When I lived in Spain I was never able to receive a package so I stopped trying (Packageless in Spain), in Korea this had never been a problem until a month ago. I’ve ordered countless things and I’ve received two packages from my family without ever a problem, I’ve also sent packages and they’ve always been received. A month ago, a surprise package my parents sent never made it to me, or so I thought.
My loving parents decided to send a package including some Halloween candy and things you can’t get in Korea so that I could make them for Thanksgiving (stuffing, canned yams and pie crust as well as cute little paper table decorations). However, once it arrives and goes through customs you’re no longer able to track from the U.S tracking service, it stops there. On November 12th, just a little over a week from when my parents sent it, it had gone through customs. From there, it should only take 2-4 days to arrive at my house. As weeks went by and my parents heard nothing from me (about receiving it), my mom asked if I had gotten a package.
I hadn’t.
The surprise turned into hoping it would arrive before my Thanksgiving on the 30th.
It didn’t.
We were left in confusion and doubt, there was never a problem before and we were having flashbacks to Spain, did this mean I couldn’t receive anything, were my boots I ordered (from the U.S) not going to make it too, would my parents not send a Christmas package for fear of it not making it me? If you’ve never lived away from the United States, it’s difficult to understand how much appreciated it is when recieving things from friends and family is, a package of thoughtfulness tops the list.
Finally, I decided to try to get to the bottom of it. Of course, I couldn’t do it alone. Hardly anything can be done in Korea if you’re not fluent in Korean, so on Monday, December 9th I asked my co-teacher for help. She called customs who told her to call the post office, the post office asked if I had a tracking number and at first I said no, I didn’t think the US tracking number would work, but it did if you entered it into the Korean postal website. I looked to the last timestamp and it showed me that on November 13th at 10:58 the package was delivered, one day after it went through customs. I didn’t have the package so my co-teacher called the post office again and they called the driver who said he put it in the boiler room.
The boiler room is a closet-like room between my apartment and the neighbors, it’s common for delivery men in Korea to leave packages there so they don’t get stolen. Over the last month I had tried on three occasions to open it, but it wouldn’t, I thought it was locked. On Monday, my co-teacher also wrote me a note in Korean so that I could give to the security guy asking/telling him “I have a package and it might be in the boiler room, please unlock it”. He tried to open it, but couldn’t and as he was trying it hit me, the door wasn’t locked, the top half of the door was opening, it was stuck. As he left to get a crowbar or something, I crouched onto my knees and pulled from the bottom, the door opened and my package was sitting right there in front of me, a mere couple of feet away from my house. I walked by it every morning from the 13th wondering when my package was going to arrive and it already had.
If it were a movie, the dramatic irony among the audience would be palpable. They’d yell at the screen “Just open the door!!! try again!!!! as I walked away and shrugged as a collective sigh escaped from their lips. While I talked to my parents and we wondered if I was going to ever get it, they’d yell “It’s next to your house!!! It’s in the boiler room!!! They’d be frustrated and sad when I happily ordered the ingredients I needed that were right there in my boiler room, but they’d cheer and share my jubilation when I finally opened the door and received it.