The Beginnings - An Expat Continues Her Journey: Holidays, Appliance Shopping, Banking and Rekindling the Sense of Adventure

chillibreeze writer — KC Comal
(taken from our Expat Newsletter: Bangalore Breeze)

It is hard to be away from home with the holidays fast approaching. The novelty and adrenalin rush have worn off, and it’s only natural to link the inevitable blues with the move. Realizing that keeping busy is the best remedy to homesickness, I fill our days with activity. There are still mundane chores to be taken care of and on Monday morning we go to the school recommended tailor to order the school uniforms. Weaving our way through narrow alleys and up a crumbling staircase we found a makeshift shack perched on the roof of the shops below. Outfitted with fax and printer and phones, this little ramshackle store was an efficient organization. Measuring tapes were whipped out, numbers were reeled off, and we were told that the uniforms would be delivered to the school on Monday morning.

On to getting the basic appliances. Since the US functions on 110 volts we have to start shopping for appliances from scratch. We make a list that extends from hair dryer and toaster to the larger home appliances like a washer and refrigerator. There are enough brands to choose from, although we soon realize that there is little to choose between the similar looking models. Appliance shopping was relatively easy. Appliance ownership is a whole new game, however. Appliances were delivered as promised, with 100 pound weaklings easily carrying washing machines on their backs. But, no, we were not to use them until the demonstration person came the next day to show us how to use them. Demo guy appears, plugs in said appliance, points out the obvious and leaves. However, with the washing machine, as he proudly shows me the fuzzy logic water level detector, it fails to do its job. I send him off, call the showroom, and am told that someone will arrive the next day. Next day comes and goes, and in the midst of receiving more appliances and settling down, I have forgotten to follow up on it. Next morning I call, am assured some one will get back to me in an hour, and I, now a wise and savvy consumer, make sure I keep checking in every hour. Finally I am assured someone will be there between 4 and 6. At 5:30 the tech calls and says it is raining too hard, could he come tomorrow. To my kids amazement I turn into a raging virago, satirical, sarcastic, indignant and finally, just flat out furious. “Fine, fine, ma’am, I will be there in an hour.” Which is already a half hour later than promised I remind him acidly. Soon enough he shows up and all is sunny again. (Metaphorically speaking, for it is now sheeting rain outside.)

We have been functioning with our US credit cards and decide that we need a local bank account and credit card. We blithely head to Citibank but meet a road block immediately. With its snotty multinational attitude they ask us for our California driver’s licenses. Since those are sitting safely in a locker in said California, we are unable to provide that and are sent packing. Fuming, for we have used Citibank in the US for years, and feel that our passports and government supplied paper work should suffice, we decide we are going local. Stopping at the nearest local bank, we find that what we lose in air conditioned waiting rooms and plush seats, we make up in customer service and civility. Thanks to heightened security concerns, they require a bank agent to accompany you home and verify your address. What an empty flat with a washing machine on the fritz proved to them, I don’t know, but two lanky, silent men followed us home. There we filled out the rest of the paperwork and were told by them that if we needed to get some cash or any other “small, small jobs” we could just call them and they would send a fellow over with the money or deposit envelopes. We gape at them, while my mind is visualizing me waiting eagerly for a cash delivery ala the washing machine guy, and, perhaps guessing this, the agent says usually they home deliver the cash within 30 to 45 minutes. This is how the differences in attitudes hit you, unexpectedly and in the strangest of manners.

This is a society riddled with petty theft. Most people trust in the system so little, that on the first of the month, there are lines at the ATM while people withdraw their salaries at once. Every one cautions me that repair men, delivery men, even your employed servant will pilfer anything left lying outside. Muggings are common, and burglaries barely even make the news, unless violence has been involved. Yet a banking institution will let me call and with only minimal identification, send over cash to me immediately.
It is a strange mix of amazing efficiency and frustrating incompetence. Arun wanted a desktop, Linux based, built to his specs. Within a few minutes it was apparent how incredibly knowledgeable the salesman was about a non-mainstream operating system. A tech was summoned, and within an hour, machine was assembled with all the bells and whistles and given to us. It would have taken a lot longer in the US. Likewise with the beds. Since we were bringing our US mattresses we needed to have custom built beds. Within a few days we had absolutely gorgeous, sleek, nickel finished wrought iron beds, with tailored upholstered fake leather head boards.

So you start to let your guard down. Things haven’t been too bad, everything is pretty smooth, when whammo! Our landlord calls, the bank has lost the deposit check we gave him. How does a bank lose a check???? It’s daily frustrations like this that get you down, and on days when you are already homesick it’s hard to remember that you started out with a sense of adventure. I remember a friend with the US Dept of State saying that part of their training and orientation included a warning about “geographical blaming”. They said when families lived abroad it was easy to pin the problems on the place, and forget that the same problems might have happened at home. It is a lesson I realize the value of at last, and it helps rekindle our fun and sense of adventure.

Continue the journey with KC, read all her articles.

Read The Beginnings, an introduction
The Beginnings, Part 1

read another expat experience: Banking in India

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—About our writer:

"KC refuses to limit herself to one label. Among the many hats she wears are: Full time mom, part time writer, teacher, chef, art collector, gardener, quilter and extremely good vacationer. She has lived in Northern California for close to 20 years and has spent most of those years stopping frequently to smell the roses and plant some lavender. After two decades in Silicon Valley her husband will be working from Bangalore. KC has two children, a 12 year old daughter and an 8 year old son.

The Beginnings - An Expat Continues Her Journey: Holidays, Appliance Shopping, Banking and Rekindling the Sense of Adventure

Continue the journey with KC, read all her articles.

A few good books you should purchase upon arrival

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