Tag Archives: Siemens

Hessen, Sundays

A photo dump for the first week of April…

Bill has been in Norway all week, and I’ve been left to my own devices here in Germany. I’ve been keeping busy with random chores, making song parodies, and watching lots of YouTube videos, while I ponder and worry about the future. Nevertheless, I can’t deny that we had some beautiful weather this week. The temperatures are up; the sun is out; and I’ve been fighting the urge to drink wine on the terrace. This week, my liver has gotten a much needed break from booze.

I did take a few pictures this week, to show our lovely little town erupting into spring. Yesterday, I noticed they put up the Easter display in our Dorfplatz, just like they do every year. I may not be German, but I sure do enjoy living here. It’s nice and quiet, predictable, and civilized.

Charlie strikes a pose. He sure looks happy!
Easter is here!

I wish I had more to report. When Bill goes away, I just kind of hunker down and get through things. I did go to the Rewe yesterday to get some groceries. I had a big brainfart while standing in line. Everybody seemed to want to check out at the same time, and the lady in front of me wanted cigarettes, which required the cashier to fetch them.

When she brought them to the register, I guess they either weren’t what she wanted or were too expensive. So then the cashier had to take them back. Meanwhile, my blood sugar was in the toilet and I was getting irritable. I counted out some money, but didn’t realize that I had mistakenly counted a five euro bill as a twenty euro bill.

And the lady in front of me said something in German, so much to my shame, I blurted out “I’m American.”

She came back in perfect English with, “I hope you aren’t in a hurry.” (or something along those lines)…

By the time she left, I was all flustered, and the cashier was telling me that I needed to give her more money. Fortunately, I noticed the shortage and gave her the twenty I had originally meant to give her. And then, on the way out of the Rewe, which is about a ten minute walk from my house, but I had the car, there was a huge group of people on bikes to navigate.

The only other significant thing that happened this week is that the dogs got much needed dentals done. That was no big deal, except for when I needed to find a parking spot. Our vet has little parking, and everybody seemed to be collecting their pets at the same time. After I paid the 1100 euro ($1400) bill for Noyzi and Charlie, I took them home. Today also happens to be the fifth anniversary of the day I saw Noyzi’s photo for the first time and fell in love with him. It took about six months to bring him home from Kosovo.

Oh… and today, I learned how to refill the salt in our dishwasher. That was quite a life skill. Seriously, Bill always handles that task, so I didn’t know. I had to guess that was why the dishwasher wouldn’t run. Below is a helpful video for those who are similarly questioning:

Let’s hear it for doing it yourself…

This week should be even more tranquil… although given what’s going on in US politics, maybe not. Ah well. Bill will be home on Saturday, and he’s taking the following Monday off. So maybe there will be something new to report then. As for today, I’m probably just going to hang out in the house…

I guess this post turned out to be more than I thought it would be.

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A new era in German laundry… ;)

Exactly 24 hours ago as I write this, the Amazon delivery guys showed up with my new Siemens washer and dryer. It took about ten minutes for them to take them to the basement and hook them up, then pick up our old appliances and haul them away.

I did one small load yesterday, just to see how big the learning curve is. The dryer is a condenser version, which is a new thing for me. All you have to do with a condenser dryer is plug it in. I had balked at getting one, because I heard so many people complaining about them. However they do offer an advantage for people who live in places where they can’t access a window or dryer vent. We have a vent in this house, but for some reason, I couldn’t find a dryer with a vent system.

The first load went okay, although I’m going to have to get used to dryer cycles. The new machines are not WiFi enabled, which really surprised me. They also don’t have signals that tell you when the loads are done. However, they do have timers that show how much longer the cycle is. I love that. I discovered that if I’d gone one level higher and spent another 500 euros or so, I could have gotten WiFi capability. Maybe it’s not such a bad thing that I can’t hook them into our “smart” system. That’s one less thing to break.

Today, I’m washing the sheets, complete with Calgon tabs. We’ll see how that goes. Maybe next week, I’ll do the duvet covers, in honor of the onset of fall weather, which will be here before we know it. This summer has been pretty mild… (knock on wood).

I’m old enough to remember when vaguely racist Calgon ads ran on TV. We always used Calgon in the bathtub (Calgon, take me away!), but it turns out it’s pretty good for fighting kalk (limescale and chalk deposits) and softening the very hard German water.

Ancient Chinese secret, huh? They sure don’t make ads like this anymore, do they? 😀
This is how I used Calgon.

In other news… We bought a new TV the other day, and while we were at AAFES, I managed to get a picture of the Dutch cheese vending machine. It only takes credit cards, but it offers delights such as baby Gouda, jalapeno cheese, and garlic cheese, among other enticing varieties. It’s too bad I don’t love cheese the way Bill does. Seriously, I wish I were a cheese fan. I like it melted and mild, but I can’t just grab a hunk of it and chow down. I actually know someone who strongly resembles the Dutch lady on the side of the machine.

Shopping by vending machine sure is exciting. It is interesting to see the vast array of products offered by vending machine here in Europe. I’ve seen everything from wine to fresh meat to lentils, in addition to the usual chips, candy, and soda.

I know this is a dull posting. I just wanted to update on our laundry situation, since I’ve done it so many times before. Laundry is important. Trust me… when you first move to Germany and are living in a hotel, or some other place that doesn’t have laundry facilities, you very quickly find out how much you want and NEED a good washer and dryer. Or, at least a place to hang your laundry so it dries properly and doesn’t get sour.

