Cash In My Pocket

Woo woooo!   Three and a half months after moving here I finally get my own bank cards (well, my credit card comes tomorrow)!!  Of course I couldn't actually receive them, oh no, it had to be be the Don that signed for them.  And after just calling up to register them it turns out it also has to be the Don that does that, from his registered phone number, not our landline, or heaven forbid, my mobile phone.

Not that I've minded just using the Don's card all the time - it's not like he needs it, other than for petrol, and then it's quite nice to be the one that hands out money for a change!  What I have minded, though, is that every time I swipe he gets a text message saying where I've used it and how much I've just spent.  Not that I mind him knowing, but when he doesn't know you're going to a mall that day, that day that happens to be his birthday, and you get a call to check it was actually you that spent money in those last three stores, those stores that could only mean something for him, it somewhat ruins the birthday surprise.  And seeing as he is the 'primary card holder' despite us now having a joint account, I'm not sure that's gonna change.

Actually, the arrival of cards isn't going to make that big a big difference.  This is such a cash orientated society that you need to have notes available far more than you ever need a card.  In fact, in almost every official thing I've had to pay for - my ID card, my driving licence, my health screening, when posting mail - "cash only" is the line that immediately follows how much it's gonna cost.  Of course there is usually at least one, if not two or three cash machines in every single building so it's easy enough to deal with, if not frustrating because it means more often than not rejoining the end of the queue.

Once upon a time my feminist tendencies would have been annoyed that the Don needed to give me 'permission' to join a bank account or that he had to sign for and register my cards, but you know... whatever.  I still can't sign cheques, but I don't imagine we're going to do anything about that, and it's definitely nice leaving all the unnecessary bureaucracy that goes with life here to your husband!