Laundry Day
Yesterday i managed to get a hold of the landlord in order to buy tokens for the laundry machines, so today was the big day. The landlord had given some instructions and basically what i got out of it was that you were supposed to turn the token thing after every token and it would take 2-3 tokens per load per machine. I also learned where the machines were, so i packed up my clothes and my soap and headed down the stairs. This is what the room looked like:
So i walked over to the washing machine and saw this sign posted above it. It looked pretty important, but it seemed to just say that you were supposed to leave the door open when you were done washing.
Then i turned my attention to the token machine:
which made me think i’d get 20 minutes for each token i put in. Forty minutes should be plenty for washing, so i put in two tokens and then tried to figure out the washing machine.
Of course it wasn’t lit up or anything when i was looking at it. Someone had come in after me by the time i actually took the pictures. On the left is a key that explains what all the symbols mean that show you where the machine is in the cycle and also what the letters mean for the various cycles mean. It was on C when i got there and i figured most clothes are synthetic so maybe that’s what i wanted? (Later with a translator i found out that A is cottons/machine wash and the word in front of synthetic means fine, so i probably really wanted A) I had no idea what the numbers by the letters were for, except that near A it said °C (yeah i realize now that numbers like 90 don’t make any sense as °C, but i was just trying to get my clothes washed) so i just left everything where it was and hit start. The little light up number only said 20 though so i didn’t think my second token had worked. Instead of putting in more money i just decided to come back in 20 minutes and see what it was doing.
20 minutes later i walked back downstairs and the light up number said 23. I watched it for a bit and it seemed to be counting down normally, so i went back upstairs. 25 minutes later i went to check on it and it still had 6 minutes left, but the cycle light was flashing in a way that made me think there was a problem. Just in case it was supposed to flash like that, i came back again in 10 minutes. The number was still on 6 and the light was still flashing. “Crap i just broke the machine.” It was after office hours, but i knew the landlord lived in my building so i buzzed his apartment:
Hallo?
Hallo, ich denke dass die Waschmachine ist kaputt.
Welche -static- ?
Die Waschmachine? Für die Kleidung?
Welche Waschmachine, welche Wohnung?
Judenstraße?
Welche..
Oh! Acht! Judenstraße acht!
Ok -static mixed with German-
Ok
So i sat down on the steps and assumed he’d come down to fix it, though i wasn’t really sure what he said after i figured out he was asking if i was talking about the washing machine in Judenstraße 2 or 8. After about 10 minutes i started wondering what i would do if he didn’t come, but then a few minutes later he showed up with a little box of tools.
We walked into the room; he took one look at it and was like it’s not broken. Then he motioned for me to put more money in, so i did and it started running again. “Do i always have to use three tokens?” “No…more German with motions toward the number dial i had ignored.” I saw that it was just a little past 40 and everything came together. I apologized for wasting his time, but he seemed in a good mood about the whole thing.
I didn’t even try to figure out the drying machine.
I could find no indication of how long each cycle should take and i didn’t want to spend more than two tokens. There were two choices with times on them: 15 minutes cold air, 20 minutes warm air. I just chose to run the 20 minute cycle twice and then hang up anything that was still damp. Well it all ended up being pretty wet, but i got it all hung up in my room and was proud to have survived my first day of German laundry.
PS- The castle post has pictures now since i have my own internet.