Maureen is getting to be good at this, walking and texting on her cell phone. You would think she has been doing this all of her life. The cell phone, or mobile phone as it is called here, is our lifeline to the Foreign Affairs Office and our co-teacher. Any question or situation we find ourselves in in which we need help, especially language help, we just call and they come to the rescue whether it be talking to a taxi driver or a store clerk. We also need to contact our class monitors in case of a room change or date change for a class.
As we walk along the streets we don’t only send and receive messages. We do manage to watch others texting while cycling, riding motorbikes and even driving cars. Texting is the preferred way to use the mobile phone. It’s a lot cheaper than talking.
On the walk we got to see these three guys busy painting a building in an area with a number of bio-technology research buildings. They are five stories up in the air and don’t seem the least bit concerned about safety regulations as they work painting the cement walls of this building being renovated. Needless to say, this isn’t a job I would do well in, even with all the proper safety harnesses.