INTERNET!!!

You might remember that I did a post a couple of months ago about our technology whoas. We didn't get a phone assigned for a few weeks after we arrived and then the one that was assigned turned out to have belonged to the facilities director previously, so we were getting calls at all hours about security alarms :) Our flat didn't have Internet but after a couple of months we were given a mobile WiFi that only worked occasionally and quickly ran out of data. Our work depends a lot on the Internet so we've put on a lot of miles going to the office almost ever day.

Part of all of the tangle was that they didn't know if we would stay in Johannesburg or be transferred to Botswana but that's another story I'll write about later. Now that they've decided that no non-native missionaries are going to be going to Botswana, an order was finally made to have Internet put into our flat. We waited the minimum 21 days (!!!) for the order to go through and then finally called to check on the status. A confusion about who made the order caused the person in charge to cancel it, so we started another 21 day wait. Finally yesterday they called to say a technician was here (no warning that he was coming) so we rushed home and asked our landlord to tackle him if he had to so he wouldn't leave until we got here. The line was installed and we were given a number to call to set up the router, etc. We spent almost all day and evening on the phone (most of the time waiting.) We talked to three different technicians, but still it wouldn't work. I'm sure we used up all of our airtime on our cell phone hoping to get an answer. FINALLY today we talked to a young woman who seemed to know more than just the script. She was able to "sort out" the problems which basically had to do with a temporary password that didn't work, a period at the end of the password that the people yesterday said HAD to be included and she said should not have been and directions on how we could assign our own password since the setup program did not like the key on the bottom of the modem. I know to all of you, Internet seems as expected as going to your sink and getting a drink of water, but here it is an exciting thing for us to finally be able to sit with our laptops and connect! (by the way we can't always get water from the tap either :)