Monday, August 10, 2009
After 5 days in communications isolation, Frank and I set about joining the 21st century. With our first three hours of babysitting since arriving in UB we headed out to get mobile phones. We located the Unitel office where SIM cards and telephone “plans” are sold and marched resolutely in. There we were greeted by two well dressed attendants who gestured us toward a computer panel on the wall. After some explanation, we learned that we needed to select telephone numbers from the computer kiosk. Hmmm. How does this thing work?
“You need Happy Life,” one of the young women informed us. “Happy life?” asked Frank. “What’s that? What are our options?”
“You need Happy Life,” she said.
Frank examined the touch screen more closely. “What about Dream Life?” he asked.
Upon further investigation we learned that Happy Life is a pre-paid plan and Dream Life is a “post-paid” plan. Well, then. Now that we had chosen numbers and understood the difference between Happy Life and Dream Life we were experts—and well equipped to help their next customers: two French backpackers who needed to be educated on the subtleties of this system.
One nerve-racking hour at the TEDY center later, we were the proud owners of two new cell phones, complete with cameras and MP3 players. We even left the phone center with a vague idea of how to operate the things. That was a lot of progress in 2 hours.
With one hour of babysitting remaining we went to the Mongolian version of fast food and ordered mutton dumplings and salty milk tea. And there was still 45 minutes left for a visit to the internet café.
A busy but pleasant three hours—and then time to take A home for her nap…
After 5 days in communications isolation, Frank and I set about joining the 21st century. With our first three hours of babysitting since arriving in UB we headed out to get mobile phones. We located the Unitel office where SIM cards and telephone “plans” are sold and marched resolutely in. There we were greeted by two well dressed attendants who gestured us toward a computer panel on the wall. After some explanation, we learned that we needed to select telephone numbers from the computer kiosk. Hmmm. How does this thing work?
“You need Happy Life,” one of the young women informed us. “Happy life?” asked Frank. “What’s that? What are our options?”
“You need Happy Life,” she said.
Frank examined the touch screen more closely. “What about Dream Life?” he asked.
Upon further investigation we learned that Happy Life is a pre-paid plan and Dream Life is a “post-paid” plan. Well, then. Now that we had chosen numbers and understood the difference between Happy Life and Dream Life we were experts—and well equipped to help their next customers: two French backpackers who needed to be educated on the subtleties of this system.
One nerve-racking hour at the TEDY center later, we were the proud owners of two new cell phones, complete with cameras and MP3 players. We even left the phone center with a vague idea of how to operate the things. That was a lot of progress in 2 hours.
With one hour of babysitting remaining we went to the Mongolian version of fast food and ordered mutton dumplings and salty milk tea. And there was still 45 minutes left for a visit to the internet café.
A busy but pleasant three hours—and then time to take A home for her nap…
