So experience is from a few weeks back, but I figure it’s worth being shared.
The
Laundry Mishap that Eventually Turned into not a Mishap because We Adapted and
now it’s a Really Humorous Story
So, a few weeks after arriving, I
was forced to deal with an inevitable truth: I was officially out of clean
underwear. It was time to cross over to the dark side and submit to the
callings of the weird washing machines down the hall.
I had been dreading this since the
day of my arrival for two reasons:
1. Laundry costs money. To use the washing machine, it is 10
kroner, and to dry your clothes it costs 15. You’d think that you’d only spend
25 kroner (about just over $4) each load, right? Spoiler alert: That’s not what
happened to me.
2. 2. I didn’t know if I’d be able to understand the machines
here. I don’t speak Norwegian. If I did something wrong my clothes might all disintegrate into nothingness and/or I may die.There could be a troll hiding in the laundry
room. YOU JUST NEVER KNOW.
So I gathered all my clothes in my
hamper and set off down the hall to the laundry room, laundry card (loaded with
100 kroner) in hand. And, sure enough, everything was confusing. Shelby and I had decided to tag-team the
laundry experience, but we quickly discovered that, even putting our heads
together, we couldn’t figure this stuff out.
WHAT IS THIS WITCHCRAFT?! Why so many buttons? Why all the pictures? Do you push all of them? Some? Does green mean go? How many minutes are we supposed to put it in for?
So, naturally, instead of asking one
of our friends from the building how to work the machines, we just decided to
wing it.
That wasn’t one of our best
decisions. After having our clothes in the washing machine for an hour, we
returned to find them soaking wet. Like, not just
normal-these-just-came-out-of-the-washing-machine wet, but more along the lines
of so-much-water-my-clothes-all-weigh-20-pounds-now wet.
While this was weird
and confusing and we were sure we were doing something wrong, I guess we kind
of hoped that the driers were just extra awesome here, and would be able to
take all of the water out. So we wrung out our clothes as best we could and decided to go for it.
Wrong again.
After drying our clothes once, and
then again, it was discovered that they weren’t really going to dry. So, we
went with plan B, and hung them up in our rooms, cranking the heat up as high
as we could in hopes they would dry more quickly.
This worked out wonderfully for
about 30 minutes, until I heard water dripping on my floor and I realized it
was raining in my bedroom. I spent the next 30 minutes covering my floor with
plastic bags and cursing loudly at the world.
Shelby ended up using about 80
kroner on her laundry card, and I used about 60. Collectively, it cost us about
$25 for a day of wringing out our clothes and having a bedroom that
precipitates more than Norway itself. NO BUENO.
But, on the bright side, we did end
up figuring out what to do… eventually. And now we are able to clean our
clothes without problem. Turns out we were omitting the last spin cycle on the washing machine (by pressing the button next to the green button), which is the part that makes all the water go out of your clothes.
So that was my first laundry adventure abroad! Hopefully you found it as amusing as I did after I got over the fact that I nearly flooded my room. Within the next few days
(hopefully), I’ll be writing about Norwegians and what I love about them. Until then, deep breaths,
you’ll hear more from me soon. Promise.
<3
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