Friday, January 29, 2010

Mishmash Friday

Fridays I will try and bring you a piece of dutch news for you that I find funny,interesting or irritating and I will include anything else that comes to mind. First up we have my washer..and I hate it. I miss my double capacity washer from home. There wasn't anything that I couldn't put in there. Those days are loooooong gone my friends. This is a small washer and most people have these here. Do you know how long it takes to do one load? 1 hour and 15 minutes. If I wanted to do a short wash, it would take 30 minuntes and never cleans the clothes. Now back home we have the lovely comforters that we can stick in our double capacity washers with no problem what so ever. It doesn't work like that here. Infact there is no way it would even fit in half way.
   Over here we have Duvet Covers. Now I have to say that this is an excellent and super handy item to have. All you do is slip off the cover and throw it in the wash. The actual comforter wont fit so people stick them out their windows to air them out. What I love about the covers is that I can change up the style and colors at any time without having to buy a whole new comforter set. I remember how much those cost and I like this version much better. Lets talk about drying. Oh lord how I hate drying here aswell. My dryer won't fit in the house.
 After washing I have to walk outside (wich is always really fun on days like this where it's snowing..oh and on the days where the rain is beating down..thats soooo much fun too). We keep the dryer in a shed with the bikes and garden tools. I have a condensation dryer wich means it collects the water in a plastic container below and I empty it out when it's done drying. It's as small as my washer and it takes over an hour to dry aswell. I've learned that having a dryer here is something alot of people don't have.

Alot of the homes here have big attics(we don't) and they simply hang everything up in the winter and during the nice days they stick their clothes out to dry. My neighbors does that. When I walk out into my back door her balcony is right above it. So when she hangs out her bed sheets I can get smacked in the face. I love it when she puts her grannie panties out. There is a brick fence that seperates us but the sheets are hung up high and go all over the place when they wind hits them. I don't know about you, but Im not all about hanging my junk out for people to see and can't imagine not having a dryer. Dutch homes can get cramped and sometimes there is no room for both a washer and a dryer.

Ok on to some news! There was a girl who worked at a McDonalds here who was fired on the spot for putting a slice of cheese on a co workers burger. The co worker bought a burger and then asked the girl for a slice of cheese, wich then turned it into a cheeseburger wich costs more. So the girl was let go. Now over here you can fight being fired. It then goes to court and the judge felt like that was to harsh of a punishment and could of been handled with a write up. McDonalds said they have strict rules about giving family and co workers items like that. The judge said the girl wasn't trying to do wrong by putting the slice on there but it was more the co workers fault for asking her to do so. So the girl gets 5 months worth of wages because of this and is free to look for other work. Take that McDonalds!! When you get a job here they start you out on a limited contract. Alot of them are only 3 months..wich is what this girl had. So they were not going to renew her contract anyway wich is why I think she was awarded 5 months worth of pay. The dutch system of working is alot different than the american way of doing it. You feel more protected and the benefits and job security are a thousand times better than anything I've ever witnessed in the U.S.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!                                              


Don said...

Sounds like a pair of jeans, a pair of socks and shorts would just about fill it up! What about my shirt? Oh, next load! lol

lytha said...

Washer - I see your Miele washer and raise you my Bauknecht washer made by the smurfs, for smurf laundry.

NO kidding it's tiny. And takes 1.5 - 2 hours to wash. Like you said, if you choose the shorter cycle, your clothes come out looking like they did before you put them in. Agh.

Dryer...what. you have a dryer!??! Jealous!

I complain about weekly, about our lack of a dryer. I don't usually dry my clothes, but back home I definitely dried my underwear, socks, sheets, and towels! Those things are supposed to be soft, not rock hard crispies. A towel should not serve as a loofah!

My man has no idea why it would be so important. When I put new sheets on the bed, and they are totally wrinkled, I point and say "That does not happen when you have a dryer!"

But those condensation dryers are odd, aren't they!?

Sheets and Duvets, you're right.

This year in America I brought back lots of king size sheets for our bed. American sheets. Top, and bottom. And German duvet cover over the down comforter, that will no longer have to be washed so often!

That is our intercultural marital compromise. American sheets, German duvet.

My gosh you have to go outside to wash clothes....I have to carry them up into our attic and hang them all, and that sucks, but at least it's not outside (but I often have to wear my winter coat up there, or worry about the bees who live there in summer).

I am right here with you. Only about 500 KM away: )


Sonya said...

Lytha you are so funny..LOL I dont know how you live withot a dryer! no matter how much fabric softener you use, everything still comes out and where in the heck are the fabric sheets? I've only seen a few packages of them and wow are they spendy.

No no the washer is in the house but the dryer is crazy life we live here isn't

Candee said...

Funny about the washer. I am on the search for a new one. Mine isn't a bad size (5 kg load capacity) - but it spontaneously stops and because it is in my "large attic", I don't hear if it's running or not. So I go to my load of laundry 1.5 hours later to find out there is still 1.25 hours left on it grrr. Or I have also seen it jump from having 2 minutes left to having 1 hour 56 min left and I can't just stop it - I have to set it to a finish spin. My next will be a 8kg.

My dryer - HA another story! This was 6 yrs ago... it was also spontaneously stopping. Apparently something in the computer. The repair man said it would cost us about 250-300 euro to repair it. For that we could by a new one. So we put it on gratisaftehalpuntnl or something (a free to pick up site). Some guy who picks up dryers for "parts" took ours. A few days later he nicely e-mailed us to let us know the defected part would have costed us 3 euro's. I have been hanging my laundry ever since in my "large attic".

Sinful Southern Sweets said...

Sonya, thank you for sharing your dutch living with us. It is very interesting to me and I always look forward to your posts! Thanks!

Katy ~ said...

Hmmm... when I lived in an apartment, I had a washing machine that was about the size of yours that was also a dryer. Really. It was manufactured in Italy if I remember correctly. Never really caught on in the US but very popular, as I understand it, in the European countries. Once it was done washing, I had to flip a switch or turn a knob (don't remember anymore) and it became a dryer. Very handy and worked very very well.

LOL about the granny panties. I hear you about that.

What A Dish! said...

My parents have that same kind of washer, and dryer! It's wierd to empty that water cup on the dryer. And it holds hardly anything, and takes forever to fill up.

A lot of people over here don't own dryers at all; I feel lucky that I have one!

Nancy C said...

I'm glad my kid didn't see this page. He's totally obsessed with all things washer and dryer. It's really, really weird.

Sonya said...

Oh Candee thats just awful! LOL Im hoping my dryer makes it through this winter..we have no attic or extra money to buy a new one.

Katy I have seen those combo washers and dryers! LOL It amazes me how they can work like that.

Nancy thats funny..LOL

Peanut-Butter Kitty said...

I really enjoy your blog and all the comments from your guests. I tell my family and co-workers about your blog and how you live over there. I'm in California, if you need anything from here, let me know.