After a few weeks with no internet at our house, we’ve been checking emails, writing blogs, and keeping up with everyone from our office and various coffee shops in town. We even discovered that once we had the wifi password for a coffee shop nearby our house, we could just drive by slowly and hit “Get Mail” on the iPad…it would bring in all the new emails and we could then read them at home. Lame.
Then this week we were able to get keys to the Partners office and decided we’d head up there Saturday night and try to catch some family on Skype. I was planning to talk with Jenn in England first, so we went up at 7pm, which I thought was 2pm for her.
Nope. I did my math wrong. So for the first hour in the office we watched Seinfeld.
But then, people did sign on, and we were able to spend the next six hours–yes, SIX HOURS–skyping our families! We managed to catch three of my sisters, one of my brother-in-laws, one niece, and three nephews. We also got to talk with one of Stephen’s sisters, one brother-in-law, one nephew, and his parents. And we’re actually off to catch my parents later this morning since they were busy.
Whew.
And, really, I loved it. It was late and I was getting tired, yes. And coming home and going to bed at 2am is no longer in our routine here since we’re getting up between 6 and 6:30 each morning now.
But it was lovely: to see faces, to hear voices, to laugh together.
I am so thankful for Skype. There is something about the freedom to connect with someone and simply knowing it’s available. For the past few weeks, I’ve felt like I couldn’t get to everyone–I couldn’t access their emails, I couldn’t talk with them, and we certainly can’t fly home–and it made Thailand feel so far away. But for a few hours last night, it felt not-so-far again, like I could still see how the kiddos are growing up and I could still see faces, even for a little while.
It’s still big, yes, but the world was able to get a little smaller for just a few moments, and I loved it.
[And by the way, internet randomly started working at house. Just now. I’m not sure whose it is or how long it will work. This country takes some getting used to.]