Date: Tue, 19 Nov 1996 11:37:51 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Washing machines and Barley :)

Okay, today's highly anticipated edition is going to start with random
bits and pieces, then move onto some personal experiences, then into some
general Europe info.  (In case you had not noticed, these are getting way
too organized - can you say anal retentive (although Susan assured me it
was all right.) )

[Off-course random thought here]  Speaking of anal retentive, the prof for
whom I am working is married to an American (who is a little off her
rocker) and when we were at their place for dinner a while back a
discussion about my anal retentiveness arose (relating to me doing my own
laundry because of my lettered socks) and she had never heard the term
before, and, was amusingly shocked.  This begs the question, what was it
called before it was called anal retentive; compulsively organized?  She
(in her own off her rocker way) decided it should be rectal retentive to
get the alliteration of the R's.  I hope she doesn't decide to use that in
coversation because (as Ross (visiting American who is living in Vienna)
and I warned) although anal retentive is okay in mixed company, rectal
retentive would not be.

The Mac I am on is so (so should have 2 O's like too, or at least when you
use it that way) stupid that when you are using Word and you change the
language of the dictionary to English it does not automatically change the
language of the thesaurus, thus, I get some really interesting results
from the thesaurus.  As a side note, this is not typed in Word, so the
spelling mistakes are all mine own.  (So does the mine own make me sound
educated?)

I was reading a quantum physics text book (from 1967, which is really
funny because he specifically says that the weak force is an independent
force unlike electromagnetism or gravity and although he knows about pions
and kaons and the lack of conservation of mass in high energy physics, he
still insists that protons and nuetrons are fundamental particles with no
internal structure, and, as an American in 1967 he uses BeV (for billions
of electron volts) with a little footnote that says "outside the United
States, this is also referred to as Gev) okay, enough physics humour that
only Darren will actually apreciate anyway) and I come along this section
on "The Ritz Combination Principle" and so I'm thinking "you can put
peanut butter and bananas, or cream cheese and sardines, but you cannot
put peanut butter and sardines".  Alas, this is not what the section was
about.

I have one more quick comment about the cafeteria here (especially for
Anne).  I know I have talked about the French cuisine and the making up of
terms etc. but I never really mentioned one very noticable aspect to the
way in which food is served.  Like I had mentioned, these are serious
French chefs, and as such, they serve their food with pride.  It is odd,
in a cefeteria, to see them so carefully ladle food onto plates and to be
so careful to the exact proportions of things and the discretenesss of
applying exactly one and a half tablespoons of the "Neuchatel" sauce [this
seems to be a term used for sauce 'o the day :)] onto the meat.  As a
prime example, yestarday I had the meat chunks in red sauce on barley
(speaking of which, why do we never eat barley like rice - it is good - it
has a little more taste than rice and is more filling - a definite must
try for non-rice likers (ie. my Father)) and the chef accidently dripped
some red sauce onto the raised edge of the plate (the plates have a raised
edge like good china) which he proceeded to very carefully wipe off (with
the little towle on his chef "suit" designed specifically for that task)
so as not to diturb the symmetry he had so carfully created between the
Yin of the barley and the Yang of the red sauce.  He then also did the
same for my soup.  So I guess he was kinda clumsy, spilling both red sauce
and soup, but the point is, he was concerned about it.  It's very
different from any other cafeteria I have ever been in (including the
German Mensas where you get the choice between slop 1, slop 2 (sweet) or
slop 3 (zesty) ... I'm getting into the swing of things here: they aren't
racist here, they are anti Swiss German (not actually German, which is a
much different thing, so really my critisism is not quite in the swing,
but the effort is there :) ).  

It did manage to snow a little here yestarday.  It all melted immediately
down here in town, but up at my place there was just enough on the grass
so that this morning in was crunchy from freezing last night.  But along
with the snow, something else was new on my walk (technically, because of
the grade, I believe it is a hike) from the bus stop.  The park benches
were gone.  Well not entirely, just the parts you sit on.  I guess this is
how they preserve their benches, and really, it's a good idea.  No one is
going to be sitting around on wet benches anyway, so they came along and
took all the wooden cross beams off the chairs, just leaving the two
concrete stand things.  I suppose their benches last much longer this way.
This is reminiscent of last week, when I left the university to go home
and my bus stop shelter was gone.  The had removed it to put in a new
illuminated glass and metal one, but it has been almost a week now I think
and there is just a pile of pieces waiting to be put together.  I wonder
if disappearing structures are common throughout Switzerland.  I wonder if
I could put it together late at night ans suprise the hell of the workmen
:)  Unfortunately, I do not think the bolts were there, and trying to
explain to a police, whom only speak french, why I was putting together a
bus shelter at 3 in the morning  might be a little bit of a challenge to
my French (although I bet the same answer would still be valid :).

I was going to give a detailed discussion of some things Europe does right
(like doorknobs, windows and public transport, not like inexpensive food,
convenient shopping hours, or tough anti-smoking laws) but this edition
has already gotten quite long, so instead we will talk about washing
machines in Europe.  The first time I used the washing machine at the
place I live I discovered an interesting fact:  it takes an hour and a
half for a single load of laundry.  When I mentioned this to Arthur (in
Germany) he said his takes over two hours per load.  Now, this may seem a
little crazy considering it takes about 20 minutes in North America, but I
believe Arthur has given me the insight as to why they would do this.  And
the answer is, it is much easier on the clothes, and at the price of
clothes, this would be important, not to mention how much longer the
washing machine will last.  I feel Arthur summed it up best with this
quote "Spin in one direction. Stop.  Spin in the other.  Stop.  Click. 
Spin in one direction.  Stop.  It is rather calm compared to.  Schlump,
Gush, Schlump, Gush...:)  We are a violent people:)" 

On a related note, the washing machine I use is top loading, but it has an
internal canister that you put the clothes in and latch closed, and then
the machine operates like a front loading machine.  Thus, you get the
convenience of top loading with the effeciency of front loading without
having to worry about having a really good seal on the door (which is a
problem with front loading machines).  As an added bonus, because the
internal canister is sealed (on the scale of clothes, not on the scale of
water) you cannot lose any socks because there is no lip for them to
escape over.  Pretty cool eh?  In addition to the slow washing machines,
their are very few dryers in Europe.  Now this is not necessarily a bad
thing, but it does mean you cannot wash your clothes an hour or two before
you want to wear them.  Now a special note to my Mother, explaining why
air drying is not a bad thing, although the way she does it is.  Air
drying can be an okay thing when a) you add fabric softener to the wash,
instead of expecting to in the dryer, and then not doing so, b) you dry
the clothes inside, in nice warm air, not 30 knot gales and sunshine that
make the clothes crispy, and c) generally, "naturally dryed" does not
really imply driveway oil stains, grass clipping or dog doo-doo, no matter
how "natural" they may seem.  And thus ends our intro to European Laundry
101. 

Well, next time we'll maybe get around to doorknobs and windows, unless
something more exciting comes up :)

Bon soir,

Aaron