First Week at Work

Well I survived week one at the college. I am spending about half my time on college work and half my time on GEN work. I expect that this will vary from week to week depending on demand. I spent some time this week re-writing the GEN website and will finish that up next week. I have also been going through the files that were left for me as well as the cabinets lining my office walls. I have the entire school library in my office, a collection of about 20 or 30 books and another 30 or so DVDs. I also have the stationary, office supplies and textbooks. Needless to say, I am totally reorganising everything so that it makes some kind of sense to me. I understand that I’m incredibly anal about these things, but even if I let my mind float free, I can’t imagine why anyone would put little piles of the same textbooks in four or five different cupboards. I now have a pretty good grasp of what’s there and what to do when people come looking for things.

I have been somewhat technically challenged this week. The power outages continue to vex me but so far I have made it to work every day showered and made up. My hair is a different story but I can live with that. My biggest challenge is finding things to do with my time at work on the days when we have extended outages during business hours. Most of my work is done on my computer and the internet, so I’m somewhat at a loss as to how to fill my time without them. I am trying to book meetings and other non-computer related activities during these times, but as a rookie, I don’t really have much established yet. On top of the power outages, I made a stupid computer error at home yesterday and have messed up my internet access. (For the technically inclined among you, I went into my router settings looking for a specific piece of information, but as soon as I opened the web page, everything reverted back to the manufacturer default. I don’t know what the correct settings are as the guy from the phone company came to set things up for me so I can't put it right.) Today is yet another stat holiday in Nepal (as is practically every other day) so I can’t get the phone guy to come back today. (And yes, this time I’ll record the settings somewhere so I’m prepared in case it happens again.) The good news is there is still an internet cafe on every corner so I can just run down the street to check my email.

My other big news is that I’m leaving tomorrow morning on a field trip with the college. Some of the students wanted to see Chitwan, a national park in the south of the country so they have arranged this trip. Deborah has bowed out but I’ll be going with Khem and perhaps one or two other teachers as “chaperones”. I use the term loosely because I’m not sure if I’ll actually have any responsibility on the trip other than I have to behave myself and maintain some level of respectability in front of the students. They are at the college level, but still are immature enough that I think they can’t totally be left to their own devices. Kkem and I have decided to pack lots of extra money as we don’t have 100% confidence in the student organisers. It’s costing each of us 3000 rupees (about $45 Cdn) which includes all meals, transportation, lodging and entrance fees for 3 nights and 4 days. Even by Nepalese standards, this is a very small amount of money and it’s scaring the crap out of us. We envision sleeping in gutters and eating one bowl of dahl a day. We figure we may have to bail and get a room at the local Hilton.

Nobody has been able to give me an itinerary so I really don’t know where we’re going or what we’re doing. The Chitwan National Park is famous for wildlife but I don’t think we’ll be going on safari or tiger hunting based on the timeframes. I do know we’re visiting a brewery along the way to see how beer is made. I’m guessing that they somehow had to incorporate the hospitality industry into the trip in order to legitimise it and this was the most appealing way. Other than that, the trip a mystery to me.

I’m expecting to be back on Tuesday and will be in touch then. Until then, I’ll be incommunicado. I’d love to tell you not to worry because I’m in totally competent and capable hands, but I’m not sure that’s the case :-). I’m sure, however, that I’ll return in one (potentially ragged) piece.

A few hours later....

I think my landlord, Kiran, is a little upset that my internet isn’t working. I let him use it from time to time and I’m sure it’s a big deal for him to be able to sit and play on it without having to watch the clock our count the rupees. (I have to admit that there have been times when I wish he was watching a clock as I have to stay up until he’s finished. It also means that I can’t get any work done and there have been times when he’s stayed in excess of 3 hours. Now that we hardly ever have power, I’m getting a little stingy with my computer time – I may have to shut him down from time to time.) Anyway, with me going away for a few days without my computer, I’m sure he was expecting to move in and live on the internet. When we couldn’t get the telecom guy to come today, he insisted on having a friend over who is computer literate and could surely help me out. I was leery, but didn’t know how to say no. And I also thought he may be legitimate and actually fix it for me.

Turns out that he was somewhat legitimate, but networking certainly isn’t his strong suit. I sat there looking over his shoulder as he seemingly randomly clicked all over the place. He did the same thing over and over and over again expecting a different result. It was very frustrating for me because I knew what the problem was and he was a) not acknowledging me at all and b) trying everything in the world except what needed to be done. As I watched him systematically go through every menu of every application I have, I became more and more concerned that I was going to have to rebuild from the ground up. There are about 20 horror stories I could tell, but I’ll spare you the details. Suffice it to say that he had absolutely no idea how to fix the problem and wanted to save face by making it look like he knew what he was doing. I asked him very politely a couple of times to cease and desist but I finally had to physically grab the mouse out of his hand in order to make him stop. I’m sure I came off as rude but I was starting to panic that he was going to do some damage that I wouldn’t know how to reverse.

Anyway, I’m kind of relieved to know that my computer will be turned off and locked away during my absence. Hopefully I can get the internet sorted out with a phone call to the phone company when I’m back.