Dan: Well, I now officially have a bad cold - I was bed-ridden all day yesterday, but feeling marginally better today, so I decided to have a go at fixing the power adapter for Karin's laptop (wow, aren't my blog posts really exciting??!).
Once again, I didn't have the right tools, parts, or information for my job, but felt I could cobble something together.
Ever since I was young, I've enjoyed pulling things to pieces to see how they work, and this has left me with a gut feel on how to fix things - especially electrical and electronic things (although it left my parents occasionally frustrated, for if they gave me anything electronic or mechanical for Xmas or my birthday, it was invariably in pieces within 2 hours... one time at Xmas I remember having begged my father to have a play with a very old battery powered car that he had had as a child - it came complete with a petrol station that contained a battery to charge the car. I think my father was very fond of it, and so I was overjoyed when they gave it to me for Xmas, along with a stern admonition that I was to take good care of it as it had sentimental value. The warning must have really hit home, as it was at least 3 hours before it was in pieces, and I was using the motor from the car as the engine for cable car system that could transport my lego people from one side of my room to the other... The guilt still lives with me today!!)

I got a rickshaw into Rishikesh to see if I could find some parts that could be modified for use - and luckily, I found that the earphone plug for a Nokia phone hands-free kit has the same core plug as an Apple power adapter. Off to a good start then...

And so, with the Nokia part, some judicial use of sellotape and wax, and also with some cable that I liberated from the wall-fan in our room (I see it as a service as I re-wired it back up much more safely than it had been!)... I created a new power-adapter. And what's more, it worked! Yay! For about 2 hours, I was in my element, building all the little tools and parts I would need...


Dan hard at work

Karin: It's the evening of the 17th as I write this. The last few days have been spent very lazily, dozing and reading. We're starting to relax out here now. There were a few days of culture shock but this has abated now and we’re just enjoying a lot of relaxing hours doing not very much in particular. Dan picked up a cold a few days ago and so he’s a little below par. Thankfully my stomach is feeling robust again. The incessant chanting of the Diwali celebrations has finally ceased and we are enjoying the peace. The noisy Israelis who were also plaguing our lives when we first arrived have also left (HOORAY!) so things are fine and dandy.
 
Other good news, Dan appears to have fixed my computer – the power supply broke inside the computer about 10 days ago. The little miracle worker has taken the whole thing apart and extracted the broken piece. Can’t wait to watch a DVD!