Bartering... How To

Living overseas you have to learn how to do certain things. One of them is how to barter. Did you know that even in a “fixed price” shop you can usually talk the shop keeper down a little bit? I’ve had a lot of fun learning how to barter since I moved to !nd!a. At first I was a bit shy in this area, and when I would try it, I didn’t start very low so I’d end up only getting 20 rupees off whatever it was I was buying. (That’s when you start hearing things like, “For you, special price, 10 rupees [20 cents] less.”)  But I’ve gotten much better. The best buy I have gotten yet was when Suzy and I went to D3lhi the second time for my passport. We were walking down the street not really even intending to buy anything when these little elephant key chains caught my eye. My sister’s birthday was coming up, so knowing she likes elephants, I asked the guy how much they were. He said they were 250 rupees (about $5). I was utterly shocked! I said “250 rupees for ONE?!?!” He then informed me that it was for the whole package of five. Well, I only wanted one, so I asked how much for just one. “Oh, we cannot sell just one. They come in a package.” I said no thanks and began walking away, fully intending not to buy them. But as I was walking away he said, “Ok, Ok madam. How much?” I looked directly at him and said “30 rupees.” He then said he’d give them to me for 225. “No, 30 rupees is all I will pay.” And I walked away. “Ok, ok madam. How much?” “30 rupees is all I will pay.” “Ok, for you, 200 rupees.” “No sir. I don’t think you understand. I will not pay any more than 30 rupees because I only want one. I don’t want the whole package.” And I walked away again. This happened several times. He’d call me back, ask how much, I’d say 30 rupees, he’d go down with his price a little bit, and I’d walk away only to be called back again. Finally he was down to about 100 rupees when I looked him in the eye and said, “Sir. I only want ONE of these elephants. I don’t want the whole package. And because I only want ONE, I will only pay 30 rupees. I will NOT pay any more than that. If you don’t want to sell them for that price, that’s fine. Your choice, but I will not pay more than 30 rupees.” And I walked away. “Ok, Ok madam. For you, 30 rupees.” I was completely shocked and utterly amazed that I actually got five elephant key chains for only 30 rupees!! HA!!

So, what have I learned from all the bartering that I’ve done? Here are a few things to keep in mind.

