Packages from home
Over the last six months — fantastic six months — I haven’t received any packages from home. It’s not as thought no one has sent any. Within the first month or two of being in China a few friends and family members told me to “keep my eye out for a package.” When I was preparing myself to leave Canada, I read a story on a blog about a fellow in Korea who after several months had given up on his package when it finally arrived. Learning from his experience, I kept the faith until last week.
Ryan got a notice from the China Post last week saying that he needed to pick up a package, but the date on the pickup notice showed the package was sent back to Canada a full 2-days before the post office bothered to tell him it arrived.
Today I received a notice from China Post letting me know that they have two packages for me. I’ve also been told that I have to pick it up ASAP (surprise!) or they’ll send them back very soon. Oh, and by the way, I’m to expect to be charged a late pickup fee. Apparently, I should have used my spidy-sense to know that they’ve been holding onto the packages for me. At this point, I’ll just be happy to pick them up. Oy vay!
At the beginning of the semester we learned the mailing address to our dorm through another foreigner. The fact that I copied the address from a letter he had successfully received gave me the confidence to use it. So here’s my lesson to the next TRU student who will come in September for an amazing and wonderful experience: trust your friends in the faculty of the Tianjin University of Technology. The faculty mailing address, which I am now using, is tried, tested and true. The International College of Business and Technology (our host faculty at TUT) is a very international office and I know it works. I’m so glad for their help.
Lessons aside, I sure hope my care packages are still waiting for me; I’ve been promised a calendar with pictures of my neice and nephew in addition to several VHS tapes of NHL hocky games. Clearly, I have a lot to look forward to.