PACKAGES!!!

I was quite pleased when I saw the little white slips in my mailbox last night.  I have come to recognize those white slips as tidings of great joy.  Not quite so great as to inspire a Christmas carol, but still pretty great.  Maybe a Halloween carol would be more appropriate. 

But I digress.  I took my white slips to the big post office near Senado Square, after attending four morning meetings and eating some lunch.  The meetings were actually quite good - one was with my head teacher who is going to observe my class on Friday and tell me that I talk too fast, and other helpful things.  Another was with a couple of teachers who are interested, as I am, in doing research on using technology in the classroom.  We discussed some potential projects for the rest of the year that sound pretty exciting.  But as I said, when those were finished, I went to the post office with Beth, because she had tidings as well.

The post office experience in Macau is nothing short of delightful compared to the soul-sucking frustration that happens back in the U.S.  See how neat and organized and red everything is?  It's well-staffed, well-supplied and efficient.  You need to wrap up your package because it's a recycled box?  They have paper and a scissors and tape for you.  Beth mailed a package from the one in our hood and since she was the only one there, the guy boxed her package for her and lovingly placed each item for maximum efficiency and then added the packing peanuts individually.  I mean, who does that?  I can't remember the last time I went to the post office in the U.S. where something didn't go wrong.  And I plan ahead.  So the point is, it's a joy going to the post office here.

However, I do want to take this opportunity to say that in no way do I mean to offend the very pleasant John Beck, father-in-law to my sister, Rachel, and faithful carrier of the U.S. mail.  I am sure that he, and many others like him are hard-working, competent individuals.  I wish they would move to Berkeley.  The post office workers in the Bay Area were the inspiration for Men In Black II.  I'm just sure of it.  If you don't remember what I'm talking about, you can jog your memory below.  They seem unable to communicate, are unhelpful, or just plain out-of-it.  Why can't they all be like Tommy Lee?

Despite the great service, one of my packages still got a bit squished.  I guess the people at Amazon overestimated the strength of their boxes. 

Luckily, nothing was damaged.  Inside the squished package were - posters from Rachel!  (See below)  She ordered them as part of my birthday gift, but such things can take a long time.  Pretty sweet huh?  The top one is Van Gogh's Almond Blossom.  Very soothing.  I really like the Golden Gate Bridge one too.  Especially cool that it's just black and white and orange-red.  Love them - thanks Rach!  My room is looking pretty good, so I think I'll share the wealth and put them up in the dining or living rooms for us all to enjoy.  Will take another picture when we get them hung.

The smaller package was from Becky and also contained belated birthday/early Halloween treats.  As you can see, I'm sporting a fun red wig and she also included some Halloween socks, dark chocolate with almonds, wicked witch Pez dispenser, a holographic Star Wars notepad, and achievement stickers for my students.  Super fun Becky, thanks!!! 

Also included was a CD she burned for me of a band she heard at Outside Lands in San Francisco.  It's called the tUnE-yArDs, and from what I can tell, it's mostly just Merrill Garbus with a loop pedal, but it's amazing!  Reminds me a lot of Zap Mama, and it's hard to give a bigger compliment than that.  Here's a vid of one of the more famous tracks.

So glad they made it here with no trouble - I was starting to worry!  Now let's hope that the pacakages and letters and postcards I've been sending out will arrive intact.  Harder to be sure I'm doing everything right here, even with the good service.