Laundry ~ Russian Style

While this may look like an ironing board it is not, it is what an American might call a drying rack.  What an American might use to dry a sweater or lingerie.  However, in Russia this is called a dryer.  And it is what is used to dry everything!  In this picture it is holding tow loads of wash.  Now, don't go getting all excited until you read about the capacity of the washer.  

Since objects may appear larger in the pic, the diameter of the washer is 12 inches and the depth of the drum is 16 inches.  Go ahead, I'll wait here, you measure yours.  The last washer I bought was called an Extra Large Capacity Washer, this is decidedly not.  

As soon as we got internet I used Google Translate to translate the settings on the washer/dryer.  Well, some of the settings, some did not translate and some made no sense when translated, "in the closet" and "under the iron".

When I read the description of the apartment it said it had a dryer.  I assumed it meant a dryer like I had in America.  We all remember what our 6th grade English teacher told us about the word assume?!  The apartment did in fact have a drying rack, the apparatus seen in the first picture.  The washing machine is a dual purpose machine it is a washer/dryer.  However, it does not function as an American dryer might, drying the clothes until dry.  Instead it makes them less wet, still requiring them to be hung until dry.  Thus necessitating more use of the bottom apparatus, the iron and ironing board!  In the states when one does a load of laundry and then it is put away, sometimes it is not correctly put away and it ends up back in the dirty clothes pile/hamper/basket?  Or when the children are young or teenaged and they go through several outfit changes and some of them are NOT dirty, but still end up in the hamper?  It is a little frustrating to wash clean clothes, however here it more than a little frustrating and my family has been duly warned :)