Skillz

I take pride in the lessons and skills that I have learned over the years - in school, in odd jobs, in my travels - and I like to think I'm generally a well-equiped, independent woman. Unfortunately (fortunately?), Namibia has been very humbling experience thus far.

Take today, for example.

A little background: I once spent five glorious months working as a Copy & Print Center Associate at Staples. Yes, the office supply superstore. The one that is always better than Office Max or Office Depot. The one Dwight worked at for half an episode of "The Office." I donned my oversized blue polo and black apron every day to work and always made things easy for people. I became exceedingly well-versed in the art of copying, printing, laminating, cutting reams of paper, binding, stapling (duh), making business cards, and completing all sorts of odd orders (did I tell you about the 45-page bound color booklet I did for a coffin catalogue? Yes, that is a catalogue of coffins. Everything from basic wood box to leopard print and princess pink). I took care of those machines like they were my babies. On the day that I broke the laminator, I cried. I am very proud of my ability to use office machines correctly and not make mistakes (or if I do, I always know how to fix them).

However, I am not allowed to touch the copy machine at school.

This week, we just received two new copy machines from the school board. Yes!!! We were all psyched because the old ones were, well...old. Though the new machines look sleeker and don't jam as often, they are nothing to write home about. They don't even have a feeder at the top for multi-page jobs! There isn't even an option to print double sided! And I'm pretty sure those are options you can still get in Africa...

Our secretary, however, will not let me (or anyone else) near it. Today, when she was having to copy a couple hundred pages for me (one by one by one by one...on and on), we were having some good Namlish small talk. I kindly told her about all my years of experience with office machinery - at Staples, as a secretary, in life. She just laughed and said "ohhh but you don't know."

In Namibia, you have two options. You can get furious/frustrated/flustered or you can muster up the humility and patience you need for the moment. I took the latter road today and decided to blog about it instead. I hate it that people think I can't do anything here, especially when it comes to things like technology (ohhh don't even get me started on computers/internet). The selfish, terrible side of me wants to scream, "but I'm from AMERICA! I use office machinery every day! I am far more technology-literate than you! I learned to type at age 7 and can freaking type at 120 wpm!" But clearly, that would put me in Step One of cultural adjustment, which is a very bad place to be - more on that later.

In the meantime, I'm learning to accept humility and navigate the unfamiliar waters of Namibian culture. Now off to watch "The Office" and see other people using office technology to its full potential.