When I lived in Taiwan our house was on the main drag through the village of Tien Mou. We had a front yard, which was rare for the American housing. Along the road, was a tall hedge of greenery so the front of our house was partially hidden from the road, and a busy road it was. It was the main thoroughfare and there was all manner of conveyors on it constantly.

There were the red Nissan taxi’s and occasional yellow one or two, Chinese buses and American shuttle buses, and a plethora of bicycles and bicycle trucks, carts dragged by water buffalo, and motor scooters. And quite a few pedestrians lining the street, many holding a rope strapped to a water buffalo. We were in the metropolis, but the hedge out front saved us from prying eyes and offered up what must have been a strange sight to the many who passed by.

The reason my family searched high and low for the elusive rare house with a yard was because we had a trampoline and needed space for it. We were lucky and found it. And we bounced on it, did flips, played a twisted form of basketball on it, and many times bounced two or more at a time. I always imagined the taxi driver driving by looking for a fare who would see some American kids popping up over the hedge, screaming and yelling, up and down.

And we became known as the house with the trampoline, and we had trampoline parties. It was also a handy place to lay books out on in the sun when they got soaked at  Taipei American School in the latest typhoon and subsequent flood. I miss that trampoline, I miss our house there, I miss the people, American, European, Chinese, and all the other nationalities folks I knew. I realize most of my peers didn’t have trampolines on the main road through Tien Mou. I’m sorry for them for that. What an experience it was.