On Skype and Google Hangout

              

             I should have written two different posts, I should have written two posts about each of these meeting, as there is so much to be said. But here I am, doing two in one, not because it is my favourite type of instant coffee (you know 2in1 little bags, enough for 1 cup of coffee) but because of chronic lack of time due to the end of yet another school year, plus the secondary school entrance exam for my daughter, plus some never-leaving workmen on the upper floor of my house……

          First things first, as they say! I’ll start with Skype. If you asked a Man in the street if he or she has ever used Skype, my guess is four out of five people would say YES. Now I would also very gladly join four fifths of the world, yet I would feel the need to explain that until quite recently, I used Skype to talk to my family only when my daughter was around to set up everything. Like a real film star, I appeared on the screen with my broad smile, not bothering my brain with technical details about it.

          So a couple of Tuesdays ago I was on my own with Skype and all the unsettled questions from the past. To begin with, I forgot my Username! Luckily it was in the computer together with some other names of mainly my daughter’s friends.   It was an easy pick, but what to do with it? I went in and nothing happened! There was no meeting there! I clicked different buttons, nothing again! That almost forgotten Tapped-in-feeling of being lost began to creep into my head again. This time I didn’t mind. Not knowing where you are or where you should go was fun this time!

          All of a sudden, just like teleported form one dimension to another, I found myself in the middle of a lively conversation my BaW friends had already started. And what a chatty group of people they were, enjoying themselves, having such a good time talking about really interesting teachers’ stuff.  It was my pleasure and honour to be there!

        Has BaW experience changed me personally? This is the question Ayat asked me there. I hadn’t actually thought about it before that. I said yes because that is what I felt but I couldn’t explain well. Now that I have thought a lot about it I can say: Absolutely! It has changed me in so many ways and I wasn’t even aware of it.

        It’s not only that I became much more confident with technology, although that alone would have been a great success! I was also given this unbelievable opportunity not only to meet so many wonderful people all over the world but to be proud to be one of them! It has rocketed my enthusiasm and optimism sky-high!  And only one more thing, though there are many more to think about,  BaW experience has turned me into an adventurer! Because of it I am looking forward to the unknown just because it is unknown to me :}!

          And so, I was looking forward to the Google Hangout absolutely unaware of what it is or how to use it or what to use it for. And it was beautiful! The beginning was just as I expected: I was lost in the corridors of the unknown. I was puzzled but not confused! I kept trying and failed but this time it wasn’t a nightmare, it was a challenge! And when I joined the others, one hour later, it turned out to be one of the most hilarious online meetings I have ever attended. I chuckled and smiled long after it finished.

            If you asked the same Man in the street about Google Hangout, my guess is five out of five people wouldn’t know about it. You will need to ask another five, and yet another…. Simply, Skype is General Knowledge, everybody uses it, everybody knows about it! Not the Google hangout! But I hope it will change. Soon!