coy & melissa's ultimate peace corps wish list

after nearly half a year in the tropics, we’ve started noticing the absence of some comforts of home. sure, we have regular access to cell phones and periodic internet time, but there are just some pleasantries that we’re starting to pine for. a few of the items on the following list can be acquired in country, but it’s starting to take a toll on our volunteer “allowance” if you know what i mean.
by no means should you feel pressured to send us anything at all. however, we have had several requests from folks who really want to send care packages and just aren’t sure what to include. on the same token, don’t feel limited by what we’ve listed here. if you have a great new trinket you think we’d enjoy, send it on over. and above all else, please don’t forget that the greatest care package would be YOU! in some instances, it may actually be less expensive to land yourself at our front door, than to ship any assortment of goodies.
and without further ado, we present to you:

coy and melissa’s ultimate peace corps wish list

school supplies:

• colored pencils
• crayola crayons
• montessori language teaching works
• children’s picture books
• magazines for cutting up
• permanent markers
• RIT dye for tie dyeing
• glue sticks
• educational games (brain quest level 5, etc)
• stickers
• pencil sharpeners
• erasers
• pencils
• safety scissors
• maps (world map, north america, south america, caribbean, etc)
• puzzles & other manipulatives

cooking supplies:

• rare spices (indian, fun spice blends, curry pastes, etc)
• stir fry sauces
• baking chocolate
• pine nuts
• peanut oil
• your favorite recipes!!! (please include rare ingredients)

snacks:

• trail mix (please!!!)
• dried fruit (in particular cranberries)
• fruit leather
• chocolate (don’t worry if it melts we can freeze it)
• gum
• natural peanut butter

mental health supplies:

• incense
• magazines (cooking, yoga journal, national geographic, & anything w/pretty pics)
• good books you’ve read
• gardening books
• seeds (flowers, herbs, vegetables)
• old DVD’s (movies, documentaries, TV series, fights-for coy, exercise & yoga)
• decorations (posters, tapestries, pictures of YOU)
• music (CDs or MP3s)


notes on shipping:

our sincerest apologies, but it is absurdly expensive to mail packages to belize. we suggest mailing items in large envelopes if possible, and be wary of the flat rate box (you must ship more than 4lbs of goodies in order to justify the cost of the flat rate). additionally, our duty free status will expire at the end of march. this means that in addition to the exorbitant rate you have already paid to mail us the goods, we will also have to pay to receive them. please undervalue all items on the customs slips and take all new items out of packaging and remove price stickers. this way we can at least claim that it’s used. for example, it is completely acceptable to write “used educational materials” on the customs slip with a value of $5. packages will be opened and the amount we have to pay will depend on what you have written on the slip and what our postal worker deems appropriate. therefore, if he sees price tags, we will be charged accordingly, regardless of what you’ve claimed to customs.
we have no intentions of selling educational contraband from the US, so please don’t feel guilty about bending the truth a bit on your customs form!

our address:
coy thompson & melissa knorr
peace corps volunteers
general delivery
orange walk town
belize
central america

thanks!