4.2-8.2 I haven’t touched a computer yet


We headed to the E&M office and met with Jose and he signed our papers and we started the work right away heading to a customer living nextdoor to our apartment, everyone speaking spanish we couldn’t understand much. Jose climbed to the roof and checked the antenna for problems and then we left to deal with other customers while getting equipment to help the first customer.

I’ve only got my shelf to blame.

While wandering around the town meeting new customers, Jose taught us to update and reinstall sound drivers, and I learned how to turn a wire into an ethernet cable by using scissors and nippers.

Later we returned to the first customer and watched Jose install a configured mikrotik into the apartment.

One spaghetto inside the pot is an impasta.

Later in the evening after work, Oona made spaghetti and I washed the dishes.


We woke up at around 8 AM to the sound of a pressure washer being used just outside our window, we enjoyed some breakfast and then Jose added Oona to this Whatsapp group and told us to meet him on the street just outside our apartment.

We went to the mail office to pick up a speaker camera and delivered it to a customer, who’s son has been stealing money.

We also went to fix some issue with one customers wi-fi, after assessing the situation, we realized that the ethernet cable from one of the many small cupboards had come loose, so we connected it back together and the problem was solved.

If a shark touches you, you’re about to be consumed by it.

After that we drove to another town to meet with another customer, but they weren’t there so we headed to the office instead.

At the office we just waited for Jose as he talked to some more of his customers and then gave us a Mikrotik and an IP camera for configuration and practice as homework.

The IP camera was missing one of the necessary cables, so we didn’t get it to work, but the Mikrotik was a success.

Pathway to wednesday.


After waking up we and doing our morning routine, we headed outside and Jose picked us up with his car and drove us to a nearby language school.

I was left at the school with a job to install cables to the ceiling, Jose explained in high detail, but first I’d have to wait for two other Erasmus students to arrive, and we’d do it as a team, then he drove away with Oona.

Orange building, no monkeys allowed.

After half an hour of waiting, they finally arrived and we we’re told to wait because the class was in the middle of a lesson, so we wasted some time at the rocky beaches of Fuerteventura looking for water snails.

This beach houses multiple water snails.

Hour passes by and we return to the school. We started pushing up ceiling plates and placing 40 metres of self-cut cat cable into the ceiling, and turned both edges of the cable usable by adding the ethernet port heads using nippers and bare hands.
Since I hadn’t done much of that before, I was assigned to pay close attention to the work and hold the unsteady ladder while someone climbed it.

After finishing up, Oona and Jose came to the school and we quickly installed a Mikrotik router and the other two students installed a switch.

Then we cleaned the building like we never we’re there in the first place and that was it for the day.


Today we were sent an address at 9:30 AM, so we started walking swiftly and arrived to the right house, Oona left with Jose again, and I was left with a task of doing yet another cable job.

One of the students I worked with before came to my aid once again and we met with the customer, who was not getting enough internet connection, so we had to make another switch/router installation.

Try shoving cable down a tube, you’ll feel like a real IT guy.

I started cutting the cat cable and turning it into many smaller usable cables using the same tools from before, and the other student started shoving red cable down a tube behind a wall panel.

After finishing the separate cables, we started shoving the red cable together and it seemed useless as the pipes were all blocked, but I managed to force the cable through the tube and we installed the cat cable inside using the red cable as a tool to pull the other cable taped on to the red cable there.

Then we connected and swapped ethernet cables on the switch until apartment 8 and apartment 7’s internet worked, ran some network speedtests and that was all in a days work.

Walked home and had some tortillas, did the dishes and wasted the rest of the day browsing internet.


The day started and we arrived at the neighborhood that needed wi-fi connection, so one of the students and I climbed to the roof of one of the yellow houses using unsteady ladders to replace an old antenna.

Antenna. An interesting one indeed.

Since everyone spoke mostly only spanish, I didn’t get anything out of it, I only made more cat cable and was told that I should be able to install an antenna alone in a few weeks. Upon asking Jose later about the hazy details, he just told me to always cross the green and orange wire.

Day at work ended and my face and neck had been grilled by the blazing afternoon sun standing all day on the roof, later at our apartment Oona cooked us a steak with some french fries and I did the dishes once more.

Sun set and I called it a night.

Week one conclusion

I’m the cable guy, simple instructions are given only after you mess it up, guidance is mostly replaced with I’ll do it myself and rarely given in any language other than spanish, expectations are high, there’s not always time for questions and job safety isn’t a priority here. All this combined is having huge negative effect on my attitude towards work here, but despite everything, I’m trying my best.


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