I was in the mail room, my hands were full with a hot cup of coffee and my wallet and I was trying to find my keys. It was quite the hassle because a bunch of girls had overtaken the whole mailroom selling someone's entire wardrobe and so I had no table space to set anything down. Not to mention my backpack weighed like 40 pounds all day so it was quite the struggle for me to one-handedly get my keys from my wallet and bend down and find my mailbox way on the bottom row that's impossible to see in.
But it was well worth it! Not only had I gotten a 5/5 on my latest Doctrine assignment he'd mailed back to us, but the bright pink package slip was there--my package had finally come! It was my birthday package from Hannah Brammer, mailed all the way from Germany!
I gave the mail room work study my package slip eager to see what was coming and oh....It's a huge yellow box that looks completely fallen apart. I didn't think about it too much. I figured that traveling from a different continent gives a package every right to be pretty beat up. So I somehow juggled my 40 pound backpack, wallet, hot coffee, huge falling apart package and 5/5 Doctrine homework and struggled through the awkward-looking clothing sale taking over the whole mail room and made it to the elevator (and managed to push the button with my hands full--what skill!).
I really enjoyed opening the package with my zebra print scissors. Like any little kid, I wanted to rip open the package and look at all the stuff I'd gotten but I let my patient side of me take over and I read her letter first. It was great, it's always so good to hear about her life even if we are so far apart. And thankfully this letter wasn't 18 pages front and back (yes that's happened before) so a few minutes later I was ready to look at my presents!!
First I pulled out a towel with candy wrapped inside. Cool. Good German candy eggs with a toy in the middle. I like that. The towel thing was weird, but what great cushioning right? There were two more of those. And then there was a little bunny figurine. You know....the one thing in the whole package that was breakable and it was the one thing not wrapped up tightly in a towel. And so naturally it was broken. I wasn't surprised but I also didn't want to hurt Hannah's feelings so I was bummed that something had broken. And then there was just a ton of candy!! German chocolate is the best and Hannah remembered my favorite: choclait chips! Two whole packages of them! I highly recommend them. There was a lot more candy, so much I had never seen or tried before! Oh and then there was just a tiny little koala bear key chain intermixed with the candy. His navy T-shirt said "I ♥ Australia." Cool. Thanks Hannah. I mean, Germans probably think Australia is just as cool as I think it is, so why shouldn't that be in the package.
So naturally I texted Hannah telling her how excited I was her package finally came. And of course I dug into the candy right away. It went great with my coffee! I did want to ask her about the towel thing though....I never knew Germans liked towels so much. Especially blue ones with toy cars on them in a row honking at each other. I mean hey, it was cool. But I had to ask. So I texted her something along the lines of, "What's up with the towel set? It's cool, it's just so random, where'd you get it?"
Hannah: "Haha. What towel set?"
Me: "The towel! Weren't there two?" By now I was in the library. Not near the towel set.
Hannah: "What towel? Did I send one?".... "Maybe it's not my package."
This went on for a while, probably with some really humorous frustration on both sides. I thought there was some language barrier thing going on. Maybe Germans use the word 'towel' only for huge towels and this is more of a washcloth or hand towel. So I tried to clarify its size and how it was still a towel.
But that still didn't work. I finally came back to the room and read what it said on the tag. "What does 'handtuch' mean, Hannah? That's what it says on the tag."
Hannah: "It means towel!"
Me: "Well that's what was in the package!!"
Frustrated, we moved on. She asked me if I liked the earrings she'd sent. "What earrings?" She told me where in the box they were. Well, they weren't. Nowhere to be found. There are things in this package you don't know about, and the things you tell me are here aren't! Did the earrings morph into towels and a bunny figurine and a koala key chain??
So by this point we were probably both equally irritated and equally thinking that the other was a dirty liar. Or just mental. So then I decided it was time to break the news to her. "The little bunny figurine broke on the bottom. Its feet came off." (Isn't always awkward when gifts come broken?)
"What bunny figurine??"
Hmm. Maybe something's wrong. Hannah asked me if I was sure if it was her package. I asked her if she was sure she mailed it. Obviously we both had great proof as to why it was in fact, from her (return address was hers and in her handwriting!) and why she had mailed it (she'd brought it to the post office herself and taped it shut there without any little brothers sneaking something in last minute). Ok so maybe the other person wasn't going completely insane.
I sent her pictures of everything. Sure thing, that was the box she'd sent. Only pretty beat up. But aside from the candy and the letter, she had never seen anything in that box before.
Pretty freaky huh? I kinda got super creepy sketched out feelings thinking about someone going through my package stealing (!!!) my new red earrings and in exchange, giving me some useless towel set, a bunny figurine, and a koala key chain. And I imagine it freaked Hannah out too. She had mailed that thing shut with her own hands and had filled out a customs form, saying exactly what was in the box. Saying what would (should) get delivered. But it didn't.
I'm guessing someone did a really careless job in some office somewhere, checking a whole bunch of boxes at once. Just a normal routine check that they do with international mail. Our little package of candy and earrings was probably the most harmless one out there but apparently was still worth looking into. And then they did a really reckless, careless job of putting things back in boxes and mixed everything up. Some poor kid somewhere is probably missing his car towels and wondering why the heck his aunt in Germany gave him earrings instead. I don't know.
And maybe that's not what happened. Maybe I really did get robbed. I guess we'll never really know. At least I got that candy. It's the bomb. And the letter. That's always the best part. I'll miss those earrings but at least I have a set of towels, a broken bunny, and an I ♥ Australia koala bear key chain to make up for it.
