Skype and Jip

We find it hard to remember life before Skype. Jip loves the video chats especially. Even though she can’t see the people on the other end, their comments about what she and her surroundings look like add a dimension to the conversation that delights her.

Now that we’re set up with wi-fi at home, we can skype from wherever Jip happens to be in the apartment. Not long ago we chatted in bed with some Seattle friends. My Chicago family took a guided tour of our place as I carried around the laptop and its built-in camera to various rooms. Sitting at our kitchen table, we were able to revive an annual tradition of ours by joining a holiday party that was going on halfway around the world.

Skype’s conference calling ability also works wonderfully with Jip’s random association ability. If we’re talking to someone who reminds Jip of someone else, we can spontaneously add the someone else to the call for a wild three-way conversation.

At the risk of showing my age, I recall what it was like to make international calls back when Jip and I used to work in the refugee camps. The little town where we lived had one only phone capable of dialing abroad, at a cost of several dollars per minute. The phone’s owner, never imagining that anyone could need to talk longer than seven minutes, had attached a timer to the phone so that it automatically cut off after that long.

I can definitely understand why Skype is now the largest international voice carrier. For much less than we spend on in-Thailand calls, we use the service roughly every other day, whether it’s to instant message, quickly check in with a relative, or conference among people who live in four different time zones. Send me an e-mail if you’d like to meet up on Skype!