6In the short amount of time that I’ve been living here in Lusaka, I’ve started to realize how many things I had previously taken for granted: laws prohibiting the burning of trash, water that can be drank straight out of the faucet, and not having to iron your clothes, including socks, every time you wash them immediately come to mind. This past week, my roommate sent me an e-mail that said rent was due. No big deal, right? I cut a check, we stick it in an envelope, and I return to watching Coppin State versus Lehigh on FOX Sports Beyond F’ing Egypt (FSN BFE).
Lamely, paying rent doesn’t work that way. Here’s how it does work. Instead of paying rent one month at a time, I pay it three months in advance. Instead of paying by check, I pay by cash. Instead of going to your bank and withdrawing the full amount, I have to make repeated visits to the ATM. Instead of the ATM dispensing $20 bills, I get my money in increments of 50,000 kwacha ($12.50 U.S.) if I’m lucky and 20,000 ($5 U.S.) if I’m not.
I have to say that this rent payment process has been quite the learning experience. I realize now that I pretty much need to start the process of withdrawing money at least 30 days in advance; I didn’t keep an official tally, but I think I had about 12 different withdrawals over 8 different ATM visits. This doesn’t even include the 3 ATM visits I attempted on the afternoons of December 1st and 2nd when the entire city of Lusaka was rushing to withdraw their recently acquired paycheck and completely cleaned out every ATM in a 10 mile radius by 10 a.m. I also now knoe exactly how thick 5.7 million kwacha is.
For those keeping track at home, please add the following to the list of things I miss most about living in the states:
#42 Paying for Stuff by Check
Lamely, paying rent doesn’t work that way. Here’s how it does work. Instead of paying rent one month at a time, I pay it three months in advance. Instead of paying by check, I pay by cash. Instead of going to your bank and withdrawing the full amount, I have to make repeated visits to the ATM. Instead of the ATM dispensing $20 bills, I get my money in increments of 50,000 kwacha ($12.50 U.S.) if I’m lucky and 20,000 ($5 U.S.) if I’m not.
I have to say that this rent payment process has been quite the learning experience. I realize now that I pretty much need to start the process of withdrawing money at least 30 days in advance; I didn’t keep an official tally, but I think I had about 12 different withdrawals over 8 different ATM visits. This doesn’t even include the 3 ATM visits I attempted on the afternoons of December 1st and 2nd when the entire city of Lusaka was rushing to withdraw their recently acquired paycheck and completely cleaned out every ATM in a 10 mile radius by 10 a.m. I also now knoe exactly how thick 5.7 million kwacha is.
For those keeping track at home, please add the following to the list of things I miss most about living in the states:
#42 Paying for Stuff by Check
1 comment:
Mark I am keeping track and you have made 15 ATM withdraws from 3 different locations since 11/26/07.
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