DIFFICULTY WITH THE ELECTRICITY AND MY GREEK GRANDPA!

I had a little difficulty getting the whole wall outlet conversion thing to work when I first got here and blew a fuse the first night I was here. I was just really hoping the outcome was not going to be like what happens in the movie "Just Married" when the whole building starts on fire... I know, a bit extreme but that is all I could think of at the time. I ended up blowing the fuse in the converter so I cannot use that anymore (Sorry Marcus... I cannot find a fuse here for the life of me).

I figured that the converter/adapter would be pretty easily found at an electronic store or I had heard someone mention that IKEA would have one. We were going to IKEA on Wednesday after orientation so I was sure I would find one there! Well, I was wrong… Every person I asked looked at me as if I was crazy and then realized I didn’t speak Greek so they found basically the only English-speaking employee to talk to me. He said they didn’t have one but to try ELECTRO-MART across the road. So Dewey and I ventured across the road and checked it out… NO LUCK! I was beginning to think I just wouldn’t find one and be stuck without a computer for the rest of my trip… I know over dramatic but I was not having a great day at the time either! On our way back to IKEA to meet the bus, we saw a McDonalds and an Applebee’s – who would have thought they would be in Greece! (I guess when I start to miss American food, I know where to go now!)

We got home from IKEA and I went to the little electronic store next to our building. I asked the older man, he really reminded me of a Grandpa, about getting an Ethernet cord because I had lost the one I had bought the day before (only 3 euro) and he found me one! It was 4 euro! The other stores sell them for 25 euro so I was a bit relieved when he said it was only 4. I asked him about my computer and then he brought me what he thought I was asking for. It was an adapter for a European plug to go into another European plug… Not what I was looking for. He told me to go back home and bring in my computer cord and computer and he might have a solution! I was so excited at this point! I went and got all of my stuff and brought it back! He found a cord that would go directly from my computer to the wall so I would not need the adapter. I was so excited but very nervous to see the cost of the cord. They sell in the States for about $40. I really didn’t want to pay that much for a cord but at the time that was my only option. He rang everything up (including my Ethernet cord) and the total came to 7.50 euro! It was only 3.5o euro! He seriously made my day!

As I was leaving the electronic store, I stopped and asked where the nearest pharmacy was so I could get some antibiotic cream for my finger. I had cut it on a knife in the drawer and sliced it open pretty far. I was using another girls antibiotic cream but it was almost gone so I needed to get some more. He really didn’t understand what I was looking for and then he was like “Show me; show me what you need the pharmacy for.” I showed him my finger and he said “Wait right here!” I did and when he came back, he had a box of Band-Aids and a bottle of antibiotic iodine ointment. He told me to take and when I asked him how much he said, “No price, just come back when you need more Band-Aids!” He was the nicest person I have met in Greece so far! I will always remember him as my Greek Grandpapa!