Sorry It has been so long since I have posted anything here. We had internet from our neighbours but we unknowingly used up their quota and so neither of us had internet for about 2 weeks. Then we had to wait a while for TTNet (the local internet company) to get our internet up and running. Let me just say that while it is great to have companies who come to the house and do things for you, it is always interesting when you dont speak their language and they dont speak yours. I think they came 4 times before everything worked properly.
The place we live came with a dishwasher. We were told it was broken so we did not use it. Then our landlord asked us to try it so that he could get someone to fix it. Since it is here it might as well work. It leaked all over the floor. We had to roll up our pants and cook in puddles for 2 weeks before it stopped leaking. We had the plumber come (3 times) to look at it and finally the company that sells that brand came and fixed it withing 10 minutes. No More Water!! Works great! Why that company did not come in the first place??? No Idea. Just another cultural thing apparently. (at least that is what our landlord keeps saying-you are experiencing the real way of things here!)
Anyways, now that most of the little issues have been fixed we are feeling pretty good. We are still waiting for the TV guy who has called numerous times but as soon as we say anything in English he hangs up. Even when we did say (in the language) call our landlord and gave his number - he still hung up. We are so thankful to have a landlord that is fluent in English and can help us out. He has called on our behalf many times and taken Andrew places to get things done. Definitely faster and easier when you have someone who knows how things work and can speak the language.
Other than sitting at home waiting around for people to show up, we have been exploring. We have gotten to know the grocery store well as we feel like we are there every other day. We are learning that we can only buy enough produce and milk for about 2-3 days at a time or it goes bad. WE bought the same amount of milk as we were used to at home but the 3rd day it had all congealed in the container and was sour.
Thursdays (today) are the days when the bazaar is in our area. I checked it out last week with child #1 and it was great! Awesome produce, great selection! You can buy everything from underwear, slippers and clothing to salad bowls, tongs, hair accessories, jewelery, produce and cheese, baby items. Literally everything. Its like superstore but outside. I will definitely make one of my produce shopping days the day of the bazaar. For some reason the grocery stores rarely sell things like bell peppers, artichokes, and zucchini, all of which I found at the bazaar and they looked like super good quality. The one thing that I have not found yet but I am told one guy sometimes sells it at the bazaar is cilantro. Hopefully I can find some as I have been making my own salsa since that is something else they don't really have here.
We have been enjoying the food here and other than cilantro and basil (fresh or dried) you can pretty much get everything we are used to. Since there is no pork products here most of the lunch meat and sausage is made from beef or chicken. We tried some sausage and while it tasted great, we all came down with the flu/food poisoning that night so needless to say, i dont think we will try it again at least for awhile.
This week we are starting language learning. I have a few language helpers I need to call and Andrew is meeting with a guy tomorrow night for his first lesson. Wish us luck. Not sure how this learning will go but I am encouraged by all the other foreigners I have seen that are decent and have been here under 3 years. Ok. Well I will post again soon. Not as long as last time.
I am on a fast this morning as I have to run to the hospital to do some (routine) bloodwork so hopefully it goes smoothly and I can eat soon. Im not very good at not eating. Anyways, until next time.
R
No comments:
Post a Comment