Introductions to a very special group

A group of young women from my undergraduate class did me the honor of inviting me to a dinner. I was picked up at the 7-11 in a rented car by three of the women. The driver said he had retired after 43 years in the military, including 2 years in El Paso, TX undergoing training. He talked fondly about going across to Mexico every week-end, an impossibility now as the Ciudad Juarez now has twice the murder rate of any border city. I want to introduce the special group of young women to you before I tell you about our dinner.
The first one on the left is Elaine Yeh Li-Ling. She is going to be working as a housemaid in upper New York this summer. She is an avid Spurs fan and hopes to stop in San Antonio to see everything in the city that has anything to do with the Spurs. The second left is Tina Chou Hong-Shi. She is planning to finish her schooling in the US and become an American citizen. Her sister is already a citizen and lives in NYC. Her parents hold green cards and will be Tina's sponsor. Third left is Sandy Lee Hui-Yu. She is an excellent student, but is very shy and blushes easily! She does NOT like hot food (part of the dinner story to follow). Peeking between is Maple Yang Wei-Chin. She was clearly unhappy when she got her first graded homework back from me! She still does not like to cite her resources when writing, but she has gained a great deal of confidence when presenting. Maple is one of the kindest and most cheerful women in the class. Navia Chu Hsiao-Hsin is very active in the university's international student organizations and was chosen to go to a special week-long program in the Philippines this semester. Next to me is Candice Liu Ling-Li, the go-to girl on her team. She is always the first to ask questions, and pass the information along to her team. It was Candy's idea to video-tape the final presentations. She is the producer and director of the project and will present the finished disks to my Chair and the President of the university. She will go to university in Belgium next year and plans to travel through Europe while she is there. Carol Wang Yuan-Hsua is on the far right. I was honored when she brought me Dragon Boat Festival treats handmade by her mother. The sticky rice balls were the best I have ever eaten! All the foods are eaten on the holiday to ensure your good health for the year. Carol is also a go-getter and always wants to have challenging work. A number of the women are waiting to hear if they have internships in Taiwan and Malaysia working for Taiwanese companies. They are an exceptional group of very strong young women and excellent students. I expect to hear great things from them in the future. Now on to the dinner story...