Getting set up...from an American Perspective

Unfortunately, part of being in another culture for a long period of time is to change your local environment so it fits your needs, often time changing it to resemble your own culture.  One area that I see this being very evident is in the digital world and the process of getting wired.  

WIthout the internet I have no access to all the things I "need".  Things like email, Facebook, YouTube...Oh, and the work stuff. 

If I were on a pure vacation, with no need to log on to BlackBoard or post my blog...would I still want the internet...?  It wasn't that long ago that the internet was a nice, but if I did not have it my life was not totally disrupted.   

Prior to the time that I was working online, I still liked to have access.  Of course that was nearly 10 years ago, and my life at the time was not totally dominated and controlled by my need to be connected to all of the "important" things on the web.  In fact, on the island there was no internet.  We have to go into town, (about 1 1/2 hours by bus) and then to the library to get access and that was just once to check email, which I did not really need to do.  

Now there is internet everywhere.  My sister-in-law has a wireless network at her house. 

I've been trying to figure out how to get a wifi connection set up at our place...here is where the cultural difference come in, or at least a recognition of the importance of social learning.  I have a number of people to call on for help in trying to figure out the best solution for us.  There appears to be four main companies, all of them seem to be tied to a "T.V. service provider".  As wired as this place is, it seems that no one knows all of the steps in the process.  I think I'm piecing things together, but it is taking time...there are language and terminology differences that I need to figure out.  There are also hardware concerns, there is not BestBuy or Fry's on the island so what do I do when I need an Ethernet cable or a wireless router?  I can go into town or I can pick through what ever equipment I can find in the basements of the families houses...still working on this. 

Probably the most striking thing I've learned is that my computer and Ipad are basically useless without the internet...why did we even have computers before the Internet.