Day 32: Labor Day
Reset
The day has finally arrived to do laundry! When originally packing for Germany, I decided that I didn’t want to do laundry too often, so I packed enough to last me between 3-4 weeks at a time. Each cycle would reset with laundry day. My Airbnb has access to a shared building laundry machine in the basement next to my unit.
It’s a funny sight when you see the laundry machine. It stands isolated on its own, in the middle of the room, not even sitting flush next to a wall. It’s also not a very large machine, so you feel unusually large next to it. Like most things in Europe, it’s small, space efficient, and gets the job done well.
Working through a bowl of cereal, I waited until my laundry was done to go down and place my clothes on a drying rack. Dryers aren’t really a thing here, so that’s something new to get used to. I gave it about 20 minutes to dry on the rack downstairs before transporting my clothes up to my apartment. I laid out my socks on the kitchen table bench and the heated towel rack in the bathroom to speed the drying process.
It was a solid start to the day off.
The Day of the Worker
Across the world, May 1st is regarding as International Workers’ Day (also known as Labor Day or May Day). Consequently, many countries officially recognize this day as a federal holiday, including Germany. In a country where workers’ unions and councils have an incredibly strong presence, it’s no surprise that May Day is a celebrated federal holiday.
As I understand, many people like to grab a wagon full of beer and go on a hike with their friends, playing fun trivia games and what not throughout the day. Contrary to my understanding, restaurants and businesses still operate, but large stores, like grocery stores, supermarkets, etc. observe the day off for their employees.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t feeling particularly great today, so my day really started at around 12:30PM (after laundry, of course). But I spent the afternoon catching up with some great friends and co-workers, chatting over coffee, ice-cream and beer.
We took a ride on a nearby trolley that operates on an interesting gear-lock mechanism that scales one of the main hills leading into Stuttgart. It’s a popular ride for mountain bikers who hop on to bypass the grueling up-hill battle to the top. Stopping off at a nearby station, we jumped out for a quick view over the city and a good photo opportunity. It was raining, so we didn’t stay out too long.
After catching up over a few hours, and setting a date for a future dinner night coming up soon, we parted our separate ways. For the remainder of the day, I caught up on the news, the results of F1 and the NBA playoffs, and did some prep for the coming work week.
Today, it’ll be my first time commuting from downtown Stuttgart to Sindelfingen, so I’m curious to see how it goes.
Frieden und Liebe ❤️ (translation: peace and love)