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Monday, April 4, 2011

Yeah, I Eat Things Sent to Me Through the Mail from Strangers, What Of It?

When I was in Alaska, I came down with a terrible cold. One of the men that I worked with, that was nice enough to walk me home from the bar and actually tried to converse with me even though he barely spoke English, gave me Mexican cold medicine. That medicine must've been part arsenic and part cayenne pepper, because I've never sweat so much in my life. After only a few nights of intense sweating, the cold was gone. Apparently, after speaking with another guy (whose English was much more comprehensible), I was informed that that was really the point...to sweat out the cold and move on with your life. Fascinating and effective.

After telling Dustin that I'd taken this miracle drug, the only thing that he said was, "you took pills from someone that doesn't speak English that you've only known for three weeks?"

You know, when you say it like that, you make it sound so horrible. 

You have to throw caution to the wind in some instances. I think that being American has really taught me to distrust people and in turn, I've lost out on some great opportunities. I'm still kicking myself for not taking that job teaching English in Korea. Before all of the bills, the apartment and the cats, I could've met countless people from all over the world.

What this is really getting at is that I received an awesome package in the mail today from an awesome swapper: Julia. She's living in Puerto Rico, but soon will be moving to Switzerland to be with her significant other. I sent her a small package with some nature-y things and a letter, and she (even though she didn't have to) sent me an awesome slice of Puerto Rico! Including these awesome traditional Puerto Rican candies.

I'm currently eating the white lollipop and it's a delicious mixture of toasted coconut and coconut milk. The red lollipop is sesame, I imagine that brownish square is a date paste with sesame seeds, and the yellow one is a fancy mixture of coconut and pineapple. Awesome, especially for someone like me that can't eat chocolate and particularly loves coconut and sesame. It seems like America has gotten away from traditional candies and wants to see how many kinds of chocolate and nuts they can layer on a Granny Smith Apple with a stick shoved up it's bum. ugh.

I look forward to not only trying all of these candies, but continuing to converse with Julia in Switzerland, too. The personal fulfillment that comes from penpals (especially finding and sending things that they enjoy) far outweighs the time that it takes to write and mail packages. I feel so fortunate to have met Julia, a woman that shares a lot of the same life experiences as myself, and to build a friendship outside of the constraints where most people find friends: work, family, the gym or the bar (a personal favorite for Pittsburghers). Without a common ground like those, I'm free to share everything about myself. Who wouldn't want to hear about me? I'm RAD!

Man, my coconut lollipop is over. Best Blogger Tips

2 comments:

  1. what's wrong about eating things from strangers ! I always do the same ! except when I received once a whole huge package of out-of-date candies and sweets

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