Washing Machines
If you are anything like me, you don't give much thought to your washing machine. Your clothes are dirty, you load them in the (top) of the washer, add some soap from your ten-pound bottle of detergent, turn the machine on and your clothes are washed and ready for the dryer in about 30 minutes.
Lo and behold things are different here! Washers in Germany are front-loaders. The soap goes into a little drawer at the top of the machine and you definitely cannot buy a 10-pound bottle of anything at my grocery store! It is also advisable to add fabric softener because you probably will not have a dryer. Washing takes a good hour and the spin cycle sounds like an Airbus is taking off in my hallway.
The point of this entry is to share with you the small victory I had over the weekend... I finally figured out where the fabric softener goes! Okay, I am sure some people are shaking their heads at this very minute that I couldn't figure out where the fabric softener goes-- "she's a few glasses short of a full liter of beer!" But honestly, there are lots of little holes in the soap drawer of the machine, none of which are labeled, and all of which I have put fabric softener in in the last month!
Long story short, I now have soft clothes and you now know about German washing machines.
Let it never be said that I don't appreciate the small things in life:-)
posted by Erin @ 12:15 PM
9 Comments:
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How special. My washing machine sounds less like an Airbus and more like Dad's old MGB.
I've set the "sprache" setting on my iPod to "Deutsche" in honor of your year in Germany.
CJS
Hi CJS, I'm honored your Ipod has gone Deutsch for me:-) If you have a "German" Ipod, I will have to send you some of my favorite German tunes so you can really be authentic. (Which of course I have paid for and did not download illegally!)
Wunderbar.
I do have the obligatory Nena CD and Herbert Grunemayer. Also have an Austrian Country-CD called Trucks auf dem Zillertal (I think). Frightening stuff.
What are you listening to?
CJS
Erin,
I think those euro-washers are making their migration further west. Our washer is also euro and with an extra bonus - stickers on the side tell you where to go for the best flamenco dancing in Spain. Faith can concur!
Jennie
Erin, doesn't your washing machine also double as a dryer? I remember when I was at Oxford I had a machine that looked just like that and after you washed the same compartment could be used to dry. I also remember it being super noisy. But, it wasn't very well designed because the interior of the compartment would obviously be damp after the wash and so it would take extra long to dry. Not to be an obnoxious american, but I think that our system is better :) Anuradha
My washer is just a washer, though a few people I know do have the 2 in 1 deal. I tend to think the US system is better too, though my colleages in Washington were always saying how their clothes were only truly clean when they used a German washing machine. I guess it is just a case of different strokes for different folks!
Different suds for different buds?
CJS
Hi, Erin, I really come to the conclusion - the only difference between a German and an American is the washing machine issue. I must admit, I soon gave up on the American machine that came with the house I rented in Bethesda and spent a fortune on a Miele and I was happy washing-machinewise ever after.
Here in Belgium I have a Bauknecht and I can get my beloved Ariel (I really missed that in America!); great results. The only mystery: how come that people in America also wear clean clothes? You must be right: case of different strokes for different folks!
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