As I write this, I realize I vented (see what I did there) about laundry etiquette on my original OH Blogspot blog. I think I’ll repost that rant on this blog because, why not?

Anyway… I’m grateful to have my new machines. Amazon.de’s delivery service was excellent. I’ve got no complaints. Maybe I wish I’d taken a few more minutes to make a choice that would have included WiFi enabled machines, but it doesn’t matter enough to me to return the machines and get different ones. I’ve never had a WiFi enabled washer and dryer before, anyway, so it’s not like I’m missing something I once had. And as of this morning, they’re fully paid for, so there is that. 😉

I did at least get the landlord’s Siemens dishwasher added to our smart network…

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All new adventures in German laundry… and last night’s festivities!

The last fifteen hours or so have been rather eventful. First off, last night the two day Breckenheimer Dorfplatzfest began. Ordinarily, last night would have just been a regular wine stand night, but the local culture club held its annual festival. So basically, it was like a supersized wine stand with beer, food, and live music. They had brats and burgers, along with fries (pommes) and wild potatoes with tzatziki.

Our neighbor and multi-talented veterinarian, Dr. Konrad Blendinger, was there with his pop ensemble, providing entertainment as friends and neighbors gathered in the village “square”. Dr. Blendinger plays guitar and even wrote a song about Breckenheim, which he sang last night. When he’s not playing music, Dr. Blendinger is well-known for his prowess in breeding dogs. Like, he’s world renowned for it– and people come from all over for his services. I even caught him admiring Noyzi when we brought him to a wine stand. Noyzi will never be a father, though. 😉

Bill and I had a pretty good time, although we were joined by an older German couple who didn’t speak English. There were also a few women there, one of whom was one we met on prior occasions. She asked us where Noyzi was. We left him at home, because we figured it would be too loud and busy for him. She nodded her approval.

We impressed them with our ability to enjoy wine, then they brought over some guy who spoke Russian. I spoke Armenian to him… 😉 I did so to be funny, not because the Russian and Armenian languages have anything in common. Of course, I didn’t expect him to speak Armenian, and I’m actually glad he didn’t, because I have forgotten a lot of it myself. I guess I just get tired of people assuming all Americans are monolingual. The guy got up and walked away. 😀 Oh well.

I also had occasion to use the new toilet that was installed last year. The fest was canceled last year because it was being built. As you can see from the photos, it’s pretty snazzy. This time, no one walked in on me, either. They put up directions in German and English!

I got some photos and videos of the festivities.

Potatoes with tzatziki. We should have eaten more than this.
Not so busy yet.
Our vet and singer-songwriter, extraordinaire.
Very helpful!
Look at that! There’s even a toilet brush!

We had a good time, but unfortunately, I overdid the wine quite a bit. This morning, I look like I got in a fight. Oh well…

As if having a hangover wasn’t bad enough, Bill greeted me with the news that there’s an issue with our washer. I bought the washer brand new from Amazon.de nine years ago next month. For the past couple of years, it’s been in decline. There’s a problem with the door sensor, so that it doesn’t close properly unless you bang the shit out of it. This morning, Bill tried to do a very light load and the cycle quit at about five minutes.

I drained the machine, which made a big mess… then I determined it was time to buy a new washer and dryer. Our dryer is functioning, but it has an annoying squeak that I can hear all the way upstairs, and it’s just a very no frills Turkish model that is too small and isn’t that great.

I spent the last hour or so agonizing over which brand to buy. The washer we have now is an LG, and it’s not bad… and I know how to use it, for the most part. But I wanted to get one as soon as possible, so I ended up buying a Siemens washer and dryer. I figure if they turn out to be smart devices (and I think they are), I’ll only have to download one app. Plus, I could get them delivered on the same day. Hopefully, they’ll work out fine. I paid a little extra for the delivery guys to hook everything up and take away the old appliances.

These new machines are quite a bit more expensive than the old ones were– naturally. I think I paid just over $1600 (about 700 euros each, before VAT and delivery) for the pair, whereas I see I paid about 600 euros for my old dryer (no longer available) and 370 euros for the old washer (which I now see is also no longer available and gets poor reviews– it probably didn’t when I bought it). But I think they’ll be easier to use, and they’ll hold more. I got the 9 kilogram size, instead of the 7, which is what I’ve been using. I would have liked to have gone for the biggest one they offered, but doing that would have significantly reduced my choices. Also, we have to make sure we can get the appliances through the doors and down into the basement.

I mainly decided to buy the models I did because they got mostly good reviews, weren’t super expensive, and could be delivered as soon as Tuesday. I do a lot of laundry, so this is a good thing. The bigger size should make it easier to do laundry, too. I think I got a condenser dryer, which will be a new thing for me. I tried to find one that vents, because that’s what I’m used to, but they didn’t seem to have them available. So, now I get to learn how to use a condenser dryer.

I’m already feeling a lot better than I was earlier. I took some Advil and ate breakfast, which helped a lot. The Dorfplatzfest starts up again at 2:00 PM, but I’m not sure if we’ll go today. Bill is talking about brewing some beer… and I sure don’t want to start tomorrow like I’ve started today.

In other news, we have some pretty wild flowers in our backyard… They came from the bee bombs I planted a few months ago.

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