Thursday, October 11, 2007
So today's random wanderings...
It wasn't raining too badly today, so I got gussied up for going into town, I figured today was 'now or never' on the phone issue. Tomorrow is Id Bajram,
Id Mubarak for any Muslim readers! :)
Anyway things will be closed on Friday, and people will be having a day off. So it's just as well to get stuff done today! :).
I got to the taxi stand, and there's no taxis. I wait. A couple who were there before me gave up and went to the bus stop, then along came a guy with two plastic bags of groceries from Samshop, and then along came an older guy who was missing a leg and was plainly a veteran of the Bosnian war, with two really good looking younger guys, his sons maybe? They had short hair and were wearing dark blue military type warm up jackets. I think they may have been soldiers.
The guy with the groceries got out his cell phone and called Sarajevo Taxi and said 'There's a bunch of people here that want taxis and no taxis not even ONE!' Then an older obviously Muslim lady showed up, then a girl, very young,very pretty in tight tight jeans, anyway, ALL these folks gave up,and got the bus.
Not knowing for sure where that particular bus goes, I didn't, I stayed put. I had determined not to get lost in search of Eronet's office. Anyway I wrote down the address, I find that that helps greatly, sometimes if I don't say something just right, it's a problem. Mostly it isn't, mostly I'm not going to a specific address, just a given taxi stand, like Baščaršija or Skenderija, or the taxi stand by the Markale. Or I'm going back to the flat. Anyway, most drivers do catch that I'm a foreigner, and they handle my mistakes in pronunciation alright, I am making fewer of them anyway.
One thing I love about Bosnian men, and this is a huge plus!
They WILL ask for directions! If a taxi driver doesn't know for sure how to get to a place, he calls the dispatcher and finds out! Guys who aren't taxi drivers often ask for directions too! They usually ask a taxi driver. I respect that.
The trouble with the Eronet office was the first time I saw it was the day I was badly lost, and when I've been badly lost it's like there is a LOT of junk information in my brain, and it makes matters worse. If I had time and it weren't raining that'd be another matter, but I don't do well with umbrellas in crowds, and I just wanted to get there. I got to the office, asked the lady if their Hej! package would work with the first cell phone I got, she checked it out carefully and said I had a bad phone and should just get rid of it. So I said 'Fine, I'm willing to go ahead and buy a new phone.' So she showed me the list. I ended up picking a Nokia 6070, and the nice bit is it WILL work with the package, and I have someplace to go that will help if there's a problem. The other nice thing is it's a camera phone, and it can record short video clips, that's kind of cool
Going pre-paid is about the only way to get mobile service here for foreigners. It's not too expensive, and like I mentioned before, there's a couple other services. I'm not totally against BHmobile, it just didn't work out for me.
Some the problems I had with BHmobile's website are problems with OTHER European websites for products and services, it's not just a Bosnian thing.
Samsung for example doesn't have a good F.A.Q. set up either, and they are a HUGE company and SHOULD really have that set up better.
While I was out I got a newspaper too. The woman I usually buy it from has a really loud voice, She moved from her usual spot for some reason, and I like getting my paper from her in particular because she's a nice person who helped me when I didn't know where the nearest taxi stand was. As well she's an irrepressibly cheerful soul and I like that.
Id Mubarak for any Muslim readers! :)
Anyway things will be closed on Friday, and people will be having a day off. So it's just as well to get stuff done today! :).
I got to the taxi stand, and there's no taxis. I wait. A couple who were there before me gave up and went to the bus stop, then along came a guy with two plastic bags of groceries from Samshop, and then along came an older guy who was missing a leg and was plainly a veteran of the Bosnian war, with two really good looking younger guys, his sons maybe? They had short hair and were wearing dark blue military type warm up jackets. I think they may have been soldiers.
The guy with the groceries got out his cell phone and called Sarajevo Taxi and said 'There's a bunch of people here that want taxis and no taxis not even ONE!' Then an older obviously Muslim lady showed up, then a girl, very young,very pretty in tight tight jeans, anyway, ALL these folks gave up,and got the bus.
Not knowing for sure where that particular bus goes, I didn't, I stayed put. I had determined not to get lost in search of Eronet's office. Anyway I wrote down the address, I find that that helps greatly, sometimes if I don't say something just right, it's a problem. Mostly it isn't, mostly I'm not going to a specific address, just a given taxi stand, like Baščaršija or Skenderija, or the taxi stand by the Markale. Or I'm going back to the flat. Anyway, most drivers do catch that I'm a foreigner, and they handle my mistakes in pronunciation alright, I am making fewer of them anyway.
One thing I love about Bosnian men, and this is a huge plus!
They WILL ask for directions! If a taxi driver doesn't know for sure how to get to a place, he calls the dispatcher and finds out! Guys who aren't taxi drivers often ask for directions too! They usually ask a taxi driver. I respect that.
The trouble with the Eronet office was the first time I saw it was the day I was badly lost, and when I've been badly lost it's like there is a LOT of junk information in my brain, and it makes matters worse. If I had time and it weren't raining that'd be another matter, but I don't do well with umbrellas in crowds, and I just wanted to get there. I got to the office, asked the lady if their Hej! package would work with the first cell phone I got, she checked it out carefully and said I had a bad phone and should just get rid of it. So I said 'Fine, I'm willing to go ahead and buy a new phone.' So she showed me the list. I ended up picking a Nokia 6070, and the nice bit is it WILL work with the package, and I have someplace to go that will help if there's a problem. The other nice thing is it's a camera phone, and it can record short video clips, that's kind of cool
Going pre-paid is about the only way to get mobile service here for foreigners. It's not too expensive, and like I mentioned before, there's a couple other services. I'm not totally against BHmobile, it just didn't work out for me.
Some the problems I had with BHmobile's website are problems with OTHER European websites for products and services, it's not just a Bosnian thing.
Samsung for example doesn't have a good F.A.Q. set up either, and they are a HUGE company and SHOULD really have that set up better.
While I was out I got a newspaper too. The woman I usually buy it from has a really loud voice, She moved from her usual spot for some reason, and I like getting my paper from her in particular because she's a nice person who helped me when I didn't know where the nearest taxi stand was. As well she's an irrepressibly cheerful soul and I like that.
# posted by Katja R. @ 4:07 AM 
