Taiwan's Hidden Gem

As I may have mentioned before, our school goes on a "monthly outing." It's a chance for the students (and teachers) to get out of school and see things around Taipei that they might not normally get a chance to do. For example, we've been to the Taipei Zoo, Guandu Nature Park, Songshan Airport, a glass museum, Taipei Botanical Garden, and many of the beautiful parks that Taipei has to offer.

Even though my class has been on all different outings over the past 2 and a half years they've been at the school, nothing could prepare them, or anybody for the outing of a lifetime:

The Postal Museum.

We rolled up to the Postal Museum that Tuesday and were very surprised to find that there was no line to get in. Each class got its own tour guide, and we split up throughout the multi-floor museum.

The first thing we saw was a giant portrait of H.E. Sheng Hsuan Huai, Minister of Yu-Ch'uan Pu (the Minister of Posts and Communications), who memorialized the throne recommending separation of Posts from Customs. It was a great opportunity to remind my students of his lasting legacy and the importance of the separation of Posts and Customs.

I spent the morning being dragged around by my 6-year-olds as they shouted things to me, like "Teacher John! Look at the "Scales used by the Postal Service" exhibit!" and "Check out all the stamp cancelling machines at the "Stamp cancelling machines" exhibit!"

The excitement they displayed brought to light the fact that not many kids get to see "Various hung-up boxes of different countries," or all of the "Historical Sites of the Universal Postal Congresses," and I had a moment of proud satisfaction that I could share the experience with my class.

If you can believe it, there was a real mailbox set up inside the museum. I had the pull out all of my discipline/class control tricks to keep order as we lined up to pose for individual pictures putting an envelope in the slot.

As always, I feed off the energy created by my students, and I quickly took them by hand to the "Equipment for Mail Sealing and Mailbags for Mail Distribution" exhibit. I told them, "Squirrels, this is the equipment they use for mail sealing! And these are the mailbags they use for mail distribution!" My enthusiasm was met with wide-eyes and a gentle applause.

Together, we marveled over the "Postal Museums in the world," and gawked at the "Postal Emblems of different countries" until it was time to leave.

The kindergarten manager came to round up all of the classes, and we reluctantly lined up and headed towards the exit. However, on our way out, out of the corner of my eye, I saw one exhibit we missed. I waited for the manager to turn her back, and quickly led my class to the one exhibit that I highlighted on my map of the museum:

"Equipment used by the Postal Savings Department."

By the time we actually got on the bus and started heading back towards school, the Squirrels and I knew that with this newfound appreciation and knowledge of the Postal Service, mailing a letter would never be the same.