Today's update
Finally managed to get my card for food stamps and cash benefits today. In order to get the card, I first had to receive training at one of social services' scheduled class times. The trainer was about a quarter-hour late herself, giving me plenty of time to wander around the waiting area, looking at pamphlets about other services available to qualified poor people or tracts titled "¡LO QUE TODOS NECESITAN ES AMOR!" which of course got my tired brain wondering what the Beatles' song "All You Need Is Love" would sound like in a Spanish translation, although my brain refuses to recall quite enough of my years of Spanish classes for me to get very far.
In any event, the trainer finally came out and got the class herded into the training room, which wasn't terribly difficult as the class consisted of me, myself, and I. The training itself was a terribly complicated affair consisting of... okay, not complicated at all, as all I had to do was watch an old slightly worn-out video explaining skills such as how to select a PIN (also known as "your secret code"), these invaluable skills being demonstrated by absurdly cheerful actors of varying ethnicities.
After putting my PIN-selecting skills to use in the office and finding out how much of each kind of benefit I have in my accounts, I wandered along some of the local major roads trying to remember just where to find the one bank listed which didn't charge ATM fees for withdrawing the cash benefits. As it turns out, though I walked quite a bit and noticeably hastened the day when the cash benefits will be required to purchase new shoes, I didn't go to the intersection where said bank is actually located. Oh phoo.
So I came home and collapsed. The landlord is understandably thrilled that, even though I won't be able to pay him all the rent I owe, at least I'll be able to pay something now. As for me, I still won't quite believe I've got these benefits until I've actually used them to purchase something--and even then, I'm going to be afraid they'll take them away unless I get some other form filled out. There have been too many obstacles put in my way for me to breathe easily now. Give me a month or so to absorb it, see if that works. In the meantime, anybody else looking forward to next week's Angel?
In any event, the trainer finally came out and got the class herded into the training room, which wasn't terribly difficult as the class consisted of me, myself, and I. The training itself was a terribly complicated affair consisting of... okay, not complicated at all, as all I had to do was watch an old slightly worn-out video explaining skills such as how to select a PIN (also known as "your secret code"), these invaluable skills being demonstrated by absurdly cheerful actors of varying ethnicities.
After putting my PIN-selecting skills to use in the office and finding out how much of each kind of benefit I have in my accounts, I wandered along some of the local major roads trying to remember just where to find the one bank listed which didn't charge ATM fees for withdrawing the cash benefits. As it turns out, though I walked quite a bit and noticeably hastened the day when the cash benefits will be required to purchase new shoes, I didn't go to the intersection where said bank is actually located. Oh phoo.
So I came home and collapsed. The landlord is understandably thrilled that, even though I won't be able to pay him all the rent I owe, at least I'll be able to pay something now. As for me, I still won't quite believe I've got these benefits until I've actually used them to purchase something--and even then, I'm going to be afraid they'll take them away unless I get some other form filled out. There have been too many obstacles put in my way for me to breathe easily now. Give me a month or so to absorb it, see if that works. In the meantime, anybody else looking forward to next week's Angel?