Since I started pen-pal'ing at the age of 8, I enjoyed going to the post office in my neighbourhood. My love for writing exponentiated to affection for stamps, papers, envelopes, cards, postcards, anything I can send. We used to pay water and electric bills, taxes, summons and other kinds of payments there.
The post office in our neighbourhood was efficient. The staff was always friendly, worked at normal speed (sometimes the women spoke too much) and they always had nice stamps ;)
Anyways, I received a notice earlier for a package collection! It was from my friend, Samuel who migrated to NZ! I was damn surprised, didn't expect a Christmas gift from him at all! I ran to the Pochta (Russian=post office) in my district with my slip. The scene in Russia is very different than back home.
It's much more interesting ;)
On 100% recycled paper
Old ladies bring their pets inside..
Sit around for a chit chat while waiting
Comfortable writing desk and chairs
Except this is one weird ass Christmas deco
Santa that looks more like stealing than giving
Russians have no problem standing in line. It's Russian culture. I think it gives them fond memories of the Soviet days when they had to queue for bread. No one makes a sound even if both their legs give away after standing for an hour or if they are the last person 100m behind. Their favourite line when seeing the presence of a queue is:
"Who is last? You? Ohhh you? I'm behind you".
When I got to the post office, there were 4 people in front of me. There was only 1 counter working. 1 for everything. Everything that can be done in a post office is done through that small window. Even to send a telegram or wrapping a parcel to send to Timbuktu.
Anything that doesn't fit through the narrow space will be transacted through a door, the process will take an additional 5minutes.
Scenario: Employee gets up slowly from the seat. Walks slowly towards the door. Unlocks, opens the door slowly. Passes the parcel slowly. Locks the door slowly. Goes back to the seat slowly. Takes a breather for 1-2min then attends to the next person in line.
I think they enjoy watching us stoop so low
2 people needed to dig my package
She found it!
Ta-daaaaa!! All the way from Kiwiland!
I tell you, Samuel is supersweet :)
Pretty, right?
Who wants a pen-pal? LOL
I'm prolly one of the very few who are still into snail mail. My record of exchanging letters would be.. 11 years. We met in UK after 9 years of writing. I'm happy I'm still keeping in touch with most of my (ex)pen-pals. Oooohhh.. those were the days when letters were my weekly affair. Miss it!
The post office in our neighbourhood was efficient. The staff was always friendly, worked at normal speed (sometimes the women spoke too much) and they always had nice stamps ;)
Anyways, I received a notice earlier for a package collection! It was from my friend, Samuel who migrated to NZ! I was damn surprised, didn't expect a Christmas gift from him at all! I ran to the Pochta (Russian=post office) in my district with my slip. The scene in Russia is very different than back home.
It's much more interesting ;)
On 100% recycled paper
Old ladies bring their pets inside..Sit around for a chit chat while waiting
Comfortable writing desk and chairs
Except this is one weird ass Christmas decoSanta that looks more like stealing than giving
Russians have no problem standing in line. It's Russian culture. I think it gives them fond memories of the Soviet days when they had to queue for bread. No one makes a sound even if both their legs give away after standing for an hour or if they are the last person 100m behind. Their favourite line when seeing the presence of a queue is:
"Who is last? You? Ohhh you? I'm behind you".
When I got to the post office, there were 4 people in front of me. There was only 1 counter working. 1 for everything. Everything that can be done in a post office is done through that small window. Even to send a telegram or wrapping a parcel to send to Timbuktu.
Anything that doesn't fit through the narrow space will be transacted through a door, the process will take an additional 5minutes.
Scenario: Employee gets up slowly from the seat. Walks slowly towards the door. Unlocks, opens the door slowly. Passes the parcel slowly. Locks the door slowly. Goes back to the seat slowly. Takes a breather for 1-2min then attends to the next person in line.
I think they enjoy watching us stoop so low
2 people needed to dig my package
She found it!
Ta-daaaaa!! All the way from Kiwiland!I tell you, Samuel is supersweet :)
I got something nice from the Pochta for Samuel too. Hehehee I really liked the envelope though. The card is a bit sad-looking but oi, I wasn't in Memory Lane or Hallmark store.
Pretty, right?Who wants a pen-pal? LOL
I'm prolly one of the very few who are still into snail mail. My record of exchanging letters would be.. 11 years. We met in UK after 9 years of writing. I'm happy I'm still keeping in touch with most of my (ex)pen-pals. Oooohhh.. those were the days when letters were my weekly affair. Miss it!
4 comments:
Wah, pen pal still works? but heck 11 freaking years!!! i'm totally amazed!
Nowadays, i suggest we'd be virtual pen-pals k? exchanging comments... let's see how many years we can do this? hahaha
after all, you can save lots of postage $$$ LOL
cheers!
have a silky smooth and safe trip back to Malaysia! and you too BE GOOD k? wahahaha
Merry Xmas and Happy New Year CJ! May this coming year bring u joy,health and happiness! muakz
fuiyooo.. so nice... кто последный!!!
Hehehe I really enjoy reading your post, CJ! You're a fun person,I can tell. I used to do penpals before too, and I have a collection of stamps as well, but I stopped long ago already. Your friend is really sweet to send you a package. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you!
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