Whilst I am being very brave (apparently!) hurtling off to the far reaches of Ubud to be on my own, I seem to be spending a remarkable amount of time trying to communicate with a vast array of people using a vast array of devices.
Clearly its not acceptable to be incommunicado at any point in time.
It would be fair to say that I only have a cursory understanding of the whys and wherefores of technology so finding myself with no less than four devices, many of them with the same apps, is almost enough to do my head in completely.
Having a local simcard in an old phone is a great idea for local calls but the endless messages in Indonesian have meant that Google Translate and I have become best friends. The worrying thing is that at times even Google Translate can't explain the shorthand messages I receive.
Then there's the joy of downloading photos from my camera to my new compact laptop. They seem to behave like 5 year olds: sometimes they are best friends and want to connect with each other, and at other times the laptop simply refuses to have anything to do with the camera. And the answer??? Turn the laptop off and then turn it on again and then they are happy to interact!! Explain that all of you tech gurus.
Speaking of tech gurus I have two sources of IT assistance.
1. The Internet. The only problem here is that I don't speak technology martian (or that's what it sounds like to me!) so even trying to frame a question or comprehending the answer can be a total mystery.
2. Ewan. I can almost see him rolling his eyes when I communicate to him the details of my latest technological disaster. And they seem to occur very frequently. A few times I have received an endless stream of emails from him that start with the phrase "Have you tried......?" Usually he manages to sort out what is going on, which is an absolute blessing as it stops me swearing and pulling my hair out in frustration!
One night, forgetting the time difference between Bali and Melbourne, I was still sending him emails late into the night (Melbourne time) and he sent me a message saying that the IT Support Service ceased operating at midnight Melbourne time.
I am trying to not spend my time constantly checking devices but it is easy to get worried about whether there's been an emergency and you haven't checked every possible app - Whatsapp, SMS messages, gmail, Skype, hangouts, Messenger or even the dreaded Facebook - for information.
Oh well the best I can do is be philosophical about it and hope there are no emergencies, whilst staying determined to not let technology rule my life!
your luddite correspondent
Dianne
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