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Sunday, July 22, 2012

An entry on doing laundry written by other American ex-pats

Here's an interesting entry from a blog on life in Vienna written by some Americans who have lived here since Aug. 2010:  http://viennanotes.blogspot.co.at/

March 4 -- Revelation! I’ve figured out why the Viennese and other Europeans smoke and drink so much, sometimes smell of body odor, and refuse to pick up the dog poop from the middle of the sidewalks. Laundry! They’re so tired of the work required to wash and dry their clothes, they smoke and drink to relax, sometimes wear dirty clothes (it can take days for some items to dry), and simply don’t care if the public sidewalks are shitty – let somebody else do it.

Our laundry saga continues, and, yes, I know this is petty, but missing in an expat’s life are opportunities to vent – which might also explain the lack of dryers.

Three weeks after our washing machine died, I’m boiling laundry in a kettle on the stove, which consists of two small burners and no oven. I’m convinced the kitchen towels have
become bacteria breeding grounds and need to be sterilized.