The Third World...

Let me be honest. I live fairly comfortably. My apartment is bigger than anyplace I have ever lived (by myself). It is much bigger than my Baylor apartment or my Georgetown dorm room. I live on top of one of the nicest grocery stores in the city. I have made several new friends and had the chance to meet up with old friends who live here.

That being said…living in the capital city of a third world country is just weird. There are somewhere between 3-5 million people in this city. (There must be as many livestock here also.) The other day I was in a taxi riding down a main thoroughfare. The taxi had to stop…there was a herd of donkeys coming the opposite way on this six lane road (3 were headed the way I was, but on this day there were four or five lanes moving in these three).

It wouldn't be uncommon to look just off the side of the road and see a man standing openly on the side of the road peeing. This is a strange but wonderful place.

Tomorrow I am going to pay my phone bill. Well let me tell you the whole story. When you dial 97 on the phone you get an operator. She is supposed to tell you when your phone bill is due. They don't send out bills here. She told me that I was supposed to have paid my bills several days prior to my phone call. She told me how much I owed and what the late fee was. I asked her if I had to wait until it was due again to come pay (they give me 7 days) or if I could come the next day. She said, "Yes." "I can come tomorrow?" "Yes." "Or do I have to wait until it is my turn again?" "Yes." "No, come tomorrow?" "Yes." "Or wait?" "Yes." I said "okay" and hung up.

A day or two later I went to check on my phone bill. When I got there, they told me that my bill wasn't even due for another week. I told them about my previous phone call, and he said he didn't know what she was talking about. I asked him how much my bill was. He said he didn't know I could find out when I came to pay it.

So as I began…tomorrow I go to pay my phone bill. I will see what is in store tomorrow.