Brown Paper Packages and KazPost

Today I have two stories for you about the postal system. The Kazakhstani postal system is a strange thing.

Story number one goes something like this: last week I went to the post office to mail a letter to my friend Tommy in Tanzania. I showed up at the post office during the pre-lunch rush, pulled out my letter already sealed in an international envelope, held it up to the window and asked the young woman behind the counter "Is it possible to send this to Tanzania?" There was a very long pause, a look of confusion, and then she asked "To where?" "To Tanzania" I replied. [A quick aside: This particular window at the post office is not only the place to send international letters, but also the place to pick up Avon packages. So throughout this entire exchange, women highly made up with brightly colored eye shadow are interrupting and asking for their packages from Avon. Even in Kazakhstan, Avon's calling.]

She thought about it for awhile and asked again, "To where?" So I replied "To Africa." She shrugged her shoulders and said "Sure." She stamped the letter a few times and threw it in a stack. It will be a miracle if this letter ever reaches Tanzania. I'm sorry Tommy, I tried really hard.

Story number two goes like this: I went to the post office to send a package to the States. I wasn't quite sure about the method of sending packages, so I figured I'd show up with what I wanted to send and hope for the best. So I show up with a small Kazakhstani handicraft and a handmade letter, hand it to my favorite young lady working the "International Post" window, and ask "How do I send a package to America?" She looks at my stack of things, raises a quizzical eyebrow and asks "You want to send this to America?" I confirm that this is in fact what I hope to do, and she goes into the back room, presumably to get a box. She returns a minute later with an entire slew of postal employees in tow, butcher paper, and twine. The postal employees crowd around to see what the foreigner is sending. They look at the items I'm sending, ask the woman helping me "She's sending this to America??", the woman confirms. The crowd of postal employees begin to whisper about how strange it is that I'm sending these items all the way to America, there's lots of giggling and many strange looks. The woman helping me wraps my small stack of things in butcher paper, ties it with twine, and seals it with a wax seal. This package, dear reader, is honestly straight out of 1925, but it's heading to the future and America. Hopefully it makes it there in one piece.