Wednesday, Jul 19, 2016
We signed with PuntoNet two weeks ago to have fiber optics installed for our internet service. After signing we learned it would be a week for the install, and then it got moved to two weeks because of the number of people they would be setting up in our “complex”. This was ok though, because now our install charge would be waived since there are at least five people signing.
I got a text message last week asking me to respond to their scheduled install date of Jul 19, to which I did. Monday I received a phone call from them to confirm I would be home Tuesday morning for the install. So they show up today and looked around my apartment and the building itself, deciding where they would run the wire. After they decided where it would be installed they left and I thought they were going to begin the work. I never heard from them again.
I know my service will get installed I just don’t know when. As frustrating as it is for me to not be able to communicate well to these guys, they must feel the same way. I thought it was odd they just disappeared without giving me any information. The good news is I still have my internet functioning with ETAPA. Lesson reinforced here: do not cancel an old service until the new service is actually up and running. It is too big of a crap shoot to use scheduled service dates for decision making in Ecuador.
Heidi’s been sick most of the day. She picked up some sort of stomach bug. So far she is the only one of the three of us that have it. Getting sick here is not a comfortable thought. Obviously being sick is the pits in and of itself, but the thought of having to navigate a doctor’s appointment here seems a bit overwhelming. I will be so happy when our Spanish speaking abilities improve. Hopefully what Heidi has is only a passing 24 hour thing.
Easton leaves for Rio tomorrow! He is one excited hombre. He is taking a bus from Cuenca to Guayaquil, then flying from there to Quito. In Quito he flies to Rio with a layover in Columbia. It is essentially a 24 hour trip. Ohhhh…to be young again. 🙂
He and I went to the bus terminal to get a ticket for him. On the way back we had to make a stop to look at a queen sized bed that we will need when Chase arrives. From there we walked the 20 minutes back home. One block from our house Easton realizes he doesn’t have his bus ticket. It fell out of his pocket somewhere along our route.
Easton grabbed a cab for the 25 minute ride back to the bus terminal to see if he could get his ticket re-issued. The clerk told him that he would not need his ticket and to just show up. They did have his first name printed on the ticket, but no other ID than that. When he got back to the house he shared what he was told. His plan is to go earlier than needed to the terminal in the morning to make sure this is correct information, and if not buy another ticket. Bus transportation is cheap here. A ticket for the four hour bus ride is only $8.
Back to the bed situation. When we moved into our three bedroom furnished apartment, there was not a bed for the third bedroom. We told our landlady that we would need to have a bed mid-July in preparation for our son’s arrival from the Peace Corp. I swear when we were discussing the size of the bed she said in her limited English, “a married bed?” I said yes, thinking that somehow that referenced at least a double sized bed.
They brought the bed up today and it is a twin, but it looks even small for a twin. This is probably because the frame sits low to the ground. I wasn’t here when the bed arrived but Heidi asked the landlady about it being small, and she replied that if it is only for one person it is the right size. What struck me about this rational is that 1) it makes sense, and 2) that isn’t how we live in the US.
Chase hasn’t had a bed that small since he was probably three years old. It doesn’t matter that there is only one person. We have lived in a culture that by design and influence seeks space and comfort. It starts with the beds, and moves to the houses, cars, and lot sizes. “Give me my space” could be our national motto in the US. It is a different perspective than what most Ecuadorians hold.
When I look at some living situations here, there are 10 people living in a one room, or maybe 2 room house. Mattresses are laid on the floor at night and stacked during the day. Now our landlady is from a wealthy family so I don’t think this was ever her experience, but someone in her family had used this twin bed because it came out of a room in her home. Cultural logic applied…a single bed for a single person.
Our son Chase will be happy to learn that we did bring a bit of our Norte Americano culturalism with us. An adult needs room to stretch out…one queen sized bed on its way. Actually, he probably has his mother to thank because I would be inclined to say, “Hey we are in Ecuador…one single bed for one single person.” 😉
It’s been a pretty chill day…both literally and figuratively. 😉
Chau.
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