Letter to Santa

This past week I told my students we were writing formal business letters in class. Because my class is a listening/speaking class, some of them were a bit surprised. I told them children in America learn how to write business letters from a very early age--which surprised them even more. I told them, however, that most children in America don't use the common salutation, "to whom it may concern," but they do, in fact, know who they are writing to--so they address their letters, "Dear Santa." As a result (and for good English practice), I had all my students write letters to Santa. Having over 100 Chinese university underclassmen write letters to St. Nick for the first time was pretty entertaining--and insightful. I learned quite a bit about what was going in their minds and hearts through the silly exercise.


So, I thought it would be a good idea for me to post my letter to Santa this year in my blog:


Dear Santa,


I must say time has flown since last Christmas, with tons of changes to the world and to my life (of course, it's probably like that for you every year!). Since last year I've gotten married, more than doubled the size of my extended family, and moved to China (where business seems pretty slow for you). I can honestly say I've tried my hardest to stay on your nice list this year--and feel like of done a decent job (with one or two exceptions). Without bothering you about details you already know, I'd like to skip ahead to a few requests I've been thinking about on my wish list this year. 


As you know, not every country has nice things like we do back home, and that really puts things into perspective when you're trying to assemble a good wish list. Last time I lived in China, I really just wanted warm clothes for Christmas (b/c I didn't prepare very well for winter). But I feel like that is under control this year (see my blog). Everything in Hangzhou is much nicer than my previous town, and I feel like we have most of the Western amenities we could want. The only things I can think of are:


1. Pepperidge Farm Goldfish (they don't sell the plain cheddar ones here)
2. Gatorade powdered mix (fruit punch is my favorite flavor)
3. Gold Bond powder (for when baby powder just isn't enough)
4. Chic-fil-a (I know that's a stretch, but maybe a long term goal to set in China's development)


If you could meet these request, Christmas and the spring semester would be much more jolly for me. However, I have found that my list of intangible things seems to have grown over the last year--and most directly relate to living in Hangzhou.


1. Feedback - I know it's hard for people to find time to communicate (I'm usually at the top of that list). But I feel a real need to get some feedback from people back home. I know they can't always know everything to tell us whether we're doing a great or terrible job, but if you could just let them know we'd love to get some feedback (even if it's to say we don't communicate enough information with them, or we don't communicate often enough), that would be really helpful to us and give us a better idea of how we need to communicate back home.


2. Financial Support - This is always a sensitive subject for me, Santa, but I feel like I can share it with you. As you know most of us are not finished with grad school. And while a break from taking classes is nice (and very rewarding with our current jobs), it doesn't give us a break from paying back undergraduate student loans. A few of us are concerned that we don't have the financial support to make it through the year and back to the States in July. We don't make enough on our salaries here, and we all trust our Father to help take care of us, but we felt like it was also something we could share with you.


3. Moral Support - Just as important to us as feedback and funds, it's very encouraging to hear how people's lives are going back home. Yes, we Skype with our families and keep up with some friends on facebook and other ways, but sometimes it just helps to get an update about what's going on back with people we love in the places we love. We know a lot of people care about us, think about us, and keep up with us on all of our blogs, twitter feeds, facebooks, and website, and we're really excited about keeping them informed. If you could just help them to know that telling us what's going on with them, good and bad, really helps us do a better job here.


Santa, I know at this point you probably wish I had just kept going with my list of goldfish, gatorade, and goldbond. And I know the last part of this letter is hard to wrap in paper and put a bow on by Dec. 25. But I know how hard your little elves work, and I'm sure you know what it's like to be isolated at times, living in the North Pole. I wish you well as you go through "crunch time" with the presents, reindeer, and sleigh. Please give my regards to Rudolph, Buddy the Elf, and of course, Mrs. Claus.


Sincerely yours,


Kyle