When I moved into our apartment in Poole with Andy I was the most ecstatic person in the entire world because.... we had a washer and dryer!!!!! (God, you know you are growing up when your excitement is for an appliance and not new make-up or that fabulous tan leather metal studded Michael Kors bag I had been eyeing at Dillards.) Now, my excitement stemmed from living in Australia where we did not have such luxuries. Instead Andy would pack a duffel bag and run into work, a good 5 miles with our dirty laundry on his back and do the washing at work. We did this instead of going to the laundry mat, no more than 500 feet away, because it was free, of course. Andy would take my dirty underwear and bras and wash them alongside the other macho big military men. At first it didn't bother me, until he came home with my bras having been dried in the dryer and not hung to air dry!! For those who don't know, this is a huge NO NO!! If your bras shrink or are deformed from the dryer.... well you can guess what happens! So from then on I knew that every man I met who worked with Andy had probably seen my bras hanging to dry in the military laundry room! Not the best thought when meeting your boyfriend's military colleague. Needless to say having a washer and a dryer in our new apartment was like being in heaven!! No more meeting men who knew the size and type of bra I might be wearing.
Now that I had my very own washer and dryer it was time to get acquainted with the appliances of the UK. I have neglected to say that this is not a separate washer and dryer but a two in one washer/ dryer. At first I didn't believe there could be such a thing. I thought, "How on earth can it be a washer AND a dryer" I was not a believer. But it is true and it is something else. These washer/ dryers are also located, as all other washers I have seen in the UK, in the kitchen next to your food and clean dishes. I had a hard time coming to grips with my dirty laundry and my food being so close to one another.
The first time I did a load of laundry in this thing I wasn't sure what to do. There was a slot for detergent but Andy bought these little pouches of detergent, which on the box said to place on the load in the washer... not in the detergent dispenser. Already thinking this was strange, I put the clothes in, realizing this is a very, very small washer/ dryer and placed the pouch on the top. Now time to select a wash. I then looked at the knob and had absolutely no idea what to choose!! There was no HOT/ COLD, COLD/ COLD, WARM/COLD, nothing but numbers, 30, 40, 60 and then again 30, 40, 60, 60 STAINS and then Dry and WOOL WASH. WHAT!?!?!?! After sitting on the floor and debating what these numbers mean a light bulb clicked and I realized this must be the temperature, still getting used to thinking in Celsius. Since there were a few of my nice clothes in there I chose 30, thinking this must be the coldest wash. Did you know 30 is 86 degrees!!!!!!! NOT COLD!!!! Learned that lesson with a sweater a little bit smaller! Now I wash only on woolen, another light clicked... wool means delicate and delicate means cold!
After learning these settings, I decided to stick with woolen for most clothes and 60 for towels and sheets. This has been working for me for the past 3 months with clothes coming out clean and washed. Until the other day I decided, stupidly, to mix things up and I went for 60 STAINS for a load of towels. After loading the washer/ dryer and putting it on the 60 setting I waited for a sound similar to that of a rocket ship about to depart from earth. ( I forgot to mention the washer/ dryers are extremely loud and violent. They are not only are so loud you must have the TV volume on full blast to catch the gist of what is going on but they also shake the entire kitchen and its cabinets.) I sat back and waited for the load to finish. When the bell tolled and my laundry claimed to be done, I got up and opened the washer door. As I did this a waterfall of soapy water came gushing out onto the floor. As fast I could, I shut the door and looked at the devil machine to figure out what went wrong. And that is when I noticed the SPIN/RINSE option on the knob. Fair to say that I now only use the WOOLEN and 60 cycles and have invested a little time in reading the manual.
Monday 30 November 2009
Monday 9 November 2009
Spain!! oh yeah, and getting ENGAGED!!