What a mysterious package to start off my 21st. Nah, overall it was pretty great. Definitely won't forget that one for a while.
But it was well worth it! Not only had I gotten a 5/5 on my latest Doctrine assignment he'd mailed back to us, but the bright pink package slip was there--my package had finally come! It was my birthday package from Hannah Brammer, mailed all the way from Germany!
I gave the mail room work study my package slip eager to see what was coming and oh....It's a huge yellow box that looks completely fallen apart. I didn't think about it too much. I figured that traveling from a different continent gives a package every right to be pretty beat up. So I somehow juggled my 40 pound backpack, wallet, hot coffee, huge falling apart package and 5/5 Doctrine homework and struggled through the awkward-looking clothing sale taking over the whole mail room and made it to the elevator (and managed to push the button with my hands full--what skill!).
I really enjoyed opening the package with my zebra print scissors. Like any little kid, I wanted to rip open the package and look at all the stuff I'd gotten but I let my patient side of me take over and I read her letter first. It was great, it's always so good to hear about her life even if we are so far apart. And thankfully this letter wasn't 18 pages front and back (yes that's happened before) so a few minutes later I was ready to look at my presents!!
First I pulled out a towel with candy wrapped inside. Cool. Good German candy eggs with a toy in the middle. I like that. The towel thing was weird, but what great cushioning right? There were two more of those. And then there was a little bunny figurine. You know....the one thing in the whole package that was breakable and it was the one thing not wrapped up tightly in a towel. And so naturally it was broken. I wasn't surprised but I also didn't want to hurt Hannah's feelings so I was bummed that something had broken. And then there was just a ton of candy!! German chocolate is the best and Hannah remembered my favorite: choclait chips! Two whole packages of them! I highly recommend them. There was a lot more candy, so much I had never seen or tried before! Oh and then there was just a tiny little koala bear key chain intermixed with the candy. His navy T-shirt said "I ♥ Australia." Cool. Thanks Hannah. I mean, Germans probably think Australia is just as cool as I think it is, so why shouldn't that be in the package.
So naturally I texted Hannah telling her how excited I was her package finally came. And of course I dug into the candy right away. It went great with my coffee! I did want to ask her about the towel thing though....I never knew Germans liked towels so much. Especially blue ones with toy cars on them in a row honking at each other. I mean hey, it was cool. But I had to ask. So I texted her something along the lines of, "What's up with the towel set? It's cool, it's just so random, where'd you get it?"
Hannah: "Haha. What towel set?"
Me: "The towel! Weren't there two?" By now I was in the library. Not near the towel set.
Hannah: "What towel? Did I send one?".... "Maybe it's not my package."
This went on for a while, probably with some really humorous frustration on both sides. I thought there was some language barrier thing going on. Maybe Germans use the word 'towel' only for huge towels and this is more of a washcloth or hand towel. So I tried to clarify its size and how it was still a towel.
But that still didn't work. I finally came back to the room and read what it said on the tag. "What does 'handtuch' mean, Hannah? That's what it says on the tag."
Hannah: "It means towel!"
Me: "Well that's what was in the package!!"
Frustrated, we moved on. She asked me if I liked the earrings she'd sent. "What earrings?" She told me where in the box they were. Well, they weren't. Nowhere to be found. There are things in this package you don't know about, and the things you tell me are here aren't! Did the earrings morph into towels and a bunny figurine and a koala key chain??
So by this point we were probably both equally irritated and equally thinking that the other was a dirty liar. Or just mental. So then I decided it was time to break the news to her. "The little bunny figurine broke on the bottom. Its feet came off." (Isn't always awkward when gifts come broken?)
"What bunny figurine??"
Hmm. Maybe something's wrong. Hannah asked me if I was sure if it was her package. I asked her if she was sure she mailed it. Obviously we both had great proof as to why it was in fact, from her (return address was hers and in her handwriting!) and why she had mailed it (she'd brought it to the post office herself and taped it shut there without any little brothers sneaking something in last minute). Ok so maybe the other person wasn't going completely insane.
I sent her pictures of everything. Sure thing, that was the box she'd sent. Only pretty beat up. But aside from the candy and the letter, she had never seen anything in that box before.
Pretty freaky huh? I kinda got super creepy sketched out feelings thinking about someone going through my package stealing (!!!) my new red earrings and in exchange, giving me some useless towel set, a bunny figurine, and a koala key chain. And I imagine it freaked Hannah out too. She had mailed that thing shut with her own hands and had filled out a customs form, saying exactly what was in the box. Saying what would (should) get delivered. But it didn't.
I'm guessing someone did a really careless job in some office somewhere, checking a whole bunch of boxes at once. Just a normal routine check that they do with international mail. Our little package of candy and earrings was probably the most harmless one out there but apparently was still worth looking into. And then they did a really reckless, careless job of putting things back in boxes and mixed everything up. Some poor kid somewhere is probably missing his car towels and wondering why the heck his aunt in Germany gave him earrings instead. I don't know.
And maybe that's not what happened. Maybe I really did get robbed. I guess we'll never really know. At least I got that candy. It's the bomb. And the letter. That's always the best part. I'll miss those earrings but at least I have a set of towels, a broken bunny, and an I ♥ Australia koala bear key chain to make up for it.
What a mysterious package to start off my 21st. Nah, overall it was pretty great. Definitely won't forget that one for a while.
