Miscellaneous

• Still no cell phone yet. We went back to the store, after trying about three times the days before, and were told that the phone has not been activated yet and it could take up to 4 days for that to happen. Of course, no mention of that at the time of signing up for the plan. Tomorrow morning we'll go to cell phone co. store to see if we could sign up again there because the word on the street is that they can activate a phone on the spot. It feels so disconnected without a phone where people can call us that we have to get a phone of sorts.

• Coming back to the apartment earlier tonight we ran into the infamous 'streek kids' that are known to live under bridges, in sewer holes, etc. A group of three of them were walking down the street, none seeming older than 7 years of age, all three smoking a cigarette and cussing each other playfully. A few blocks away there was another group of kids with bags in their hands and very seemingly 'stoned.' They looked like zombies, detached and glassy in their look. It is hard not noticing them, and yet harder passing them without being able to do anything for them. What would Jesus do?

• We saw three more apartments today, one of them in a recently build house. All about 1000 sq ft each. The house was quite attractive and in a decent location, closer to the girls' school than anything else we've seen. At $1040 (800 Euros) it is still very expensive by all standards, but within the range of what we've seen so far and comparable in value with the one we've seen a couple of days ago towards the outskirts of town at $1105 (850 Euro). The other two apartments, one on the last floor of an 8-storey building, and the other facing smack over a very busy intersection, were 500 Euros ($650). Both extremly uggly on the inside and in noisy areas. The shocking story we've learned today is that most real estate agencies are closing effective this weekend until after the first of the year because of the holidays. Perhaps this is a blessing for us in that it will force us to wait for a while until we learn more about the city.