(I ended up buying this one, so if any of my German speaking friends KNOW this is not good, please let me know in the next three hours. Danke)It's interesting to move to a new place and know it's going to be for awhile. I feel that traveling is one of my talents and I've a pretty good knack for it. I get how to direct a cab or train system or hotel front desk in just about every language, and sign language too. I get how to maneuver the airports of the world, get money changed, find my sites to see and order from a variety of menus (though Mongolia's "Flesh Flied Liver" and "fermented mare's milk" will always take the cake as far as dished that have been offered).
And yet today, I've been a bit frazzled. Why?
Laundry detergent.
Yes, laundry detergent got the best of me. In Europe, when you don't have dryers and you wash things nightly in small little washers, you have a THOUSAND choices for laundry detergent. You have small ones for wool and small ones for cotton, ones for bright white and one for colors and all of them come in sizes that are similar to my dishwashing detergent. And they all cost about 15 dollars each.
And even though I'm in the "French" side of Switzerland, EVERY thing was written in German. And my German is Nicht Zer Gut-Words like:
Verantwortung
Mendelmilch
Aktiv-Fleckloser
Vertraglicher
Bei empfindicher oder vorgeschadgter....were lighting up the aisle and a painful part of my brain. I have few clothes here and it would be awful to accidently bleach them all.
But, I did figure out my dishwasher today, so tonight, when I do my first load of laundry, I have faith in me.
Is it good for a pretty smart girl to feel absolutely ridiculous and lost when it comes to doing her laundry once in a while? And let's not forget that I couldn't understand HALF of what the check out lady said to me today, I just smiled and nodded....it's a good survival tactic.
Yeah, let's keep it real here folks.
5 comments:
I love reading about your day-to-day life and adventures! I hope your laundry night is successful!
That must be why Europeans don't have many kids! I can't imagine washing laundry by hand everynight for me and my five children (well, four, plus Steve).
I'm sure you'll be a European detergent pro in no time.
i hope your laundry went well. i have faith in you! i agree with stina, i really love reading about all these things. wow, what an adventurer you are. i'm so proud of you and so glad i have you for a friend.
You guys are an awesome support system! Jenn, we dont' wash by hand, we just put it in tiny washers and then hang them all to dry. You get used to it, except for how crispy your jeans, towels, and underwear get when they dry, that's not cool.
Laundry was a success! I got a good brand! YAy!
Oh, yeah, going back and re-reading it, I guess you did say "washer". For some reason as I read it, I pictured you scrubbing clothes in a little tub everynight. Still, I would have trouble hanging to dry all of our clothes. Once our washer and dryer broke (when Noelle was a newborn!) and it was January and freezing cold and we were so poor (like now, I guess) so we would take our clothes to the laundromat but we could only afford to wash them and not dry them, so we would bring home the wet clothes and hang them up all over the basement and it was a nightmare. I did that for a month and I'm never going back...so I guess I should never move my entire family to Europe for any lengthy period of time. Okay, sorry for rambling, need to go wash the interminable pile of dishes. See ya...
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