Technology Withdrawal

On our first night here, we realized that the power adaptors we brought with us didn’t work so I didn’t have a hair dryer or a curling iron for a couple of days--so much for first impressions J Both our computers and our phones were dead and we couldn’t recharge them. We found that the Garmin we brought with us wouldn’t work in South Africa so we had to buy a new one (in order to drive in Johannesburg and hope to reach your destination, you really need one.) When we finally got the adaptors and plugged in our phones, we found that our phones were just as dead when charged as not charged. We knew our phone service wouldn’t work, but there was also no texting, Instagram, Hangouts or anything like unto it. We discovered our flat doesn’t have Internet and won’t have because the cable service isn’t very reliable so we couldn’t email our family. To complicate the communications dilemma, we hadn’t had driving instruction so we weren’t able to go searching for a temporary phone. A couple of our worried kids finally called the mission office to make sure we had arrived.

We won’t always be disconnected-- we should soon be issued a very old school cell phone for our work here, but it won’t text or call to the US. We will also be given a little MiFi device, which should connect us to the Internet. It seems the S&I secretary isn’t in quite as big a hurry to get those things transferred to us as we are to receive them though J

On our way to the airport in Salt Lake, we happened to ride with a man who was from South Africa. His advice to us was to prepare to slow down. African time is not US time he cautioned. Well, here is some practice for us so we will be patient. It is a hard adjustment, though, to be without technology when we have been used to accessing it so freely and so frequently. I think I will appreciate it more from now on!