Some items of interest:Yes, the strikes will be called tomorrow as planned. They will probably be peaceful, but almost everything will be closed. Certainly gas stations, banks and shops will all be shut.
The US Embassy is not impressing me, yet again. I am supposed to be the "warden" for some of the 'odd and ends' of the US community here. I was distressed to get a message today from the Embassy with the general strikes as a subject matter- written in all caps, no less- but with the message itself missing. I sent an e-mail immediately asking for it to be re-sent.
And I'm still waiting.
Electricity is off. Again. Whatever.
Finally, one of the twins got a letter today from her dear friend in Portland, Oregon. It arrived here looking crumpled and dirty, sporting a postmark of Feb 7. It has obviously spent the last two months touring the world and seeing the sights. There's even proof. Right on the front it's been stamped with a blue ink rectangle framing the astounding words: MISSENT TO MYANMAR. (Man! Is that a cool title for a novel, or what? )
Anyway, this letter that is clearly addressed to my daughter in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso was sent all the way to freaking Burma.
All I can say is that there are obviously some VERY confused people that have been put in charge of directing the world's mail.
Maybe we should all chip in and buy them a good atlas.
3 comments:
So your daughter joins the recipients of Lost But Not Forgotten world post. Every time I have mailed anything to you, the postal employees have breathed audibly, and then asked, "Um, which part of this is the COUNTRY?" When they look it up on their computers, they say, "Well, I'll be..! There it is!" Like BF was something I made up. April fish!!
When I lived in a MUCH smaller village in western New York, and sent regular packages to Luxembourg, the post master would often nod and say, "That's Germany!", and I would have to stop him from writing the wrong country after the country name that was already ON there!
I hope you and everyone survive the strikes and that every body comes away with all the millet they need.
MWAH
PS: I love that there is a STAMP that says "missent to MYANMAR". I want one, and yes, and great book title.
Yup, there's the book title!
When I tried to send you a package, my p.o. insisted I write "Africa" on it... I tried explaining how this didn't make sense (do I need to put "Sahel" too? Draw a zebra, since that's all anyone knows about Africa here?), but she was adamant that otherwise it wouldn't get there. I guess they need to make sure it gets on the plane headed to "Africa."
-MLW
Post a Comment