We went to the Social Security office at Concord on Tuesday, Sep 5, after the Labor Day weekend to apply for our social security numbers. There were 5 of us who went with Denise, our expat guide. We went with another couple from Singapore (but holding Indian passports) and a Scottish woman whose husband got his number the week before. All of them had arrived in SR just about the same time we did. The Indian colleague had been working out of Jurong. And we met an Indonesian engineer who arrived the day before while waiting in the office. He was on a 6-month training assignment and will be going to LA in a few days with his wife and 3 young daughters who had been very excited about their first ever trip to the USA.
Denise had warned us before that we can expect to wait for some time, probably a couple of hours. Well, as it turned out, because the day before was a public holiday, Tuesday became the "Monday" of the week. Mondays and Fridays are the worst in terms of waiting time. Unfortunately, for some unknown reason, this problem was compounded by the office having only 2 windows opened. We waited some 4 hours to get our applications in. There was standing room only so my back began to ache after nearly 3 hours of standing around. And since we went at 11:00 am, we ended up not having any lunch as well. All in all, not a really interesting experience although the officers were pleasant enough and were apologetic about the inconvenience. Officially, it takes about 72 hours for the SSNs to be assigned in the system but we may try to go to the office to see if we can get them late today. We were advised to call first.
I hope we can get the numbers today because you see, it is almost impossible to do anything here without the SSN. We cannot apply for a mobile phone, we cannot get credit cards, we cannot get our driving tests we cannot get any insurance or medical plans, and therefore we cannot get a car, ... You get the picture. My two week car rental period from the company expired on Saturday and I am now paying for the car rental myself.
We have been house hunting and we have found a small house we like. The main door facing is NNW and in line with Master Hoa's instructions. It is close enough to the office in the Westside area and in a very neat residential area. The landlady, however, does not want to deal with a realtor to avoid paying any commission so now we have to find a suitable lease agreement and execute it with her on our own. Bit of a hassle but she seems nice enough and appears very accommodating so I anticipate few problems. Denise has been very helpful getting me sample lease agreements to use.
We took a look inside the house. The current tenant takes good care of it. It is only 6 years old and although slightly over 1,600 sq ft inside, is very cosy, clean and well kept. No complaints. Tenant says he would be touching up the walls and shampooing the carpets professionally when his family moves out.
Another small chapter may therefore be closing and a new one begins soon. Wish us luck!
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