A colleague from the states came over to give a lecture. He asked me about the cost of living, and what I did not like about living here. I don’t think I have anything surprising or interesting to say about what I don’t like. Like most people from the States, I do not like that people do not pick up after their dogs even when the dogs defecate on the sidewalk. This is nothing unique to Luxembourg. I have seen it in Italy and in France as well. More people smoke here, and you frequently have to walk through a cloud of smoke to get into a cafe and invariably the people walking in front of you in the city will be smoking.

My life has been rather isolated so far, so I can’t give a very accurate picture of the cost of things. Rent seems higher than it would be in the states. Here in the Chateau, we are charged 350€-1,650€ for utilities every month (in addition to water, trash, electric, and heat, this includes wifi and basic cable). Coffee makers seem to cost substantially more here. For example, I considered purchasing a red Nespresso Inissia Espresso Maker. In the US, I could order one from Amazon for US$90.85 with free shipping. Google tells me that right now, that’s 70.24€. The price direct from Nespresso is 98.90€, which includes tax. I’m not sure if that includes shipping, but since there’s a Nespresso store in Luxembourg City, I could just pick it up next time I’m down there. In contrast, the German Amazon sells them for 109€ with free shipping, while the French Amazon lists them for 127.95€ + 7.00€ shipping.

In the supermarket, most of the prices strike me as reasonable if I forget that the price is in euros and imagine that it’s in US dollars. It’s easy to forget that European prices include taxes, unlike in the US. Somethings cost about the same but are much better. For example, I paid 1.50€ for a marzipan croissant yesterday at the bakery. That’s about US$2.00, which is what you’d pay at Starbucks for a croissant of inferior quality. Cheese is another item where the prices may be about the same, but the quality here is far superior.

Some items are remarkably cheaper here. For example, one local supermarket is advertising a liter of Campari for 12.70€ (=US$16.35 today) and that includes all taxes. Depending on where you bought it, you could easily spend twice that in the states when you include tax.

The train is another huge savings. A monthly pass would cost me $2.20 per day for unlimited travel. My car insurance alone is more than $1/day. Add in gas, maintenance, and of course the cost of the car itself, and, well, I really wish we had trains at home (I know that some cities in the US have trains; I just don’t live in any of them).

Today was primarily a work day. Aside from teaching related activities, I took two walks around Differdange. In the morning, I walked to two pâtisseries/boulangeries that I found on Google maps. The buildings were there but the stores I had hoped to find had closed. I did find one that wasn’t on Google Maps on the way home. In general, I’ve found that Google Maps is less than up-to-date or even precise here. This may be because there still is no Street View in Luxembourg. But wandering is nice. I found this neat old house on my afternoon walk:

The excitement for tomorrow is having my TB test read. Be sure to tune in tomorrow!

Continuing my wild adventures, this morning I went to the larger supermarket several towns away. Here’s why this was dangerous: on Sunday mornings, the trains run hourly only. This would give me 37 minutes to get from the train station in Belval to the supermarket and back to the train station. The downside of missing the train wouldn’t have been merely that I’d have to wait an hour at a train station (although there’s not much there except for some benches and recycling bins) but I’d have to buy another ticket (or be fined). Yep, I was using the cheaper 2 hour ticket. Unfortunately, I’ve been feeling a bit feverish, so I’m sure that affect my judgment.

Anyway, when I got to Belval, the skywalk between the station and the mall was closed. I should have expected this since the supermarket is the only store in the mall that opens on Sunday. So I had to take the long way around the mall to get to the store. Once there, I moved quickly. The store was empty except for two other shoppers and one woman stocking (it turned out that she was also the cashier). I made it through the checkout in record time and was just about to sign the credit card receipt when the cashier discovered that she didn’t have a pen. She looked everywhere, evening went banging around in the back office. Meanwhile, in my head the theme from Jeopardy is playing. Finally she locates a pen and I’m on my way. But then, no!, I was actually 14 minutes early. I was the only one at the station as fog rolled in.

