So I've been counting down the days until I get internet and TODAY was THE DAY. I got up at 7.15 for my 7:30 - noon date with The Technician Man. I planted myself on the sofa as to be certain I wouldn't miss him because of a flushing toilet or a noisy dishwasher. At 8.15, I was getting pretty sleepy again. At 9.15, I was starting to snap out of it. At 10.15 I was getting really antsy. At 11.15, I was getting even more antsy and slightly irritated. At 12:00, I flipped. Still no Technician Man. I texted my friend Petra to ask her what I should do and she volunteered to take care of it for me despite having been down with food poisoning overnight.
It's funny how no matter what someone is saying in German, it sounds like they are mad. "You look pretty" would probably sound like a gruff order to my American ears. But I have the feeling this time Petra wasn't telling the cable customer service representative that she looked pretty. After some heated conversation, the gist was that they physically cut the cable lines when someone cancels service here. Thus, the line hadn't be reconnected yet, so service couldn't be set up. That's fine, but why would they not bother to even call and instead just let me sit and wait for over five hours? Now they say Tuesday. I'll believe it when I see it.
In addition to that, things are more and more disorganized every day at my job. Tonight during class a mad hornet the size of a golf ball flew in (we are right next door to the botanical gardens) and divebombed us until we just gave up and called it a day. This was after the projector quit working and no one at the office understood what I meant by a CD-R.
I think I'll briefly mention the Sandwich Game just because it's way more interesting that my Swedish classes (which went well!) and my German classes (I think I'm too old to learn a new language.)
The Sandwich Game is pretty straightforward. You pick a random deli or cafe, look at the sandwiches, pick the one you want (usually by pointing and smiling and desperately hoping they don't say anything to you) and then you see which one you actually get! It's really fun and totally unpredictable. The winner so far: Wheat baguette with butter, cream cheese, brie, pickles, and lingonberry jam. (I ordered, or rather, pointed at a veggie sandwich.)
Close runner-up: White sandwich bread with one slice of spam-type ham, a ton of butter, and SEVEN slices of cheese. The cheese was over an inch think, more than twice as thick as the bread. (I had ordered a ham and cheese sandwich.)
I will update you as the game reaches new levels, and will try and provide photographic evidence from here on out.
3 comments:
Hey Martha,
I'm sorry for you.. but I guess that's what happens to all exchange students ;-) In spain it was worst, for Ines, I think it took her 2 months to get Internet, and actually I ended up flying there before she got Internet and then I could help her ^^
I'm pretty sure that what they told you is crap. They don't "cut the cables" These houses are new, they all have cable-access ready, so all they do is open a box in the cellar (I know where it is, but it's locked, unfortunately ;-) and in the boy there are cables, and then they put a cable in the right place and that's it. That cable(s) makes the difference - if you have Internet, Cable TV and so on. I watched the technician doing that so I'm pretty sure about that.
Yeah, Chello sometimes sux. BUT it's way faster than Cox here in the US. And, speaking of cox, you know I spent about 10 minutes on the cox serviceline asking a lady THE SAME QUESTION. Ines thought I'm crazy, listening to my call. But that lady was not able to understand or even answer the question. The question was if my bill (I provided the number and everything) is already included in the payment plan or if I have to pay that one manually / separately. She gave me various interesting answers, but each of them just told me that she was to dumb to actually understand my question. I then gave it up...
I hope you'll have Internet soon.
btw, if you wanna have wireless I think you have to buy a router, chello doesnt provide one. I took mine with me to the USA and I'm using it here. You can get one at Saturn, pretty close to you or Amazon of course
liebe Grüße
und ab jetzt schreib ich nur mehr auf Deutsch *hehe*
Markus
oh i didn't fly to spain because of the Internet connection, of course ;-)
and actually, what I wanted to say, Chello customer service sux, the Internet (as soon as you have it) is awesome, I really have to say that. I m not working for them ;-) but I had it now for 3 or 4 years I think and the student connect is really fast and the uptime is awesome.
but when I cancelled mine I also had troubles..
Markus
Damn, this sandwich game sounds amazing! I want a grilled cheese sandwich with a dollup of ham on it TOOOOO!
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