Culture "Shock"

So, I'm not really that into science.

Its never really been a problem for me before. I could always avoid it. In high school, I went out of my way to take the least science-like science classes. (If anyone remembers senior physics with the cartoon drawings of people going up a mountain and movie fridays, you know what I'm saying.) In college, I waited until the very last second to fulfill my science requirement, finally consenting to take environmental studies and doing embarrassingly terrible in it, despite the fact that it was literally the easiest class on the register. My mother was a chemistry major, and my sister is a doctor. The way I figure it, when genes were getting passed down, some split evenly between two sisters, and some go exclusively to one or the other. For example, she got all the scientific ability, neatness and patience genes. Its a convenient excuse.

I digress. Anyway, the point is, I was never good at science. I am supposed to be sort of good, however, at English. Being that I am currently employed as an English tutor and I was previously employed as an English teacher, I should know the difference between the words "adapter" and "converter."

As in "plug adapter" vs. "voltage converter."

You can probably tell where this story is going. But let me just say, I think it is cruel and frankly, immoral to sell a plug adapter. Do you know what a plug adapter does? It "adapts" your appliance so that it is physically able to fit into the socket that its not meant for. It then "adapts" your appliance into flames and then "adapts" your ability to turn on any power in your familia's house. An "adapter" is the dumbest thing ever invented. You can put it on the end of any old robust american appliance, and it enables you to shove that beast of an appliance into the unsuspecting walls of a country that has far more concern for the earth's environment than Americans do and only accepts half the voltage output of said beast. Let me make you a list of appliances that do not "adapt" well:

1) Blow dryers
2) hair straighteners
3) curling irons

Apparently, Spain wants me to have a 2 month long bad hair day.

(I would like to mention, however, that although this is a prime example of the United States' extreme overconsumption problem, I really appreciate the fact that a blow dryer in the United States can dry my hair in half the time these puny euro dryers can. I visibly age waiting for my hair to dry here.)

So, let me summarize for you all my English and Science interdisciplinary lesson for the day:

Adapter: allows you to connect
Converter: allows you to connect without flames.

Earlier today I drug out the aforementioned 3 appliances and attempted to use them for the first time. My blow dryer sparked, made a loud popping noise and then all the power went out. With the help of the housekeeper and a spanish-english dictionary (to look up fuse...its fusible in case you were wondering), I located the fuse box and turned the power back on. Then, I decided to test out my other appliances, just for good measure. I plugged in the straightener. Nothing went black. I was pleased. I sat down and waited for it to heat up. Moments later, it got very hot. When it lit on fire. Not kidding. The curling iron was the third experiment, which lasted 30 seconds as I noticed the power light flicker immediately. Luckily, I was able to unplug it before I had to use my spanish english dictionary to look up "fire extinguisher" en espanol.

So, thats the story of how I learned the principals of electricity.

Unfortunately, my science lesson is not going to be immediately applicable as I no longer have any functioning american appliances with which to use a voltage converter, even if i could figure out how to track one down. (Ironically, adapters are much more common. Maybe Spanish emergency services need more to do) Instead, I will have to buy all new appliances with european plugs.

Or have bad hair for two months.

Take a guess on which way I'm leaning.