Kat has failed to make ramen... again

What is it with Asia and my ramen? this is the second time i have grievously failed to make ramen the first time in an asian country. to be fair, it was more technical difficulties, not really my cooking abilities.

to recap: i previously failed to make ramen my first few days in japan because i couldn't get the hotplate to work. we assumed it was because it was in japanese, but it turned out that it was a magnetic hotplate and we didn't have the right kind of pot. you can read the posts here and here.

this time there was an equipment failure. i brought my rice cooker to Korea so i can cook rice and boil water for noodles etc. but, despite being a glorified hot-plate, and an asian one at that, it is only 120v. a little piece of trivia: Korea's electrical outlets output 240v. you may be groaning at this point, but i would like to point out that i knew this and took it into account. if you're reading these in chronological order, you might recall that i asked my roommate if i could use her voltage converter this morning. having recieved this permission, i went grocery shopping. Miranda and i were going to have 'instant' ramen (so we could use the bowls for curry later). i set up my rice cooker to boil some water using my roommate's converter.

some time later we heard a loud pop. i went to inspect the cooker only to find that the converter was smoking! of course i unplugged both ends (the wall socket and the cooker) immediately. then i swore a little and proceeded to contemplate what to do next.

well... my roommate was nowhere to be found, so first things first: dinner. After leaving a note explaingin what had happened to the converter, not to use it, and that there was a replacement in the near future, we left to find something to microwave water in; turns out there's a microwave in the basement.

So, i actually did get my ramen, but only after destroying my roommate's converter. when she asked me to explain further, she was actually quite concerned about my safety and the fact that the converter had basically exploded rather than the actual piece of equipment. that hadn't even occurred to me. so i'm glad she was understanding.

but now i have to find a replacement. when i had tried to find my own, no one had really understood what i was talking about. the people who were "helping" me find one started almost making fun of me because i kept saying what they were showing me wasn't heavy enough. i think they thought i actually wanted it to be heavier, rather than what i wanted happened to be heavier. i ended up with an adapter, not a converter. but now i have a broken one to carry around and show people, so maybe i won't be misunderstood.

i've turned over said adapter to my roommate. as it turns out, her computer is dual voltage, she just didn't know it. and my hair straightener is as well, so the two major appliances i seen her use are taken care of.

why do all of my brilliant ideas end up this way? every time i come up with something cool like this, the whole thing has to flop at every conceivable juncture. isn't technology great?