Living Local

There are different levels to overseas living, just as there are different contracts for employee at an overseas school. There are 'local hires', 'foreign hires', and visiting professionals.  Everything is provided for the visitor, from meals to transport to planned entertainment. The foreign hires are given the same service for their first days in the country. They are driven around, given help with documentation and everyday needs. Local hires are not expected to have the same needs. They should already know how to get around and live in their community.
I have been a visitor where I fly in for a conference, am put up in a luxury hotel and fed well, all at the expensive of the school.  Usually, I have been a 'foreign hire', with provided travel and accommodation for me and my family. My last job provided me with a telephone upon arrival and the assurance that anything I needed was only a phone call away.
Now I am, or am attempting, to live locally.

 Fortunately, I am down town, and have had a year to get to know my community. I am only now realizing that I don't really know my community as well as I should. As a visitor you learn very little of the place your are in. It is possible to spend a few days in a foreign country without hearing the language, using the money, or getting a feel for anything more than the streets on your way from 'a' to 'b'. As a 'foreign hire' in a country you can literally spend years in the same vein. There are grocery stores and restaurants with international food. There is a international, or expat, community to socialize with, and enticing neighboring countries to jet off to on a long weekend.
I've decided it is time start living locally. My past employer has taken away my phone, they no longer run to my assistance when something is wrong, and I should be spending less money.
My first move was to find a dry cleaners for my winter coats. Downstairs there is a lady who sits outside a garage with something that looks like an industrial sized washing machine behind her. I got up the courage to approach, carried out a limited conversation with her, and left my coat with the promise to return on Thursday. My first small success - or it may be - I will find out on Thursday.

There are so many small businesses around and about my community. It is about time I started making the most of my location. The local market is still a little daunting. I wouldn't know what to do with most of what I find piled outside, and the inside is even more crammed full of products with unreadable labels. I will have to start small, with apples and the ingredients for a pie crust.  Here are some other goals for living locally:
Buy meat from the butcher; start using the trams instead of taxis; have coffee at the coffee shop across the street; make an appointment with the local doctor; use cash and correct change; make a reservation for a local restaurant; order food in Bulgarian; visit the strange underground Chinese restaurant; have drinks on Friday evenings...
I am sure there will be much more to do in my community/city/country once I get out and start living locally.