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| I would have got away with it too, if it wasn't ... |
Usually, I can find the right euphemism along with a
positive spin to minimize frustrations.
When I can’t find those tools in my back pocket, expressing myself
through a liberal use of double negatives usually helps to moderate my level of
angst. Tonight, my tank was empty and I
barely avoided screaming some form of profanity at the top of my lungs. Although I would be using a different
language, the thoughts of trying to educate my neighbours on the meaning of
Fuddle Duddle and the associated explanations of Trudeaumania wouldn’t help
moderate my urge to yell “jinkies.”
I imagine that these days of futility are just part of
the settling / culture shock process; but for now, all I can do is remember
that tomorrow is another day ... and with each new day I get a step closer to
acceptance and a cozy place that I can call home. Unfortunately, the
path to acclimatization is sometimes paved with shattered expectations.
I’ll pick things up at the middle of the day. I’d arrived home an hour and a half late from
school (30 mins traffic delay, 60 mins the bus’ decision to depart later) and learned
that I couldn’t arrange wifi again. This
time, the phone company was open; but due to the problems with my landline, I
couldn’t get the process going. Given
that Egypt Telecom is only open 8 to 4 ... and I leave at 6:30 and get home at
4, I’m not sure when I can deal with my land line issues again. Without a landline, there’s no way to get
wifi ... and in the spirit of in sha’allah, who knows when the technician will
actually show up. After a brief shopping
trip, I arrive home around 5:30 to discover that my USB internet is down
again. I would have spent longer than 2
hours trying to get my connection working, but the power went out for an
extended period of time. While I
wandered around with my cell phone (as my only source of light), I realized that
I hadn’t eaten since 7:30am and it was probably time for dinner. I left my apartment, tried to get back in
(while in the dark), and realized that my door would no longer open despite the
keys being in my hand. 15 minutes of try
to open, re-lock, try to re-open, relock ... frustration led to a call to our
VP. By about 9:30, he was able to
arrange for someone to come over and get a locksmith to get me back into my
apartment. I’m now on lock number 3 and
I’m hoping that my door issues are done for a while.
Well, to add insult to injury, I found a brief spurt of
foolish optimism so I figured I’d call technical support to see if they could
help with my USB internet issue. He gave
me a 5 minute process to complete and advised that he’d call back in 10 minutes. After having waited an hour, I called back
and got some text message replies in Arabic (without me being able to talk to
anyone). I’m guessing that the shift
ended somewhere between 10:30 and 10:45 ... so Microsoft word is my blogging
platform for the night (yes, this was backdated).
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| I'll be raiding neighbourhood gardens for this |
Overall, I can only look back on one event from the
latter part of this evening and find a modicum of hope. I couldn’t do my lesson planning, nor could I
do any of my other paperwork to prepare for my students first class on
Wednesday (and yes, this means that my 6 hours spent at school instead of
enjoying the holiday only allowed me to tread water). During my moment of frustration when I
finally realized I could not get into my apartment, I went down stairs and
placed the call to my VP for help. Once
that call was done, and I started the waiting process for someone to look at my
door. Although we have significant
difficulties communicating, the doorman must have read my facial expression and
realized that I was surfing the continuum between frustration and
futility. While I sat on the steps, he
brought me out a cup of hyacinth tea.
During these days when I’m a little too myopic to see that light at the
end of the tunnel, these moments are the ones that will get me through it. (addendum: as I said to many people today, even when Egypt doesn't seem to love me, I still love the people here).
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