Snail mail

About 10 days ago, I decided to take my chances with sending some mail other than the electronic kind. Under the guidance of my friend Joy, who sends letters and parcels off quite often to the UK, I decided to send 3 articles: a Birthday card to my dear aunt in NZ, a Birthday parcel for my darling brother in Melbourne and some baby gear for a new nephew in Vancouver!

Brave for a first timer, I know. The thing is Joy's mail always seem to reach okay, however mine do have a much longer way to go...

Anyway we took it to a shopping mall, albeit at the other end of town, that does offer a postal service where you can get your letters/packages weighed as well as purchase stamps before sending them off.

Anything to do with the postal system in Dubai seems a bit trivial to me. I don't know what gives me this idea, perhaps it's that we don't have a street address and there is no such thing as mail being delivered to one's physical address or the fact that post offices are such a rare sight. In our 10 months here, we've actually only seen a post office once or maybe twice at the other end of town. It also seems to always be shut - I guess we just happen to go past during 'siesta' time or perhaps it was a Friday...

So yesterday, I was definitely pleased to chat to my brother online and find him [via the webcam] wearing his Birthday present - an apron with the body of Michelangelo's David! It's something Gypsy Boy and I saw while we were in Italy last month and thought it would make a perfect cheeky little gift for my brother. Later on in the day, I also heard that my aunt had received her Birthday card!

That's 2 out of 3. Now if the parcel to Vancouver could just get there before the baby grows out of the things I've sent, that would be perfect!