I'd say that the hardest aspect of the move from MI to Belfast was the lack of communication and resulting isolation that we felt during the first few weeks. We had no landline, internet to Skype with, or cell phones (except for Bob's old one - thank goodness for that!) for the first 2-4 weeks of our stay. Can you imagine, in this day and age, what it would be like to not be able to look up anything on the internet or call anyone? It was worse than you are imagining.
Jubin did all sorts of research into different cell phone plans and companies here in Belfast, but none of them would take our money and sign us up until we had a local bank account. How to get a local bank account? Bring them a letter from your employer, your Passport with UK Visa, and an utility bill that shows your name and local address. Well, I had signed us up for paperless electricity billing...which means no bill sent to the house! And, you don't get your first utility bill until you've lived in a place for about a month! So, we requested a printed bill during week 2, it never came, we called and requested it again, and finally it arrived on day 21. Thus, we were able to get a local bank account (at Ulster Bank) about 3 weeks after we moved.
Interesting side bit: there is much more of a cash economy here. People don't use credit cards much, many local stores and restaurants don't take credit cards, and many larger stores and websites charge you a fee if you do use a credit card. Everyone has a debit card linked to their bank account (called a chip card) and uses either that or cash. It is interesting to think about the repercussions of the fees associated with credit companies being passed onto the customer using them rather than the businesses...And, the repercussions of it being the cultural norm to use cash to purchase things - thus, not spending more than you have. How might the US be different if these practices were the norm there too? Crazy.
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Bob and Kath set this porta-crib up for us before we moved in.
The only time it was used was in situations like this, unfortunately! |
Anyway, back to the issue at hand - communications. Before we got our bank account, I decided to explore the option of pay-as-you go mobile phones from a grocery store. One day I ran to Sainsbury's at Forestside (about 2 miles), did our food shopping, and asked for help at the customer service desk about the phones. The very nice US ex-pat there showed me how it all works - phone was about 10 pounds, then you get a sim card for another pound, and then you buy 10 pounds worth of calls/texts. So, for just over 20 pounds ($30), I was able to text and call again (within Europe - one rate for UK, a bit higher if outside of the UK)! To "top-up" the phone (when the 10 pounds runs out, you top it up), I can add more money at Sainsbury's or call a number and put it on a debit card. So far, I've only had to top up once (as of Nov 17!) - definitely a cost-effective way to communicate. UPDATE: topped up with another 10 GBP 3 times since then - so, have put 50 GBP on the phone so far! Taxi home from Forestside (also has a Dunnes that is like a mini-Target and a Mark and Spencer that is sort of a cross between Trader Joe's and Whole Foods but it also has clothes and home goods) was about 4 pounds. Not bad. About a week later, Jubin also purchased a phone and plan from Sainsbury's, although he ended up getting a smartphone and using a monthly plan rather than topping up whenever low (made more sense for the smartphone that needs to include data, but still ridiculously cheap). So, about 3 weeks in we finally had cell phones (called mobile phones here).
Of course, we still had no real way to call the US. Landlines and internet lines are owned by a company called BT (they will also do cable tv). Before we had left the US, Jubin had called to set up our landline, internet and cable through them, and we were appalled to learn that there was a backlog and we wouldn't get our service until Aug 14. Well, anyway, we called to double-check the day of our appointment and they said that they had no record of our order. We were now going to have to wait until Aug 23. Seriously, try living in a brand new country without internet, especially with a baby taking two naps a day and nursing frequently! This situation was especially hard the first 2 weeks when we only had one mobile phone between the two of us... Yikes.
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| So Cute, right? |
You might be thinking something along the lines of "why not go to one of those amazing European cafes?". Certainly, there are plenty of coffee shops around that have free wifi. However, it is not exactly possible to hang out for very long at a coffee shop with kids...especially a 10 month old who wants to crawl everywhere (gross, gross)... We would make it maybe 30 minutes before having to leave. So, Jubin would walk up the hill from the house once a day to do email and web research on house stuff, Belfast stuff, etc... while I stayed with the kids. But, then, he would run out of juice - many of the coffee shops here do not provide customers with electric outlets to plug into (in general, people here are much more energy-conscious/ frugal, and the shops aren't going to support your energy consumption). Just a little frustrating... Seriously, this all might sound like not that big of a deal to you - I challenge you to live without internet at your home AND while not working for 3 weeks. We were going CRAZY!!!
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