Casting Roots (one baby root at a time)

Today was a good day. I had brunch with Paula, another American expat. Talking to her gave me some insights into my current disposition; I have one foot in the door and the other outside. I’m looking for excuses to hate it here so I could possibly justify giving up and heading home. I’m looking at things from the wrong perspective.

I went to get a mobile phone after parting ways with Paula. This was something I had put off long enough. I realized if I truly wanted to join the human society in Sydney I needed a cell phone. Yet, I didn’t want to sign any long term contracts, lest I jump ship. So I decided to get a pre-paid plan as a cautious starting point because the phone plans here are super confusing. For one, they do not go by minutes. The plans are quantified by make believe cell phone dollars much like Disney Dollars, worthless outside the realm of the magic kingdom. So a basic pre-paid plan starts at $29 and gives you $130 of phone usage, then it goes on to describe how it costs 39 cents to connect each call and 30 cents for the first 30 seconds then it’s 3 cents per 30 seconds thereafter. Text messages are 25 cents each, and there aren’t free calling times like mobile-to-mobile or nights and weekends. The good thing is incoming texts and calls are free so I suppose that makes up for the complex math calculations. Long story short, I had no f’ing clue what plan I would need based on my U.S. cell phone consumption rate.

What made the day great was the two service counter guys were extremely helpful and friendly. Perhaps part of it was because I’m a chick and probably looked helpless and clueless. The sales guy who helped me with my phone was very attentive, almost to the detriment of the business because other customers were waiting while he answered all my questions, registered my phone, and even assemble it. It became apparent multi-tasking is not a widely accepted concept. I would’ve hated being the customer waiting after me; I felt extremely guilty as more people came into the store. Although, there was another guy in there that another sales associate was helping, and he was the walking definition of indecision. From the moment I walked in associate B had been detailing various phones and their features to this dude, whom I don’t think purchased a phone because they were still talking when I walked out with my cabernet colored flip phone, fully loaded. Did I mention the phone came with a tube of matching lipgloss? I guess that also makes up for the confusing phone plans.

The idea that a phone number is now officially assigned to me made me feel integrated in Oz. No longer an outsider, I’ve started to sprout tiny baby roots, well just one wispy one. But it’s a start in the right direction.