Last week, January 26th to be exact, the guy I am dating in Utah, Kelly, told me that he sent me a package. The dialogue went something like this.
Me: "Yeah, Yeah a package from home!! How sweet. Thank you!!! I'm so excited!"
Kelly: "I sent it priority mail, and this is the confirmation number so you can track it online." (Since I had already told him that regular mail can take up to 3 months to get here)
He then went on to tell me how he was told, by an overly optimistic postal worker, that my package would be in Samoa by the 28th. (According to the computer.)
Here in Samoa, packages come on the cargo plane on Monday and Friday nights, so pick-up is on Tuesday and Saturday at the post office. There is no home delivery service here on the island, perhaps in part because there are no house addresses. If you want to tell someone where you live, you use landmarks, since there are also no signs, or street names for that matter, with the exception of one village that recently had one sign made. So when I tell people where I am staying, I have to say I am in Mesepa village, in the two story white house just up the hill from the Mission Home. Imagine no house numbers, no street names, no signs, no street map, no GPS, and most people have no idea which way North or South is, since they do not give directions like that. They describe things as being mountain side or ocean side, (there are really only the two options,) and as being towards Amouli or towards Leone, (opposite ends of the island).
Sorry, I digress...
Since that conversation I have been checking the tracking system, which should tell me where my package is, almost everyday. It continues to say only:
I have been checking again later!!
Hopefully my box will be here sometime before the end of the month when Kelly is scheduled to arrive himself.
Thankfully he won't be coming "Priority Mail!"
Then, Ali explained to me that picking up mail is done at the one post office on the island, since the other one was destroyed in the tsunami. That is, if one is able to pay for a post office box.
Me: "What happens if you can't afford a post office box?"
Ali: "Then you don't get mail."
Me: "Really?"
Ali: "Lots of people here don't get mail. Their whole family is right here on the island, and they have never been off island themselves, and if they actually needed something sent from the mainland for some reason, they would just have it sent to their cousin or aunt's, or neighbor's box. Something like that."
Me: Smiling "Would this mean that one also would not get bills?"
Ali: "Well here most things are prepaid anyway with the exception of electricity which you pay at the office, or maybe is included in their rent. All cell phones are done with prepaid cards, gas for home use is propane and bought in tanks or filled, so you get phone minutes and gas for a stove or hot water when you have the money to buy some, etc."
Me: "Darn, I thought I had found the perfect financial situation, too poor for a box means too poor for bills. Seems logical after all."
Ali: "Now if you have a box and you get a package the post office will place a notice in your box, sometimes, but sometimes they forget to give you a notice. It is best just to be aware when you should be getting a package, and you can go around back behind the post office to the customs office and give them the number and ask them to check."
Ali: "Then you don't get mail."
Me: "Really?"
Ali: "Lots of people here don't get mail. Their whole family is right here on the island, and they have never been off island themselves, and if they actually needed something sent from the mainland for some reason, they would just have it sent to their cousin or aunt's, or neighbor's box. Something like that."
Me: Smiling "Would this mean that one also would not get bills?"
Ali: "Well here most things are prepaid anyway with the exception of electricity which you pay at the office, or maybe is included in their rent. All cell phones are done with prepaid cards, gas for home use is propane and bought in tanks or filled, so you get phone minutes and gas for a stove or hot water when you have the money to buy some, etc."
Me: "Darn, I thought I had found the perfect financial situation, too poor for a box means too poor for bills. Seems logical after all."
Ali: "Now if you have a box and you get a package the post office will place a notice in your box, sometimes, but sometimes they forget to give you a notice. It is best just to be aware when you should be getting a package, and you can go around back behind the post office to the customs office and give them the number and ask them to check."
Me: Excitedly "Well Kelly sent me a package yesterday on the 25th and they told him that it will be here on the 28th."
Ali: After the laughing stopped, "Oh...that is a nice thought, but expect it to be up to two weeks or so."
Me: ;o(
Ali: After the laughing stopped, "Oh...that is a nice thought, but expect it to be up to two weeks or so."
Me: ;o(
Since that conversation I have been checking the tracking system, which should tell me where my package is, almost everyday. It continues to say only:
 | ||
| | |
| Label/Receipt Number: CP59 7928 355U S Expected Delivery Date: January 28, 2011 Class: Priority Mail® Service(s): International Parcels Status: Acceptance Your item was accepted at 3:43 pm on January 25, 2011 in RIVERTON, UT 84065. Information, if available, is updated periodically throughout the day. Please check again later. | |
Hopefully my box will be here sometime before the end of the month when Kelly is scheduled to arrive himself.
Thankfully he won't be coming "Priority Mail!"
I am going to be getting up tomorrow morning and going down to the postoffice first thing to see if maybe the tracking system just doesn't know that my package is here. It feels like I am 8 years old and it is almost Christmas. Fingers crossed!
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