August 18, 2004
will I be "one of them" some day?
Trying to get rid of "visitor" "tourist" feeling, not easy. Everything that I do is a bit out of place. Sitting on the stairs - "why you not sitting in a cafe?", "Shopping shopping?" Trying to pass people from the right. Taking pictures! This chinese guy who serves tea, said "its hot, good for the body, hot and hot, hot weather, hot tea, good for the body". It was good!
I should really find a way to get engaged with the environment here, first I need Internet. Seems to be difficult to arrange - Starhub, the main (?) provider charges for "installation" and "activation", then every time you move they charge for "closing the account" then new "installation" and "re-activation". And we'll be moving at least twice during the comming month. They also don't approve cable modems brought or bought elsewhere, it needs to be bought from them. 150S$!!! Each modem gets and ID number. I wonder... Why?
Another shock - mobile operators charge for incoming calls!!! they show the incoming call number for free first 3 months.. ha? give the phone for free if you make a 2 year deal, 500$ fine if you quit earlier... It will take time to find out about these things...
Otherwise, if you have a question or a problem, it is extremely easy to figure out the solution. The guy in Apple centre will install me all software for free today (ha?) so he says. "lets make your life easier" he said. Sure, lets make it easier for me, what is the deal for him?
Amazing how little you can do in one day. Buy a stach of CDs, have breakfast and lunch, hopefully get the software for my brand new iBook. walk a few blocks. have dinner, sleep? Should be more than that...
Posted by gkligyte at August 18, 2004 09:45 AM