We often tell people that life here is easy and we had no trouble adapting. On the other hand of course things are a little different. For example:
I answered the door yesterday and it was the bill collector. He collects for our telephone landline, $1.10 per month (that is not a typo, we use cell phones almost exclusively). He also collects for our internet wifi service and the cable TV bill - $17.50 per month. The internet connection is not quite as good as when we were in Calgary but almost. We get 70 TV channels, but only six are in English.
Obviously these services and some others are wonderfully inexpensive, which is why we can live on a reduced income here. What I enjoyed yesterday: the middle aged bill collector took off his shoes at the door of course, and came into our foyer. I went to get the cash and returned to find him sitting cross-legged on the floor, even though we have a chair in the foyer. So I got down on the floor with him while he sorted out change, stamped paid on our receipts and then went on his way.
We do have to go to our apartment building office to pay our monthly management fee - but they bring the bill to our door. We don't own a car or motorbike here. If we did we would pay a monthly charge for indoor parking space of $3.00 for a motorbike and $50.00 for a car. Oh, and if we needed to park a bicycle, it is $1.00 per month. (We do see a few adults on bicycles (and some teens) on major streets in the midst of dense traffic).
On the other hand, we missed the electricity bill collector while away for a few days. You are only given ten days to pay, so when we returned we had to go to the post office to pay and make sure our electricity was not shut off.
Today two repairmen came to check on our bedroom windows that have been leaking during the heavy rains that come for several hours on most days during rainy season. As we have seen with other repairmen, they don't bring a ladder, they just stand on the window sill and have no hesitation to lean way out of our 19th storey windows to check on things.
Unfortunately due to our very limited Vietnamese, I had no conversation with these men other than to say hello and thank you. Our Vietnamese vocabulary has not expanded to discussing bills and repairs. However, with context, sensitive guessing and some good hand motions, it is amazing how much we can communicate.
I answered the door yesterday and it was the bill collector. He collects for our telephone landline, $1.10 per month (that is not a typo, we use cell phones almost exclusively). He also collects for our internet wifi service and the cable TV bill - $17.50 per month. The internet connection is not quite as good as when we were in Calgary but almost. We get 70 TV channels, but only six are in English.
Obviously these services and some others are wonderfully inexpensive, which is why we can live on a reduced income here. What I enjoyed yesterday: the middle aged bill collector took off his shoes at the door of course, and came into our foyer. I went to get the cash and returned to find him sitting cross-legged on the floor, even though we have a chair in the foyer. So I got down on the floor with him while he sorted out change, stamped paid on our receipts and then went on his way.
We do have to go to our apartment building office to pay our monthly management fee - but they bring the bill to our door. We don't own a car or motorbike here. If we did we would pay a monthly charge for indoor parking space of $3.00 for a motorbike and $50.00 for a car. Oh, and if we needed to park a bicycle, it is $1.00 per month. (We do see a few adults on bicycles (and some teens) on major streets in the midst of dense traffic).
On the other hand, we missed the electricity bill collector while away for a few days. You are only given ten days to pay, so when we returned we had to go to the post office to pay and make sure our electricity was not shut off.
Today two repairmen came to check on our bedroom windows that have been leaking during the heavy rains that come for several hours on most days during rainy season. As we have seen with other repairmen, they don't bring a ladder, they just stand on the window sill and have no hesitation to lean way out of our 19th storey windows to check on things.
Unfortunately due to our very limited Vietnamese, I had no conversation with these men other than to say hello and thank you. Our Vietnamese vocabulary has not expanded to discussing bills and repairs. However, with context, sensitive guessing and some good hand motions, it is amazing how much we can communicate.
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