berlin blues

almost a year ago, i went to berlin on my own. had the good fortune of staying at a friend's massive apartment in the heart of the city so i didn't have to rough it out for real. however, this apartment was also big enough to house an army, with over 5 bedroooms. problem: it was just me so i kinda boing-ed around all that space, not really knowing what to do with it. it was also semi-creepy at night because there i was all alone and any strange noises WERE NOT ME.

but to cut a long nostalgia trip short, i bumped into my very gracious hosts in town and they remembered that about a year ago i was in berlin in their apartment. and they asked if i missed berlin. at first i thought it'd be hard to miss a place i spent a short four days at. but they're right, i do miss it and the absolute freedom and independence i enjoyed. not like my rights are curtailed back home (haha). far from! yet the liberation of solo travel and being able to wake up, walk out into a brand new city, take in brand new sights, enjoy brand new experiences and create brand new memories, is one of my favourite things to do. new-ness is underrated. much as there is comfort in familiarity, there's something to be said for exploration.

plus i loved the christmas markets and spent hours wandering around every market i could locate in the greater berlin area. misanthropic and narcissistic as it may seem, i like my own company very much, thank you.

you can read more about berlin below, if you like :)

berlin calling

berlin laundry

domestic bliss

(credits to W, whom we visited yesterday in her beautiful black and white that we can see from our window)

wish i didn't feel this way right now - but having single-handedly destroyed the washing machine on my first attempt (albeit two months in) at doing the laundry does little for one's already bruised ego.

p/s for the sadists out there, here's my cache of laundry diatribes.

berlin laundry part 2

(continued)

rather anti-climatically, i spent my last day in berlin doing laundry.

the lone instruction my host left me was to launder and replace the sheets so the next guest / the family when they're in town, would have clean bedding when they reach the apartment. he suggested that i leave 1-2h to do this.

good thing i'm hyper-efficient and a little more kiasu than i care to admit. so i thought i'd do laundry first thing in the morning and then i'd have the rest of the day to explore more of the city before my late night flight. so i wake at 0730 and do the first load. incidentally, whoever had stayed in the apartment before me didn't do laundry because the sheets were used and i'd to change them when i arrived. so i was a little miffed that i'd two loads of laundry to do and it's not that i'm charitable or anything, i just didn't want my host to think i was a slob so it was more self-interest than altruism that prompted my industry. don't mind cleaning up after myself, just don't want to clean up after random person, for free! randomly, i'd probably make a half-decent cleaning lady, if given the opportunity. ok so i loaded the machine and set it according to the recommended settings (host had been kind enough to leave an english manual out, turned to the right page and indicated which program to use etc) and waited. two hours later, it was still on rinse. three hours later, it was spinning and only after four hours did it finally transition into dryer mode. by which time, i'd run out of things to do and was anxiously pacing the apartment before resignedly sitting in front of the machine and allowing myself to be hypnotised by the spinning drum. not fun.

when the first load was finally done, it was time to put in the second load. and i snuck to the bakery on the corner to buy lunch and walked around the neighbourhood to cool off but essentially i was held hostage by the washing machine, a prisoner of my own sense of responsibility.

and i thought i'd only be plagued by laundry woes in stockholm!

berlin laundry

edit: turns out my iphone isn't able to type into the blog post box. apparently not one of it's 19284726 functions.

so, here goes.

i spent my last day in berlin doing laundry. and i thought that my laundry woes remained in stockholm.

back safe, will post proper when i'm more awake!

quote of the day

upon receiving my distress cry and coming to the laundry room

"you know, you're living proof that natural selection doesn't exist."

dear mr. washing machine no. 2

your temperamental nature and audacious refusal to showcase the time has caused me much grief and aggravation.

kindly explain why after letting you run till you stopped at whim, albeit without the time on display, my load was half-dry and did not smell any cleaner. mind you, this was despite the inexplicable disappearance of the washing powder i'd thoughtfully fed you.

it would be nice if you notified me prior to locking the door that you were not in the mood to do laundry. i would have understood, being also never in the mood to do laundry.

furthermore, i would appreciate if you did not rally dryer no. 2 to join you in protest. allow me to bring to your attention that he spat out my wet clothes in half the time i had set. and possibly at half the temperature too. i pride myself on my patience and long sufferance but it is a little more than i can handle when you both decide to revolt simultaneously. if you must fail to work, have the consideration to do so on two separate occasions.

