Unexpected differences (part 2)

So apart from driving and minor language differences, which actually can be a bother when you're trying to communicate (our Greece travel info recommends we pack a torch, but no lighter fluid for some reason, lol), there are some other things that are surprisingly different here.

First, let's take the restroom.  Now, what do you do when you are ready to flush, and see this (it's only about 1.5 inches across) on the top of the water cistern:

OK, so you choose to push one side.  The button sinks an inch!  But nothing happens.  You think, ok, this is ok, and push the other side.  Nothing happens.  Both?  Nothing.  Finally, some random-seeming combination of the two causes a flush.  This is at the bowling alley on base, and I still haven't figured it out.

So, at our house, we have this mounted on the wall in the restroom:

Guess what!  It flushes the toilet!!  The cistern (that holds the water) is built into the wall.  I finally looked up the difference between the buttons, and it's intuitive - the big button is for a big flush, the smaller is for a smaller flush.  Ha!  

Speaking of household items, check this out:

This is our clothes washer, I'm pretty sure the numbers are temperature settings, since there's a digital display that shows how long the cycle you have it set on will take.  It took me a bit to realize it was showing the length of time, since it said things like 212 and 238, but yes, some wash cycles take over 2 hours to run!  If you hit the "quick wash" button, it only takes an hour.  And the load is small, maybe 5 bath towels.  Crazy!  We are learning to re-wear our sweaters and what not.  :)

Same washer, left hand side.  I'm still wondering why you would want to change the spin speed.  It DOES sound like it's getting ready for lift off at the end of the cycle, but what good could come of under-spinning your wet clothes? 

Just to complete the picture, this is where the soap (oh, such a small amount!!) and fabric softener go in.  :)

Now for the dryer:

I'm still trying to figure out the difference between Cupboard Dry and Ready to Wear, though in practice Ready to Wear seems to get the clothes dryer.  Which makes little sense to me, since wearing damp clothes is better than folding them up for storage.  Go figure. 

Oh, and I mentioned this on FB, look, this is the cartridge that holds the water that the dryer gets out of the clothes!!  You have to dump it out each time, and it collects at least a quart from most loads.  Crazy!

Ah, the appliances.  This is the control for my oven:

You push the knob and it pops out so you can spin it.  But to what?  I get "light"... then broiler and half broiler?  Oven with fan, and without?  And what's the difference between the symbols at 5 o'clock and 9 o'clock?  I don't really know.  I use the "fan oven" most often, and so far, so good.  :)

Above is part of the oven controls... I don't understand them at all.   I think the one on the right may be a timer, but it might set the oven to turn on at a certain time, so I'm not messing with it.  :)  Oh, and this picture doesn't show it, but lots of the clocks here are 24 hour clocks, and business hours are often listed that way, like 0800-1700.  We're getting used to that too. 

Above is one of our wall radiators, with it's knob control.  Now, there IS a thermostat, AND a timer system, but every radiator except the one in the hall has the knob too.  Apparently, we're supposed to turn them each down or off and close the door when we're not in a room.  As I understand it, there's a boiler in our pantry, and it pumps hot water through the radiators in the house.  This occasionally sounds like mice running around, and freaked me out for the first few days.  But, listening carefully and following the sound, I figured it out.  :)

Now, a word about food.  Thank goodness Jason and Shelly warned us that "bacon" here is a thick, wide slice of ham, but I'm still surprised when I order a bacon cheeseburger off base and get a slice of ham on my burger.  Weird.  On base, we have plenty of crispy bacon, so no worries.  :)

But the weird difference in food here is two fold.  First, we have the military weird stuff:

Apparently the US Forces in Europe have a dairy.  I'm sure this is old news to lots of you, but I still get a giggle when I buy my US Forces whipping cream.  BTW, I am generally against "light" anything, but that was all they had in stock that day.  The commissary here is much more hit and miss than Winco.  :)

Then, there's the produce we buy in town. BTW, I was talking about the difference I'm about to describe with a British spouse at Scott's work Christmas party, and apparently "produce" is not what they call it.  He was like, What?  Anyway, it's all wrapped in plastic (you get a full package, even if you didn't want that many), and check out where it comes from!

This picture is just of the lid, the strawberries didn't last long.  :)

 

These eggs are from the commissary, off base not only are eggs sold only in 6 packs, they are also sold on the regular shelves, not the refrigerated section.  This has made it hard to find eggs in the stores, I can't figure out what they usually are sold next to here... pasta?  I need to figure that out. 

I know it makes sense that a bunch of produce would come from Europe, but I still think it's cool that my strawberries are from Egypt.  :)