StuffedMailbox2_fullWe have been here almost six years now and have yet to find a foolproof solution to receiving letters or packages from overseas. There are, of course, the obvious issues where anything of value or that appears to be of value is apt to go missing in transit. Letters will usually get through if the address is correct but this is an issue for any type of automated address labelling system which simply cannot deal with a non traditional address format. When the name of our complex, Boulevard Condo is automatically shortened to Blvd, it means nothing here in Asia. We have no idea how much mail has gone astray, but we do apologize if it was yours!

Assuming the address is correct and it makes its way through Pos Malaysia to our building, the postie then randomly tosses letters into any box with a matching number or letter. We live in apartment 13A. But as the Chinese will not live on any floor that has a ‘four’ in it (sounds like ‘death’ in Mandarin), the entire floor above us is also 13A. We get a lot of mail, but not much of it is ours. Sometimes the mail gets to our box eventually thanks to helpful neighbours. I know we regularly redistribute the mail that is delivered to us.

However, now we are engaged in online courses, for the next several years we need to be able to access many books in a country where libraries are not a priority and have them delivered expeditiously. From the first course that Steve took we have learned that textbooks will be our major challenge. Some books are available on Kindle and we are very grateful for that, but three Steve had to order from the bookstore attached to the seminary. He received the third one a few days ago in the last week of his course.

This is clearly not a viable option so we now have another mailing address in a commercial complex. Yes, we know that this gives us four existing addresses, five if you count the school address, but it has become necessary. We have set up a mailbox at Mailbox, Etc. which is an outlet for both UPS and DHL so we will be able to pick up our own delivery, at our convenience, rather than having the Malay speaking delivery guy try to work out the details of delivery with our Nepali speaking security guards. Hopefully this is the beginning of a successful and ongoing relationship with Amazon and maybe even anyone else who might be inclined to send us a Christmas gift. Letters and cards can still come to our apartment, but if it is important, it should go to the address below.

So if you are inclined to send us something other than your prayers, our new and secure mailing address is:

Suite 158

MBE Empire Subang

P-05A, Empire Shopping Gallery

Jalan SS16/1

47500 Subang Jaya, Selangor