Laundry / die Wäsche

It is a good day when there isn't laundry to do. We have a small washing machine in our apartment. It's a pretty standard front-loading European washer which is economical on water and inefficient on time. A normal type of wash cycle can take two hours! Its capacity is small - a couple pairs of pants, a couple shirts, a dish rag or two, a few pairs of socks and underwear, and it's full. Getting the clothes washed is like doing a scientific experiment.

First you load the detergent, which comes in highly scented (overwhelmingly scented), mildly scented, and hypoallergenic which is still scented. The directions on the bottle base the amount of soap you use on the weight of your laundry...when it's wet. How is one to know how much the wet laundry will weigh?

Next come the dials. A basic wash cycle is called 'Cook/Boil Wash' and the temperature choices range from around 30C (86 degrees Fahrenheit) to 90C (194 degrees). We generally wash at 30 or 40. Then you also get to choose the speed of your spin cycle. Your options for revolutions per minute range from 600 RPM to 1400 RPM! Our machine was set on 1200 when we arrived and we've kept it there. The spin cycle tends to sound like an airplane is taking off!

Those choices made, you're almost ready to push start. But do you really want to wait 1 hour and 58 minutes for the wash to finish? We don't. Luckily there is a Schnellknopf (fast button) which reduces the washing time to 48 minutes or so. But what are we missing out on by pushing the Schnellknopf? Are our clothes really getting clean?

There are three drying options. You can go to the communal dryer in the basement where you put 10 cent coins in a meter on the wall and the dryer works for an unspecified amount of time. The dial on the dryer allows you to choose the dryness you want, ranging from 'baked' to 'still wet so you can iron it dry.' We're not sure why you would pay money for the latter, and rarely have 10 cent coins for the former. Option 2 is hanging your clothes in the communal drying room which has clothes lines the entire length of the room. This is especially good for drying sheets because the lines are near the ceiling and so there is lots of space. Option 3 is to hang the clothes up in the apartment. We have a drying rack that is the size of a small car and fills up the winter garden, but is pretty convenient. Since the washer holds so little, you can usually fit two loads of wash on the rack which is about what we are washing every day...