All the Small Things

The little things that make me smile can be categorized in two ways:

I. Hand-held:

4th Grade Boy: "Teacher Vicky, I made this for you!"

I nearly stepped on you! You are rare indeed!

My host mom: "Vicky! This seashell looks like a button! You must keep it!"

Pint-Sized:

Dear Taiwan,
In spite of all the problems we've had, your love of uniformity can be (at times) quite adorable. Especially when it entails wearing matching caps screen-printed with koala bears.

Shenqiao is in 5th grade. He insists on waving both hands vigorously when he says hello to me in the hallways. He is also at least a head shorter than everyone else in his class, which just makes him absurdly cute. It's really unbearable.

I hope he never hits puberty