Before emails became a trend...

I know what you are thinking. "Emails? Who uses email these days? We IM and text now." Well if you were born in the late 1990s or the early 2000s, you probably don't even understand why people use emails other than signing up for different online accounts. Emails were really convenient since it saves postage payment when sending letters. However, I'm not talking about emails right now. I want to focus on what comes before emails: letters.

This is a funny story for me. I had an email account when I was in elementary school. However, my friends and I would still mail each other instead. We would write out stories, personalize the letter here and there, and make sure our penmanship is readable so the postman can read the address. Sometimes we had Hello Kitty themed papers. Other times we have it plain but decorated by ourselves. So much effort was put into writing each letter, it seems each one received is like a treasure. Just waiting for the mail to see if one is meant for you was an exciting moment.

Postcards and letters are very cute but it means little to a child who sees her friends everyday in school. How does receiving letters end up so emotional? There was a time when my family stayed in the United States for a long period (about 3 months). I was away from my friends in what seems like forever. One day, I received a letter I never expected. It was from my best friend! I left her my address in case she wanted to contact and she actually mailed me a letter. Now picture a eight-year-old girl's receiving a long letter from her best friend whom she didn't meet for a long time. I was filled with so much joy (and probably jumping all over the place) that I wrote a reply letter and convinced my mom to mail it. I don't really remember what was written on that letter. However, to this day, I still remember every emotion I went through when receiving it. It seems worth more than any email (or even text) I had ever gotten in my entire life. Because emails and texts are so common these days, I treasure letters even more. Sadly, it is easier these days to just email than to write a letter.

Holiday #3: Luck for your Valentine

I'll be honest. I have no clue what is a good gift for Valentine's Day. Having no experience with relationships, I never celebrated the holiday. With the American's view on the holiday, it's a pretty useless holiday since a couple should always be celebrating their love every once in a while. However, I do love the Japanese's view on the holiday. It's a time when girls make gifts (mostly chocolate) for the guys to confess their love. After Valentine's Day, there is also another holiday (I believe it's called White Day) where that love can be reciprocated. Now, I'm not sure if this occurs in any other parts of Asia but this is how it works in Japan. It seems very sweet.

Anyways, good gifts are hard to find since anyone can just buy a box of chocolate or a bouquet of flowers. I'm not really into that stuff. If one really wants to show his or her love, I think the best way to present that is through a hand made gift. One of my favorite gifts were 3D paper stars. Just to clarify, I didn't made these for the holiday. It was a birthday present for a friend to give good luck (being college, we need all the luck we can get). However, when I checked the history behind this cute gift, I found out it was a gift meant to be given between couples. It started from an Asian drama TV series (I don't know the specific show) and it was made popular because the girl made many stars to confess her love to a guy. Did she ever get the guy? I don't know. Sorry, but you will have to find that out by yourself. After the series, this trend became really popular. It was said that the number of stars you make represent how much love you have for that person. When I checked out the numbers,... let's just say you really need to love that person to make such crazy numbers of stars. Either way, if it's a for a friend or a lover, this neat little gift is a sweet way to represent your caring for that person. It represent luck (or love) and the time and effort you put in shows how much you care. So if anyone wants a cheap but sweet gift, this is my recommendation. It cost about $3 for the jar depending on the size. As for the stars, I spent about $7 for material which makes over 170 stars (the jar holds 170 and I had a lot extra stars). A very sweet, cute, cheap gift!

Happy Valentine's Day