Spain is AMAZING!!! And so, so very Spanish!! Andy and I went into Cadiz, via bus, and I was in love!! The bus dropped us off right in the middle of old town Cadiz. Then the hunt for our hotel was on! As Andy checked his hand written map, so smart I would have never thought to make a map hehe, and took us through this maze of history, I took pictures while running to keep up and screaming "I love this place!! Lets move here!!!" We found our hotel and it was literally tucked away in this maze of streets. The entire town was made of ally ways and intersecting streets with Spanish squares and a huge historic church or cathedral at every turn! It was amazing. We dropped off our bags and went exploring, hoping we would be able to find our hotel after we drank a few sangrias and glasses of beautiful Spanish red wine!!
We took off taking the first right and then left and there we were at another breathtaking church. We wondered inside to find your typical old Spanish style church decorated in head to toe crucifixes and Jesus painted in gold!! I LOVED IT!!! Anything gold and I am sold!! Andy kept telling me to "just wait" it gets better and better with the cathedral! After seeing the church we decided to take a breather and have a bottle of wine. We found a tiny corner restaurant with outside tables on a tiny street off a bigger busy one. We sat eating olives and drinking wine talking about how perfect and wonderful Cadiz is. I declared this was my NEW favorite place!!! And favorite city I have ever been to! Drinking a bottle of wine was fabulous but now we were starving and ready for some real authentic spanish cooking!!
We found a gorgeous street lit with overhead hanging lights and outside restaurants lined all the way up and down it left and right. We choose one not too packed where we were the only ones. In hindsight, maybe not a good sign that people were not eating here. We thought we had hit the jack pot when the waitress couldn't speak a word of English, "this will be soooooo authentic!" Well we couldn't have been more wrong........ Andy ordered a beef dish with tomatoes. I ordered chicken in a red sauce with peppers, tomatoes, and onion (thank goodness for the little spanish I do know!! It came in handy). When the meals came out Andy and I had the exact same thing.... a typical English meal, over cooked meat, fries, and peas and carrots!!!! I couldn't believe it!!! My chicken was so dry it tasted as if it had died of thirst in the desert then made into jerky!!! I took one look and said this in not what I ordered! It was no rojo y no tomate!!! And the pollo is fried!!! Andy, eating his like the proper English boy he is said, "I don't think mine is right either". "No Andy it isn't." So being the American I am, they should have never mistaken me for a Brit, I called the waitress over and got my point across. "No rojo, no tomate, NO BUENO!!!" And after repeating this phrase and having the owner come over and saying it a few more times, while pointing at the food and saying NO BUENO, they got the idea!! hahaha So we left after having our free appetizer of wine and olives. All and all I would say it ended up a plus!!! Free wine and it was authentic, just what we were looking for YUMMMM!! After the meal, and realizing I really should learn Spanish for real this time, we went off to a square, had some chorizo, and listened to the Spanish music while taking in the late night Spanish lifestyle of relaxing and laughing!
Saturday was site seeing day! We went to the fort, which was exactly like the fort in St. Augustine, to the weekend fish and meat market, ate some churro and then went to the lone Irish pub for a pint. After laughing at how strange it was to have this Irish pub tucked away in this old Spanish town and looking just like we had stepped back into the UK, we went on the hunt for the Cathedral. After about an hour of wandering around, I was not kidding about not knowing where you are, even with a map, we stumbled across the biggest square in Cadiz with the grand Cathedral. Before we ventured in we realized it was way past sangria time! So we had some more olives, a jug of sangria, and listened to an acoustic guitarist play western hits!
The Cathedral is so much more beautiful than anything I can describe. It is absolutely enormous with a huge gold tiled dome standing taller than another building in Cadiz. We went up in the tower and looked over all of old town Cadiz. It was amazing. We stayed up there trying to point out our hotel and long enough to hear the next ringing of the bells. My new favorite part of the trip!!!
