Wednesday, February 5, 2014

What the... Chinese Postal Service?!

Arriving in China with just a coupla bags and a 'puter was a little different than when I first arrived in Korea, lo those many years ago. When I got to Korea, I had the feeling for the first few weeks of, "What the fuck have I gotten myself into?!"
When I arrived in China, however, I was an old veteran of foreign travel, and it would have taken a lot to faze me. It helped a lot that the people who met me were (and still are) very nice, and not a sick bunch of twisted weirdos out to squeeze every last unit of money out of the poor deluded soul they tricked into accepting employment with them!
But I digress.
(Flint and I have pretty extensively ranted about Korea elsewhere)
I wasn't able to bring everything that I thought I would need over here, not by a long shot. I am here for quite a while I think, and I need certain things (maybe too many things) to set up housekeeping, and live in the style to which I have become accustomed.
So, towards the end of November, I asked my parents to send me a few things: textbooks about teaching, some towels and sheets, and some Canadiana from the Dollar Store to use as Christmas presents for my students. The story of that parcel's journey is long and twisted, so bear with me. All of the dates and times were obtained by submitting the tracking number to Canada Post's website.
The parcel was accepted at the Sundre, Alberta  Post Office at 1645 on November 25, 2013. On Nov. 27th, it was processed in Calgary at 0019, and then in Richmond BC at 0735. It left Canada that same day at 1315, and arrived in China on November 30th at 1811.
On December 1st, it was in transit at 0102, and it arrived at the Chinese Post Office at 1005. It took until December 5th at 0717 for it to be deemed successfully delivered at its address, which was plainly marked on the package as my school.
However, I was not the recipient. Just who had it is still not clear. Time passed, and as Christmas grew closer, I started to wonder just where the package was. My parents aren't young anymore, and things tend to slip their mind. I finally e-mailed them about a week before Christmas just to make sure they had sent the package.
They assured me that it had been mailed okay, and that I should have had it by then, considering how much money they'd spent on the postage. They sent me the tracking number, and I found out all the information described above. The question was, Where was my package?
I tried to contact the Chinese Post Office, but I couldn't find a legitimate phone number, much less someone who spoke English. I turned to my co-teachers, which I don't like to do, as they all work like dogs anyway. Adding this burden to their workload was just one more thing to distract them, but I was adamant. I wanted my package.
Dealing with the post office went on for weeks. Every department said that they didn't have it, the other department had it.This went on for quite some time, until all of the departments in the post office had denied at least twice that they didn't have my package.
Finally, the last week of term arrived, with no sign of it. On January 13th, the post office was informed that my school was going to the police to get some satisfaction on the issue. Someone came to the school the next day to see some letters that I had received to check the addresses to make sure they were proper.
Wednesday was the last day of term, and I left the school without my package or anymore news.
But later that evening my supervisor phoned and told me that she had the package (or at least it was at the school). She delivered it into my hands a couple of days later. Just where it had been, and why it took so long (as well as a threat) to get it to me, is still a mystery.
But be warned: if you are going to send me something, keep track of it, and if it's valuable make sure it's insured. The Chinese Postal Service has not satisfactorily explained what happened. Not to me, anyway.