, fried onions and potatoes. We ate and chatted with our host families happily.

It was our turn to visit the museum. The toys in the museum were all older than us, some of which dated back to 1920s, while most of them dated from 1950s. The toys there were extraordinary, some of which were the only one or two in the world, and of course, owing to this, their value frightened us very much. The price of them can be as much as 50,000 US dollars each. They were collected from China, Japan, UK, USA, and India… Walking in the museum, I recalled those days in my childhood, or I can say that the memories suddenly woke from deep sleep and rushed out. Mickey, Snoopy, Popeye, Bat Man, Tidy Bear, Star War, picture-story books, masks, candy boxes, water pistols, Beatles… They stand peacefully in the showcase but inspire endless excitement from deep of our hearts.

Then we were called back to the lobby and invited to enjoy some snacks. They offered us fruit puddings, cheese cakes and chocolate cakes, and gave each of us stationery as souvenirs. Until then, our dreamlike journey came to the end; however, the happiness didn’t fade. It was such an unforgettable experience that I will cherish forever. Thanks for our host families offering their kindness and love for us, thanks for MoE arranging such an interesting activity for us, thanks for the MINT Museum of Toys reminding me that small and pure happiness in my childhood.