1.) Do not look overly interested. If you show your excitement for a certain item the price has already doubled what they normally charge a foreigner. 
2.) Befriend the shopkeeper. Comment on how lovely his store is, or about how he has such a great location, or something. Getting on his good side should help you out. Also, if you’ve bought things from him before, be sure to mention it and how satisfied you were with the item you purchased. Also ask him how business has been that day. If he hasn’t had very many customers he will be more likely to agree to a lower price.
3.) Ask for a discount. Before you even offer a counter price, ask them what kind of discount they will give you. Again, this is especially true if you’ve bought from him before. But even if you haven’t, don’t be afraid to ask what discount he will give you. And if you are planning on buying a couple of things from the same shop, ALWAYS mention that you are buying SO MUCH, even if it’s really only two or three things.
4.) Start VERY low. Once he gives you his discounted price keep in mind that this is still probably at LEAST double what it should really cost, if not three or four times that price. A good rule of thumb is to try for a third of the price. He might laugh at you or look completely shocked, but this is his job. He’s been doing this for MANY years. He wants you to think the price you’ve offered is absurd and may indeed be shocked because most foreigners are usually too naive (they haven’t read my bartering tips) to know better and just pay what he quotes, or if they do barter don’t start low enough. So, they end up only getting about a 2% discount and are very happy with the fact that they bartered all on their own and got “such a good price!”   He’s trying to get as much money out of you as he can. Don’t be misled.
5.) Don’t be afraid to walk away. When you show that you are willing to walk away with nothing when you don’t get the price you want, he will know that you mean business. `Most likely he will call you back saying, “Ok, ok. How much?” This is when it can become a bit tricky. You don’t want to raise your price too much too fast. It is usually a good idea to try and stick with or at the very least close to your original price. Have in mind the maximum you are willing to pay for the item noting that the price should be less than half of what he first quoted. If he doesn’t go down with his price much or at all, say no thanks (it is important to remain polite, but firm) and walk away. And he’ll probably call you back again. This processes could repeat itself many times.
6.) Do not convert the price to dollars. Try and think in the local currency. When you convert the price he is quoting to dollars you only end up thinking, “Wow! That’s not such a bad price. It’s a few dollars cheaper than something like this would be at home.” EEERNK [nasally] BAD idea!! This WILL NOT get you a good price and will only prove that foreigners will pay any price, and the next time you come there the price will have doubled again. THINK IN THE LOCAL CURRENCY!!! I cannot emphasize this point  enough. THINK IN THE LOCAL CURRENCY!!!
7.) DO NOT CAVE!!  This is very important! You will hear things like, “How will I feed my family?” and “If it was up to me, but my boss...” or “My cost is this much, (BALONEY!!) how can I give it to you for less than what I paid?” He will pull every trick out that he can to keep the price as high as he can. Your goal is to get a good price. If you listen to any of these tricks, even for a split second, you have a very high chance of caving. REMAIN STRONG. I know you can do it! Show me what you’re made of.
8.) Have fun. If you don’t have fun with this, it will not be a good experience, and even if you get a really good price, it won’t be a good memory for you. Every time you look at what you bought, you will remember the stress of buying it. Plus depending on where you are, many shop keepers enjoy bartering, even if they don’t show it.
9.) Remain upbeat and polite.  This can be a delicate balance, but once you find it, it’s pretty easy to maintain and begin perfecting. The reason it can be difficult is because you have to be firm with the price you want, but in a friendly, carefree way. You’ve already befriended the shopkeeper at this point, now you want to remain friends.
10.) Speak in the local language if possible. Even if it is just a couple of words or you don’t know if you can say them correctly, use them anyway. If you say the words right, you will not only impress the shopkeeper, but you may make him wonder how much more you know. It kind of puts him on his toes in a way. If your pronunciation is bad or even horrible, you can have a good laugh about it together. He’ll also be happy that you care enough about his country to learn some of his language. This will help you become friends with him, too.

This is what I’ve come up with so far. It is not an exhaustive list, but it will get you started. If you’ve done some good bartering already let me know what it was like. If there is a trick you used, or a tip you think others should know, email me and I’ll add it to the list. I hope you have a great shopping experience next time you travel!

Technical Difficulties.

I’ve got lots to say right now, but not much time to say it. So, I’ll wait with all of that for a future post. But I wanted to let you all know why I no longer have pictures on my website. About two weeks ago Suzy and I went to D3lhi for a couple of days. When we got back I was doing a Mac OS X combined update for my computer but it didn’t install all the way and as a result my computer wouldn’t turn on. I tried a few things, called my brother and tried some things he suggested, but to no avail. However, lucky me, there is an authorized Apple place in D3hra D.n, so last Monday Suzy and I got on a bus again and heading the D.D.(only about one hour down the mountain) But, unlucky me, he was not able to do anything but erase my hard drive and reinstall Mac OS X. So, because I hadn’t gotten an external hard drive yet(stupid professional procrastinator that I am)  I lost EVERYTHING on my computer! Pictures(I can get them back from the Clover’s and Suzy though), music(the nice guy at that worked on my computer gave me his iTunes library though, complete with Michael Jackson, Aqua(Barbie Girl), Hannah Montana, Barbara Streisand, Britney Spears, The Doors, The Eagles, Elton John, Elvis Presley, Grateful Dead, Hillary Duff, Jimi Hendrix, Jonas Brothers, Josie and the Pussycats, and Linkin Park, among MANY others!!) all my knitting patterns and recipes, quasi important documents(many of these I had in emails, so that ended up being ok)  EVERYTHING!!! It was really frustrating. Also included in the loss was my iWeb(the program I use to make this website) which meant that I had to copy and past my website from the web back into iWeb in order to keep what I already had posted. Grrrr. I did the blog part of it first because that was pretty easy. But I got really tired of it so I decided not to do the pictures. So, that I why there are not pictures on here anymore(other that what was on my blog updates). But I’ll try and get some pictures uploaded again soon. And I have a camera of my own now, so I don’t have to kidnap pictures from the Clovers or Suzy anymore. :)


Oh, and needless to say, I bought an external hard drive the day I was in D.D. and have been backing up my computer on a regular biases. I think I’ve also been an inspiration to the Clovers and Suzy because they’ve been backing theirs up more often too. ; )

Supprise!!

