Doing Things Differently

Today is laundry day.  ALL DAY.  In Paris, living space is at a premium and economy of space is a necessity of life in an apartment. I have learned to adjust to my washer/dryer and now am honing my skills.  My washer/dryer is one machine.  It is in my kitchen.  I can wash up to 5kg of clothes, towels, and sheets.   That's roughly 12 lbs.  It takes on average one and a half hours to wash a load of clothes...there is an eco-setting for 2.5 kg of clothes that takes 45 minutes.  The reason for the extended time is all loads of laundry start with cold water (30*C) so any stains don't set.  Then over the course of the wash cycle, the water is heated to 40, 50 or 60 degrees celsius, as per one's selection. If you need to dry your clothes in the dryer, first you must take all the clothes out, shake them and put them back in, not compacting them.  This usually means something has to get hung to dry.  It takes at least 2 hours to dry things in the dryer.  I have opted to buy a drying rack (brought one over from the US too).  I place the racks near my working radiators and voila, my clothes are dry in a few hours.  But man, do I miss my high efficiency washer back home...I could and have washed 10 pairs of jeans in that sucker. Please remember that I am the mother of two daughters...hence the multiple pairs of jeans!  I could wash all my bedding and have the beds re-made in less than half a day!    I had two ginormous wooden drying racks back home...I dried everything on those, and on sunny days...out they would go onto the deck and mmmm, sunshiny fresh!

Here, I have to iron bedsheets....something I never did back home.  Not my favorite chore!  I did bring some 500 count sheets from home so, they are a bit easier to iron.  The lovely ones provided by the landlord are a cotton-linen blend and wrinkle if you look at them funny.  I understand with more frequent use and laundering, they will soften but need ironing just the same.  And how the beds are made here is different too...at least how the hotels and the landlord does them.  Most beds I have slept in, in France and come to think of it in Europe have a fitted bottom sheet and then just a duvet covered comforter of some sort  of variety...ours are very nice down comforters...not too heavy, but my goodness are they warm!  The first week we were here, it was great to snuggle under the covers, but then in about 20 minutes, whoosh, off it flew because it was just too hot!  I brought my own blankets and sheet sets, so, my bed has a top sheet, light cotton blanket and hospital corners.  I saw that there is a Face Book group about having to have something covering you no matter how hot it is...I may have to become a fan.

The pillows are European pillows...big squares...more like floor pillows if you ask me.  The first few weeks with those puppies in the bed were so awkward, it was funny.  They take up a ton of room and unless you sleep on your back, you feel like your neck is at a right angle to the bed!  Happily, our good ole American pillows arrived, and we each have one for our heads and one to squish or prop against our back or knees or whatever and ah...sleep. I put shams on the Euros and use them for decoration!

Bathing in Europe is different too.  We have two baths in our flat.  The one off the master has a sink, a shower that is about 2.5ft by 3ft, a separate tub and the toilet in the same room.  This is what our landlord calls an American-style bathroom.  The other bathroom has a tub, with a handheld shower spray and the sink.  If you need the toilet, it is across the hall...and it is just the toilet.  Once finished there you must travel what we call the hall of germs back to the other room to wash your hands. I keep sanitzing wipes in the Loo so visitors can open the door without getting too skeeved out! 

And dear future guests, yes you will have to have your shower sitting down!  The reasons, as explained to me by our kind, patient, hyper transistion assitant are 1) taking a bath is a luxury everyone should enjoy, 2)indoor plumbing in buildings that are in many cases older than 200 years was challenging to install so you make do with space as it is. Only so many pipes can fit into so many places. 3) water is a very precious commodity, even in the 21st century.  Taking a bath or using the handheld shower in the tub uses 30% less water than taking a regular shower...that little tidbit I actually got off the back of my shampoo bottle.

I thought we had hard water back at home in the country.  Paris has really hard water...if it were any harder, it would be rock.  I have to buy special detergents, soaps, anti-calc (calcium) salt, sprays and liquids to fight the daily battle against calcium, lime, and other minerals in the water.  Having a Brita filter is not an option because of health reasons.  I have to include special additives to my dishwasher, washing machine, and iron to keep ahead of the hard water build up.  And there is no such thing as rinsing a glass and letting it air dry.  Spots!!  I have to hit my coffee maker and electric hot water kettle...which I adore by the way...with vinegar every week otherwise, the build-up stops them from working.

My hair and skin are changing from the water.  I am making an appointment with a hair salon for next week and hopefully, they can help me manage my hair. It has gone kinda Bozo on me...not the color, just the way it prefers to sit on my head.   We go through lotion like nobody's business, but I understand that come the hot humid summer, my personal care regimen will change again! 

Well...I could write a book on this stuff, but instead, will save some of the other adjustments we are making for another blog. Later y'all.