Letters from Taiwan

Yesterday I got a letter.
A real letter.
From Taiwan.
And...it made my day.

I had forgotten that I'd even given my students my mailing address, but lo and behold, Miss Madline sent me a real live letter. Well, maybe not live.

And like Marcel's madeleine, this letter triggered a whole slough of memories. Who wouldn't like that?

So I thought I'd make a list commemorating the greatest memories I have of Taiwan that I can think of at this moment in time. And this is in no meaningful order whatsoever.

• playing basketball in the rain and getting huge blood blisters on my feet
• my first kiss
• teaching my students how to play baseball and American football (the latter was hilarious)
• hikes with Gloria
• talks with Fenny
• our unofficial book club
• Temple trips to Taipei, including hot chocolate and fried dumpling runs
• my many scooter mishaps
• classroom pranks
• being pranked
• Secret Santa
• school dances
• pinatas
• making horcata with left-over rice
• bingshas from Hello Kitty
• dong gwa neo nais (I'm craving these like none other!)
• Thanksgiving on the roof
• naked speedo man
• the bike trail
• "training" for a 10 k that I never did run (in my defense, my knee started to hurt to much to really run on it)
• cute little Taiwanese kids in their cute little clothes doing peace signs for pictures
• strawberry milks!!!!
• the rivers
• mosquitos (yuck)
• Captain Recycling

And that's about all for now. It's funny how feelings toward a place can change after a while. This time last year, I was in a really bad spot and thought I'd made a humongous mistake coming back to the States. This time around I feel at peace with my decision to return State-side. I still miss my students and my friends, but it's not the same kind of agonizing pain that I felt before. I'm so glad I was able to go back to Taiwan and spend more time with the people that I love and leave on a satisfactory note.

And....

....I'm especially grateful that I taught my fifth graders how to write letters because now I get to reap the rewards!

Here's to Taiwan and all its goodness!