Thursday, February 14, 2008
Connections
My morning routine involves turning on the internet when I get up. First, I like to check to see if America is still intact and secondly I check my email to see if my world of friends and family is also still intact. Living in a foreign country has its plus and minuses. Being able to speak and understand the Russian language would be a plus but since neither Richard nor I do this well it is a BIG minus. Communication, whether with loved ones via email or strangers face to face, breaks down when words are either absent or unrecognizable. Richard and I live constantly with communication breakdown. Some days we cope, other days we want to stomp our feet or turn tail and run.It is the little things that wear away at a person’s sense of capability. This morning my communication with America was cut off. Although we paid our internet bill on Monday morning, CDMA turned off our access to it yet again. Cultural differences are once more evident. For years all I had to do was write a check, send it on time to whomever I owed money, and that was it. In recent years that same process could be achieved rapidly via online banking. In Ukraine, there are no checks. Even if it was available, online banking would be definitely hazardous (another subject). All bills have to be paid at a bank—the catch here is finding one that will allow you to pay your bill. Then there is the endless waiting in line to give the clerk your cash and have your bill stamped with an important looking seal. This should take care of the problem.
I have not figured out how the bank gets the payment information to the business (in this case just down the street) but in time it seems to happen. Computers do not seem to be used. Today I understand that it is a even slower process than I realized. Apparently three days is not sufficient time for this process to be completed.
Another frustration is that for a few months we were paying our internet/phone bill in advance to keep this from happening. While we were in the US, the bank would not let our friend who paid our bill for us do this and after our return our internet was disconnected as soon as our usage time had been used up. After paying the bank a couple of weeks ago, we went into the CDMA office with our stamped receipt to get it reconnected. The representative knew a tiny bit of English and we tried to explain that we wanted to pay in advance. She said our next bill would allow us to do that. When the bill came, we took it to the bank and tried to pay for this month and next. Impossible! Again a big language barrier! Now I sit unable to find out how my mother is doing, if a team is coming in March, and if the world is in one piece. Richard will have to drive 35 miles into town, burn expensive fuel, brave the traffic, and take the stamped piece of paper to the business to have things reconnected.. Go figure!It will happen. I will be reconnected with my world. I can live with it. But it’s just another frustration in the life of one totally unprepared for living in a foreign country. It shows me again that it is only by God’s grace that we can live here. It’s the little things that chip away at a person’s sense of well being. It’s the small, daily frustrations that can turn our hearts away from the desire God has instilled there. Only with His help, a daily connection with Him, can I live this life away from all I have ever known. Without Him this would be impossible. I am so very thankful that even if I turn off the connection with my Heavenly Father, all I have to do is turn it on again. He will never sever the connection. He will never require an official stamp. He only requires my desire for the connection.
