Mail

Yesterday I got a package in the mail from mommy & daddy!!! They sent me a bunch of things I forgot or left at home. It was like Christmas in October. It was awesome. I loved it! It was a bit of a hassle to actually get it though.

They (Korean Postal Service) tried to deliver the package on Monday, while I was in Seoul, and again on Tuesday, while I was in school. They left a little notice on my door (I guess this is a universal thing in developed nations). Naturally, it was entirely in Korean, with the exception of my name and the location of origin: USA. So I had to ask my co-teacher where I had to go to get the package.

Incidentally, the Incheon post office is a 45 minute trip from my doorstep. I took a bus for half an hour to Arts Center, then about 15 minutes of combined walking & subway riding I got off at Shinyeonsu Station, which is about 5 minutes from the post office. I walked to the post office (which is supposed to be open until 9 p.m.-- it's 6:30 or so) and I see that the entire front entrance is blocked off. There is no one but workers in the post office and I start to get really annoyed because I WANT MY PACKAGE. Fortunately, I persevered and walked around to the back of the building, and discovered a small doorway with a security lady/receptionist in an office off to the side. I showed her my note and I don't think she knew how to tell me to go to the 3rd floor (I already knew to go to the 3rd floor, but I wanted to make sure I was in the right place at an appropriate time... plus I know how to say that in Korean). So I asked her, "sam chung, nay?" and she smiled in relief and said yes, third floor. At that moment this guy walked by and she asked him to take me to where I needed to be. Got off the elevator on the 3rd floor and walked into the mail sorting center for the whole of Incheon. It was crazy. There were maybe 50 people sorting huge boxes of mail in what appeared to me to be a very old-fashioned manner of business. They would sort and bundle mail and then place it in any number of slots (for different areas, I suspect. Each of the 50 people working probably had 50 slots to place mail in. It was hot in the room, and stuffy and buzzing with activity. It was so so cool. I felt like I had gotten an inside ticket to Korean life. This guy takes my note over to this big bin filled with package and starts looking for mine. He pulls out my package, which is very large, but surprisingly light (which is a relief given the journey home). I say thank you, bow, and leave, thanking the lady at the front as well on my way out. Success! The subway was jam-packed and I bumped like a zillion people with my box on the way home, but so it goes. The bus ride was better. There was a little spot at the front where I put my package so I didn't have to hold it or put it on the ground.

The best part of the entire trip was the fact that when I walked into the mail sorting area, not one of the 50 people working there gave a second look to me. Everywhere I go in Korea, people stop and look at me because I'm so different. Here at the post office, everyone was so focused on their job that a 6'2" blonde chick did not phase them in the least. Finally! A reprieve from uncomfortable attention.

Granted, as soon as I stepped out of the post office, I once again was a 6'2" blonde chick carrying a very large box to be visually dissected by every person that I passed.

That was my yesterday!

xoxo,
A