My sister in Canada mailed me this package back in March of this year. It's apparently been in and out of Jordan several times, opened and re-taped Allah only knows how many times, and to my surprise everything is still there. Unfortunately, it cost her ninety bucks in shipping, which I feel really bad about, but I'm glad she finally got it back.

I tried to pick it up, in fact I inquired at the post office quite a few times during the nearly eight months the package spent in Jordan, but they claimed no knowledge of it, or of anything else ever being sent to my post office box. I have gotten plenty of other peoples' mail; postal employees are supposed to be able to read English numbers, and read them in the right direction, because the boxes are labelled in English, but a lot of people are hired who can't reliably.

When I first arrived in Jordan, I wondered why nobody I knew ever got mail, or even had a mailing address. This would be why - it doesn't arrive. I still wonder how people go through life without using the postal system.