Home Comforts -- Number 8: Functional Internet

Dolph Lundgren's Rocky IV 'do: about as relevant as
computer keyboards, and, er, the Soviet Union.

NEEEEEEEE-nooooo-nee-nooooo-NEEEEEEE.

That, as I’m sure you worked out right away, is not a malfunctioning police siren, but the unmistakable soundtrack to dialup internet, an invention synonymous with other antiquated inventions such as keyboards, ‘email’ and flat-top haircuts.

High-speed internet is now such an integral part of ‘Global North’ citizens’ lives that the days of dialup are an increasingly fading memory. Yet Amanda and I had to very quickly reacquaint ourselves with the old way of doing things back in January 2010, when dialup was still the only form of internet available. In some respects, this was a good thing, not least in saving us from the pitfalls of procrastination while going about the Lord’s work.

Still, when the opportunity surfaced to switch to a faster connection (and broadband this was not) some months later, we jumped at the chance. And it certainly made the adjustment to life here significantly easier. Skype (for my money, in a photo-finish with e-readers for ‘Greatest ever invention for missionaries’) was now operational, bringing updates on my parents’ gardening progress at the press of a button. It was once again possible to download podcasts, so that Mark Kermode could tell me what films to go and see at my local multiplex (in Santa Cruz, 300 miles south of Trinidad). Not to mention those YouTube videos showing people performing slam-dunks with their hands tied behind their backs whilst trying to escape a car embedded in shark-infested waters (blindfolded)…all of a sudden, we were once again plugged in to real life!

Since then, we have switched to yet another plan and our internet has gone up a further notch, i.e., my email inbox will take a mere ten seconds to load rather than 20. Other improvements have hardly brought us up to speed, if you’ll excuse the pun, with the developed world. Indeed, said velocity itself varies drastically, usually being pretty rapid in the mornings and slowing down to a couple of kilobytes a second by bedtime. Rare is the Skype conversation that does not require us to hang up, disconnect from/reconnect to the internet, and then call again about half a dozen times. Have you ever seen the ‘Your message failed to send’ message in Facebook? Well, put it this way: we have!

Yep, the divide that exists between the developed and developing worlds is frequently couched in economic terms, but it certainly extends to communications. So it’s no understatement to say that during furlough, I’m rather looking forward to plonking myself in front of a computer screen, googling ‘masonic giraffe skateboards in space’ and enjoying the instantaneous, and no doubt hilarious, results. 

Saturday Post -- 28//1/12

I shan’t lie to you: this blog post will be briefer than a Marks & Sparks management briefing on the briefs department. With a sermon to finish, a discipleship slot this afternoon, band practice and the first youth meeting of 2012 tonight, time is in short supply. Oh, and a football match of some import is due to kick off any time now!

Amanda’s lunch with the nurses last weekend was a great success, and a mutually beneficial enterprise all round. Since moving here, we’ve become keen fish eaters, the fish here being chunkier than a ‘Celebrity Fat Club’ contestant. However, we had not yet mastered the art of buying and cooking fish. Indeed, the best fish is only available at a certain place in town very early on a Saturday morning – that is, 8am (well, Amanda describes it as very early).

So, killing two birds with one stone, Amanda reckoned if some of her nursing colleagues could instruct her in how best to source and prepare the fish, she would host a veritable fish-feast for them. And so it proved, with the nurses still commenting today on how much of a good time they had. And the flat doesn’t even smell of fish any more.

I thought it best to steer clear of the sisterhood, and so I met up with my old language teacher friend, Farid, who I know some of you have been praying for. He is still ploughing away at university here, though picking up interesting language opportunities here and there; he spent a week on a luxury tourist boat translating for Americans earlier this month. He still comes along to church now and again and is well aware of what is preached on a Sunday, but hasn’t quite made that all-important step of faith yet. Fertile soil there, though – please keep praying.

At work, we have been up to our usual, with preparations continuing for the English classes (with an agreed-upon start-date decided this week of Tuesday 28^th of February) and a raft of audiology patients. Amanda has also been helping in an Excel course for the nurses at FT. Each month, the nurses have to submit a series of reports, recording in statistics the work done in each area of health over those four weeks or so. However, very few of the nursing team have ever received any training in Excel, and so, a good friend of ours from church, Jerry, who is also a tech-whizz, has kindly volunteered his services over the past couple of weeks. Amanda, the one who usually has to tidy up the reports for everyone at the end of the month, is assisting. Hopefully the new insights gained will ease the burden on her shoulders – though I must say, I personally wasn’t expecting the ‘where is the start button in Windows’ conversation to go on as long as it did!

Oh, and I got out last night for my first proper kickabout for a year or so. I can barely feel my legs.

