When we arrived it was becoming clear that we needed to have some way for the locals to contact us, so we thought we would get some cell phones for the family, and I would get mine when I started work.
We went to the local shop and in a nut shell we were told, ‘No social security number, no phone’. True, we could have bought a pre-paid thing, and we still might, but I just found it hard to believe that it was that hard to get a phone on a plan.
My social number arrived yesterday. The kids were excited to get their phones before they start school. So, off we went after work back to the phone shop…… ‘I’m sorry, that social number is too new, you will needed to get a letter from the department of social services that verifies that the number is correct.’ Said the nice smiling sales man.
So, thats were we are at. No phones, a nice new social number, thats a little too shiny new, and back to the web to get proof that the number I have is the number they gave me a few days ago……..
Apart from that things are going fairly well.
We can not get the kids started in school until they have been tested for tuberculosis. So there will be a few days delay while Freddy gets that done. They also need proof that they have had chicken pox. Generally Auzi parents don’t go to the doctors for that, so we have no proof at all that both of ours have had it. It was before the days of me having a digital camera too, so I don’t think there are any photos of it either. Not sure what we will do about that one. I think Freddy is planing on getting the TB done and trying to bluff them on the pox.
Returned the rental car yesterday. I walked to work this morning. It took exactly half an hour. Not too bad in the spring, but would be pretty tough in the summer. I am thinking one of those over sized electric skateboards would be the bomb, the price will put me off for a long time, but I think it would be better in some ways than the bike. It is a little too fast for the footpath (sidewalk in America btw), and I’m not sure I want to mix it in the traffic on the push bike. The skateboard on the footpath would be about the right mix…..
Anyway, its cheaper than a car, and less time and sweat than walking. We will see.
