|| dailies 105 ||

Here's another small glimpse into daily life here.

How do I best communicate with family and friends back home? Networks? Data? Monthly plan?  Internet?

Ok.  Here's how it works.  There are three national networks here for cell phone service.  Instead of buying a monthly plan, a person will buy what we call "talk time".  They come in increments as small as k2 and up as high as k100 (probably higher but I've never seen that).  

Today, I realized I wasn't receiving any messages through my Whatsapp while I was in town.  Upon checking my balance, I discovered it was at 0.  So while driving through town, I honked my horn at the guy at the railroad line and he came chasing the car with a fistful of talk time.  

k50 will last me a while if I watch my DATA.  Now on to the next topic.  In the States, you don't even think about data.  You just download videos, pictures, browse the web, search for a recipe while you're in the grocery store, check FB, download new apps, etc...etc...

(....this is how we feel when the talk time has finished on the phone....AND internet is down....)

It is so different here.  I am constantly watching my data.  In fact, the service I use has recently updated their data plans and they haven't been working to my advantage.  My talk time is getting eaten alive.  I plan to implement a new rule with myself to limit my data usage even more!

New topic:  best way to communicate.  I love Whatsapp.  If the internet is down or I am in town, then I have to turn on my mobile data to use Whatsapp.  But it is the best way to communicate.  My mom and I text just about every day that we don't talk.  AND, I've recently discovered the joy of making a call through Whatsapp.  My Mom and I talk at least once a week (sometimes two or three) through the phone call service of Whatsapp.  It works out so much cheaper for me than calling through the regular phone line.

But, really, how expensive is it to phone the States?  It truly is very inexpensive, especially if I call late at night.  If I want to call my grandma or wish someone a Happy Birthday, I try to do it after 9 pm. A 15 minutes call is literally a dollar.  

We do have internet on the farm but once again, we have to watch our data.  Some of us try to save our downloading until after 6 pm.  Others of us....well, we just push the limit as far as it will go!!!  haha!  So thankful for internet, though!!  It is a blessing to have on the farm.

Another peek into life here...!  :)