Mail

I am molta pazza for mail. I love choosing the card or stationary, writing it, decorating the envelope, mailing it and of course, peeking in my mailbox to see if I received a letter or card in return. So you can imagine my horror when I first got to Italia and realized the post office here actually makes the postal system in the U.S. look like a fine-tuned machine.

Let me preface something first. I have received every letter and package my family and friends have sent me from the U.S. But there is really no telling when I will receive it. For instance, my friend Erica sent me a package the week of Christmas. She would email me occasionally to see if I had received it and for 6 weeks, the answer was, 'No, but I'm sure it will arrive soon.'

Then, this week, I finally received it. Unfortunately, it was stuffed into my mailbox although it didn't quite fit but the postal guy decided it was va bene cosi' (okay like this). See picture above for more details. Could I go and complain about this? Si, si, certo but you know what they'd say? 'Tu hai ricevuto il pacco, si'? Allora?' Which basically means, 'you got the package, right? So?'

The post office here is a funny place. At first I was so scared to go, I used to try and get my husband to go with me. I was scared they would ask me something in Italian that I couldn't understand and the people in line behind me would know I was American right away and start whispering, "Lei e' Americana...lei non parla italiano ancora' (She is American....she doesn't speak Italian yet). But my husband would just give me that blank stare and say, 'Vai, vai all'ufficio postale. E' facile." Eh, si'. Facile. The truth is, my husband hates going to the post office more than I did when I first got here. For him, all the post offices in Italy could shut down one day and he would just nod and say 'Bene' (good).

Why is the post office a funny place you ask? First of all, it is the only business in Italy (besides the bank) where there is a lot of security. And for good reason because many people in Italy go to the post office to pay their bills. So you are basically talking to someone behind what I imagine is bullet proof glass. Second reason: no organization whatsoever. When you enter Poste Italiane, you will notice there is a line for paying bills and a line for mailing cards or packages. Usually the lines are close together and you can't tell where one ends and the other begins. And some post offices will have a number taking system but if they do, 9 times out of 10 times, it isn't working. Then often times, someone who is paying a bill ends up going to the counter where the person is selling stamps. Paying bills is a long process here in Italy. A person could bring anywhere from 5-10 bills with them and each one has to be processed separately and of course you pay in cash. So the person has to look up the bill in the computer, count the cash and provide a receipt. Takes much longer than just buying a stamp. This leads to reason #3 of why the post office is a funny place: there is always a line. Please see reason #2 to clarify why there is always a line. You need to make sure you budget at least 1/2 hour in your day when you go to the post office.

After one year in Italy, going to the post office isn't scary anymore. And so far, I've had more luck with receiving mail than I had in Miami Beach. So maybe the system isn't so disorganized after all...like everything else here, they are just more relaxed about structure.