Showing posts with label letters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label letters. Show all posts

Saturday, February 20, 2010

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!
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