Yesterday was my host mom’s birthday. I wanted to do something special for her but I knew she wouldn’t just let me through her a party. So, I planned a surprise party. I talked to Salim(my host dad) about it and felt like I was able to explain pretty well what I had planned and that he understood the gist of it. Then I had Karishma(Sitara’s youngest) help me pick out some cloth to give her for a new suit. The next day we went to pick out bangles to match it. My cover was almost blown though when Sitara and I went there the next day to get bangles to match my Id(Eed, a Musl!m holiday) suit because the lady said something about my being there just the day before. I tried my best to just shrug it off.
On Friday I went to the Clover’s house to bake a cake. This was slightly difficult for me because I was fasting with my host family. (The last Friday of R0z0n is pretty important and everyone fasts. They’d been asking me for awhile if I’d fast with them. Suzy’s family was asking her the same thing, so we both decided to fast with our host families.) When I make a cake my favorite part of making it is eating a bit of the batter. I always leave a bit extra in the bowl to lick out. And I couldn’t do that on Friday. But I made it though. Then after dinner I went to Suzy’s house to frost the cake. I still haven’t been able to make frosting just the right consistency here yet, so my frosting was a bit thin and wouldn’t stay on the sides of the cake. I decided to let it sit overnight and fix it in the morning. When I went to Suzy’s the next day the frosting was in great shape to fix the cake. But I couldn’t decorate it because the two kids of the family Suzy lives with wanted to watch and they didn’t get home from school till the afternoon. So, I had to wait. When they got home(and after the parade) I finished the cake and headed home. We had dinner and I tried to get Sitara to let me wash the dishes after dinner, but she insisted on doing them. But I did the last half of them because she had to go answer the phone. Then at about 7:30 everyone arrived. Suzy came with the cake and ice cream and along with her was Amber and the boys(Stephen wasn’t feeling very well) and some new friends of ours(I had wanted to invite them but I didn’t have their phone number) that had met Salim in the market a bit before and said they were stopping by. Sitara was so surprised with everything, and VERY embarrassed!! But after everyone had left and it was just us again, she told me she had a wonderful time and thanked me for her party.

Parade number two!!

Early this week I went down to the internet cafe to print some things off. The family that runs it is Shik and told me that the Shik temple was going to have a parade on Saturday. And that they’d be giving out free food all day. He also told me that if I wanted to help cook the food with the ladies I could. I wasn’t quite sure about that cause I thought I’d be more in the way than any help, but I for sure wanted to make a point of checking out all the festivites on Saturday. 
So yesterday Suzy and I went down but were kind of confused about where to go, so we just kept walking and ended up sitting in a restaurant to talk and hang out. We both went home after a bit as it was getting close to lunch. Then after lunch I went back to Suzy’s because the parade was supposed to start at 2. Soon we heard the bands and knew it was about to start. Sure enough up the hill came the parade. They go up the fill first to the bus stand and then come back down again and continue on to the Library side of Mall Road. It wasn’t quite as exciting as the last parade, but it was still fun.
I was getting ready to go down and decorate Sitara’s birthday cake when Iube(Suzy’s host dad) said that there was going to be more festivities down by Clock Tower. So, Suzy and I headed down. She brought her camera and I borrowed the Clover’s. We got down there long before the parade ever did because we took the lower road to avoid all the crowds. When we got there we saw Salim and Sitara at one of the stores buying things for Id. I asked them if they were going to watch the parade and they said sure. 
We had to wait for at least half an hour before we heard the bands coming. At first I was kinda disappointed because it was all the same as we saw at the top of the hill. But soon that all changed!
The ambulance(which I thought was just trapped in the middle of the parade) came and the started taking things out of it. It started with a guy swinging this long tin whip around. It was crazy!! The tin was about two inches wide and maybe ten feet long!! I thought for sure someone was going to get whipped with it and start gushing blood! Then there were sward fights and stick fights and all kinds of crazy things! It all ended with a little boy laying on the ground with a banana on his tummy, a guy with one on his head, two boys holding one in their mouths, a guy with a coconut on his head and another guy just kneeling on the ground. Then the blindfolded a guy, gave him a sward and spun him around a coulpe times. He then proceded to cut the bananas in half, took his sward and ran it along the one guys nose and then was given a bat and smashed the coconut.
I got almost all of this all on video and thought I got the very last part, but when I looked at Suzy’s camera last night it wasn’t there. But I did post the rest of the videos, so check them out on my  videos page!!

