Domesticity

I have been surprised how focused I have been on setting up a home here. I have never considered myself domestic, but yesterday I found myself wanting to cook a pot of something good because it was so cold outside. Finding beans and spices was a challenge because of our inability to read labels. This is the reason why I find myself looking for name brands I know. Well, this is a lost cause. Even in a drugstore, I thought I could find Advil but maybe not read the directions. Here the products are different. Nothing is recognizable. Completely different brands. This was not true in Hungary or Thailand. I want to find out where their products come from. I did manage to find white beans, a small piece of ham, garlic, onion, celery and carrots, but spices--forget it! Nevertheless, yesterday I cooked a really satisfying pot of white beans. We also bought a rotisserie chicken and I fixed zucchini, onion, garlic, red pepper, and feta. They have all kinds of variations of feta and sell many different kinds of olives. Although I often buy our vegetables at Farmer's in SLO, the produce here tastes even better. There is also a lot of fruit--oranges and tangerines. The diet is amazingly healthy.
Restaurants will give you the option of having mashed potatoes or a salad with your meat entree.

I also washed clothes today, using the washing machine that is in the kitchen.  The drum is very small, but I did two loads easily. The dryer is a rack that you lay clothes on and let them air dry. Because the rack is not large, you are limited in how much you can wash at one time.

Showers are also interesting. I have decided that Europe just doesn't do showers or bathrooms like we do in the states. Bathing is strictly utilitarian; nothing about the set up promotes lingering or enjoyment. The apartment has a shower wand and drain in the floor next to the lavatory. To help prevent complete bathroom coverage, a rod with a shower curtain helps promote a separation, but not really. Water floods the floor because I don't think we are supposed to keep the water on except when we are pointing it at our body. I hate Navy showers when you turn off the water when you are sudsying. It is freezing. Did I mention that the high today was 30 degrees and the low 12?  With the drought at home, we collected excess water in buckets and then used that water to flush toilets. So my point is that we are not water wasters, yet we enjoy our showers. The size of American bathrooms and showers speaks to our love of bathing, and I suppose excess. Shaving legs in such an environment will be challenging.