Happy New Year, everyone!

We have emerged from the holidays this year unscathed, and I hope that everyone else has too!

I have discovered a new bus line with a stop that is very convenient stop to the local grocery store, and a branch of our bank. Waiting at the stop outside the Delhaize with my bag of groceries has brought me into contact with some of my elderly neighbors. I can only hope that I will be as spry as the 90 year woman I saw dash like a gazelle for the number 9 bus this morning, with a large grocery bag in each hand. The bus drivers here are relatively peremptory, and this gentleman in particular seemed almost disappointed that she made it.

We received our new combination washer/dryer yesterday. The delivery men managed to get it up the stairs with ease, and within a few minutes had it installed in our tiny kitchen. They helpfully gave me some tips on how to use it. At one point the impenetrable Language Barrier of Bewilderment fell between us, as they tried to remember the English word for "fabric softener". We all smiled and shrugged, and I was much relieved to find that there was an English language section to the instructions that they left on our kitchen counter. It really is an interesting thing. It uses relatively little space, electricity and water compared to American appliances. The capacity is a princely 4.5 kg, which I think is equal to roughly two of the super-sized towels that we got as wedding presents. Once you are done washing, the very same machine then dries your clothes, using some mechanism to condense the water. It doesn't even have a vent outside. It's not as big or fast as I was used to from the US, and I think it will take me a week to feed all of the mountain of clothes we had managed to create through it, but I don't mind in the least! No more wheeling a heavy, bulky suitcase full of dirty clothes for a twenty-five minute walk through two construction zones to the Laundromat! Hooray!