26 February 2009

Lesson Learned: Don't get on the wrong bus in the Belgian countryside.

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So I got on the wrong bus today. I'm dyslexic, everything's in Dutch, and I was operating on 4 hour's sleep. And besides I asked the bus driver like 8 times if he was sure this was the right bus. How was I supposed to know that I was telling him the wrong town name? All I know is that he kept reassuring me with a soothing string of, "Ja, ja, ja, ja"s.

So it ended up in tears an hour later with me being let out at the beginning of a road with an arrow on it pointing me in the vague direction of a rural area I recognized. All I knew was that I was on the same road where a country veterinarian I had once visited had his practice, and as I had to pee something terrible I had no choice but to disturb him in the middle of the afternoon, convince him he knew me and barge into into his foyer and pee (in the toilet. I'm not an animal). When I emerged from the "washroom", he gave me vague walking directions to my destination then ushered me to the door hurriedly with a frightened look in his eye.

Then I proceeded to walk for what seemed like days. There were no pavements. I could have been hit by a tractor or brutally murdered by a medieval peasant at any moment. And it simply went on...

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...and on...

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...and on...

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....and all the while there was nothing but a vast expanse of nothingness next to me...

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...and still it went on...

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...and...Oh look!!! There's a stop for the bus I should have got on!!

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...and on...

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...I even tried to beg The Gods for help at a country roadside grotto and it was locked...

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...and on...

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....Hey!! What does that sign say?

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....Yeah. Damstraat. My sentiments exactly.
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25 February 2009

Hallelujah!

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The big news I have is that Wim and I have decided to buy a clothes dryer. Yes I know that it's an odd concept for most Americans (including me) that people would have a washer but not a dryer, but that is how most Europeans operate. They hang most of their clothes to dry (yes, even indoors) or occasionally take them to the local launderette to dry as we do. It's a HUGE pain in the ass, especially when you've got cats who barf on things. I've been bitching about it to Wim for the last 5 years. And finally, yesterday when he had to sit for an hour at the launderette with Eastern European immigrants yelling at each other and evil cleaning women shoving him, he saw the light. Praise the lord.

Seriously though, this is a significant problem - especially in the UK. Pretty much any time you visit someone's home in the UK you will see their underpants hanging on the radiator at the very least. Even in relatively well-off homes. There's sort of this sense of "this is how we've always done things". And when you suggest that life might be a bit more manageable with a dryer they cock their head to one side and say, "a tumble dryah??" - then they parrot out a bunch of myths they've heard about dryers mangling buttons and shredding socks. Then you just have to walk away and put up with your roomate's friends stealing your panties off the drying rack in the hallway. It's insane.

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Here's why else dryers are good: Lint. European washers don't seem to have the lint traps that American washers have, so when you couple that with 11 cats and no dryer, all your clothes start looking like mohair cable knitwear.

Wim was opposed to the idea of a dryer for a long time on environmental grounds. But I did point out (repeatedly and loudly) that A) It's no less damaging to the environment to use the dryers at the launderette; and B) at home there will be no one standing next to us smoking a cigar and yelling at their kids in Romanian while we fold our fresh laundry. I can't help but think that my nagging must have sunk in a bit.

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I am thrilled. I'm going to use our new dryer constantly. And when the polar ice caps melt and sea levels rise engulfing us all in a global panic I won't be bothered at all. Because at least I'll have fluffy towels.

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09 February 2009

Busy, Busy, Busy!!

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I'm just making this blog post to say that I'm posting a new blog very soon. I've been busy. I mean it. And if you could see this house right now you'd be saying, "For the love of God, Jovanka, don't worry about a blog post - do something about the piles of clothes everywhere!!".
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