Another week has flown by, but felt like ages because it was so packed. Everything is still going so well at school, only I don’t have a moment to think or to practice. Both things are rather important I find . . .
I am finally writing from my room on my very own wireless network. It was a bit of an adventure getting, starting with picking up the modem, which they’d lost but finally found, then trying to install it with German directions. I didn’t think that would be so hard since I’ve done modem stuff before and my German isn’t so bad with a dictionary. I did what they said step by step then got stuck.
1) Do NOT plug the modem in yet. The instruction disk will tell you step by step when and how to plug everything in.
2) Insert instruction disk and follow directions. (So far so good. It installed some software etc.)
3) Select what type of modem you have.
After I selected it they said it couldn’t be found and to make sure I’d selected the correct modem. I was a bit baffelled at this because I wasn’t sure how the computer was supposed to know what model of modem was sitting beside it UNPLUGGED. Maybe I missed the step that said “now plug it in” but I went over the steps again, then asked the help of Veronika’s niece who was visiting and can speak fairly good English. Nope, I did it write. I gave up and called tech support and my German tech vocab is not so good so I asked if he spoke English and thankfully he said ‘a little.’ I told him the problem emphasizing that “I have not plugged in the modem.” I don’t want to be one of those stupid tech callers that complains the computer doesn’t work when it’s not even plugged in to power. I repeated my statement that I wasn’t plugged in and he said “It’s okay, it’s okay do this . . .” I followed his instructions for a while then he asked if I saw lights on my modem. I said “No, because it’s not plugged in yet.” “It’s not plugged in?! You need to plug it in!” No duh! Who would have thought it needed to be plugged in! So, I go to plug it all in and of course I inplug the phone line (it’s the same line for internet) and the phone goes dead. I fall to whimpers on the floor because at this point I’ve already abandoned the dinner and guests in the next room that I’d said I’d be at (because I foolishly thought I could get the internet working in the hour I had before it) but I didn’t want to interrupt the tech call and still didn’t expect it to go so long. Thankfully he called me back, and I must say he was a pleasant fellow who had a sense of humor and liked my English. I’m not sure what he meant by “Most Americans have bad English” but I’ll take the complement anyway.
So, after more work with lots of things going wrong and a bit of difficulty over the German pronunciation of ‘e’ and ‘i’ sounding like the American pronunciation of ‘a’ and ‘e’ respectively. We would sometimes speak in German, sometimes English, and he had a strong accent so it was sometimes hard to tell. “The two to last letter is ‘e.’” “The fourth letter is and ‘e’?” “No, the first letter is not and ‘e’. The two to last letter is an . . . etc.
After an hour and a half or so we finally got through it all and I had internet. I missed dinner completely and had to rush off to class for which I was late. I came home so exhausted I didn’t even check my email or turn on my computer! That says a lot, I assure you.
I did get up early to do some essentials and now the week is over I’m trying to tackle my 100 strong inbox, plan how to get all my schoolwork done, start practicing, and still do all the activities I have planned for the weekend. Haha! Right. At least I think I see in the future the possibility of getting it into control and into a rhythm.
Love to all. I’ll write about everything soon I hope. Thanks for the comments. I will get to them when I can as well.