Prayer

• Craig is preaching on the second-half of John 16 tomorrow morning. Pray for guidance as he continues his preparation.
•  For the new session of the church youth group, which gets underway tonight. Pray for wisdom for us as leaders as we seek to minister to them as a group and as individuals with a whole range of needs.

Praise

• On that note, give thanks for safe travels and an encouraging week for Ivonne, Mariana, and Wendy, who are three of the, let’s say, ‘young adults’ on the youth committee. They spent last week at a camp for youth leaders and have come back with new ideas aplenty.
• Give thanks also for continued opportunities over the past week to nurture our friendships here.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda

Saturday Post - 14/01/12

The view from our apartment on Friday morning.

Our resident model poses on an abandoned scooter.

Roads become rivers very quickly at this time of year.

Well, so much for annual blog posts... as I (Amanda) have had the more exciting week, I once again am writing the weekly update. I have to admit that my week was not so much exciting, as encouraging. I thoroughly enjoyed all that God was teaching me and where He was leading me, and I hope I am able to communicate just a bit of that enthusiasm to everyone reading.

This week saw us begin our new 2012 schedule. The first Monday of the year was a national holiday so we were unable to exercise our new free, personal day of the week. But this Monday was a work day, and it seemed a lot of people at work had forgotten that we would not be working, as I got a lot of concerned people worried that I was sick when I didn't show up. I don't know how many people were so bothered that Craig didn't show up. Just joking!!! 

Anyway, we really enjoyed our day off and it was rather productive. As it is now quite damp because of rainy season, our poor dog Arturo had developed a fungal infection which resulted in a bald spot on his hip... so we were able to take him to the vet and leave him there for a full disinfecting bath. We got to treat ourselves to salteñas for breakfast without a care in the world. However, the cares returned as got back to the house... because in a lot of ways free Mondays are really cleaning Mondays... and we got busy all afternoon cleaning the apartment. In the evening we enjoyed the company of our friends as we attended a surprise birthday party for one of our neighbour's mothers. They actually had it set up as a children's party and she thought she was attending a party for one of the neighbourhood kids... to the point where she didn't want to go and she had to get coaxed out the door. 

My interesting week, however, really started on Tuesday. I have no idea if Craig has mentioned before on the blog about my schedule change during the working week, but that change came into effect on Tuesday. I am now working half-time in Audiology and my goal with the other half of my time is to dedicate it to ministry work, whether that is one-on-one discipleship, youth group prep and planning, Sunday School (now "Saturday School)" prep, or visitations. But I had not really organised anything specific for this week... I wanted to use this week to do the organising, so I entered Tuesday afternoon with a bit of trepidation. I didn't want the nurses to think I was abandoning them. I wanted them to understand that I was doing this for them... because I think their spiritual wellbeing is more important then anything else. And so far, so good. They seem to accept and understand why I am doing it, and are very good natured about it. I did spend that Tuesday afternoon writing lists... ministries I felt passionate about, ways to tackle them, and I even wrote a list of things that I am good at and enjoy doing in order to think of ways of incorporating them in to service here. I wrote our questions and suggestions to discuss with other people about possible ways of altering things or about how we're going to work as a group. In all I was encouraged by the progress... 

Wednesday afternoon was the health area's monthly meeting, so I joined them for that... and that was encouraging in its own way. I participated!!! Usually during these meetings I sit there and listen and don't share that much. At the beginning this was because of my Spanish... later on it was because I didn't really have that much to say. But I felt that we were at the beginning of a new year and we had the opportunity to address a few things in health and I was going to speak up... and I did! Firstly, I got to share about the trip that Odalys and I took to Cochabamba and then I wanted to encourage people to strive to do their monthly health reports well. I am even organising a little workshop for this Wednesday afternoon to help everyone get their reports off on the right foot this year. We are also hoping to organise an Excel training course for the nurses especially. Every month they have to do these monthly reports on Excel and, well,  in one of the nurse's own words, "I only know how to turn the computer on and off...". Most of them want to learn these practical skills as well... so it would be an encouragement to them to be able to help them in this way. 

Thursday was a really encouraging day... firstly, Odalys asked me when we're going to arrange a time to meet every week. I have been saying this over and over to the nurses that I want to meet with them one-on-one... and it was so encouraging that Odalys wanted to arrange something and that she was taking it seriously. We've decided on Saturdays, so hopefully in the next couple of weeks we'll get that going. I was so excited. 