allow me to apologise for the swift kick to your side, i had not intended for K to injure you when he came to my assistance. i trust you are insured for the extent of the dent. if not, you have little chance of claiming against K in tort. i am probably not the first to tell you that the swedish*system is unsympathetic to victims of assault.

i think it would be appropriate for us not to see each other for awhile. trust the desire for some time out is mutual. future use will be done by my proxy in approximately three weeks. i hear he is good at laundry and perhaps you two will get along better.

no hard feelings,

disgruntled resident with sopping wet laundry

example of

good parenting, swedish style.

talk about throwing the baby out with the bathwater!

the laundry chronicles

can't believe it's that time of the week again.

i had an almost-encounter in the laundry room!

this woman unloaded my laundry from the machine! HOW DARE SHE! it wasn't even her turn! SHE'S ONE OF THOSE LEGENDARY WASHING MACHINE HIJACKERS!!! i was so annoyed! what if i'd wanted to put in another load after my first load was done?!

after somewhat disgruntled-ly moving my laundry to the sole remaining dryer (the other, by the way, was also hijacked by some other inconsiderate poop) i left the laundry room in abject fear that the woman would subsequently hijack my dryer before my laundry was dry. because, she'd already hijacked the machine, what's to stop her from going the whole hog? so i returned to my room determined to make my presence felt in the laundry room and guard my dryer. however, better sense personified prevailed and when i went to pick up my dry laundry, everything was just as i'd left it. and the woman's laundry was waiting patiently in the laundry trolley for my dryer.

whew.

but i still dislike communal laundry.

the laundry post

(laundry shirt!)

no exchange blog is complete without a laundry post! and whilst i was trying to spare you the mundane details of my pseudo-independence, laundry is an amazing achievement.

i very excitedly gathered my pathetic load of laundry and brought it to the laundry room (5minutes from my building). why oh why do i not have a machine in my building. WHY. (thanks j for the laundry bags) you must understand that the excitement stems from anticipation because i tried very hard to book a laundry slot a few days ago but alas, they were all full! so the earliest available slot i could find was saturday 2pm. when most normal people are out in the sun enjoying their weekend. bummer. but i was determined to do my laundry and i eagerly wrote my name down. after waiting a few days and feeling the excitement of virgin laundry attempt build up, i attempted to increase my laundry load because, apparently, two semi-clean shirts do not a load make. and then i'd the brainwave of washing my new bedding from ikea! suddenly, instant load! tada! my laundry trip was now justified.

upon finding my machines (9 and 10 from 2pm-4pm) i discovered, to my horror, that someone else's laundry was still in it!!! which set of this whole train of events because i had no clue what to do with abandoned laundry. the machines had dirty surfaces so i couldn't just dump the damp laundry on my machine and get along with it. after much deliberation, i decided to help the irresponsible one and put his laundry in the corresponding dryer i.e. dryer 9. which i did, cringing all the way because it was boy's knickers and OHMYWORD SO GROSS SO GROSS SO GROSS and i very very delicately made sure i touched only the extremest edges and i wish i'd gloves because it's just so very disgusting but i did it and now some stupid person is going to have nice dry clothes. i have to admit this move was motivated more by paranoia than altruism because i didn't want to anger the irresponsible one who would then, presumably, irresponsibly proceed to pee into my laundry. which would be even more unpleasant than temporal contact with his unmentionables. and i very nicely left a note on my machine to direct aforementioned irresponsible neighbour to his laundry. lest he pee in my laundry in bewilderment at his missing load.

so there.

oh and i came back to my room after starting the washing cycle and saw my spanking new ikea bedsheet still half-sitting pretty on my bed. vaguely remember trying to remove it from the mattress then i must've gotten distracted by something and left without taking it with me. DARN! so now i'm going to continue sleeping on new, slightly plastic-y smelling sheets until the next laundry day.

the laundry chronicles! will update once i've my laundry back nice, dry and hopefully free of random person's pee. and also after i've stopped compulsively washing my hands with the strongest antiseptic i can find.

in other news, guess who scored tickets to coldplay tonight??? live! in stockholm! guess guess guess! -almost passes out in glee-