I know I have talked about laundry before. I needed to bring it up again. 🙂 Out of all the things we have had to get used to the lack of real washers and dryers is one of the top three things.
That being said we are actually very lucky. I cannot speak to all of Europe or even all of Switzerland, but in the Zürich area most places do not have their own washers and dryers in the apartment. Most places have shared spaces for everyone in the building. Julie told me the story of the man that had to show up late for work every Tuesday. His assigned laundry time was Tuesday at 8:00 am. That was the only time he was supposed to do his laundry. I am 95% convinced the only reason we are in our current apartment is that it was the only one that Julie was shown that had a washer and dryer come with it. She was shown a couple of apartments that a combo washer/dryer, or some that just had a washing machine.
Back in the US I would always wait to do laundry until we had a couple of loads. I knew that I could throw them in the washer, and in three hours I would be done with both loads. It took about 50 minutes to wash a load, and an 1 hour 8 minutes to dry a load. And these were BIG loads. Here, I do laundry at least 6 days a week. You see it takes a minimum of three 1/2 hours to do one load. So I can put something in the washing machine before I go for a run. I can put it in the dryer before I leave for my German class. Then when I get home, it is done. The exception is sheets day, or towels day. Each of these loads takes over 5 hours to get done. The wash cycle is about 2 hours 20 minutes, and then drying takes two turns. One load at 2 hours and 37 minutes; the second at about 45 minutes. So why am I going on about laundry?
Julie has always drummed into my head that I have to wash the sheets and towels in hot water. To kill all the mites, and skin cells, I guess. So every time I put in the sheets or towels, I set the temperature to 95. Over the years I have developed an allergy to some detergents, so now I also always rinse stuff that my skin will touch extra. Today I noticed there is NO hot water line going into the washing machine
There is only a cold water line. So either there is a REALLY good water heater in that little washing machine, or I have been completely wasting an hour of wash time every single time I wash the sheets. I am betting I have been wasting an hour of wash time. I am now going to have to try and do some research which won’t be easy, because everything is going to be in German!
Just so you don’t think I complain about everything. I do like the built in clothes lines, and the air dryer. I am sure that is NOT what it is really called, but I wind up using the air dryer a lot. I just hang up the clothes, and push a button. 4 hours later the clothes are air dryed. I would say I use the clothes line just as often as the dryer.
The other thing that makes our apartment very nice, is we have a store room along with the wash room. We don’t have a lot in the storage part. That stuff is sitting in a storage locker in Greenville, but we have things like Julie’s holiday decorations,suitcases, extra paper towels, etc… I also have my bike and trainer set up in there. On days that I don’t feel like running, which is a lot since it rains every other day! I head down to the basement and do 20 or so miles on the bike. I am really looking forward to some warm weather. It will be fabulous riding around here.
Julie and I got our absentee ballots in the mail today, so we can still be Americans. 🙂
Talk to you again soon.
That’s an enjoyable read believe it or not. You are quite the house boy. I do most of the laundry here. Obviously it’s much faster in the USA 🙂 I love the idea of a clothesline. Have actually contemplated that but love the look of yours. I’m going to put a couple of lines in the third bedroom in the house I’m getting ready to start renovating for us to move in town. I’m going to turn one bedroom into a custom laundry room are use my real small upholstery air movers and point them at the rack when I’m doing laundry. Similar to your air mover in the house there. Or air dryer.The Germans & Swiss think of everything :-). You’re going to be there for three years? Is that correct. What a great experience for the both of you.
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Here for three years, unless something would happen with Julie’s job. You know how big companies are. They might decide next month, they want her back in Chicago. 🙂
Or unless I fail my German language test. Then my wife stays here, and I get to come and visit a couple of times per year!