Money, Laundering, and Mistaken Identities

While there are some things about our visit here that we love--the great international diversity on campus and in the city, the bakeries, the availability of public transportation--it is also making us appreciate how affordable some things are in the U.S. In Stuttgart, to take a short bus ride to and from a mall/grocery store about a mile and a half away, one adult would have to pay 3.80 Euros (about $5.75; so far, we have walked!). A family "deal" for the subway downtown (going a few miles and crossing just one price zone) and back is 9.30 Euros (about $14). Actually, that deal includes trips all day within the two price zones--I'm learning to use this extra trip to get groceries--so it isn't quite as bad if you need to use that feature.

Because we are on campus, our laundry facilities are probably considered relatively cheap here, with washing and drying at 1.50 Euros (about $2.25) per small load, each (that is, $4.50 per small load to wash and dry). In our first week, five small loads ran up a bill of about $22, and we quickly discovered that the towel warmer in the bathroom can double as a clothes dryer! Unfortunately, our laundry detergent did not seem to be getting out dirt stains very well. As I mentioned earlier, Cam did the grocery shopping our first day here (with the help of two other male colleagues--one a native German). Puzzling over why the clothes weren't getting very clean, I pulled out my English-German dictionary and slowly deciphered the label on the infamous laundry detergent (yes, the same one I had earlier mistaken for milk). While most of the label is in French, the word "Frisheschutz" ("fresh protection") in small type on the front made me a bit suspicious, as well as "Febreze-Effekts" more prominantly displayed on the back. Finally, in tiny obscure type on the side, "Weichspülerkonzentrat" (softener concentrate) made me realize we had just washed five loads with fabric softener. As I mentioned to a friend, Cam's "expert" guidance at the grocery store make me think this is less an issue of language barrier than perhaps gender barrier!

German is a "Lego language," with the vocabulary theoretically easy to learn because large words are generally made up of smaller words pieced together for a combined meaning--sometimes. When trying to decipher the instructions on a package of Knorr soup mix last week, I came across the word "Schneebesen." I knew "Schnee" to be snow, and looking up "Besen" found "broom." Finally, from the pictures on the package, I realized that "snow broom" means a wire wisk. Still trying to figure that one out!