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Monday, April 11, 2011

Missed connection

I still cannot connect to the wi-fi network at the university. Every time I think I'm about to get it, there's a new obstacle. In Peanuts terms, I'm Charlie Brown, wi-fi is my football and French Guiana is Lucy. The first time, I thought it would just come naturally with my inscription in the library. Then I was told, you might have to wait 24 hours. Then after waiting several days, I asked again on Friday, and they told me to go to the main university campus, which would open again on Monday (if anyone was wondering why Europe can deliver university education at such a low cost, it's by not providing services that we consider basic, like services that are open on weekends). So today, I decided to go to the campus -- which is literally around the corner from my house-- and look for the office. I went to the library branch there, where one of Dominique's friends works, and she helped me figure out who I needed to see. They weren't there, so I explored the building a little bit in case they guy was just out of the office. As I explored, someone asked what I was looking for, and I told her. She said that the offices were actually in another building, and I believed her because it seemed odd that the university would have only one person for these issues, so I assumed that there was one person posted in the building I went to and that the main offices were where she said they were. Lo and/or behold, they were not. So I wandered some more hoping to find them, then returned to the library. They sent me to one of their support staff that thought he MIGHT be able to help me, but wasn't sure. Then he got a call from the guy who was supposed to help me saying he was on his way back and would be there shortly. I went to the library to work, and an hour later, my battery was dead and no one had come. As I was leaving I ran into a friend who had agreed to be interviewed, and she and I got to talking, and she said she'd love to take me to her church, which is full of Haitians, in order to recruit. She's a Seventh-Day Adventist, which straddles the line between being Jewish and Christian (I think I know what that might be like). Anyhow, it looks like I might get not only participants, but also a new, additional place to do interviews.

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