mailing tips

since the tchadien post is less than stellar, here are some tips to make it easier for me to get all the lovely presents you are going to send me (daily of course, ha.)
-don't send: perishable foods (or chocolate...it melts), weapons, "pamphlets derogatory towards the countries of Equitorial Africa", money or anything valuable
-the normal postal rate for letters is $0.80, for packages it can get expensive, check at the post office
-if you are sending a package, padded envelopes are about a billion times less likely to be opened than boxes. (plus, you will save money)
-no matter what send it air mail (or else it probably won't arrive before i leave)
-ideas to make letters seem more official/less tamperable: write in red ink, address it to dr. becca silverstein, phd (or some other official sounding title...but nothing to do with the government), label the outside with something uninteresting ("educational materials")
(but don't use them all at once, that is even more suspicious)
-things i would like to receive:
LETTERS,
vegan snacks/food (even though i will be eating some non-vegan foods in africa, it doesn't make sense for me to be eating things that aren't vegan from the us) like tofurky jerky, clif bars (my favorite flavors involve chocolate), fruit leather, dehydrated TVP, gross sugary fruity candy like jelly beans as long as they are free of gelatin and beeswax, chreese packets, dried fruits/veggies, i'm sure i'll think of more when i'm there and have time to miss things,
vegetable/herb seed packets (i bought some before i left but the fall selection was lacking)
good books, magazines (esp. vogue, the new yorker),
things that smell good,
crossword/sudoku puzzles,
paper, school supplies,
LETTERS

but really i have no idea what i will want, these are just my anticipated desires. i will be more detailed when i'm in country (in less than a week, ahhh! there's so much to do before then)