Thursday afternoon I went to visit one of the nurses in hospital. Kleider is about one month pregnant, but was admitted to hospital on Wednesday with some bleeding. Thankfully, they stopped the bleeding and she didn't miscarry and is on order bed rest just now (though she has every intention of coming back to work on Monday... sigh...). I went to visit her, as coming along side people is something I really want to do as well... I want to be able to help and support people through whatever they are going through, not just stuff at work. I was very nervous though because I don't have much experience with hospital visitation... I brought a deck of UNO cards to play if she was bored... because I can imagine bed rest can be boring. Her parents were there and after chatting for a bit, I said I had brought these cards if she wanted to play... I think everyone was really uncomfortable until they realised that they weren't a normal deck of cards and it was another special game. Good thing to remember culturally, that one... cards don't go down too well here. But Kleider really got into it and started winning some hands quite quickly. She got discharged later that night and is now resting at her sister's house. I am praying really hard for the health of her and her baby... as her and her partner have being trying for 5 years for this baby. 

Thursday was also interesting because it rained ALL day... driving to and from the hospital was actually quite dangerous. Trinidad was essentially flooding... please see posted pictures. It was quite dramatic... an annoyance for us, but a crisis for some people who do not live in elevated housing. One of the nurses said the water was about as high as her bed in her room. Roads became rivers... just going from the house to the church, the water rose to the top of my calves. I was worried that my wellies were not high enough, but I just got away with them. This did mean that none of the kids from the neighbourhood or Maná were able to come to prayer meeting... there were still seven of us in total though, and it was nice to have a meeting with adults where we had a really good sharing time and were able to encourage one another in a way that is difficult when there are lots of younger ones; not that we would ever want the younger ones to stop coming. Craig also joked that maybe God sent the rain so he didn't have to spell out the more physical aspects of the story of Judah and Tamar, in which he was leading a Bible study, to the younger kids. 

I also enjoyed Friday because KC and I finally were able to get together again. I think it had been over a year since we had schedules that allowed us to do so... and I really felt the benefit of just opening up to someone else and sharing items for prayer and praise. We shared plans and ideas we had for youth group, Saturday School, and one-on-ones with the Foundation staff. We shared how we were managing emotionally, mentally, and spiritually, and were able to encourage each other. It was a huge blessing!

And now, here we are again... Saturday, and with no youth group till the end of the month, Craig and I are going out for a nice dinner... might even get a little dressed up too! Though with the water levels still high in some places, and nothing but mud in other places, heels will not be making an appearance tonight. 

Prayer

• For all the families which have been affected by the flooding.
• For FT nurse Kleider's health during her pregnancy.
• For Amanda as God opens more doors for ministry here.
• For patience for Craig, who is due to meet once again with the owner of our plots of land this week as we hope to finalise the ownership documents.

Praise

• The encouragement that Amanda has felt from her new schedule and the response to it.
• Getting to spend time with each other on our Mondays off.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda

Saturday Post -- 16/04/11

And a happy Palm Sunday to all our readers. This is a Totaí tree just beside our house. Not quite a palm tree but a decent substitute.

It's not generating anywhere near the international news coverage of last year's proposed fuel hike but the country is very much in the grip of civil unrest once again. Worldwide food prices are rocketing, due in part to the instability in the Middle East and its impact on oil prices. Bolivia has not been immune to this. We've seen our own grocery bills rise considerably over the past few months. Indeed, we reckon we're forking out roughly what we did for our weekly shop back in the UK. But while it means cutting back on other expenses, we at least have the means to cope. For public sector workers who earn around £1.70 per hour, many with several children to attend to, the squeeze is keenly felt.

And it's those workers who have taken to the streets this week in protest over what they consider a derisory wage increase of 10% from the government given the 20% rise in food costs. Their initial demand was 30%, then 20% and it seems they've settled on 15% for now. But after a week in which schools have been closed and the country's main roads have been blocked, the powers that be haven't budged.

So the country has more or less ground to a halt. But we're still standing and the Bible's take on international politics is always a source of reassurance: Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. (Psalm 20:7)

Please keep praying for next weekend's Easter Sunday celebration at the church, to which we're inviting many from our community and family/friends of regular church attenders. I followed somewhat amblingly in my father's footsteps a week ago, leading my first choir practice with the youth group. Amanda certainly spotted a few glaring similarities in our conducting styles. Anyway, most importantly, the young people certainly enjoyed the song (a Spanish version of "Worthy is the Lamb") and we'll continue to iron out the creases later today.

According to our hosts, Blogger, this is our 100th post. I think back ten years ago when I first came to Trinidad. This was back in the days when we were all still working out what to do with this new internet thing -- Napster, for example, was still very much alive and well. I considered it an achievement back then to get a monthly email off to a list of friends and family. So I reckon we've done alright to get at least one post a week done and dusted. Most importantly, it seems lots of people out there are reading and finding out what they can be praying for. And that, as the Hokey-Cokey would tell you, is what it's all about.

Prayer
• For continued preparation for the Easter service.
• For the tense situation in the country.

