We left the boys with our nanny and headed into District 1 to mail a package to my new nephew, Isaac. The post office in Saigon is an amazing French colonial building with massive old maps on the walls and a huge painting of Ho Chi Minh on the wall. It is usually crawling with tourists taking photos, escaping the heat and siting at long, wooden tables writing post cards. We, too, came to this building a few times as toursits, so it seems significant somehow that now we come here to mail things. Regardless of whether you bring your item already in a box or not, they take everything apart, and repackage it in their boxes. The man behind the counter must have worked with my package for 10 min. (and of course there was about 10 min. of paperwork) and in the end it cost about $4.50 to mail this to Seattle.
We then walked to the Rex Hotel to meet up with Hannah. Hannah was in fifth grade at the elementary school were I taught third grade 14 years ago. She was not in my class but got connected to us through her fifth grade teacher (a good friend of mine). Anyhow, she was doing Semester at Sea and was in town. It was nice to pretend we were experts on "our city" and take her out to dinner and coffee. This photo is of a back-alley coffee shop we like to go to that has strong coffee and delicious food.
Gotta run. Colin just asked, "Can I have breakfast? I haven't eaten in a long time." More later.
I know exactly what you mean and you've expressed it so well, "doing the ordinary in an extraordinary place." So interesting that they repackage and place your item in their box. No argument if the postage rate to the US is that low! No excuses, now you can send me stuff. Uh oh.
ReplyDeleteP.S. Around April or May, that package above arrived back in Vietnam. The USPS didn't recognize Isaac Jackson at the address with the rest of the Jacksons, so they sent it back. The journey took six months. We're not sure when it touched ground in View Ridge.
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