TheBanyanTree: Transition 10 - Computer Saga

[Pat M]

Transition 10 – Computer Saga


 The desk top computer in my apartment had failed, and Alice had no plans to
replace it; she said I could take the office laptop home every night
instead. The laptop, a Chinese-made Lenovo, had recurring problems, too, but
at the time it was working just fine. To make it easier for me to use, she
hired a computer technician to set up a partition on the hard drive so I
could boot up in English. Thank you, Alice!
(I haven't talked about the many computer frustrations I've experienced in
China trying to use Chinese software. Picture this--you are writing an email
when a message appears on your monitor. You can tell that the Chinese
anti-virus program has found a virus because you see one English word,
'Trojan'. There are three options on how to deal with it, none of which you
can read. What do you do? Or, imagine a message appears giving you a choice
of options, only this time there are no English words to help you 'guess'
what it is about. I find that stressful.)
Alice's laptop solution was working so I was surprised to receive a phone
call from Amy a week later.
"You will get your new computer," she said. "Alice and Frank bought it
today. Alice and a computer man will come to your apartment in about an
hour."
Wow! I wasn't sure if Frank had pressured Alice into buying it or if it was
because I kept the office laptop in my apartment on my days off and when
Alice visited the college, she didn't have a computer. No matter; for
whatever reason, I'd have a new, reliable computer by the end of the day. I
felt like dancing!

Later, Alice, Amy and the computer tech arrived with a brand new in-the-box
Dell, complete with camera and a 19 inch flat monitor. Nice! The technician
set it up and began installing the programs I needed and then converting
them from Chinese to English.

I'd recently figured out how to use Live Messenger and had been able to
speak to my daughter and my sister. Connecting up with them in 'real time'
had given me a boost and I didn't feel quite as lonely anymore.  I told the
tech that my top priority was Live Messenger so I could speak with my
family. It didn't take him long. We tested the microphone, headphones and
camera, and they were functional.

I'd written a list of programs I needed that included AVG Free, a reliable
English anti-virus program I am familiar with. To my disbelief, I saw
the tech begin downloading a Chinese anti-virus program.

"I need an English anti-virus program," I said. "AVG is a good program and
it's free."

The tech glanced my way. Alice said nothing.

"I need to be able to read the messages when there's a problem," I said.

No one bothered to look my way or acknowledge I had spoken.

I held up my list and jabbed 'AVG free' with my finger.

"AVG free," I repeated. "I need this. I need an English anti-virus program!"
But my words fell on deaf ears. No one paid any attention to me and the
computer tech continued with the download and installation of the Chinese
program. I felt like screaming.

Then, the technician began changing Microsoft Office from Chinese to
English. It wasn't easy; the process went on and on. Four hours later, he
and Alice hurriedly packed up and left for the drive back to Xian—without
thoroughly testing that everything was working properly.

As soon as they left, I immediately turned off the computer so I could start
testing it myself. Before I had a chance to turn it back on, it booted up on
its own. What?  Brightly-coloured Chinese pop-up advertisements blinked on
and off across my screen, the default language was Chinese and the problems
just went on from there. In the end, I had a long list of issues that needed
to be addressed, none of which were simple fixes that I could handle on my
own. Again, I had a computer that was inoperable. I muttered profanities and
picked up the phone.

 "Hi Amy, I just checked and there are many problems with the new computer,"
I said. "I'm going to need someone to come back here and fix them. I can't
use it. And I must have an English anti-virus program.  No one listened to
me today."

"The computer is not working?" she replied incredulously.

"No one tested it!" I said. "You saw how fast they rushed out of here."

"I know. I know," she said.

The next day, Alice had Amy come to my apartment and try to fix the
problems. Amy spent a couple of hours reading manuals and telephoning her
brother, a computer technician, but in the end was only able to fix one of
the problems.
Alice balked about hiring someone to return to my apartment but in the end,
she gave in; she had to, as I couldn't use the computer. Two days later, a
local technician arrived at my apartment and after a couple of hours, he'd
fixed all of the problems.
Finally, two months into my five-month contract, I had a computer I could
depend on.  Will miracles never cease?


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China photos can be viewed at

http://picasaweb.google.com/Ms.Pat.Martin/China

http://picasaweb.google.com/Ms.Pat.Martin/China2