A "TOO BAD, I'VE BEEN PATIENT ENOUGH, THIS BLOWS" RANT:

The moment we stepped off the plane, we were given a long distance phone card and a 15 hour internet card. I thought, "SUPER! HOW THOUGHTFUL! WOW". This sounded just fine.

Then we get home to the apartment and our brand new building doesn't have a land line - YET. We can't use the long distance phone card. Okay - no problem. Let's try the internet. Oh wait - you need a land line to use the internet card because it's dial up. The owner of the building says we will have a land line in ten days. Fine.

Then we went to use the internet at school. Wait a minute! Facebook is blocked? Blogger is SOMETIMES blocked? HUH? What? Fine.

Then we decided to get a SIM card for our mobiles. Oh wait - you need a civil I.D. to purchase a SIM card. Oh ya....we don't have civil I.D.'s yet. And won't....for some time. Fine.

Then 10 days passes and two weeks approaches. The internet we sometimes got in the bedroom of our friends' apartment isn't practical. Doesn't always load facebook. Doesn't always load blogger. Refuses to run skype. Fine.

Then we agree to look into internet ourselves. Lots of options. Tons of options. But wait - you need a civil I.D for that too. Fine.

And then........NONE OF THIS IS FREAKIN' FINE! We have no land line, no mobiles, no internet....we are in a BRAND NEW COUNTRY.....what if something happened here?........what if something happened at home? WHAT THE HEK WOULD WE DO? And HOW WOULD WE KNOW? And we're doing our best to adjust....and doing our best to be UN-HOMESICK......and none of this is...not a single part of this is.....FINE!

And so...we voiced it. And hey, they considered this a "safety issue".

We now have mobiles (our SIM cards were purchased by someone at the school) and we are temporarily sharing a USB internet stick with two other couples.

Ah - that's better. Phil is out. No need to worry. He will call if anything arises.