I love to write actual letters. Just something about receiving something in
the mail that isn’t just flyers or bills is nice. It means something extra special when someone
has taken the time to sit and write you something on paper. That they were thinking of you and wanted to
hand write you a note to say so. I love that.
People should write more letters!
Since I have lived away from my family for many years now I have taken
to writing letters and cards often and I appreciate when they do the same.
I expressed to Ross once how much I loved getting stuff in
the mail and sweetheart that he is he waited a little while after I had said it
so I would forget and he mailed me a love card.
It was great to not only get a sweet and beautiful card from him but
that he mailed it even though we live together just because he knew it would
make me smile. I love him.
I have a few pen pals from home since moving here and it
really makes my day when I open the mail and there is a letter from
Canada! My cousin Rachel from Ontario,
my friend Anne from Ontario and my friend Kristin from BC have all been sending
letters and small gifts which means a lot.
My mom, my Aunt Linda and Ross parents have mailed us care packages a
few times as well and that has been awesome.
Sending and receiving mail here is relatively fast. There have been times my cousin has mailed me
a letter and I have it in my hand within 4 days. However there have also been incidents of
lost mail and that is always sad.
Luckily that seems to be a rare occurrence though. I will say though that when it comes to
packages be weary with what you say is in them and how much they are
worth. For example my aunt sent us a
package through Canada post and not only did it take two months to arrive in
Spain but then it got stuck in customs.
They gave me a huge hassle about what it was and how much it was worth
and told me I needed to provide this information before they would tell me how
much I would have to pay them to get it out of customs.
So my aunt had to tell me everything that was in my surprise
gift and how much everything cost. Silly
thing is it was all written on the box anyway as Canada post requires you to do
that, so they already had all the information.
So in the package was my favourite Starbucks tea, 8 boxes of Kraft
Dinner and 2 books. The total was
$40. She also had already paid close to
$70 to ship it to me. Package prices are
based on shape and weight. Now that
customs knew this they decided I would have to pay them 40 euros or $70 to get
the package out of customs! 10 euros of
that was just to pay to have the police there so they could open it and verify
the contents. My aunt said not to pay
them and they would send it back to her and she would just send it again but
write something different on the box and it would be less money.
So what I have learned through this is to lie about what is
in your packages. If they think it is
worth less they are less likely to hold it there and make you pay for it. My mom now writes that it is personal items
and maybe one new thing that cost $5.
Seems as long as it is under $40 they will let it slide. Also when there is food they do not recognize
they will also likely stop it at customs.
Otherwise mail in and out of the country is pretty seamless
and quick. So write to the people you
love, send post cards and show them you are thinking of them. Sometimes My Aunt Deb will send me post cards
from Barrie Ontario (my home town) so I can miss it. Its nice and it always
makes me smile through the home sickness tears.
No comments:
Post a Comment