Insomnia, Home-Hunt, & Phone Troubles

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I'm still on Nashville time, taking naps and sleeping accordingly. In the morning, I'm going to get up at 7:30 and force myself to get on local time! I was up all night last night, finally falling asleep at 6:30 AM, which is 12:30 AM in Nashville.

I slept until 11 and jumped out of bed, aggravated with myself for wasting time. Almost immediately, there was a frantic knock at my door. Wiping the sleep from my eyes and straightening my hair, I cracked the door. It was the lady from the cafe downstairs, who said something so fast and with such a thick accent, I couldn't understand her. After asking her to repeat it 3 times, I learned that my school had called Dave, the B&B owner, looking for me. (I had given my B&B number to the agency, so I guess my school got the number that way.) Apparently, they thought I was going to be at work today. Crap. Not a good way to start a new job.

I changed out of my PJ's and raced downstairs to the cafe and tried to find the school's phone number in the phone book. I had forgotten to write it down before I left the States. The school's number wasn't listed. The lady who had knocked on my door said I could use their phone to dial information. The phone was right next to the speaker which was blaring dance music from a local radio station. The first time I dialed information, the guy on the other end hung up on me, probably because he couldn't hear me. I would have laughed if I hadn't been in such a hurry. Anyway, I got the number, went back to my room where it was quiet, and called the school. They said they didn't really expect me to be at work the day after I arrived; they just thought that's what the agency had told them. They told me to take as much time as I need to get settled. I said Monday would probably be fine. I better find a place to live this weekend, damn it.

Then I went down to eat in the Cafe while reading housing ads in the newspaper. After I ate, I walked to the town centre and found the library, which had town maps, train schedules, bus routes, and tourist information. I took advantage of all the free info I could find. I checked my email at the internet cafe. I went to that nice mall, which is nearby, and bought a hairdryer, washcloth, bath sponge, and mousse for only 20 pounds! And everyone is complaining about the price of food going up, but it's cheap here in Luton! Everything is half of what it costs back home, if you don't consider the currency conversion.

Anyway, I'm spending the latter part of the day looking at flats. I want something near the town centre at about 400 pounds per month. I've looked at some places, most of them really shitty, but a couple of nice ones that are more than 450. Why do agents always take you to places you can't afford? And I keep noticing that I'm the only white girl in those areas, and all the shops are foreign--Polish, Pakistani, Indian, etc. The different agents always insist that the area is just as safe as anywhere in the world. But I don't like the way the men stare at me when I walked by.

By the time I return home, I need to top-up my phone again! The guy in the convenience store across the street says I'm topping up too much, and I should try a different phone company. I'd have to go to the mall and get a new SIM card. He recommends a company but he is hard to understand because his accent is so thick. I don't know where he's from, maybe India or Pakistan or some place around there. It takes me about 10 minutes to understand one of his sentences (and even now, I still don't even really understand what he meant). He seems irritated with me. I keep asking him to repeat what he said, then I say it back to him just to clarify, and then he says some more stuff louder or changes some of what he said. I don't think he knows that the prepositions "to", "at", "by", "from", and "in" are not interchangeable.

An Irish girl staying here at the B&B, Rebecca, says that the convenience store guy recommended a bad phone company. "You should try Lebara," she says. "You'll need to get your phone unlocked."

"What does that mean?" I asked.

"If you buy a Lebara SIM card, it won't work in your phone unless you have it unlocked."

I'm still confused. "Unlocked? What does that mean? How do I get it unlocked?"

She says, "There's a place in the mall where I got mine unlocked. They do it for 5 pounds. But you have to get there early, because if you don't they have to keep the phone overnight. That's what they did with mine."

No way. I need my phone to find a place to live. I'll buy a new phone if I have to. I plan on doing that anyway once I find a home.

Anyway, I find Dave in the cafe and ask him about the locations of the apartments I viewed today. "Oh, those are all awful!" He says. "Stay away from Bury Park and the area north of there. Those spots are full of prostitution and all that. Do you have a map and a marker? I'll show you where to go and where to avoid."

Looking intently at the map, I tell Dave, "Apparently, the B&B is in an OK area, but I think I'd like to live close to either Luton Station (town centre) or Leagrave Station, which is very near my school."

"Leagrave Station is nice," he affirms. And being close to the train stations will make it easier to go into London.

Actually, I'm wishing I lived closer to London and maybe west of London. Luton is kind of a rough town and dirty-looking. Nothing I can do about it now, so I'll make the most of it and live here until my work contract is up. Then I may try to get into London, or at least closer. By then, I might even have a better idea of where I want to live and work.

I wonder if I can tutor on the side or teach ESL to adults. There HAS to be some way to get extra money! I don't want to live in the ghetto.

Things to do tomorrow:
*MALL--Phone situation--unlock, SIM, top-up.
--Buy iron for work clothes, shampoo, and hand soap.
*Iron my clothes for work.
*Call about apartments at Leagrave Station
*Take bus to my school, and time it!
*At school, photo copy passport and visa, then fax it to the agency. Pick up mail that the agency sent me there (has bank account application).
*Email Dad.

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