Just when we think we've got this place almost figured out, we are reminded that we don't! It makes me feel better that my friend who has lived here for seven years still can't quite figure out how her washing machine works. My other friend shared with me that everytime she returns home from driving any distance, she is amazed she didn't kill someone on the road.
Cell phone service is not even close to the cost in Canada, so I am NOT complaining, but I don't quite understand how it works and anyone I've asked to explain it to me seems to be in the same boat. We purchase time from a booth at the side of road, type it into our phone and boom, we have both phone service and data. It's unclear to me how much of that money goes to data and how much goes to phone service because according to my cell app I have over $100 left of data but my phone service ran out last month. The other mystery is I've never paid $100 towards service on my phone as we usually purchase about $5 a month. As long as my phone keeps working, I'll happily purchase the nine digit number from the side of the road.
Everyone in our borey pays the security guards at a $20 service fee. There is one family who have never been asked for it and they've lived here for years. It's not like there is an invoice that comes to your mailbox, but rather a guard will run you down and ask you for that money. There have been so many robberies in our borey as of late, that some people are refusing to pay the fee as someone is clearly sleeping on the job. Our neighbour who moved here a few months before us had never been asked for the fee, but then was chased down a few months ago and was forced to pay up. We haven't been asked to pay yet. We drive through the guarded gate everyday on both moto and car and I always wonder if today will be the day. Our friends can't figure it out and wonder if our landlord is paying the fee. It remains a mystery!
Our house helper Chenine comes every Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoon and I am very thankful for the help. Our home is three floors but we never venture to the third floor. It has two bedrooms and two bathrooms up there and it has housed overnight guests three times. (if we count our kids as guests) She arrives at 12 and is supposed to work until 4, but she is generally just starting to clean the first floor - the area we live in and that is dirtiest - by 5pm. I simply don't understand what she could be doing on the 3rd floor for so long. There is nothing to clean as no one is using that space. One of these days, I will garner up enough courage to walk up there and see what she's doing.
The other day when I was filling out a deposit slip at the bank and figuring out how the system worked, I was reminded that the adventure of life here lies in figuring out how to live in another part of the world. The fun is in not knowing how basic things work and learning to cope and fit in that world. Just when it seemed I got the bank process worked out, my kids phoned me with the news that the bank machine system in Ontario has gone paperless. When I return, I will not have put my deposit, cash or cheque, into an envelope or type in the amounts I am depositing...it's all automatic! It seems more mystery awaits when I return home for a visit in June.
