Dear Canada Post...

Good news: Another eighty (yes, 80) postcards have been written, addressed and are all ready to be sent from the wonderful country of Nepal to all you! Woohoo! Now for the bad news: If you happen to be one of the seventy (yes, 70) Canadian recipients, don't go popping those champagne bottles just yet. Again, our arch nemisis, the Canada Post Strike has reared its ugly head. And, oh yes, I know that the postal strike has been over for a good month now. Unfortunately, no one else has got the memo. We trucked down to the Kathmandu Post Office, conveniently located between our guesthouse and the movie theatre showing the new Harry Potter in 3D. (Now, there's something to celebrate!) The entrance to the Capital city's main post office is, of course, hidden down an alley, behind a building, in the exact opposite direction that the big red arrow labelled in capital letters: 'STAMPS' is pointing. Obviously. 'Namaste! Seven stamps for Europe, one for New Zealand, two for the US and seventy for Canada, please,' I requested. The post man looked at me over his wire rim glasses. 'No Canada,' he said. ER. Not, this again! In China, they refused to mail our package to Canada, and we had to carry the postcards around for weeks looking for a post office that would accept our postcards, as 'the stamps don't work.' Its getting to be really frustrating. Seriously. We just wrote seventy post cards! The hand cramp has barely subsided and now Mr. Postman is telling me it was all a big waste of time! 'Why no Canada?' I asked, just for the fun of it. 'There are troubles in Canada,' Mr.Postman informs me. I almost smiled. Troubles? Isn't that term reserved for Northern Ireland? ER. 'The stupid post strike is OVER! For a MONTH at least!,' I want to yell. I don't, because it wouldn't make a difference. The only bright side to this is that we are saving ourselves from licking the back of seventy Nepali stamps... for now.

The new plan is to hunt around the tourist postcard shops for one that may have seventy stamps hanging about. You never know. And then we will drop our sizable stack of cards into a postbox and pray for some sort of heavenly intervention (a postal intervention (whatever that might be) would even do!), or maybe even just a memo from Canada Post to the rest of the world. 'Dear World: Please stop torturing Kristen and send the stupid postcards, already. Love, Canada Post.' A little dramatic? Perhaps. I'll accept the criticism if someone will just mail my postcards. Do you know how long it takes to individually select, write and address eighty postcards? About five ginormous pots of chai- as an estimate. haha Don't get me wrong, I love shopping for things (even postcards) and we like writing them too... when there is a possibility that they might actually make it to their recipients.

So, complaining aside, if any of our fellow Canadian residents actually receive a postcard from China or Nepal, let us know! If you haven't received a postcard from us from anywhere, then we don't have your address- send it our way and we will hook you up... assuming, of course that some country we visit in the next five months will agree to mail anything to Canada. Fingers crossed.

So, all this whining to 'mail' this message:

Dear Countries of the World: Canada Post is no longer on strike!

Dear Canada Post: Kindly inform the countries of the world that you are no longer on strike! Please. Pretty Please. With stamps on top?

Knock on wood: I hope this annoyance does not jinx the arrival of any of our current/future packages. So far, we have been very lucky- four out of the five packages we've sent have safely arrived home...on a positive note.