Monday, February 20, 2006

Paperwork

I've decided that theives should have a "last chance" offer. I mean that, after stealing someone's purse or valuables, offer to exchange them back for "x" about of cash. Because when it comes down to it, the things they take are either sentimental or incredibly hard to replace- well worth a boat load of cash. I'd do it! Trying to replace things is a bit of a nightmare here. Back home, its pretty much one phone call and a new card is in the mail. I found out that I need to go to the police station and apply for a replacement ARC card and then go back next week (after doing health checks and tax stuff) and do the exact same thing for a new ARC (mine was set to expire anyway). Which would be fine except the wait is a couple hours and I have very little clue what's going on. There's something panicking about sitting waiting for your number to be called when you don't even know if you took the right number. The bank was on the schedule for my lunch break, and ended up taking all of my lunch break. For such a technologically advanced country, the banking system is very strange (and don't even get me started on the post office). Anyway, when it all came down to it, I experienced one of my least favorite parts of being in another country. I had tried to change my pin, but the ATM wouldn't accept the ID chip. I knew there was something wrong, so I went back in. The guy proceeded to walk me back out to the ATM and make me try three more times before accepting that I wasn't a moron, and my card was indeed flawed. The part I hate? People treating me like an idiot just because we can't communicate.
Maybe there's a life lesson in that.

Posted by Kathleen @ 9:10 PM