And we met with our landlord the other day. He won't even talk about giving our deposits back until our Realtor is sitting at the table with us. She is away. In England. For 3 more weeks. We haven't given it enough time he says. He doesn't know if the realtor will give him back his fee, he says. Talking to her on the phone won't be acceptable, he says.
WHATEVER.
It's his way of putting us off, of course. The realtor will give him his money back. She'd have to be crazy not to. She has done a lot of business with SSIS in the past and, I'm sure, wants to continue that relationship. We know that. He knows that.
So today when Andrew and the kids were at school, I moved us back from the hotel - Vietnamese style. Here's what I had on my back or on my bike.
Have I mentioned that I LOVE my bike?! It's very funny to think about the status of vehicles here. Cars are very expensive - 30% or more than the same car would be to purchase in America. Consequently, there are very few cars that are privately owned. Expats may work for companies that provide a car and driver and wealthy Vietnamese might own a car. Everyone else, except for the very poor are on motorbikes. And EVERYTHING is moved about the city by motorbike. We have seen multiple, large sheets of glass, desks, big screen tv's and much more being delicately balanced on the seat by a passenger.
What do local people think of us expat's happily gliding around the city on our bikes? Do they feel sorry for us? Of course I think I should get respect hauling my big load across town. I certainly get a lot of stares and some smiles. They might be thinking "Crazy white girl - moving here where she doesn't belong, taking our money AND too cheap to hire help."
So here we are in our apartment. No running water, no refrigerator, but maybe we can start to feel a little more at home.
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