Musl!m Pr@yer

So, last night we had some guests over for dinner. My host mom told me that her son had invited two guys over for dinner but I didn’t think much of it. But when they got here I realized that these weren’t just any guys, these were some quasi  important Musl!m people. I still am not sure if they were imams or something though. Anywho. We sat down to dinner and ate our fig, then our bowl of fruit and started in on the appetizers(we always have some type of fried thingers that I consider appetizers) when Arif and the two guests stood up. Sitara went and got three pr@yer mats and began to lay them out in the living room/dinning room floor. She then said her and I would eat dinner on the couch(really more like a bed) since the chairs at the table would be in the way. Once we were seated the guys began their pr@yers. It was really an interesting thing to watch since they said all the pr@yers in Arabic. They would recite a prayer then bend over, stand up, and then kneel on their mats with their heads to the floor. It went on for about 15 minuets or so. When they were done they went back to the table and finished eating.
When they left Sitara told me she felt bad because she was supposed to give them each a new suit(not like a suit and tie, but as in the local dress) but she didn’t know till that afternoon that they were coming and it was not enough time to go and get a suit. She also told me that these guys had been at the mosk since R@mmadon started(last week) pr@ying and reciting the Korh@n. It was really quite interesting.

Later that evening we were looking at some of their pictures and there was a picture of a group of men without their shirts and their backs were all cut and bloody. I asked her about it and she said that there are two different sects of Musl!ms in !nd!a. One of them believe that their prophet had done this and that they need to do it also. So, they have a day dedicated to whipping their backs. At the end of the day they go to a certain area of town where they had been burning wood all day. When they get there they walk on the coals barefoot.

It is amazing to me the dedication that other r3l!g!ons have that we Chr!st!ans lack. And to think that we have the hope that they do not. Why can’t I show this same dedication? Why is it so hard for me? Why do I sometimes read my B!ble simply because I feel I should? Why can’t I always do it because I long to know my S@vior better? These are just a few of the thoughts I’ve had while learning about the family I am living with.

