cell phones and street vendors

So today is the day I got a cell phone, yay!! Now I can call ... hmm... who can I call...my uncle.. my aunt.. and my cousin... haha. Hope to see that contact list blow up soon ;-) Well, I think it's a funny story on how I got my cell phone activated... Aunt Janetta gave me an extra cell phone she has, she won it in a raffle lol! So I am completely grateful and as it turns out, it's the very first phone I ever got when I was 17! Kinda funny, my first phone in the States and in Moz are the same... but five years apart ;-) After Jason came home from school he and I headed out to buy my cell phone minutes and a sim card. Here in Moz there are no "plans" or "providers/servers," nope, it's all prepaid/pay as you go. Well, Jason and I are walking through the city and then we stop at a street vendor and Jason starts buying something... So I ask him, "What are you trying to buy?" thinking he was trying to get some knock off brand item or whatever.. I was kind of confused because I couldn't figure out what Jason could possibly need from a sketchy "don't know how they got what they are selling" street vendor. As it turns out... this is where everyone buys their minutes and sims... yeaaahhh....!! The same guys that sell stolen movies, food that is likely to make you sick for days, and handicrafts are the ones selling you minutes for your precious, irreplaceable cell phone! Haha, I love it :o)

I spent 600mets on my phone today... it's something like 3 mets = 1min, or maybe its the other way around? and 1 text = 1met. The conversion here is about 27 to 1. So it's something like 27 texts= $1 USD. Haha, aka: cheap! Also, I get ten free texts per DAY that are pre-set "please call me" messages. Jason explained that these are annoying and only the super cheap use them ... I will be of the "super cheap." no room for shame in this budget! lol :o) I also get 45 texts for every 100mets you buy... so 270 texts, is that right? (me and math are NOT friends). I also get 10 numbers to call any time that don't count as minutes. You can change these ten numbers about once a month. And finally, receiving phone calls is always free. So you text people and tell them to call you lol. All this for about $22 USD... not bad, my friends, not bad :o)