A trip to the Post Office

I heard a rumor about a month ago that my family was sending me package. It was about the same time that I sent them a card, which they received maybe 2 weeks ago. I was starting to get worried that it got lost on it's journey between Portland and Hanoi, somewhere in the:

11,012 Kilometeres or 6,843 Miles or 5,946 Nautical Miles
(I was just going for the distance in miles, but when google gives you all of that information, why not use it!? And I'm working on my understanding of the metric system anyways---another sidenote: according to Wikipedia, the US, Burma and Liberia are the only countries that have not adapted the Metric System! Sometimes the US is so weird.)

But never fear! Today I got a letter from the Post office and a package was waiting for me. There happens to be post office on the main road right by my work, so I waited until I thought for sure it would be open (past nap time) and rode my bike over.

But oh wait, I don't actually speak Vietnamese. I walked in and realized that the different counters were labelled, but I had no idea what label was for me. So I just held my package notice in my hand and walked to a random counter. The women pointed me to the next one over, perfect. Then I had to wait in line. Hmmm...lines are an interesting thing in Viet Nam. Meaning that they don't really exist. You can't wait politely for it to be your turn or it will never be your turn. So you slowly push your way to the front and make sure the woman notices you. Once she did notice me, I didn't know what to tell her. So again, I just handed over my slip of paper and ID, assuming she'd want that at some point. That seemed to do it. I signed a couple of things and then waited.

Through the glass at the counter I could see her searching. She seemed confused. And the "line" around me was growing. She then pulled a package out, set it aside and kept looking. She even called another woman over. They seemed concerned. Eventually she just handed me the first package that she had found. I wasn't sure if that was all I had to do or not, so I waited there for a few more moments, then left. Not before paying the little man out front for "watching" my bike. It's only 1,000 VND, which is about .05$, but it's just strange to me sometimes.

I think I found what concerned them:

There seems to be a hole in the box. A hole that attacked my mm's! Hmmm....suspicious. Possibile scenarios:

1. Someone needed to verify the contents of the box so they cut a little peep hole that happened to also damage the mm's bag. The holes are strikingly similar in shape.
2. Someone "needed to verify" the contents of the box and stole some of the treats. There definitely is not half a bag's worth of mm's floating around the box
3. The most likely, and least favored possibility---a mouse. Yep, my coworkers seem pretty sure a mouse got in the box. Or attempted to. It had been suffiently re-wraped in tape.
   

Eh, oh well. I'll probably (and by probably I mean that I already started to) eat them anyways. Mm's are SO expensive here, I would not waste them on such a silly concern :)

The rest of the package is in tact and FULL of fantastic treats! I'm going to be eating candy for weeks and weeks to come. Two bags of halloween pumpkins. My favorite!!! And I can now afford to make brownies (also VERY expensive!)! How lucky am I!!!

So thanks Meeko! And the Temple Family that houses her!
(for those who don't know, Meeko is our cat. As it happens, the card in the box is signed from her. Maybe this is to make up for all the time's she has attacked me or trapped me on the stairs!)