Los Correos/The Post (angry post)

In the hustle and bustle of last-minute packing the morning I was leaving for Spain I decided to reduce the weight of my suitcase because it was just too heavy.  So I started to take things out that I didn't think I would need.  For example I had packed two pairs of sneakers so I took out pair.  They were both converse sneakers but one was a high-top pair and the other a low-top pair.  I somehow managed to take out one shoe from each pair and didn't realize this UNTIL I arrived in Madrid.  Not only this but both shoes were the left foot so I couldn't even pull off wearing them!  So the first thing I did was email my parents and ask them if they could send me the right foot of each shoe so that I would have more than heels, running shoes and a pair of flats to work with.  Little did I know that boot season in Spain starts in like September even though it was in the 70s well into October.  Upon arriving I didn't have much money at all.  I had money to fund living expenses for a month until I was paid and money for a deposit and first month at an apartment.  I literally had no extra money for shopping.  So I wasn't able to just go out and buy a pair of shoes or a pair of boots.

My parents sent out a package for me with various items, the two right feet of my converse sneakers, an extra sweatshirt, a few dvds, a picture of me and my sisters, candy and kraft mac 'n' cheese and vanilla extract (because it's extremely hard to find vanilla extract in Spain).  They sent the package out over three weeks ago- they waited until I found and moved into my apartment.  They had the package insured and certified and the USPS told them it would take 6-10 days for me to receive it.  I had them send the package to my school because I had heard of nightmares of people not being home when their package was delivered and going around to multiple post offices to try and track down their package.  I was told it was easiest to have it sent to the school because this would be less likely to happen.

So anyways, here I am on December 3rd and no news on my package.  My parents seem to have misplaced the tracking number so have contacted a 1-800 post office number and will be figuring out this weekend WHERE my package is.  I tried going to the nearest post office to my school (because this is where it would be if it had failed to be delivered to me at the school) and they wouldn't even attempt to look for it without a tracking number.  I haven't been this frustrated over something in a long time.  I mean I figure it probably took 1-3 days for the US to deliver it to Madrid and that at this point Madrid is just taking their sweet time delivering it to me.  Here in Spain they have no concept of doing things efficiently or in a timely matter.  It's always "manaña, manaña" (tomorrow, tomorrow).  I suppose being an American I just don't understand how a country can be so inefficient and take SO long to do things.  I mean I am being serious when I say that it takes about 5x longer to do anything here than it does in the US.

So at this point I am simply crossing my fingers that the package wasn't lost and that at some point I will receive it.  Who knows how much longer I will have to wait?  And I am sure after this experience my parents won't want to send me any other packages while I am abroad- and honestly I don't blame them.