Since I have had internet for over 24 hours in my apartment, I stayed up way too late last night on the computer. I kind of, sort of, didn't get out of bed until 11 am this morning. That is maybe the 2nd or 3rd time I've done that since being in Ukraine and I feel like it was totally a legit reason to sleep in after my exciting day of being back online. My counterpart had offered to let me come use her washing machine today (I'm still supposed to be getting one in the next few months for my apartment...fingers crossed) and I took her up on it for my sheets. My balcony takes FOREVER to dry things...and washing sheets by hand is a pain in the you know what...so around 2 pm I headed over to her house. First though, I had to go to the bank, the post office, and the grocery store to get a treat to take over to my counterpart's house.
So, I go to the bank. Go to the post office. Go to the ATB (supermarket). Get to my counterparts house...and realize that I have somewhere along the way lost my LIFE sim card. Huge problemo. Let me explain how cell phones work in Ukraine. There are 3 basic cell phone providers (LIFE, MTC, and Kievstar)...and at some point or another, different cities decided which cell phone provider would be most popular for that area. LIFE works better in big cities. Kievstar and MTC work in the mountains...LIFE does not. Every Peace Corps Volunteer gets a cell phone during training (here's a picture of the day we got ours...it was an absolutely wonderful day for the Oster cluster!). I think it's safe to say every PCV starts off with LIFE. Don't know why...don't really care. It is free to call from LIFE to LIFE phones (or MTC to MTC, or Kievstar to Kievstar), but it costs a lot to call another service provider. So, people here have more than one cell phone. It's been very weird to adjust to this because you have to figure out who somebody's carrier is (their phone number starts off with different numbers for different providers) and then know that it will cost you a lot to call them if you don't have that provider. Well, in Kirovograd, nobody uses LIFE. Everybody has MTC and Kievstar. However, all of my PCV friends still have LIFE. So what did Lydia do? She bought an MTC sim card (mainly so that I can talk to my counterpart). The problem lies with the fact that I only have one cell phone. Here in Ukraine they make dual sim card phones...which I should have bought to begin with. However, the whole Oster cluster went for the cheapest phone there was. So, if I need to talk to my counterpart, I have to pull the battery out of my phone, switch sim cards, put the battery back in, type in my pin code, and then the phone will work. I have had my MTC sim card for maybe a week and a half...and it took me all of that week and a half to lose one of the cards. They're tiny.
So, when I figured out that I had lost the sim card at my counterpart's house...I called my Ukranian friend Yana who thankfully speaks wonderful English. Yana also happens to be my neighbor across the hall...which is another story in and of itself. I met Yana with a few of the other PCVs in my city...not sure how they all met...maybe an English club? We went to a discoteka one night (another story) and it was late when we were going to head home. The mutual PCV friends knew that Yana and I lived in the same area of town so we could share a taxi home. I told her where I lived...the street address...and she said oh, I live in those apartments too! I said cool! What apartment building? Turns out we lived in the same building. And then I asked what number and she told me...and I literally live across the hall from her. Small world that out of the 300,000 people in K-grad one of the first Ukrainians I meet and get to know lives across the hall from me! Back to the main story at hand...I called Yana wondering what to do. My counterpart didn't think that there was a LIFE service center here in k-grad...but she knew that I could get my number restored. However, I leave tomorrow morning at 9 am for summer camp for 3 weeks. Bad timing. Yana couldn't think of anything to do...so I had somewhat come to the terms with the fact that I would be going 3 weeks without a LIFE sim card which meant no talking to friends for the most part. I talk to at least one PCV (if not 3 or 4) every day...it's kind of how you stay sane here. Being able to laugh and exchange funny stories (like this one)...you need it. I was bummed...but knew there was nothing I could do about it. So, we put my laundry in and go swim in my counterpart's pool. We had ice cream with chocolate shavings on top, hot tea, some of the cookies I brought over, and my counterpart had made an apricot pure (apricots and ice) that I tried...quite scrumptious. She has nearly every kind of fruit you could want in her backyard...and we ate apricots and pears right off the tree. I still don't like pears, even in Ukraine. It's a texture thing. My mind was wandering the entire afternoon...wondering if I could find the card again. I told my counterpart that I was going to leave and go home and see if there was an information number Yana could help me call.
So, I get home. Yana has found her parents two old LIFE sim cards...but they don't work anymore. I had to find my original packet of information that came with the cell phone and LIFE sim card and it luckily had an information number to call. Thank goodness Yana speaks amazing English...because she talked to the operator in Russian and then would translate to English flawlessly for me to give her information. I had to name 4 numbers I dial often, when the last time I refilled my minutes was (which was 2 days ago...so it was full of money!), what day I bought the phone, and a few other things. It's a good thing I'm OCD and try to keep track of when I refill my minutes because otherwise they couldn't have done anything. The operator was able to put a freeze on the sim card so that if someone found it they wouldn't be able to use it. But our adventure wasn't over yet. The operator told us that there IS in fact a LIFE service center here...she didn't know what time it closed though. It was after 6 pm...so Yana and I grabbed my documents (passport) and her passport to see if we could catch the place still open. After finding the building, they were in fact open, but the person who could help us had already left for the day. They open at 9 am tomorrow...which is also the time my bus was scheduled to leave. Lovely. We left and decided to check and see if somebody had found the lost sim card in the supermarket or in the post office...really having no clue where I might have lost it. We checked the post office first...and low and behold I found it under the toe kick of the counter I bought envelopes at!!! I was ecstatic...but now it wouldn't work because the operator had put a hold on it. HA. The story gets better, don't worry.
We run back to the LIFE service center (I think it was supposed to be closed by then) and beg the lady in there to let us call the hotline number from her LIFE cell phone because it would be free. We finally got it restored. And all was well :) Since I had an English speaker with me, we stopped at a few more cell phone stores on the way home to see if they had a dual sim card phone that I wanted. I was ALL set to buy one...had plugged my sim card into the new phone...and their credit card machine was down. They were supposed to be closed as well by the time I decided on a cell phone. They told me to come back at 9 am tomorrow morning. No can do.
So, I'll be going to camp with one cell phone, two sim cards, and plan on being even MORE OCD about my sim cards. And, when I get back, Yana and I will go in search of a dual sim card phone for me :) it just wasn't in the cards for me today...
Hope this story provided somewhat of a laugh to y'all. It truly was a day for the record books. After I almost bought my new cell phone tonight, I had to go BACK to my counterparts house and pick up my clean sheets. And I finally got home at 8:45 pm tonight. It took me 35 minutes to write this just now...so at 10:05 pm I will finally start packing for my 3 week summer camp. You can see what the camp looks like here. I'm pretty stoked now! They want more PCVs to help out with it next year. Hope it works out!
Don't know what my internet situation will be like the next 3 weeks...so keep your eyes opened for new blog posts but no email notifications. Toodles :)
2 comments:
Whew, quite an adventure! Glad you found it and were able to get the hold taken off.
I am jealous of your counterpart's fruit trees...
Wow! What a story. It's funny, but I treasure my time in Ukraine without a cell phone glued to head or hand. Granted, that was 8 years ago, but I was one of the few people around (PCV or Uke) that didn't own a cell phone. One, PC didn't pay for them and I was cheap, and two, it was almost like a "live off the grid" sort of thing for me. I'll never forget one of my friends lamenting the fact that I didn't have one and that they finally reached me on my landline phone (note: I don't even have one of those in the US anymore) after calling in vain 7-8 times. I laughingly noted, well, it must have been important, because I knew you'd call back ;)
That being said, those things sure are convenient and I know they make life easier over there! Keep the stories coming and enjoy camp.
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