For years, I've been having trouble getting mail in Egypt (along with all the ex-pats I know). As opposed to the West, there are no 'mailmen' here that have regular routes--at least not outside of Cairo. The postal workers don't consider themselves paid well enough to venture out and actually deliver anything. Almost all my mail has been lost, stolen, or occasionally sent back. Here's my most recent experience.
After receiving gift certificates, I ordered books from a well-known internet source on March 9. I paid extra for 'expedited' shipping, and the books were supposed to arrive on March 21. They're over a month late now. I'm sure some Egyptian postal worker was thrilled to see a package from the US come into the Post Office. I'm sure he was less thrilled when he got it home and found it only contained two how-to books about writing novels (as opposed to anything electronic).
I contacted a large bookstore here to try to get them to order the books for me. They said yes, but it would take two months or so for the books to arrive. No problem, I said, as long as they come eventually. However, the company sent me an email the next day saying they don't 'deal' with those publishers. (The four books I ordered were from three well-known publishers.)
Why don't I simply download e-books, you ask? Because the net source noted above refuses to allow anyone from Africa to download their books. But don't worry. I'm resourceful, and I haven't given up yet. :-)
4 comments:
That must be so frustrating!
I wonder if I can lend you Kindle books that I buy through my account if you download the Kindle app into your computer. We should look into it.
I was going to ask the same thing as Kate ^_^ It's funny, when I think of things we have here in the US that we take for granite (sp?), mail is never one of them, but I could see how that would be a huge frustration.
I was thinking that about kindle too.
They don't make it easy for you do they. Glad you're not giving up. Apps on computers and cells now make it easier than before.
So glad I found your blog! Now I can follow you back! My husband lived in Brazil for a while and his mom always got so upset when his packages disappeared. She once mailed him a jar of applesauce (no idea why). He got it four months later and the jar was shattered. But it came...eventually!
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