official business

yesterday was a great reminder why I generally dislike undertaking "official business" in any form in Asia. Now, you may not think that going to the post office counts as official business, but in my world it does. So yesterday I was mailing some gifts to my family and I knew the package I was sending would be odd-sized and likely over the weight of normal packages they might mail, so a few days before I sent my house helper to the post office to go check it out.

She came back, all full of bubbly happiness, because she had found a super-helpful clerk at the post office who helper write down prices for all sorts of shipping methods. She also checked on the box situation, and was told that we could just bring our things to the post office and they would box them up for us. Apparantly it was better that way because they had to personally inspect anything going out of the country.

So yesterday during naptime, the two of us went down to the post office, lugging my big bag of things to put inside the box. After waiting in line for a few minutes, our turn arrived at last and I was interested to see if things would go more smoothly with her being there.

We filled out the customs form and wrapped all our things in bubble-wrap, and then when we asked the clerk for a box, things started getting a little interesting. A look of confusion fell across their faces...as if we were the only ones in history who had come looking for a box at a post office. They went to a back room and after several mintues of hearing them rummage around, they found one. They brought it out, but it was too small. A few more minutes of rummaging produced another box, bigger than the last one, big enough, but not exactly the dimensions of my items.

They asked me what kind of filler I had brought to protect the things inside. I politely told them, "none" because they had told my house helper that they could somehow make the box fit the exact size I needed. (I should have known at that statement that something wasn't right.) Well, they were still trying to help me, so one )the particulary confused looking man) started wadding up newspaper. After several crinkly wads, a different clerk came running across the room, shouting and waving her arms. "You can't do that!!" she exlaimed, in loud enough fashion to startle and intrigue everyone in the waiting room. Apparantly, Asianese newspapers cannot be used as filler in packages traveling internationally.

As they continued rummaging for acceptable filler material, a hush of conversation swirled around the rest of the customers. "Why can't they put newspaper in there?" I heard asked several times.

With a sly smile on my face, I turned and said, "Oh, that's because they're afraid America will steal all your secrets." A sea of black heads nodded in silent agreement. I later found out from my house helper that it's some American law that won't allow foreign newspapers in our country. Yeah, right. Since you can Al-Jazeera on cable now, I seriously doubt it.

Anyway, my house helper was gone during my outing of the "stealing secrets" revelation because she stepped out the door to see if she could buy some styrofoam or something out on the street that we could fit inside the box. When she came back, a sheepish grin covered her face. She slowly pulled something out of a bag, and apologized for not finding anything better to protect my package. Four rolls of toilet paper.

And that's how things are done here in Asia-land.

In other news, it snowed again yesterday and I took samantha to a candy store. (Emma was supposed to go as well, but due to excessive whining, her privileges were revoked. But samantha was vocal enough to represent emma's needs at the candy store, hundred fold!) We had found a little place that sells gummy worms, gummy bears, and stuff like that. I had a new revelation as we went on our excursion: wearing long underwear under your clothes really does make a difference! I even bought a cute little pink hat to wear on nice snowy days. Just in time to head to thailand...

I finally uploaded several weeks worth of pictures that had been taking up nearly permanent residence on my camera.

First we'll start with present-opening (which for us was new year's eve and new year's day)... These packages wrapped in DORA paper were from aunt kristen.

Samantha has officially joined the "the wrapping is more fun than the present" club... Already busy, checking out their new toys and puzzles...Emma's new Spa doll...


When it came time to open stockings, Samantha just kept digging and digging...full of faith that there would be a never ending supply of goodies to pull out!

Emma tried right away to bite into her package of gummy worms...without opening the package...

Reading betime stories a few nights ago (with the girls in new Dora jammies...)

A few weeks ago, Clara Anne and Emma were playing a "sleep game". I think it had something to do with squeezing their eyes shut really tightly and after that, I'm just not sure. But it sure made them laugh, so we took a picture.
Oh,yeah.....this is a new shelf I had made for the girls' room. It's sort of based on one in a pottery barn catalog, of course, not quite the same dimensions and lacking the very cool baskets, but you get the general idea. The main reason for getting it was to provide a bit of seating for josh and I in their room, and this bench is actually a really nice size. The girls mostly use it as a changing table for their growing collection of baby dolls, but hey, at least everyone is happy. And when happy = more organized, I will never complain!

I love how mantha's pony tail kicks up in this picture... And this one was cute too, so I thought I'd throw it in as well...

Playing yesterday in their room...

So there you have it. Fun pictures from our life recently, and my post office story. We head out for sunny, balmy, palm-tree studded thailand in about a week, and the girls are already excited! They've been filling their suitcases over and over again with all sorts of unnecessary (but to them, very crucial) items, and I've started compiling my lists. I have a "Places to Eat" list, a "food items to buy" list, a "household items to buy" list, a "snack foods I want to buy" list...and so on and so forth. Let's just say that we shall not leave any donuts uneaten...