laundry day

last friday, after passing my 3-week anniversary here, i decided it was time to attack the laundry problem. (yes, i have a LOT of underwear -- i wasn't even running out.) downstairs i went with my newly bought detergent and big blue laundry bag. there were a few german-french-italian instructions on an open flap at the bottom of the washing machine, so i tried understanding them, loaded the machine, pushed some buttons, and let it start. did i say open flap? all of a sudden, the machine was barfing large quantities of water out the front. this didn't seem quite right, but i wasn't sure, since there was a drain in the room where the water was properly headed, so it could have been some weird swiss thing. i was worried, though, and thought maybe i shouldn't have put ALL my essentials in that first load. after a few minutes, the machine gave an error code that indicated (surprise): no water. i tried again, this time attempting to close the flap. however, right behind the flap was a large open pipe, so when the spewing began again, the flap was no help in holding back the deluge. i looked around helplessly. conveniently, the instruction manuals (three versions of each) for the washer and dryer were in the room. i found the french one since i had the best chance of understanding it, and saw some pictures of a removable part that plugged the offending pipe. of course, the plug thing was sitting just to the side of the machine, right in front of me where i was sure to not see it... i screwed it in place, started the thing up again, and heard the satisfying sound of water collecting in a basin. success at last!