Memories, translated…
The prices of everything is on the rise, and our wages are at a standstill, I wanted to go back to the time, when “fifty dollars can be put to good use easily.”
The fifty dollars was once a paper note, purple, the father of our country, the building memorial for the father of our country. To mean, what it meant, is that I can get a fulfilling meal.
In 1997, I’d entered into Kaohsiung High School (oops, I’d disclosed my age!). Every day, the student in charge of taking care of business is to take a tally of those who are ordering lunches, what I remembered the most was, the lamb chop rice, from a nearby restaurant, with stewed eggs and fried chicken strips, $45N.T.s each; or, for the light eaters, there’s the gazelle pack, with a little bit less rice, with the vegetables and the meats also, $30N.T.s each. We can get change from a $50N.T. bill, to fill up our stomachs.
In college, this was still the trend, walking on the streets of Kaohsiung, ribs, meats, three item rice, so many prepared meals, just $50N.T.s each, and, there would be a huge discount from time to time, when the prices dropped to just $39N.T.s. $50N.T.s became the boundaries that we used, to see if something is cheap or expensive.
It’s just, that a few year flew by, and I’d gotten used to the packed meals costing $80 N.T. to $90N.T.s, and started worrying about the origins of the oils and the meats used in the meals. I truly miss it! Just $50N.T.s, it was able, to satisfy me, fulfill me, keep me fed!
See how much the cost of living is risen? And yet, those $45 to $50 N.T.s per meal is no more, because the prices of everything had gone UP, UP, UP, and, so, you can only savor those $50N.T a meal in your own memories…