Praise
• For the Lord's constancy in the midst of uncertain times.
• For the ability to stay so well connected with friends and family in this way -- the internet does have its up-sides.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda

Saturday Post -- 27/07/10

This week has very much provided a salient reminder of modern telecommunications and their hazards, Bolivian bureaucracy and its toe-curling awfulness….and, above all, my complete block-headedness!

On Sunday I attempted to set up a call with my parents. It became clear even before we got here that using Skype to call the UK from Bolivia would be about as useful as giving Ashley Cole a copy of ‘The Idiot’s Guide to Staying Married’. Therefore, Pater and Mater kindly obliged to dust down the old landline (remember landlines?). Alas, they were unable to get through – not, as we naturally suspected, because it was simply too much for the Bolivian phone lines to handle, but because our home phone seems to have forgotten how to ring.

The next day, Maicol kindly had our UK mobiles ‘chipped’ for use in Bolivia and, thus, numbers in hand, I skipped gleefully to the computer and emailed home immediately with our new contact details. On Wednesday afternoon I received a (as yet unconfirmed) ten-second call from a family member on my mobile, but the line was as clear as mud.

Such problems, as previously stated, extend to the realm of cyberspace. This week one of my TEFL assignments involved watching an hour-long video of a TEFL class, i.e., 6 ten-minute clips on YouTube. In order to access the fastest internet speed possible, I headed to an internet café in town. And, yes, it was indeed significantly quicker than our internet at home – a mere four hours were required to watch one hour’s worth of video!

This impediment, however, was as nothing compared to the setback which followed. The next day, ready to resume my TEFL studies, I looked in my bag for my USB stick. You can probably guess the next bit: I’d committed the cardinal sin of modern computing. Frantically I sped back into town, expecting disaster and encountering a situation that was all the worse for its bittersweetness. One of the guys at the café did, indeed, have the stick. Only, armed with a ‘finders-keepers’ mentality, he had taken it upon himself to re-format the stick. Containing three years of work. None of which, to my eternal regret, was backed up.

Well, at least he was kind enough to give me back my stick!

A hard, hard lesson. I seem to have one of these moments every year and I dearly hope I’ve paid my dues for 2010! At the same time, I was reflecting with Amanda that the vast majority of material on the stick was a bank of Scottish educational materials for classes of all shapes and sizes that I’d built up over the years. Was there, I wondered, something else at work in my ineptitude? The removal of another little safety net and a clear message from the Master that we are here in Trinidad to stay?

My panic and frustration this week has, thankfully, been balanced by Amanda’s deepening relationships with her colleagues at FT – proof of which can be found in their bestowal of a nickname upon her. A couple of firsts here this week – she finally had the chance to assist in the Tuesday afternoon ear surgery session which takes place at the military base here (this is on the other side of town, so transportation and the setting up/dismantling of equipment effectively add three hours to the procedure – this will be drastically reduced from March when FT’s brand new operating theatres open) and watched as Diego repaired the ear of a man who had damaged it when playing football. He had sustained a tympanic membrane perforation that was non-healing. So Diego performed a tympanoplasty (ear drum graft) and Amanda got to watch it up close as they have an observation attachment on the microscope used for micro-ear surgery. Secondly, she helped out at the first of the weekly school visits which are now taking place to determine the health and wellbeing of children in the vicinity, taking heights, weights and temperatures.

An area for which we would very much appreciate your prayers is our one-year visa application. Some of you may remember that the whole point of obtaining our 30-day visa before we came to Bolivia was to ease the process when we arrived here. Many’s the time over the past weeks that I’ve said to myself, “So this is the easier method?” We got the ball rolling on the Monday after we got here and we still have some way to go – there seem to be about 101 different layers of bureaucracy to wade through before you can even have a sniff of obtaining it. Thankfully, we have been greatly assisted by KC, without whose help we would be lost in the paper jungle.

An added complication is that, though we paid for a 30-day visa, arriving on 30th January, the London embassy, in their infinite wisdom, set our expiry date as the 18th of February! Now, we cannot be removed from the country and as long as we can prove our visa is pending then we are fine. However, there is a small daily charge for every day we stay here without a visa and, thus, we are facing an ever-increasing bill for our efforts (or, to be more precise, the non-effort of the Bolivians!).

Perhaps by next January we’ll have obtained our one-year visa! Nonetheless, we wait and trust in the Lord’s perfect timing. Now there’s a communication method that works the world over!

Prayer
• The ongoing visa application.
• Common sense (this one’s for Craig!).
• Craig’s sermon on 1 John 1:8-9 this Sunday (28th).

Praise
• Our deepening friendships with our friends and colleagues.
• Trials – they’re good for our perseverance.
• Amanda’s growing opportunities in healthcare.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda