Settling In - Monday-Wednesday

 16/11/23 Monday – Wednesday

Settling In

 

My band-aid: Paper towel and Velcro cable tie

Monday 13/11/23

I slept for 8 hours last night, and that was according to Mr. Fitbit, who always docks me an hour or so for my bathroom visits! I don’t think I have slept that long in several years.

I didn’t take a walk this morning because I had an early Spanish class with Martha S., which went well. This was an evaluation class where she quizzed me on what I already knew. I told her that my goal was just to be able to converse freely with Méxicanos. Now that she knows what my level is, she will tailor the next classes to help me achieve that goal.

After that, I spent some time studying on my own, playing guitar and cooking. In the evening, I decided to unpack a computer monitor that had been delivered on Sunday, so I got out one of my seldom used knives to cut the tape. I knew that the first inch or so near the tip was dull, but I used it anyway, despite knowing full well that dull knives are dangerous. The knife slipped and the sharp part of the blade touched my left little finger and gashed it across the back of the first knuckle.

At first I thought that I would need stitches, but after cleaning it up I could see that the wound was long but shallow, and was cut cleanly, as that part of the blade was like a razor. The next issue was my lack of band-aids or even tape. I finally figured out how to make a dressing out of paper towel and a Velcro cable tie. I found my last alcohol wipe and squeezed some on to the room (no antiseptic, either) and put the “sympathy bandage” on, going to bed shortly thereafter.

 

Tuesday 14/11/23

Got up at about 6:00 AM and judged that it would be a perfect day for a walk; about 60° and sunny with a nice, cool breeze. I checked my email, read the paper, got dressed grabbed my walking sticks and keys and headed out. After closing the outside door, which locked on its spring latch, I pulled out the key to lock the deadbolt and realized I had grabbed the wrong key and was locked out. It was 7:00 and too cool to stand still in the breeze, so I texted and called my landlady, but she didn’t answer, so I sent another text telling her that I was going to do my walk and return at about 8:00, and could she come and let me in at that time. I returned at a little before 8:00 and waited about 15 minutes until Jesy arrived, bringing more drinking water and opening the door for me.

The rest of the day was uneventful.

 

Wednesday 15/11/23

Got up and decided to skip taking a walk because Martha was coming over to help me straighten out my Méxican cell phone. I had gone on Telcel’s website to create an account, and found that my account was already populated with the personal info of some guy named Fidel Santiago. I had been getting calls for him since I got the phone, so I assumed that he had the number before me. Then I started getting texts from Telcel saying that I needed to “recharge” my phone, which means I had run out of data on my plan. This seemed impossible after only having had the phone for 12 days, so I asked Martha to help me.

She picked me up at 11:30 and we found out that:

·         The account was mine and Sr. Santiago no longer was involved

·         I actually was out of data.

o   Unlike the US, in México, your phone doesn’t automatically use WiFi when you are signed in

o   You have to shut off the cellular service, and then it will use WiFi data.

·         I had downloaded a lot of apps, audiobooks and podcasts, which ate up all of my plan data

The nice lady at Telcel helped me set up the Telcel app on my iPhone and showed me how to turn off the cellular service while signed in to WiFi.

After Martha brought me home, she helped me fill out a form to block advertisers from spamming me. It was good to get that taken care of. Later, I was able to access my account online and buy some more data. I will be monitoring my usage carefully from now on.