Hungarian Postal Service & loving life in the village!

One of the previously, most consistently frustrating agencies to deal with in Hungary was the postal service. In Hungary, the postal service is an intricate part of your life. All bills need to be paid there, any official paperwork requires stamps bought there, picking up packages is one of the most frustrating things. That would usually require the special notice you found in your mail box, then going to a specific window, at a specific post office that may or may not be in your neighborhood. Then there is waiting in line for a loooooong time and then being told you were at the wrong window (& usually not in a nice way!)- head over to the longer line! Let us not even discuss - customer service! And of course various windows are closed for certain times of day. (Usually unadvertised times) Add to this, if you needed to buy stamps, to pay a bill and to pick up a package - that would require standing in 2 different lines, maybe 3.  On the plus side, you can pay bills, collect money, buy lotto tickets (I don't :-) put money on your phone, send a telegram, send a fax, buy stamps, magazines, recipe books and dvd's all under the same roof....but of course, in different lines!!

All of the above caused endless stress and pressure on me until - I repented of my attitude, stopped judging and began blessing the dear Hungarian Postal service and it's faithful workers.  I immediately began to have much better times at the post office.  Coincidentally, I also moved to a smaller city - Debrecen and now I am in a village where "posta" life could either be very, very good or very, very bad!

Thankfully, and I do thank God for this and I am thanking my delightful village post office,again and again and thinking of what I could do for them at Christmas time.  Here are 2 recent examples of what happened.  Last Friday, I received a notice of  registered mail waiting for me at the posta. So I headed out to take a walk there about 3.30 knowing it was open until 4 or so I thought. I got to the office before 4 but it closes early on Friday.  By the way - you can only pay bills until 3 and not between 12.30 - 1 as it is lunch time, I digress...the gate is still open and a posta worker is on the porch smoking a cigarette, the front door is already closed and barred.  She asks if she can help me and I show her my notice. She finishes her smoke, enters the side door and returns in minutes with my mail and the form for me to sign. Praise God, I am doing a little happy dance, especially as I was leaving the village the next day and would not be back for a week, and by that time the letter would be sent back!!

Now this Friday, another postal worker comes to my door to tell me I have 2 packages from the Soviet Union waiting for me to pick up. (Yes, they all think I am a very interesting villager) The bundles were too big for his bicycle - yes our mail is delivered by post-ladies and men on bikes!  Did I need my passport, do I  owe any money? He doesn't know but takes out his cell phone, calls the office, answers no on both counts and says be sure to get there before 3!! :-)

I love my village posta!! Thank you God for healing me of "Posta fever" and blessing my life!!