Knowledge is power, but the power is out.

The stove is out.

This was a picture I took so that I could complain about lack
of counter space...  Little did I know, that was the least of
my problems!

I noticed yesterday when I went to make some yummy desserts...  Normally when I set about the task of cooking, I go in order of the recipe, which is almost always "Pre-heat the oven to ___ degrees".  So I have a habit of always starting with the stove, oven, etc.  Then I pull my ingredients as they are summoned by the instructions.  I have found out that cooking on the stove makes things go a lot faster, so I decided I'd try out getting all my ingredients measured and set out so that when the instructions came, I was ready!  (I'm pretty new to this cooking business...).  I buttered my pan, pulled out my big pot, counted out the tablespoons of butter, 6 cups of rice crispy cereal, marshmallows, etc.  I turned the switch to the electric stove on, then turned the already misaligned dial to medium.  I then put my butter in, poured the cocoa on top, added the marshmallows, and by that time I was wondering why my butter wasn't melting any faster!  That's when I noticed neither light had come on (one on the switch and one on the stove).  Super frustrating!!
So now, I have a giant pot in my fridge with butter, cocoa, and marshmallows, another buttered pan waiting to be filled, and a huge bowl of off-brand rice cereal in my freezer.


AND, I had just gone grocery shopping, so my fridge was already full, including our meat for fajitas...which you also can't make without a stove.

So for dinner, I explained to Mark that we were going to have to go out for dinner.  He's been wanting to try the Mr. Chipotle (not to be confused with just the regular Chipotle) which is a shack at Options, just a 3 minute walk past the campus gates!  It was really tasty, too.  And I think we both needed to overindulge because we ate a lot.  His burrito was the size of a normal Chipotle burrito, and he got the spicy beef, which was apparently really good (though I will not taste things that are intentionally made spicy, so I wouldn't know).  And I had some chicken tacos.  They came in to go containers, so we decided against eating outside as the bugs feasted on our legs, and came back to the room to eat at our "dinning room table".  This is of course just Mark's desk.  :)

And yes, you may notice that my computer is on it as well.  Well, the power outlet by my desk does not work.  I will take the blame for this one.  I plugged dual voltage adapter for my computer into a surge protector into an adapter into the wall.  My bad.  I should have plugged my computer cable into the surge protector, into a transformer, into the wall.  Yeah, it popped and smelled like a little fire had just happened inside the surge protector.  I'm just happy to say Mark did it first.  Like our second day here.  :)  But I should have learned from that mistake...silly me.

This is what the outlet looks like next to Mark's desk.  We have 2 outlets in our room, each with 2 plugs.  Well, the breaker on the bedroom half is waiting to be fixed, along with the stove (which I believe is separate).  That right there is why power in Grenada is so frustrating!  On one side, you see a converter/adapter (which is WAY better than a transformer), power strip surge protector, and many other things, and on the other side is an adapter just for any dual voltage or 220v electronics with US plugs.

Oh and one last power complaint (and another laundry complaint)!  They unlocked the washer/dryer in our building last night!  Looks like they have fixed it!  But, there was no power to the washer or dryer (neither would start) or there is something even worse about this one...  Man, I hope the maintenance people will come today and push the magic buttons to make my life work again!  I tried to go reset some breakers last night, (the door downstairs is unlocked) but Mark wouldn't let me.  He said I don't know how the wiring is in these buildings.  Which isn't true.  When they came to reset it last time after Mark blew out the power strip we are currently using in the picture above, they had one person up in my room and one person down by the breakers, yelling at each other in between tries.  Now I know they aren't labeled and it's trial and error!  What else do I need?!