If the USA is the Land of Opportunity...

.....then I coin Jordan as the Land of Empty Gestures and False Promises. There is a very funny show called Curb Your Enthusiasm starring Larry David. (As a side note if any of you know his character you now have a better understanding of Brian....there are some frightening similarities) Anyways, on an episode he told a friend if he ever needed anything to be sure to ask for help. To Larry's disbelief the friend calls him out on the favor and then Larry admits it was an "empty gesture". He had no intentions of actually doing a favor for his friend and just said it to fill space in the conversation.

I really like some things about living here, but what I am still adjusting to is the constant "empty gestures". On the surface everyone seems very friendly. For example, a woman that Brian knows offered to meet up one day for tea to talk about possible job opportunities. She penciled me in for a couple days later and now our meeting has been erased and re-written three times because she is too busy. Am I missing something here? Why offer to help if you don't really want to. Another example is being told they will call you back in a day. I had a job interview that went well and he said he'd call in 2 days, it has now been 2 weeks. I am sure you are just thinking he didn't want to offer me the job, but again, why can't they just tell you that. The latest and most harsh blow has been while looking for an apartment. There has been three incidents where we have negotiated and agreed on a price for an apartment to then have it fall through. The first time they secretly tried to get us to pay property tax, the second one switched not only the price but the furniture on us at the last minute and lastly we had a woman who called us to make a deal and then proceeded to call back several hours later and change her mind. We even filed a complaint with the tourist police for one of the deals that fell through because we were so sick of being lied to.

I am finally catching on after a month that most people here are full of sh**. On the up side, living here is going to force me to be more assertive and confident. And there is sunshine.....lots and lots of sunshine!!