You know what? Some things that people think are silent are actually talkative. Leaves withering, flowers blooming, seeds sprouting in the soil, butterflies dancing in the air, meteors falling across the sky... 

That's what I heard when I was a kid in “that place”. It was my childhood paradise, my sweet wilderness.

I used to go directly to “that place” from school: walking along a path with weeds on both sides, passing a mysterious wetland, a cluster of wild blackberry bushes, and, here we are! I was so familiar with the surroundings that I knew where were the bayberry and mulberry plants, and I could recognize 20 out of 100 kinds of plants.

I lived in a city with a population of around 13 million. It was almost impossible for a child who lived in a metropolis to have such a place. I am so lucky.

My dad used to work there. Sometimes my mom and younger sister went there too. My dad had been aware that our school education lacked real-life experience, creativity, and connection to the nature, so he was determined to change through doing. He founded a non-profit nature school. “That place” was the farm and woods of the school. 

I weeded and watered the vegetables. If I planted the seeds myself, I would always take care of them. The vegetables were very delicious. Mum said: “you are smart because you have grown up eating the vegetables with bioenergy!” 

I also worked on homework on the table that my dad made for me in the open ground, by the dried up pond beside the farm. Nature was my big classroom.

Sometimes, I imagined that I was in the Amazon jungle, the African wilderness, or the mysterious forest in fairy tales. There, I could feel my place in the universe. I liked to stay there for hours, and people called me a “wilderness girl”. 

Occasionally I met some visitors, such as little green snake. Fearing that it might frighten my sister, I carefully picked it up with, put it in a bucket, and took it to another woods.

I built a bamboo raft and a cabin with my friends. We had become good buddies because of our years of common natural experience. I had friends elsewhere, but the friendship established in the wild is different.

I was as active as all boys. We swam in the river, traced the stream in the canyon, went hiking, and rode bicycles tirelessly, just as we did in France from the town of Blois to Paris.

I admired my dad’s talent as a keen nature hunters, but he claimed that I would become an outstanding hunter someday.

Really, I acquired gifts from “that place”. I could ride in the dark without stars or moon, find my way back in forests to take my companions out of the wilderness. Adults thought what we do was dangerous, but I never got hurt in those experience.

The natural experience gradually awakened my rationality, giving me the powers to concentrate and think in depth . I could understand the language of plants and animals, the different dances of bees, and the communication of ants. Maybe it was my perception from nature that made me understand different people, even if they spoke different languages and came from different backgrounds. It was always easy for me to make friends with strangers and listen to their stories.I really want to share my "that place" with you. It was my childhood paradise and sweet wilderness.