Telephone Technology

Our house phone amazes me. It is a technological wonder that has been a constant source of bewilderment since our arrival in Yangon.

When you pick it up, you don't hear a dial-tone. Instead, you hear a local radio station (this week, it's been a capella choral Christmas carols), or sometimes even two. Behind all the extra noise and static, a faint dial-tone, as if from the bottom of a well, can be heard.

Anyone who calls us also sounds like they are down at the bottom of a well. A deep well. A deep deep well that absorbs all sound. Telephone conversations are short, with us yelling into the receiver that we can't hear them and would they mind speaking up, while the person on the other end of the line wonders why we are yelling at them....

The only time the phone rings, it seems, it isn't for us anyway. It's almost always for the neighbours, and/or some Burmese person asking us who we are. On the rare occasion that it is for us, we are, of course, unable to understand what the person at the bottom of the well is saying anyway, as the music is sometimes loud enough (or distracting enough -- Ty caught me humming Christmas carols the last time he called me from work, since that's all I could hear) to drown them out completely.

Oh, and the phone doesn't work at all when it's raining.... Needless to say, one of the first times we ever even heard the phone ring was once the rainy season had passed.

"Why not Skype?" I can hear you (Meron) saying... Well, first off, we don't have internet at home...Add in the time difference between Myanmar and Canada (either 11 or 12 hours), and it makes it almost impossible to coordinate.

For out-going phone calls, we can use the satellite phone at the Council, which thinks it's in the UK. Of course, the only time I can actually use it is after my classes at 7:30pm my time. Soooo... I guess if your phone rings at stupid o'clock in the morning, and it's a UK number, you can be sure it's me.