corruption frustration

After losing my wallet containing my credit cards last month (Did it fly out of my backpack as I ran to catch my shuttle or was it stolen? I don't know. That doesn't matter. I lost them.), I of course cancelled them right away and ordered new ones to then be mailed from my Minneapolis address. After not receiving three packages from my parents via regular mail and FedEx that they mailed back in November, I figured the best way to receive these new credit cards would just be in an ordinary letter sent via ordinary mail. Yesterday, a month after they'd been sent, I received the mail. I was so excited. And then I opened the envelope and inside was all of the credit card information (you know, that letter the cc company sends to you with your cc stuck on it with instructions) along with a letter from my mom. But the credit cards were gone.

I could not believe it!

I was speaking to someone about this yesterday, a Canadian living here and running a business under the table and asked how do you get anything in the mail that's important? She said that she usually finds a friend or a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend that's heading this way and has it arranged for them to deliver the goods, even if it takes months. It's kind of crazy. But at the same time, the corruption and looseness of the government allows for a lot of people to do things here they couldn't do other places, like work at a school without a work visa.