I had a couple of friends and relatives ask me about our address so that they could send us Christmas cards. I really appreciate them thinking about us from across the ocean. It sounds like a simple question, right? If you could hear our family, we'd all have a big laugh right now. What's our address? Yes, what is our address????? That is the question!!!!!
When we were purchasing our tickets to move here to Albania, it was going to be very expensive to bring luggage on the airplane. We ended up only bringing "personal bags" on the plane l. They had to be able to fit under the seat in front of us. This posed a HUGE problem for me. I had already narrowed down our belongings and planned on each of us being able to bring a small carry-on suitcase and personal bag. I figured that we would also pay to have three large suitcases checked.
Edward said that we could ship some boxes over. I had it in my head that we could ship them a week or so before moving to a friend's apartment and hoped that they would be there when we arrived.
Edward spoke to his friend who said that packages aren't delivered to their home. They pick them up at the post office.
What???? What did he mean???? After all, we were living in the USA, where almost everything could be delivered...to the front door...any day of the week...sometimes.for free!
During our first week here, really wanting to have our things shipped over and get them off of our dear friend's hands that we had left them with in America, I asked a real estate agent who was showing us a couple of houses, how we get things shipped over. His reply shocked me. He said that it would just need to say "Shkoder" on the package, with the postal code- 4001, and our phone number. He said that someone would call us when it arrived. What????
We have tried to figure out our address. There are sufficient street signs up, so that's not a problem. However, for the house number, I checked our rental agreement, figuring that it would be on there. It was a legal document that we had signed with the owner at a lawyer's office. No, it wasn't on that! Our oldest son was at the post office one day and was excited to see a map on the wall with house numbers on it. Much to his disappointment, our house number was so small, he couldn't read it.
My sister-in-law told me that she had mailed many cards overseas and said that she would mail a Christmas card to us. I had told her that we hadn't received any letters here yet. I wasn't quite sure what would happen with a letter. Some of us had seen men delivering letters from time to time around the city on bicycles. I gave her a house number that my son believes is the right one.
We've had several packages successfully shipped over here. Edward will receive a call from someone at the post office notifying him that we have a package. He then makes sure that we pick it up.
I realized that I had given my sister-in-law my phone number, forgetting that I really am not prepared to speak Albanian with someone over the phone.
A few days ago, I was sitting around and my phone rang. The number was an unsaved Albanian number. I wondered if it was the post office. I answered the phone with an Albanian greeting. The man on the other line responded with a greeting as well, followed by a lot of words that I couldn't make out. I did hear something about "posta." I figured that we probably had to go pick up whatever it was at the post office. I decided to tell him that my husband speaks Albanian better than I do. I was about to give him Edward's number, but the call ended.
Within minutes, I received a text with this photo.
Yay! It was a Christmas card with the familiar handwriting of my sister-in-law. There it was!! However, it looked like it was in his hand over the road. What did that mean? He then sent an image with a pin dropped with his location. I called him back and sent one of my sons to go meet him. He wasn't far, so I decided to go as well.
I went around the corner, looked down our road, and there he was, on his bike, talking to my husband who was also on bike, returning home from an appointment. How did the carrier know that Edward was my husband? I waved to them. They talked for a little while and eventually headed towards us. He shook hands with us and my husband brought him to our house. He was very friendly. He told Edward that he was the only carrier for this area. We asked him what our house number was. He didn't know.
We went inside, opened the card and enjoyed reading the note from my sister-in-law. My husband and I exchanged stories of our interactions with the mail carrier. My sister-in-law had put both of our numbers on the card, so after the carrier had talked to me, he had called Edward. He had also dropped him a pin, and that's how they met up.
It's rather funny to us. Nobody knows our address, not even our mail carrier. It's obviously not that important here. To pay our bills, we go to the phone and electric companies. Things like this help to keep life a little simpler, and I have no complaints about that!!!!
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