Dear _____,

Footprints in the sand…  Okay, it’s silly, but on my way back from class, I look for my footprints (sandal-prints, if you want to be technical) from when I was going the other way earlier.  I don’t usually find them, though.  Too many people walking back and forth in those few hours.

Construction workers…  I heard you blasting My Heart Will Go On the other day, and that struck me as somewhat comical.

Pied crows…  With your black and white markings you look very, well…dapper.  But you’re also really loud.  Wait, didn’t I just say dapper?

Dead rat by the side of road…  Congratulations.  You’re the first rodent I’ve seen since I got here, and a fine (read: large) specimen you were too...  (I’m actually surprised that I haven’t seen others in the two-and-half months I’ve been here.)

Guy walking in front of me…  Yes, I followed you on the way home from the store.  I mean, I followed your trail.  I get tired of trudging through a thick layer of sand (kind of like walking on the beach), and you obviously knew where the firmer-packed areas were, so I just walked where you walked.  By the way, thanks for not turning around and noticing me.  That would have been a little embarrassing.

November…  Can I just ask, how in the world are you here already?!  My mental calendar has never been changed from August.  (Don’t ask me why, it just is.)

Little meat stands sans refrigeration…  Let me remain blissfully unaware of your secrets.  I’ll pretend I’ve become a vegetarian.  (Not really.  I do eat meat sometimes, just not from those stands.)

Crack in the living room wall…  At first I thought I was just imagining it, but now I’m convinced: you ARE bigger than when I got here.  One of these days I’m going to come back from class and find the whole building in a tumbled heap on the ground, I just know it.

Pumpkin spice lattes (of the instant, single-serve variety)…  Hurrah!  You herald the official arrival of Fall to my little abode.  I welcome you heartily.  (And thanks, Mom!)

Scrawny, half-grown chicks…  Aren’t you a sight, you funny little things!  I shouldn’t be by now, but sometimes I’m still surprised to see “farm life” in the middle of a city this size.

Guy selling parakeets…  No, thanks; I already have a pet.  One that doesn’t smell, make noise, require special food, or have a cage to be cleaned out…

Orange-and-yellow bunting…  You perfectly compliment the color of the walls, and you lend a celebratory touch to the room.  What am I celebrating, you ask?  Well, I’ve decided that grace is reason enough to celebrate every day.

Furniture shop…  I wish you were in an enclosed area (instead of open air) that I could walk through and get the full benefit of your fresh-wood aroma.  I do so love that smell…

“Pumpkin” pie…  So you weren’t actually pumpkin, you were squash.  But you tasted nearly indistinguishable from your more familiar counterpart.  And pumpkin pie is my one weakness.  (Thank you, Muriel!)

Watermelon guy…  Bon jour to you too, and yes, your watermelon looks quite tempting.  However, the prospect of toting one of those things the whole twenty-minute walk back to my apartment is less than appealing.  If I want watermelon (and eventually I won’t be able to resist), I’ll stop at a fruit stand a little closer to home.  Thanks all the same!

Horses clip-clopping down the road…  I can’t claim you were ever part of my daily life back home, and yet you somehow have a very familiar (and happy) feel.  I like you.

MSG…  You and I aren’t on the best of terms, are we?  And you’re a key ingredient in Maggi cubes, which everyone uses in everything.  Somewhat inconvenient.  However, let’s put things in perspective: the negative effects are limited to headaches.  Thankfully nothing more serious.  I mean, I could have a nut or fish allergy.  THAT would be a bad thing to have living in this part of the world.

Red and orange dragonfly…  You were so strikingly different from any other dragonfly I’ve seen, I had to look twice before I was sure that’s what you were.  Hey, way to stand out from the crowd!

Sisters…  You’ll be proud of me.  I learned the word for sphygmomanometer in French.  (Points for the rest of you if you know what a sphygmomanometer is without looking it up.)

Friend-who-happened-to-be-online-at-the-same-time-that-one-night…  Do you know it was nearly 3:00 when I finally got to bed?!  There have only been a handful of times in my life that I’ve been up that late!  But it was totally worth it.  You’re pretty awesome, you know that?

Neighbor practicing the recorder…  It may be one of the easiest instruments to learn, but that doesn’t mean a beginner sounds good (I know, because my sisters and I “played” for a while).  Especially not on a Saturday morning when I desperately wanted (and needed) to sleep in.  See above.

Itsy-bitsy kitty…  I had to force myself to keep walking.  I so wanted to stop, scoop you up, and take you home.  You were just too cute!  (By now it’s probably rather obvious that I’m something of a softie, especially for little creatures...selected little creatures, that is.)