Back in the old days, when I first went to China (mid-80’s), our main means of communicating with the folks back home was the beloved "aerogram," those single blue sheets that we scribbled on, folded up and put in the mail. The price included the cost of international postage, thus making them the most affordable way of mailing letters back and forth. I can’t remember now what the cost was, but anyway, it was cheap. They were pretty fast as well, making the trip across the pond from Minnesota to Zhengzhou (where I lived then ) in about 10 days. Most of the time. Occasionally one of these aerograms would take a detour before getting to me (and I don’t mean through the local public security bureau, although that was always a possibility). They would actually be mistakenly sent to other places. I received one once that had a big stamp on it that said MIS-SENT TO SHREVEPORT! Shreveport? Shreveport and Zhengzhou didn’t even sound or look the same! It had been mailed about 5 weeks earlier. My favorite wandering aerogram, however, came with a big stamp on that said MIS-SENT TO TASMANIA. Now that was interesting. Tasmania, an island off the southern coast of Australia, about as far away from anywhere as you can be and still be on the planet. And my little aerogram had gone there.
Ever since receiving that letter I have wanted to visit Tasmania, to be stamped "mis-sent to Tasmania." And here I am, in Tasmania! I still can’t believe it. It’s gorgeous. It’s warm (70’s). The people are friendly. Having a wonderful time. Wish you were here.