We went back to the hotel to get showered, changed for dinner and to have a bottle of wine on the roof of the hotel before going out. The top of our hotel was stunning. The sun was setting and lighting up the gold dome with the Atlantic glistening behind it. And where the BEST part of the Spain trip took place!! As we were having wine Andy suggested we go over to the roof top of the building next to us so we could get a better view of the city. We hopped over and as we were looking out onto the cathedral, water and a city that looked like a picture from out of the Bible, Andy asked me to marry him!! He said it better than that and with more loving words, but I was in such shock and soooooo happy and saying yes yes yes that I can't really remember all the rest of it!! He took the beautiful most perfect ring ever out of his pocket and slide it onto my finger and of course it was a perfect fit! We sat there, Andy watching the sun set, me not peeling my eyes off my sparkling ring, and finishing our wine!! Then we ran down stairs so I could skype my Mom and Dad and Sam!! And tell them the good news!!!!!!
We found a gorgeous street lit with overhead hanging lights and outside restaurants lined all the way up and down it left and right. We choose one not too packed where we were the only ones. In hindsight, maybe not a good sign that people were not eating here. We thought we had hit the jack pot when the waitress couldn't speak a word of English, "this will be soooooo authentic!" Well we couldn't have been more wrong........ Andy ordered a beef dish with tomatoes. I ordered chicken in a red sauce with peppers, tomatoes, and onion (thank goodness for the little spanish I do know!! It came in handy). When the meals came out Andy and I had the exact same thing.... a typical English meal, over cooked meat, fries, and peas and carrots!!!! I couldn't believe it!!! My chicken was so dry it tasted as if it had died of thirst in the desert then made into jerky!!! I took one look and said this in not what I ordered! It was no rojo y no tomate!!! And the pollo is fried!!! Andy, eating his like the proper English boy he is said, "I don't think mine is right either". "No Andy it isn't." So being the American I am, they should have never mistaken me for a Brit, I called the waitress over and got my point across. "No rojo, no tomate, NO BUENO!!!" And after repeating this phrase and having the owner come over and saying it a few more times, while pointing at the food and saying NO BUENO, they got the idea!! hahaha So we left after having our free appetizer of wine and olives. All and all I would say it ended up a plus!!! Free wine and it was authentic, just what we were looking for YUMMMM!! After the meal, and realizing I really should learn Spanish for real this time, we went off to a square, had some chorizo, and listened to the Spanish music while taking in the late night Spanish lifestyle of relaxing and laughing!
Saturday was site seeing day! We went to the fort, which was exactly like the fort in St. Augustine, to the weekend fish and meat market, ate some churro and then went to the lone Irish pub for a pint. After laughing at how strange it was to have this Irish pub tucked away in this old Spanish town and looking just like we had stepped back into the UK, we went on the hunt for the Cathedral. After about an hour of wandering around, I was not kidding about not knowing where you are, even with a map, we stumbled across the biggest square in Cadiz with the grand Cathedral. Before we ventured in we realized it was way past sangria time! So we had some more olives, a jug of sangria, and listened to an acoustic guitarist play western hits!
We went back to the hotel to get showered, changed for dinner and to have a bottle of wine on the roof of the hotel before going out. The top of our hotel was stunning. The sun was setting and lighting up the gold dome with the Atlantic glistening behind it. And where the BEST part of the Spain trip took place!! As we were having wine Andy suggested we go over to the roof top of the building next to us so we could get a better view of the city. We hopped over and as we were looking out onto the cathedral, water and a city that looked like a picture from out of the Bible, Andy asked me to marry him!! He said it better than that and with more loving words, but I was in such shock and soooooo happy and saying yes yes yes that I can't really remember all the rest of it!! He took the beautiful most perfect ring ever out of his pocket and slide it onto my finger and of course it was a perfect fit! We sat there, Andy watching the sun set, me not peeling my eyes off my sparkling ring, and finishing our wine!! Then we ran down stairs so I could skype my Mom and Dad and Sam!! And tell them the good news!!!!!!
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