Cellphones

The friend with the toothache has survived. She took a different antibiotic and that solved the problem. The reason I didn’t hear anything is because she lost her cellphone. She had it in a shallow pocket and thinks it fell out somewhere on the way to town.

Cellphones are definitely part of life in this the third of my worlds. To not own a cellphone is almost worse than not having a television. Texting is by and far the most popular use of cellphones. It is very cheap and you can buy refill cards or electronic loads at any shop. Even low income folk who can barely afford to hold body and soul together will often have a cellphone. People buy fancy skins and cases for them. They are constantly looking for new ringtones and screensavers. As technology improves many now have the capacity to send multimedia images back and forth and many people now have phones with cameras. Malls have recharging stations. Photoshops have machines for downloading and editing camera pictures.

I went cellphone shopping last week to try to get a phone that can be connected to a laptop by cable and can act as a modem for downloading email. I was amazed at the fancy PDAs which also happen to have phones. Or the top notch digital video cameras with photo editing software that also happen to have phones, or the tiny music factories complete with speakers, headphones, and additional memory cards that also happen to have phones. I finally found a relatively low end phone at 1/3 the cost without most of the bells and whistles – though it does have a plain camera and ear plugs and FM radio capability. (Like I really need to walk around all day with a cellphone plugged into my head!!!)

I was indeed able to get it connected as a modem for my laptop and downloaded email. On my next trip to the second of my worlds I hope to get it to connect there as well. (I will need to buy a local SIM card, but it should be possible to connect as long as the signal is strong enough.) It’s not very fast but it is adequate for getting email. And it is at least as fast as the internet cafes in the town nearest the village. I am looking forward to being able to sit in a field hut in the middle of a rice paddy and download email! The marvels of modern technology....