Internet!

Please keep in mind that many of the things I'm posting now I wrote about over a month ago, I've just been busy. Also, it seems silly to make you miss out on things because I didn't have internet!

September 21^st, 2011

You know how badly you can miss something when it’s gone, or not available? I had NO internet for almost 2 weeks. This might not seem terribly awful, except for when you live in a foreign country and you also don’t have a cell phone. There is no real way to contact home. Granted, I could have asked one of my neighbors, and I did borrow someone’s internet to let the parents know I was here. I was able to check my e-mail at school, but it’s just not the same. I also couldn’t Skype or use Facebook. I know, I have become a FB fiend. It’s how I keep up with everyone! And let me tell you, when I logged on and saw the crap that FB pulled, I ranted! I raved! I couldn’t go back the 2 weeks I had missed to see what had been happening. The anger! The frustration! The calling FB all sorts of evil names from my apartment!

Now that the rant is over (for now – I still seethe every time I log in):

I got the internet! At first I wasn’t sure if I would be able to get it when the rep came to school on the 21^st. We were paid on the 20^th, and I didn’t receive my bank card until after school that day. Actually, I was really lucky, because a week later some people who were here on time still hadn’t received their bank cards!

Interesting Fact: the bank cards for females are purple, and the ones for males are green. Apparently they meet our “various needs,” whatever that’s supposed to mean!

I also didn’t know if the rep would take a bank card, because the school liaison person didn’t know if the rep would have a card machine. He did, and I got my modem and 4 months’ worth of internet. I was one happy girl!

It had been a long day, as I was up late the night before because of the fingerprinting fiasco. Sarah had stopped by my room saying that her husband was going on a coffee run during 3^rd block. She wanted to know if I wanted anything. I’m not gonna lie, I did a little happy dance when she made that offer! Justin delivered my white chocolate mocha from Caribou (this was also my first American fast-food purchase since being here). My students were quite jealous. I just told them that it wouldn’t happen very often, and that after the night I had I totally deserved it. I had given them a work day so they could ask questions about their first major writing assignment (a theme analysis paragraph). I was walking around helping, and one kid just looked at me and said, “That smells so good.” I couldn’t help but feeling sorry for him, and SUPER excited for me!

Once home, I tried setting up my wireless internet by following the directions in the booklet. I couldn’t get it to work, so I just gave up and plugged in the cable. INTERNET! I was able to chat with Sara, which was really exciting! I may have distracted her from studying, but we hadn’t talked in weeks!

I also realized that coffee later in the day + new internet = Erin staying up WAY too late. 11 pm bedtime when I had to get up at 4 was not a smart idea. I might have actually fallen asleep if it hadn’t been for the a**hole sitting outside my bedroom honking his horn for 20 minutes. He stopped just as I was getting out of bed to find one of the solid eggs that was sitting in my fridge. He was VERY lucky that didn’t get chucked at his window. I’m just saying!