My Nemesis

When Dusty told me our new house had a washing machine, naturally I was excited. After all, most laundry here is done by hand and having a washing machine is somewhat of a luxury. It was something I had been counting on, though, especially since Elliot would be in cloth diapers while we were here. However, like most things here, it wasn't quite what I expected.

The instructions, shown here, are clearly written... in Dutch.. and appear to explain how to wash a basic load of laundry, but do not really provide enough information for me to figure out much of anything else about the machine. The controls consist of three knobs, one with letters that appear to indicate various points in the wash cycle, one with numbers (0-4) which I have no explanation for, and a temperature guage for the machine's onboard hot water heater - its one redeeming quality.

As you can see, the washer consists of two separate chambers. Washing and rinsing are done on the left, spinning on the right. After loading the clothes into the washing/rinsing chamber, it is important to remember to latch the cover to the drum, lest your laundry end up in a soggy, soiled heap at the bottom of the machine, under the drum. Should you forget (as I often do), the drum is removable, allowing the clothes to be rescued and the whole process started again.

Once the wash cycle is complete, the laundry must be transferred to the other chamber to be spun out. The spinner is a delicate creature that requires you to precisely place your laundry in the chamber so the weight is evenly balanced and will remain so throughout the spinning process. Failure to do this will result in the spinner shuddering ominously while rocking back and forth on its axis but extracting no water. It also doesn't hold as much as the washer itself, requiring you to do either very small loads of laundry or dividing the load and spinning it out in stages.

Just the thought of doing a load of laundry is enough to put me in a foul mood. I'm not sure if its the washer itself, or if the washer has simply become the symbol for all the frustrating aspects of life here, but either way, the result is the same. When it's laundry day, look out!