Passport...part three

I realized today that I never finished this ongoing entry. So, here is the rest of the story.
On July 19th Suzy and I got up early and headed to the bus station. This time we had to travel from Muss00r!e so we had an extra leg to our trip. We took a bus from here is D.D. Once there we had to go to the main ISBT(bus station) and get a bus to D3lhi. The trip there was uneventful, no bus crashes or anything.
    Once we arrived in D3lhi we found the metro and took it to C@naught Place. We had decided that since we were in D3lhi we would go to Papa John’s for dinner. Oh! It was so good!! We’ve tried Pizza Hut and Dominos here too and I think that Papa John’s is the closest to the pizza from the States.
After dinner we walked to the train station to find a hotel in the bazar there. They tried to get us to take an air conditioned room for twice the price of one without, but it really wasn’t that hot and we were only going to be there for one night. We settled in and went to sleep.
The next morning we took an auto to the embassy to pick up my new passport. We were old pros at this by now. While we waited there was an American couple who were filing for new passports. We talked to them a bit and found out that they had been getting on a train for D.D. when her purse was stolen! Both their passport and their money were in it. So, here they were. They ended up being able to get passports that day because they were going to be heading back to the States later that week.
We left there to go to the FRRO to apply for a new visa. When we got there we had to wait in a HUGE line!! We must have waited maybe an hour and a half. But there were all kinds of people who just went in. I was slightly confused, so I went up and checked it out while Suzy stayed in line. But, it was just the people from Afghan who were going in because they had a separate line. So, back to my spot I went.
When it was finally my turn I went to the reception desk gave them my new passport, the documents they gave me at the embassy, copy of my old one and visa, and the police report. The man looked at it, wrote a number on the top of a form, told me to fill it out and go to counter five.
I filled out the form, attached my passport photo and went to counter five. I was really confused at first because counter five was not clearly marked. I tried to ask a few people but they all told me different numbers. So, I stood in one line for a bit when a guy told me I was in the wrong line, this one was for the Afghans. So, to the next counter I went. It ended up being counter five. The lady there looked at my documents and form then told me I needed copies of my new passport. I asked her where I could get them and she just point to the door. I was a little bit flustered and asked her again, “Where can I get copies made?” And again she just pointed to the door while saying I need copies. Grrr.
So, Suzy and I began to weave our way though all the people to the door. On the way out we saw our friends from the embassy. We told them they would probably need to get copies also so they sent their driver to get copies while they waited in line.
We asked one of the guards outside where we could get copies and he gave us directions. Once I’d made my copies(more than I really needed for the FRRO) we went back and I got in line at counter five. She looked at my copies wrote something on one of them and told me to take it to another counter.
I went to that counter and no one was there. So, I tried to talk to the lady at the next desk but she said to wait till this person came back. So I waited. And waited. And waited. Finally the lady at the other desk made a phone call and then asked to see my papers. I gave them to her and she shuffled through them a bit then told me to leave them (with my new passport) in a pile on this other desk and to come back at four. I was a bit uneasy about leaving the passport I had just got that morning, but didn’t really have a choice.
Suzy and I went to lunch and came back at four. I went to the desk I had left all my documents at and asked if my visa was ready. The lady shuffled though the stack till she found my papers, looked at them and said no, it was not ready yet. She wrote something on the paper and told me to go to the reception desk. I walked over there to find on one there and a sign above that said reception was open until two. But I waited anyway. And while I waited our friends showed up. They also were told to come back at four. Finally someone came and looked at my papers. He wrote something on them and sent me to counter five.
To counter five I went. They lady looked at my papers asked me when I was planning on leaving !nd!a and I told her 180 days from May 13th. She wrote on my papers and sent back to the desk where I’d left my papers before. When I got there the lady looked at what counter five had written and said she had not completed it. I told her she was not sure when 180 days from May 13th was, so this lady thought for a bit and just picked a day in November. Ha! Then she sent me back to counter five. At counter five the women finished writing what she had started before, put a stamp in my passport with some numbers and sent me back to the other counter. This lady then proceeded to sign in some areas, and told me to take one stack of papers back to counter five. I took them, gave them to the lady and she shuffled through them and just set them aside. I waited, but she didn’t tell me anything, so finally I asked if there was anything else and she said no. So, Suzy and I headed out the door with my new passport and temporary visa!
We got some dinner and then headed back to D.D. and then to Muss00r!e. I’ll have to wait till we got to N3pal in October/November to get another ten year visa since they do not issue them in !nd!a.
And that is the end of my passport adventures. Sorry this one was so long, but if you did take the time to read it all I give you kuddo points!! And I’m sure you got a good laugh because of all the red tape.

Always moving

It seems that my whole time here in !nd!a has been spent moving every few weeks. And each time I move I think, “Ok. This is where I’ll be for at least a couple months.” But then within just a short time I am packing my things again and moving.
This time I have moved in with a Musl!m family, and just in time for Rammadon too! They are a really fun family and enjoy playing games a lot. :D They have one son who is 19, and two daughters who are 16 and 17. Sitara(the mom) speaks really good english and is able to help me with my H!nd! almost every day.