The Melting Pot

I knew it was inevitable. At some point in my time here I would ruin some kind of electrical device. There is always great inconvenience in adapting and converting all kinds of electronic devices overseas: laptops, cellphones, straighteners, hairdryers, and more. Well, today was the day - my day.

Monday morning, the forecast was sunny (a rarity) and I knew it would be one of the few days it would be worth it to blow dry my hair. I plugged it in - nothing exploding yet. I turned the hair dryer to the highest setting (I didn't want to be drying my hair all morning) and then turned it on. The power nearly knocked me out of the chair I was sitting in! Turns out the "high" setting is about twice as powerful here as it is in outlets in the states. Ok, lesson learned, right? Use the "low" setting. Apparently not.

This morning as I was getting ready I knew we had pictures for our ID cards today so I figured it'd probably be a good day to do something to my hair. I plugged in my curling iron and went on with my morning, getting dressed and such. Two minutes later as I smell plastic burning I turn around to see the handle of my curling iron melting off the actual iron. I had left it on the high setting. I proceeded to pick up the handle to get the hot iron off my desk. Unfortunately the iron had already completely detached and fell on the floor. The next few minutes consisted of me juggling this really hot iron around the room to find the safest place for it while trying to keep the smoke alarm from going off by opening the window.

So next time you are tempted to curl or straighten your hair in a hurry in a foreign country, remember this: just because you plug them in and they don't explode, doesn't mean something equally damaging isn't going to happen.