Posting from as far east as you can get

The Last ten months in four sentences. I worked for Maine Hut's and Trail's, cooking, cleaning, and doing lots of reading. Then I became a Registered Maine Raft Guide and worked in The Forks all summer. I'm working on starting a tea company with my folks. Now I'm in St. John's, Newfoundland, living with Emily.

So about that. It's nice up here. St. John's is about the size of Portland (Maine), with an old old downtown and a helluva lot of new development. Irving is from here, and there's actually a housing shortage. We're lucky to have this house. We're fostering a rescued beagle named Finlay. Emily is going to Grad school at Memorial University (If I don't find a job, I might apply to go there next year).

Right now I spend most of my time at home, hanging out with the dog, looking for a job. Working on the packaging for the Tea Company. I'm going to try to write about life up here on the edge of North America, when something interesting happens, or maybe just every couple weeks or so.

Life here in Newfoundland (emphasis on the last syllable) is not really that different, but there are a few things that stand out after a couple weeks here. Some things, are however, inexplicably different. There are no dried black beans. There are no gallons of milk (just 2 liter cartons. But perhaps oddest of all, there's no such thing as a visa debit card.

I was out last week, and needed some cash. No problem, right? I went to the drug store, bought a candy bar, handed my debit card to the lady behind the cash register. I'd like $40 back I said. She ignored me, rang up the Three Musketeers bar (at $1.40 hardly an inexpensive purchase), and handed me a receipt to sign. No, I said, I wanted cash back... Oh, well, see, it's a visa, see, and we don't do cash back on those. Alright, I said, where's the nearest ATM? Just up the street bout a minute.

I ate my candy bar on the way. The ATM didn't like my primary debit card, nor did it like my backup. I went to the woman in charge of the store. The ATM won't give me money, I told her. She came over, and watched me try again. Ah -- well there's your problem, she told me after I'd indicated that I wanted to withdraw from checking. You're trying to take it out of checking, and it's a visa. Right, I said, a visa debit card, see it says right here. No no, she told me solemnly, we don't have Visa debit cards here.