The New World

People here are remarkably friendly and very honest about it, unlike many other parts of the US where there is a feeling of feigned politeness. This has made the transition into the community much more pleasant.

The past few days have been consumed by filling out forms, waiting in queues and generally coming to terms with the vagaries of the US regulatory processes. But first up on the list was obtaining a local phone number via a pre-pay mobile phone. Given that we have no credit history and no social security, we would have to pay a deposit of $300-$600 per cellphone if we went onto a plan. Being an unsecured risk will be the story of our life for the next few months until we can build up a credit history.

It seems the easiest way to do this is to buy a car on finance and pay it off over a longish period of time. Then perhaps in 6-8 months we'll be graced with a mountain of offers for credit cards from all and sundry. Right now, we only qualify for a debit card, kind of like our EFTPOS cards, but the transactions are processed like credit cards.

One of the first stops around town was Fry's Electronics store, and top of the list was a GPS navigation system. We were looking for a small one, but we spotted a returned one of the next model up that was only slightly more expensive than the one we were looking at. It seemed like a steal. However, when we got back to the car to use it we discovered all manner of things wrong with it.

Most of the car mounting kit was missing, the car charger didn't fit and the wall charger was a Motorola phone charger. So, we headed back in to complain. It quickly became obvious someone hadn't checked the unit properly before repackaging it. Two sales guys and a manager later, we had a brand new unopened unit to take away with us. Then Pearl had to go online that evening and find another unit even cheaper (sigh...).

Next on the "must see" list was Ranch 99, the Taiwanese supermarket chain.
Xander fell asleep in the car, so he and I had a little nap while waiting for Pearl and Mum to do some shopping. Nearly an hour later they still hadn't returned and Xander had awoken from his nap. Pearl must have been spending several minutes deciding between the 10 different brands of every item. It was better in NZ where you only had one or two choices, the one from China and the one from Taiwan, so there was only really ever one choice :P

Signing up for a social security number was pretty easy. This little number is so important, I cannot get paid until I get one, and they don't just hand them out on the spot either. Once I get this, I can be a fully functional entity in the US system.

While we were there, Pearl was admiring the photos on the wall and was curious who the balding guy next to President Bush was. I told her it doesn't matter because in a couple of years he wont be up there any more.

Opening a bank account was pretty easy too, and the banker was particularly friendly and helpful. Washington Mutual often labels itself WaMu, so I always wondered why a Chinese bank was so popular. The biggest draw card for this bank as Pearl soon discovered is not the cheap fees or the friendly staff, but the hundreds of choices of patterns you can have on your cheques. There is a whole market based around printing personalised cheques. Incredible, and only in America :)

All in all, it has been pretty painless getting set up. But the biggest decisions are still to be made: finding a place to live and buying a car.