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Day 126 - 6 November 2005 Who’s an idiot? Who’s an idiot? that’s right! ME! so last weekend I was up in the northern part of my island at the volunteer pizza party and I tried to make a withdrawal from the VintiQuat (24 Hour ATM) and it didn’t go so well. here’s what transpired: so I tried takin out 20,000 CVE the first time and the machine spit out my receipt with my the withdrawal accounted for. unfortunately, I waited for a few minutes and no money came out. then my VintiQuat card came out. and I stood there dumbfounded. literally. I found the dumbest feeling ever and basked in it like the warm CVean sun. luckily there was a lady waiting behind me so I made the usual dumb “I dunno” statement about it not working maybe and that she should give it a try. so she did and got her money and look at me and shrugged, like a total buffoon. which is exactly how I felt. so I give it another try, and select the lowest predefined amount of 5000. and VOILA! it works. so I’m feelin pretty lucky now, kinda like that guy at the blackjack table who lost all but is last chip, then just won back another chip in the last hand. and we all know what happens to him when he doubles up and bets both chips to push his luck to the edge. the house ALWAYS wins. and so does the bank. I tried takin out another 5000 and voila. another receipt, but this time some aviso (announcement message) on the screen for a few seconds, and then my card reveals itself. the receipt again shows the withdrawal as valid without any $$ following, and so goes my debacle. down 25,000 with only a fifth of that in my hand. and it’s Friday night, so of course I can’t even go inside until the next week to correct the error. and I don’t even live here! so I have to make an extra trip the following Friday (this past Friday) and explain what happened. lucky me. so guess who’s an idiot? that’s right! ME! so the night before I’m supposed to return to the bank, I gather my receipts and bank cards and place them in the front left corner of my nightstand for easy grabbing the next morning. I tell myself not to forget them then go to bed. so the next morning I run down to the praça near my house and wait for the first car to take me up north. so I jump in the first one that rolls by and am feelin super cool for bein ahead of schedule. maybe I’ll even be the first customer in the bank and can get it resolved in no time! so as the driver slowly makes his way across town pickin up other folks along the way, he sees a friend and stops for a moment to chat with him. so guess who’s an idiot? that’s right, ME! it’s during this interval that I suddenly remember something. “where are my receipts?” my eyes widen quickly as I picture the corner of my nightstand in my mind and I quickly calculate how fast I’ll have to run to go get them and I guess catch the next car. DOH! so I tap my driver on the shoulder and tell him I’m sorry, but I forgot something at my house and I have to go. (little did I know he probably could have taken me there to get it, but I’m still new in town and dunno how the quasi-public transportation system works). so I jump out and bolt towards home full speed and then I remember another thing…DOH! I don’t have the key to our downstairs door cuz my roomie has the only key between the two of us. and he’s at work! so I stop suddenly and turn around and make a break in the other direction for his work, which is still quite a bit away. so I know I just looked like a total idiot to the driver, the other folks in the car, the people who were around watchin me run, spin around and run again, and I’m totally feelin it. so as I makin my way towards my roomie, I think to myself “why didn’t I just stay in the car and get out at his work?” since it’s on the way out of town. DOH! Then I could’ve just taken a cab back to my house and back to his work again. so as I’m walkin up the street for a few minutes, (I couldn’t run for very long with my backpack and extra bag of stuff) I start to get close to his work and a few more cars pass and motion up the road askin me if I’m goin north. I give the pointer finger shake and say não, still leavin the possibility open to return to that corner of my nightstand for my papers. a minute later I realize, “crap, there’s no way. not enough time...” so I just jump in the next car that drives by and hope that I can somehow sweet talk my way into correcting my errored transactions without any of proof of my account in a language I can barely speak with folks I probably won’t even understand. still, I remain hopeful. and I chuckle as we speed by my roomie’s work. on the drive up, I notice I’m in a car of a faster driver and he quickly catches up to and speeds by the two other drivers that asked if I was goin north. DOH! so I again feel like a complete tool as I try to hide my face with as much subtlety as possible, which of course is pointless when I’m the only branco in the entire car. and who could miss my hair? so guess who feels like THE supreme idiot? that’s right, ME! and guess what’s even better? the story continues... so when I get into the bank and try to explain my situation in horrible Kriolu that I most definitely practiced in my head beforehand, the attendant turns out to be a nice guy and says he can just look me up with my name. so I give him my volunteer ID and he begins to search. first by last name. nothing. then by first name...nothing. he asks is I’m sure I have an account at his bank. I said yes, i’m in the computer in my city to the south. he tries again and again and for some reason can’t find my name. of course in the ultimate moment of my supreme idiocy, I start to question if I even have an account at that bank. I mean, it’s the only bank all over CV, and I swear I just got money from that branch last week. didn’t i? so I tell him to try the first 3 letters of my first name and scroll down from there. and VOILA! there I am. and it has my entire name, middle and jr. suffix. whattayaknow. what a crappy search function in that accounting program I think to myself. but it’s all good, so he looks at the account activity for a few minutes and says “tud dret” meaning it’s all good. apparently the accounting was done correctly and the withdrawals weren’t counted against my account and I’m not falta 25 g’s. SWEET! so now I can go withdrawal money as the nice guy gives me my account number on a piece of paper. so I head over to the line of folks waiting for the cashier. as I approach the desk the lady with one lazy eye looks at me (I’m assuming with the good one), and I tell her I forgot my bank card, but here’s my number. she throws her hands up and says I can’t take out money if I don’t have a card. then I say “but I have my ID. is that ok?” and hand it to her. she says that’ll do and asks how much I want. of course I only understand her when she repeats each sentence twice. so I tell her and then she asks which hotel I’m stayin at. I say, I’m visiting a friend, but I live in the city to the south. so she stops what she’s doin and says “oh yeah, which neighborhood?” I totally feel on the spot like she’s testing me to see if she should really give me my money. maybe it’s the slightly evil, slightly playful one-eyed glare she throws at me. so I tell her my ‘hood. and she responds “oh, I like that ‘hood!” and she hands me my money and I thank her for her patience and help. WHEW! what a debacle! it sure is nice to se there is SOME security at the bank though. so lucky me, I got to help a friend move this weekend from her old moldy apartment to her new one with HOT water and a free washing machine! can you believe that? lucky fduck! so the fun thing about moving a fellow volunteer is that EVERYTHING MUST GO! that includes the stove, the fridge, the bed, and everything in between! I say “fun” because they’re all so little and easy to move unlike the ones back in the states. so after two easy packed truck runs between the old and the new right around the corner, we were done. it took more time to pack the little stuff than it did to physically move everything. how ironic. and I love that feeling of bein crammed into a truck with all your stuff. it’s so cozy and fun to ride around town, even if it’s just around the corner. and unpacking your stuff to make your new place your home. that’s so much fun! of course, it wasn’t my home, so I didn’t really get to enjoy that process. moving sure does make me tired though. could be that or maybe that I have my first computer class to teach on Monday. we’ll see how that goes... <--- Halloween pizza first computer class ---> |