the most important lesson of the weekend is . . .

Just because a website tells you that the universal power strip they are selling acts as a converter, and is adaptable to appliances from anywhere in the world, all for just $35, doesn't mean it's true.

Mom brought us one such power strip (thanks, Mom) while whe was visiting last week. On Sunday we tried it out. In the process we blew a fuse in our apartment and completely fried both our modem and our wireless router (both of which we brought over with us from the States). Lucky for us, when the internet account was set up, the guy from China Mobile brought us a modem, so we had a spare lying around, and we now have internet access through that (Chinese outlet-friendly) modem. Unfortunately, we're going to have to buy another router to set up the wireless connection again.

Oh, well. At least Ben and I won't have to lug that modem and router back to the U.S. when we return next summer.