But the best part was actually HOW they arrived. Of course they were neatly sealed in plastic and then put in a cardboard box, which is how they are always shipped. But this time they arrived in a very special way indeed. My coworker came into the office carrying what looked like a big plastic trashbag and said "This came for you". Turns out my package arrived in the original (huge) US postal bag! Can you believe it?
It was the only package in the bag and that gave me these funny visions of me being the only person in the world who had a package delivered from the USA today. I saw these postal workers going all beserk like "Oh my just one package today, what are we to do?" and then one of them said "Wait, I have this bag right here, maybe that could work? We'll just leave it on so the package doesn't get lost.". ;-) I doubt this was the case, but I have never had a package delivered inside an actual postal bag before! It was like a wonderful little (big) bonus to the books.
I thought the bag and especially the lettering on it were so cool that I could not bring myself to throw it away. I mean, how many Dutch people get an original US postal bag delivered to their door? It's made of really sturdy material, so I think I will one day use pieces of it to cover a journal or find some other purpose for it. Ah, this is the curse of the creatively inclined, we can always find a use for everything!