Expat « Balanced Melting Pot

Category: Expat

Mar 09

The things that we do for love

I bought a really neat PDA phone (HTC Tilt) back in August ‘08 and since then I have been carrying on an affair with said telephone happily. So, when I looked into getting a phone here, I was hoping that I would be able to continue with my obsession. Even though people here LOVE the Blackberry phone, I found out that I might be able to have it “liberated” and connect it with a local company. It sounded pretty simple…

I went to 6 different cell phone stores before I found one at a mall that said they could do it for 200 BsF., but the person wouldn’t be there until the next day at 11 AM. I went back the following afternoon and as soon as I walked in, the clerk told me the person didn’t come and they didn’t know when they would be in. I looked around the mall a little more and found another place that would do it for 400 BsF. and it would take a week. I thought it was better than wandering around all of Caracas looking for another place, so I agreed.

The next step in this mission was to buy a SIM. Well, that first place that was going to charge me 200 BsF. told me they could sell it to me (but not until after 2 PM when they would get more cards); however, when I actually went to complete the transaction they discovered they could not sell it to me using either my passport or diplomatic card.

Another place then told me that I should go to the “Centro de conexiones”. When I got there, the clerk told me they wouldn’t have SIM’s until the next day after 11 AM; BUT, there was a place upstairs that may have them. Finally, the place upstairs told me that they could indeed sell me the SIM, using my passport, but they only accepted cash (very common occurrence in Caracas). So, I went to get the cash and by the end of the day, I had resumed my tryst with my HTC Tilt and I once again felt like a giddy schoolgirl.

I think I’m now beginning to understand why a French gentleman told me when I got here “Caracas est difficile” – Caracas is difficult .

Photo credit: www.pinoyunderground.com

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Posted in Caracas, Expat, Getting settled in foreign country, Shopping in Caracas, Venezuela Caracas Connecting a cell phone in Caracas Shopping in Caracas Venezuela Venezuelan Culture

Feb 25

Two month check-up

On good days, I can’t believe that two months have gone by so quickly. On bad days, I feel like I’ve been here for years.

I feel as though I’ve learned a lot in a short period – maybe that’s why I’m tired. Here’s a few of the highlights -

1) I am so glad that I decided to not even think about working for the first three months. I don’t know how I could have managed a job and getting the kids settled. It took me these past two months just to get all their school supplies. Hence my first lesson: there is no Wal-Mart or Super Target equivalent in Caracas. The closest thing I found to a Costco or BJ’s is a store called Makro and it is located on the outskirts. tools

2) Always allow for an extra 30-40 minutes when going somewhere by car. Traffic here is simply erratic. At first I was told it’s really bad on Fridays because that’s when people are getting ready to go away for the weekend. Then when it was equally horrendous the following Tuesday, I was told it was due to protests going on all over the city. Then when it was even worse on Thursday, I was told people were getting ready for the impending holiday the following week. Bottom line: traffic can be horrible at any time.

3) I need to relax. If I go to the store looking for something that I saw there the day before and it’s gone – too bad. No one there is going to go out of his/her way to find a hidden stash of my peanut butter or specific brand of paper towels and that’s OKAY. Life will go on. The more I get into this mindset, I find that other little things that used to bother me simply roll off my back. Therefore, I am a calmer version of myself (I’m sure my husband is enjoying that )