Getting settled: the nitty gritty

The Powell's are in their house and we have unpacked all suitcases. As of today, we have internet. The last few days have provided several fun experiences, and we'll try to post as many as we can in the next few days. First...some of the nuts and bolts of getting settled. Many of you have asked for nitty-gritty details, so here they are.

The House. We are the proud residents of a 3-bedroom house. We have a stack of keys and most of them do not fit any lock that we can find. At the moment, we can unlock about 3 of the doors. Most locks (at least in houses of the vintage of ours) have skeleton-type keys. Most things work in the house. Our clothes washer is on the back porch, so it doesn't matter that it leaks a bit. House is made of concrete, perhaps over bricks. Windows have no screens, except for in one room. We are now used to all kinds of insects flying in and out of windows. It's a good incentive to keep your lights off at night--avoids moth attraction. There is a remote control for our gate and we park under shades that are over our driveway. The pool is our new item of interest, and we are learning all about filters and pH and such.

On Your Guard. The landlord provided a 24-hour guard for our house while it was empty and for a few days until we get settled. As of this writing we still have a guard. They arrive in the back of a 'bakkie' (pickup truck)--one of the 8-10 folks in the back jumps out and the old guard jumps in. They hang out around the house, although they don't have a radio or gun or even a large stick. Usually, they have no food with them, although one gal did bring a bunch of stuff with her. Others have friends drive by and drop something off. Or, they just go without. So, we've been taking the new guard (they change at 6:00 a.m.--the honking truck is a good alarm clock) coffee to introduce ourselves. And, we take them a plate of food when we are here. We have not asked and do not want to know what they are doing for a toilet.

Parking Lot Guards. Kelly promises to write about products we have encountered at stores as we've been stocking our shelves. But, to follow up on the 'guard' topic, I'll note that parking lot gards are the most interesting thing we found so far. Imagine pulling up to the Walmart Parking lot in the US and having a guy come up to you and ask, "Can I watch your car?" Or, you stop on the street to go to your favorite eating establishment. Guy comes up...points at your car. You give him a thumbs-up. Car-watching is a whole economy in Namibia, and the routine (which Tristan strickly aheres to) is that they have to catch you on your way into the store and ask or indicate by pointing. You reply "yes" or give thumbs-up. They go to your car and put a little piece of paper under the wiper, so show the world that your car is being watched. Each guy (haven't seen any gals doing this) has a section of the parking lot. When you come out, you put your groceries away, and he comes to pick up the paper from your wiper. You give him $1-3 Namibian, which is currently about 10-30 cents US. If he doesn't come up at either point, you don't have to pay--this is what Tristan watches for. "He didn't ask us, Dad!" "Yes--he nodded at me, Tristan." It can be very subtle. Mostly, it appears to be the non-natives that pay for this service, and some people have suggested that you are actually protecting your car from the car guards by paying them. Who knows. But, I am thinking about this line of work when I return to the states. I'm thinking about working in front of an ice cream store, so I can immediately spend my earnings.

Cable TV. We have satellite cable TV at the house. We've not had cable for 8 years, so Tristan thinks he had died and gone to heaven. The timing of usual shows is off a bit. I saw the Daily Show with John Stewart at 9 a.m. on Sunday morning, and it was on CNN instead of Comedy Central (which we don't get). To pay for cable, you take a card out of your cable box and run to the cable shop--which is a very large, nice building on Nelson Mandela Avenue. You give them the card and tell them to recharge it. Our cable is about US$45, so it's not cheap. But, it was the first electronic thing we got working at the house. We pay in cash. The prevous Fulbrighters left their card for us, so when they ask, "J Conroy", I reply "yes". No need for confusing things by being honest.

Cell phones. We bought 'empty' cell phones for about US$20. Then, we went to a store and bought a SIM card, which gave us our phone number. Next step is to buy minutes. We initially bought N$150 cards (so, about US$15), and calls cost N$2.50/minute. Interestingly, texting (or SMS'ing) is free (up to 30 free texts for the $150 card we bought). So, we have become 'texters', after hardly ever using this service in the US (because it costs more to have a plan with texting). It is very common to receive texts from folks--"Come over at 6:30 tonight". It is illegal to drive while using the cell phone.

Internet. This was by far our most bewildering experience to date. When we arrived, we asked several people how to get internet. There are DSL plans through the home phone, but we have two cell phones and don't really need a home phone, too. So, we decided to get a mobile, wireless internet plan through the Namibia Telecom. It comes with USB dealy-bobber that plugs into your computer and accepts the signal. It's mobile, so we can use it when we move around the country or around the house or around the city (like if I take it to work). It is possible that plans like this are available in the US, and we don't know about it. But, the majority of Namibians get their internet in this manner, and it really seems to be more advanced than plans available in the US. So, there you are, Yankee. The world tops us again. I guess those of you who use Blackberry-type mobile service would be similarly mobile, but to have it available to the masses for use with laptops seems to be pretty high-tech. Of course, laptop thefts are also in the paper each day, so we have to keep them secure. The bewildering part of the experience was actually getting the service. We had heard from a co-Fulbrighter that he walked in and got his service in about 15 minutes. I tried to do the same, but at a different location. I was told I would have to pay N$1750 deposit for the dealy-bobber USB device, and that I would have to sign a 2-year contract. Next day, different place--they wanted N$2000 deposit and said it would take 4-5 business days for me to get approved. Another place wanted a copy of my pay slip to get me approved. The fact that I'm paid in the US was difficult to explain. Today, I walked into the place where our friend had gotten his, and found the right person. After paying N$500 deposit, I was giving the dealy-bobber and he even helped me install it on my laptop--and offered to come to the house if it didn't work. Gave me his personal cell phone number. Internet cost N$185 to set up account and N$289/month for the service. There is some unspecificed limit to the number of MB you can download for that price, but at the moment they do not have a system in place for keeping track of that for each person.

Electricity. I thought I would close by describing the way most people pay their electric bill. Our house's bill is paid by the Polytechnic, so this is not how we pay (we don't pay). But, our colleagues have shown us their systems. Each house comes with an electric box--which looks very much like a time card box in a factory. There is a little display that shows how many kilowatt hours you have left on your account. When you get down close to 0 (as close as you want to be), you need to fill up your account. So, they drive to the grocery store or a gas station or many other stores and purchase electricity. They get a card, and rub off the lottery-type number to reveal their code. Punch the code into your machine and you're set for another few days. The interesting thing is that it really allows you to monitor your electrical use. One friend described finding her machine very close to 0 at 9:30 pm. The gate to their house is electric, so she shut down everything in the house, jumped in the car, opened the gate, and went to the store. Can you imagine calling a friend, asking if you can hitch a ride to the store because you're trapped with no electricity in your house with your car behind the gate?!

So, lots of fun adventures.