My Mongolian Arch Nemesis

jm- It can be REALLY frustrating not to be able to express yourself in certain situations. One of those situations would be when someone isn't doing thier job and its ticking you off. Over the last 4 months, at least 9 people have sent us packages. We are missing 3 of them, as of today. Normally I would be understanding of the fact that in other countries the postal system may not be as efficient, and it may take a long long LONG time for things to arrive. But so far, things have arrived punctually, except for the 3 we're waiting on.

Now when we go to the PO, we have to go to a certain desk, and give them our ID and address, and they have a book they check (everything is manual - no computer system at all!) to see if they can find our name listed. If not, they say no. If yes, they take our ID into the back room, and return with a box. Usually I have the misfortune of visiting the PO when the same lady is working each time. She looks at me, does not open her book, and says "NO." Once she said, "NO, Tomorrow." So I came back the next day, and she again did not open the book, looked at me and said, "NO." Its extremely irritating. So, I gave up on the PO for a while.

Well yesterday we decided to check in as we were expecting a package from my sister Dawn (should have arrived late last week). I went to the express counter, and the man there checked his slips, looked through the packages he had, and said it wasn't there. I asked what about for a box that wasn't sent Express, and he pointed over to another counter. Working at that counter was my Mongolian Arch Nemesis, the "NO" lady. I walked over with Clayton and before I even got close, she saw me and said "NO." ...... "NO." I went up anyways with my ID and etc. and said (gestures, tarzan English, little Mongolian) I was looking for a package that would have arrived a long time ago. She sighed, got huffy, and tossed me the book. So, Clayt and I looked through it, and lo and behold, about 7 pages from the back, was our names!!! I was happy and felt a little vindicated and wanted to say "In your face!" to her, but with my mongolian all I could do is emphatically point at our names in the book and say "TEEM! TEEM!" (yes! yes!). She didn't seem anything close to apologetic, she just went into the back and brought out a box and gave it to the customs folks.

So thanks Dawn for the package! We got it, but almost didn't. As for the other 3 boxes that are still MIA... I just imagine the "NO" lady has a little room in the back where she is stashing our stuff -- eating american food, practicing her english with grammar books, etc. She almost got our girl scout cookies too! But actually, our school director is going back with me on Monday afternoon to hopefully find the missing 3. He said he had checked with them just an hour before we went, and they told him also that there was nothing. So it seems a little fishy to all of us now.

We'll keep you posted. No pun intended. :)