The Package

The few times i've received mail here in Korea it's been an absolutely joyful experience.  It's so exciting when a letter or package comes to Reggio.  Typically everyone knows when someone's expecting something because it's such a big event. When the boxes finally arrive, everyone gathers to see what goodies and treats are inside, and naturally everyone gets a little envious of the person receiving said packages.  A few weeks ago my mom asked me for a list of things I need/want because she was getting one of these boxes of treasures ready to ship off to Korea.  Little did I know that my mom had a few ideas of her own on how to make this package stand out. 

Lack of communication was the first problem in this incident.  I don't know if I hadn't been clear, or if what I was telling my mom just didn't register (most likely the latter. i love you mom) but somehow it was lost that I was going to be away from Reggio for 9 days.  I have no idea what my apartment address is, so all my mail is sent to the school.  On the Thursday before vacation I was skyping her, discussing my Chuseok plans and she balked, totally tensing up when she realized I was going to be away for over a week.  I quickly asked what the problem was and she reluctantly told me about the surprise fresh apples she had packed from the orchard by our house.  I tried not to laugh because she was obviously upset, but I did ask, as sensitively as possible, what she was thinking when she chose to do this.  The next day at school I hoped that maybe the package would arrive, thus preventing the rotten apple box that would be waiting for me after the Chuseok Holiday, but no luck.

Vacation came and went and Monday felt like Christmas morning.  I practically skipped up the hill on the way to school.  At this point it'd been well over 2 weeks since she sent everything, so it should surely be there waiting for me, fermented apples or not I was stoked.  I arrived at school and quickly asked reception if I had any mail, or maybe it was something more along the lines of "hi hi hi hi!!! where's my package?!?!"  Eugene, our receptionist looked at me and said, "mmm, no package."  Bummed, but still hopeful I went to class, assuring myself that it must be coming later in the day, things may have been backed up from the holiday.  Once in the classroom I heard someone yelling my name from reception area and I sprinted out the door.  As I was running I saw 2 USPS packages and I began screaming "YAY!" and jumping up and down.  Right before I reached the steps, one of the Korean teachers said, "Not for you. For Karin teacher."  All of the air taken out of my sails, I headed back and started class.

Midway through the morning my co-teacher excitedly came into the room, handed me a letter and asked "is this what you are wait for?!" I worked hard to keep all my thoughts inside, said ''thank you".  At this point i'd completely stopped teaching class and was ripping the letter open.  Once opened I saw 3 papers and a brochure.  The pages read "CONTAMINATION....blah blah blah blah blah (by blah i mean Korean writing) blah blah blah blah blah blah...QUARANTINE.....blah blah blah blah blah blah blah...2.3kg APPLES....blah blah blah blah blah blah blah...INCINERATION...." I gasped and frantically started waving the papers in front of my co-teachers face, shushing the kids to be quite so I could find out what was going on with my package.  After 30 seconds or so of agony she said, "i think they burn it." I started to panic...that's when i'm assuming my co-teacher realized that if they burned this whole package it would ruin the rest of my week, and in turn make hers more difficult as well, so she kindly offered to call the quarantine center and figure out what was going on.  After talking it over with a few different people she found out that they were only going to incinerate the apples and the rest of my package should arrive within the week.

Three long days later, the non perishable and parasite free items made it to Reggio.  By this point everyone had heard about the contamination letter and they'd seen me fretting around the school, my co-teacher was especially excited to see the arrival of the package.  My excitement definitely got the best of me and I finished a snickers, nearly a bag of dried apples, 10 truffles, and snack pack of Oreos before I even left school.  When I realized that it will most likely be a while before I get another one of these precious gifts, I decided to ration the goods and now i'm down to a couple chocolates a day.  Apples or not, it was the best part of my week! Thanks so much Maaam. You da best!!!!!