in reply to my "come and visit soon!" letter, this came in the mail today:

dear aunty min,

we like your room. we will come soon when we have enough money. i love you from sarah ang.

(on the back of letter her mother had written: p.s. she saved $2 and is so proud of herself.)

enclosures: from ariel - a drawing of the galaxy. from sarah: a glitterglue drawing of ponder and bear and a turtle.

[ reply:

dear sarah and ariel, how lovely to receive another letter from you. it was the only letter in my mailbox today, so you've made my trip to the mailroom worthwhile! ponder and bear are very pleased with their abstract portraits, and ask what the turtle is doing there. it is good that you are saving money. i, too, try to save money, but i am very bad at it. i am also bad at getting my homework done, which you will not be when you go to primary one next year. you will be so good at your homework, in fact, that one day you will find yourself in a university eating bad dining hall food and wishing you had not been so good at homework, but it won't be for many years. work at those two dollars. love, your auntie minzhi. ]