Tue, 05 May 2026 16:16:39 +0200WeeblyWed, 27 Mar 2019 23:00:00 GMThttp://www.thekorstens.com/day-to-day/the-dryer-and-i-have-come-to-an-agreementI have now, officially had a love/hate relationship with three different washing machine/dryers here in the Netherlands.  Our first bungalow park was in Limburg and we were only there for four days.  And since we traveled for over 18 hours (door to door) I really wanted to wash the travel off of all our clothes ASAP. So, clearly I was very happy to find a washing machine in our unit.  But where was the dryer?  Did this mean I needed to hang everything on the weird plastic/metal drying rack that was folded down in the corner and wait days and days for things to fully dry in this humid climate?  No, I could figure this out. Where was the manual?  Oh dear, the manual was in Dutch, French and German.  No help there.  But wait, I have a  Dutch husband...nope, he was already gone to a work meeting. Enters our hero of the day....Google Translator (well, maybe).  So, I proceeded to attempt to translate the foreign words on this appliance that I was oh so familiar with.  Did that work?  Nope, not very well.   What I did discover though was that the dryer was included inside the washing machine (hurrah).  Okay, I now knew I had a washer and a dryer.  I knew I had one load of light/whites, one load of darks, and one load of jeans.  I was so excited to begin.  I put the first load in, added a soap pod, selected donker (for darks), selected a temp in Celsius (no idea how hot or cold that was) and pushed start.  Then what should appear on my screen but the time of 4:53.  What?  Will this load of washing and drying take almost 5 hours?  Yes, yes it will and will the clothes be dry?  No, no they will not be dry.  So, now I had a decision to make.  Do I let it run or do I stop it and try the speed cycle.  Well of course I stopped it and tried the speed cycle for wash only.  I was so excited until 50 minutes later the bell dinged and I opened that door only to find that half the clothes were still dry and the soap pod was only partially gone. Back to the drawing board. I have to say, it was a good thing I didn't have a job or anything else to do!  So I set the regular cycle and walked away.  Half a day later, they were done, but still NOT dry.  I then added an additional dry cycle. Nope, still not dry. I guess that drying rack thingy was a good idea.  So, I hung everything up and decided to try the washer in the next Bungalow.  I took the remaining dirty laundry with us.

On our first Friday in the Netherlands, we moved across the country to our second Bungalow.  We would be there for at least three weeks. This Bungalow had two machines, a washer and a dryer...yay!  So, a few days in, I decided to try again.  I took the light load, a soap pod and loaded the machine. I pulled what looked like the drawer for the soap out (just to see).  But, wait, it was a tank full of water.  It was about 4 inches tall by 7 inches wide, by 18 inches deep and completely full of water.  What was this machine?  Upon further investigation, I discovered a lint screen.  This wasn't the washer, it was the dryer!  A dryer with a 2+ gallon water reservoir....what?  So, I emptied the water tank into the adjacent sink and moved the clothes and the soap pod to the other machine.  Again, Google Translator ....sort of to the rescue.  I only got so far and then I was forced to call in the Dutch geek squad....my hubby.  And what was the first thing he did?  He pulled out his phone and began to translate.  I then asked him, "don't you speak the language here?" and he answered with a laugh, "yes, but this is in German".  ZOINKS SCUBBY!  So, we got it going on the correct cycle (2+ hours), it finished and I moved it to the dryer.  I set it to what I thought was correct and pushed start:  4 hours and 35 minutes....WHAT!  No way. I would have to go with the quick dry.  I'm optimistic, it might work. Two hours later (on the quick cycle mind you), I pulled everything out and began searching for that plastic/metal drying rack thingy.  And again, my living room was full of drying laundry.  What am I doing wrong here. Could simple laundry be so different in these modern times? 

So what does an American woman do in a foreign country when faced with adversity?  That is correct, I started googling everything I could about laundry in the Netherlands.  Can I just say that there was a lot more information out there than I expected.  And, yes it is very different than in the U.S.  So, I struggled through the next couple of weeks.  I hung a lot of clothes on that rack.  I tried all the cycles and nothing really got the clothes dry, plus I  emptied that tank after every single drying session.  It was always completely full after each load!  Weird!

Next step, move to the rental house. Which just happened to be on the very day our Bungalow park rental ended. When we moved I made sure every item of clothing and laundry was clean (and DRY).  But would we really have enough clean clothes from 6 suitcases for 4 people to last us for a couple of months while I tried to find a washer and dryer that actually worked? Sadly I knew no one in my family would go for that. So, with some sound advise from my sisters in law, we logged onto Cool Blue. We researched and we decided to go with the good old standard American Whirlpool. Mostly because it was affordable and we recognized the brand....lol.  We selected our choice, added it to the cart, paid for it and then to my great joy and surprise, we were able to select what time of day we wanted it delivered the very NEXT DAY (only our third day in the house)!  Wow, I guess being in a small country has some advantages. True to their word, Cool  Blue delivered our lovely little set of  laundry appliances the very next day.  They were so nice too.  They switched to English as soon as I answered the door. They installed the set, gave me the English manual for the washer and said "dag" (bye).  As an added bonus, they hooked the dryer to a drain so I never had to empty that weird reservoir that was indeed also in my American brand appliance. 

So the process began again.  Me, a cup of tea and Google Translator.  Through trial and error, I finally settled on a wash cycle for "mix" that was only a bit over 1 hour and I could control the temp from 40C down to 20C or zero.  I could also control how much water spins out of the clothes (important for dryer clothes going into the dryer).  Okay, one machine down.  Now, on to the dryer. This machine has no English manual, not even from the company or online.  So, again, my hubby was my hero.  He helped me figure out the cycles, but every time I selected "closet dry" (because I don't have one of those plastic/wire rack thingys) the number 4:50 would pop up on the screen.  REALLY, how was I going to get laundry done if I had to wait almost 5 hours per load?  Apparently this is so that energy can be conserved, but I don't know how that works when it takes almost 5 hours?  Anyway, I fought this issue for a few weeks, then I decided that the dryer and I needed to come to an understanding.  I agreed with him (most Dutch people give inanimate objects pronouns), that I would let him try and run that nearly five hour cycle, if he would return my clothing in a state of complete dryness.  So, I set it up and nervously waited.  

Oh how little faith I had in him.  Low and behold he came through as promised.  Apparently, the maximum setting is 4 hours and 50 minutes, but he has a sensor inside and he stopped when the clothes were dry.  So, in just a short hour and a half, he delivered as promised.  Now, I know I just needed to trust a little more and relax, even when I didn't understand what the heck was going on (which, by the way, happens to me a lot here). 

Besides being silly, frustrating and funny, this experience has taught me something bigger.  Life is kind of like laundry.  It is messy!  We get tossed around, soaked and then we might get hung out to dry or not dry, as the case may be. But in the end, if we can find a way to let go, relax, trust the process and more importantly, trust in THE Higher Power (and I don't mean Whirlpool).  Faith tells us things will probably come out dry, fluffy and clean.  Sometimes they don't, but if we can learn to  trust and let the almighty HIM deliver as He promised, HE always will.  I am grateful for the little struggles (most of the time).  They can make us laugh, and sometimes cry, but they always offer an opportunity for learning, if we are open.  Now I need to go fold laundry.  No one has invented a machine for that yet!


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