The UPS Delivery.

I went to answer the knocking on my door this morning and was surprised to see a delivery man standing with a parcel in his arms addressed to me. "From whom could this be from?" I questioned as I quickly signed the release papers and sent the delivery man off with a "Zaijen!"

Rotating the parcel around probing for the senders name and address, I found that it was from Jamie Knight! I couldn't contain my excitement and tore the wrapping off the box like as if it was Christmas morning. And there it was... a Nine West shoe box with a beautifully painted painting of a grand Christmas tree with a shimmering star on top.

Inside the box was full of treats and treasures from many of my dear friends at the VSC. The present included the following items:

• A 100 ml jar of Canadian Maple Syrup
• A box of Kraft Dinner
• 2 rolls of Mentos
• 2 packs of Tic-Tacs
• A PEZ dispenser with 3 packs of PEZ candies
• Hand-made soap
• A hand-painted angel on cardboard
• Small Christmas tree ornaments from Shoppers Drug Mart
• A mini penguin picture frame ornament
• A Starbucks Coffee card with $5 CDN on it
• A proverbial 'Lump O' Coal' candies

Also included was an itemised list of the shoe box's contents, just in case anything was to be "burglarised by Customs". There was also a Christmas card signed by Jamie, James, Norm, Sigrid, Jay, Amy, and Leslie with messages written all over the inside covering every inch! And for some reason, They've also humourously stuck on the card Norm's scratch-protective lens seal from his new camera phone which they apparently made him take off. If that wasn't enough, someone had the ingenuity to use 16 crumpled pieces of orange paper (all numbered) with quirky notes, wisdom, and questions written on them as protective padding for everything that was in the shoe box. As I sat on the edge of my bed reading each and every one of them, tears of joy and laughter started welling in my eyes.

Here they are in its glory:

1. WE LOVE YOU ED!
2. Don't drink the water
3. Save the whales. Collect the whole set.
4. I SEE CHINESE PEOPLE!
5. Whoever laughs last thinks slowest
6. Keep hydrated
7. Is living in China the same as living in Richmond?
8. If you go to a liquor store, do they have more than just rice wine?
9. What do you call Chinese food in China?
10. Ed, are there are a lot of people in China? Have you met them all? What is the dominant religion? Do they celebrate Christmas? Are you now Chinese? Merry Christmas :)
11. So which way do the toilets flush?
12. Ed: the white block is soap. Don't use before Dec. 25th
13. Xiao Edwin. Ni hao ma? Ta shi zhongoran zai Starbucks ni chi fan cha ma? Ni xihuan zhongoran ma?
14. If you are 1/2 Chinese & 1/2 Japanese, do you hate yourself?
15. Don't take candy from strangers
16. (wish we could send you) Lucky Money $
    

And here are my responses:

1. I LOVE YOU ALL TOO! MISS YOU LOTS!
2. Certainly not tap water! I stand by the boil-water advisory.
3. Hahahha!
4. I WISH THERE WEREN'T SO MANY!
5. It's hard to tell a joke in English here...
6. And that's good advice, given that the air here is so dry and polluted.
7. It's worse. There's more of them here. Many more...
8. Clever, Norm!
9. There's a restaurant called Yummy Oriental. And I thought eating dogs was bad enough...
10. A shit-load of 'em. Impossible to meet them all! Buddhism? Some do, but the meaning is lost with them. NEVER! And to you too.
11. Mine has trouble flushing, so I don't know. It always leaves a treat in the bowl.
12. No wonder it didn't taste so good!
13. Wo ye hen hao! Wo bu shi dao!
14. Who said I'm 1/2 Chinese? (Denial's not just a river in Egypt!)
15. Damn...
16. So why didn't you? =p
    

Thank you all for making my Christmas 2006 the best I've ever had! You mean the world to me and I can't wait to see you all in 2007!! MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL, AND HAVE A WONDERFUL NEW YEAR!!