(Written Thursday, October 6, 2011)
We've been in Shanghai for 6 days now and things still feel very uncertain. Many people are on holiday this week due to National Day (Yay, we're communists!), which was October 1st. The time off work goes through Friday for most people, which here in China means back to work on Saturday. I'm happy to say that our house is dry and comfortable, but there are some minor frustrations that we can't work out until everyone (including Matt) returns to work. The biggest of these is that our Internet isn't working. We've been "borrowing" our neighbors to check email, and unfortunately the best connection is standing at the top of our stairs!
Along with limited Internet access comes a subset of frustrations:
- No phone service (pretty sure this is related to no Internet)
- Can't set up Vonage (which I am anticipating will come with it's own set of problems - see future post regarding The Great Firewall)
- Trying to troubleshoot my newly acquired VPN is tricky
I could almost make a dichotomy of the frustrations we've experienced this week just related to the Internet. For example, this blog post, the first I've written and potentially the first I'll publish, won't be posted today because Blogger is blocked. So much so that I can't even see pictures from blogs that are emailed to me! I think my VPN can help me get around this, but if you read the Internet frustrations subset, then you know that my VPN isn't working correctly. Even as I write this, it's difficult to organize my thoughts and experiences regarding the Internet here. I'll have to work on a list. Look for that in another future post.
Not good if you can't see pictures from blogs in your email!
ReplyDeleteThere is a term I'm not familiar with on your "About Me." Please define "Wife-Of-Leisure"...I'm thinking it must involve chocolate and sitting on the couch? If not, I think it is VERY misleading. :-)