Send me stuff

So, for the next three months while I'm in training my mailing address will be:

Joshua Stern, PCT
Peace Corps Training Site
PO Box 9123
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Letters and packages will earn you a special place in my heart.
If you'd like postcards from me, email me your mailing address.

Here's some amusing mailing advice from one of the many Peace Corps guides out there:

“There are a few things you can do to help hasten and secure the passage and delivery of your mail. Have anyone sending you a card package scribble religious symbols and biblical quotes all over the outside of the box. This sounds silly, but it works. Though many of the countries in which the Peace Corps serves are largely animist in religion, superstitution runs high and even corrupt postal workers are wary of intercepting religious parcels. Along every step of the way, your mail will be subject to the whims of postal officals, customs officers, and delivery personnel who often take the liberty of rummaging through care packages in search of goodies from the U.S. If you mail is embellished with religious symbols, the odds of keeping it intact are improved. You may even want to ask the sender to write “Sister” or “Brother” before your name, the heighten the effect. Another trick is to have your mail addressed to you in red ink. I’ve been told red ink is somewhat sacrosant in many third world societies and is reserved for only the most official of letters and correspondances. Though I’m unsure about this explanation’s validity, I can vouch for the trick’s effectiveness, having seen serveral packages addressed in red ink delivered safely and expeditiously.”