I Have Internet!

Ciao, to all!

I have Internet in my apartment in Odesa, Ukraine! I can post on the blog now here in my "Krushovka" apartment. (It is in a building built  during the Kurschev era, hence the name.) For those of you who have not received one of my many many whining emails about the Internet, the short version:  I have Wi-fi access at the National University "Odesa Academy of Law", to which I was sent to teach ADR on a Fulbright Scholar Grant. I will be here from 31 Jan. to 30 May.

I have Wi-fi in the Admissions' office of the school and generally stay there from 9:00 ish to 6:00 p.m. when they close. There are a few other places in the school where there is Wi-fi but it is best in the Admissions Office.

The apartment was supposed to have Internet connection starting on 12 Feb. but it has not worked despite having 3 different Internet Company (not the cable company, different organization) technicians pronounce that it worked, then pronounce that my laptop needed to have Windows removed and uninstalled by leaving it at a "service center" for 3 days. (My laptop interacted with great gusto with Wi-fi connections in two hotels, an airport, several restaurants in Kyiv and Odesa, and at school. My iPhone, which now hosts a Ukrainian "Life" SIMS card, also could not connect inside my Apartment. I could connect both at the Karoke Restuarant only 100' from the apartment. Leaving my lifeline at a "service center" wasn't going to  happen!).  Last Thursday, 28 Feb., I figured out how to make it work. The oldest router technique known, unplugging and plugging back in. Did it and I had Internet! Until the next morning, when it was cut off because the landlord had not paid the bill. Even I can read Russian when it says "Pay your Bill".  Academy liasion, Vadymn Barskyy, paid the bill yesterday and I have had a connection since.
I also was lent a wonderful device by a faculty member who I have never met. It was a Sprint hot spot creator, weighs about .5 lbs., and was pretty fast, but I used up all the pre-paid minutes and no one can figure out how to add time to it. So, no blog past because while at school I was working on my class, paying my bills, doing other business, going to meetings, going to the Immigration Police to acquire a long term visa (don't have one yet but have been assured that it will be anyday now).

So, the blog. I have 7 posts to make, they will be in chronological order, starting with "Kyiv 31 Jauary - 4 Feburary." After I have written those, I should be about caught up. Today, Friday, 8 March, is "Womens' Day Holiday" and I decided to take advantage of it by posting. (Spell check quit about two sentence down, please forgive spelling and other mistakes.)

Sam