So far I have been amazingly wrong about how many people will be on the trains. I thought I’d be the only one this morning leaving from Differdange, but there were about a dozen. Once I went at rush hour expecting to be surrounded by other passengers, but I had the upper deck of the train car all to myself.

I forgot to mention Monoprix’s attempt to apologize for not having men’s clothes:

It was great cheese at an awesome price, but 1€? I’m not that easy.

After working for several hours, I took a walk. It’s amazing that in 30 minutes you can go from a city full of life to the abandoned D’Mine Grôven in the middle of the woods.

At the beginning, the trail followed the barely visible train tracks.

The are some neat old photos here for the trains that once used these tracks (see the pictures of Differdange and Thillenberg). These are more recent photos of the Thillenberg Mines, and these give you a look inside.

This morning I went to the farmers market in Luxembourg City. After I had purchased the items I came to get, I decided to buy a few Italian pastries. Once again, I got in trouble speaking Italian. I wanted to say “these” but I didn’t know the word in French so the Italian just came out without thinking. The couple running the booth were Italian. Of course. Once they heard me speak one word of their native tongue, it was like we were old friends. The woman was particularly good at sales. She would give me samples. While I was tasting them, she would detail the effort that went into each cheese or meat. Unlike CostCo where you can eat your samples and move on, I felt compelled to buy some of the cheese and prosciutto. I’m sure she saw me coming, as they say. Oh well. There are worse things to throw away money on than cheese and ham.

After that, I spent a couple of hours after the farmers market walking around the city. The city is quite hilly and has some spectacular views:

There are signs everywhere for the train station (there’s only one for the whole city), so it’s easy to get back no matter how far you wander. It’s a little less easy to get to somewhere in particular. My GPS is almost worthless here, perhaps because of the switchback roads along the hills, and there’s no consistent street signage. Whereas in the older parts of say Torino and Nice the street signs are on the corners of buildings, here they might be on the building or they might be on a pole or they just might not be (unless I missed them). There seem to be far more signs pointing you toward something rather than indicating where you are.

I came home for lunch around 1pm. I still had a valid train ticket so I decided to go to Dudelange, the third most populous city in Luxembourg after Luxembourg City and Esch-sur-Alzette (both of which I had been to). This does not mean that Dudelange is a big city; after all, Differdange is the fourth most populous city. According to Wikipedia, the populations of the four biggest cities were 76,420; 27,14; 17,320; and 10,248 in 2001. Even if those numbers have increased, the ratio between the cities has not. There is a huge drop in population between Luxembourg City and Esch. The population of Dudelange is not that much more than the number of Miami students in Oxford. Anyway, I got off at one stop in Dudelange and back on at another. The city closes off the main shopping street on Saturday afternoons, which is nice, although the drivers here are very much aware of pedestrians. Shortly after I left the station, I was greeted by this street sign:

After that auspicious beginning, things went, well, not down hill, but just not different than what I had seen elsewhere. I walked around but it didn’t seem much different than Differdange (not a slight). I did happen across a little park near the train station from which I left Dudelange:

I don’t think I’ve ever felt the presence of WWII as much as I have here. Notice the command at the end: Remember!

I forgot to mention earlier that we went to the Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial where over 5,000 US soldiers are buried, including General Patton.

From the profound to the trivial…

So now I am going to do what every American professor does in Europe: laundry and work for my classes. Yep, living the vida loca over here.

Update: I’m back with another laundry story or two. The machines do not start right away, so I like to hang out until I know that they’re actually going to be doing something. As you might imagine, there’s not much of interest in a laundry room. As I’m looking around, I notice that the dryer does not vent outside. Before you tell me about  how people do this in the winter to warm up their basements and add moisture to their houses, this isn’t that. The room doesn’t feel particularly warm or humid. In fact, I can barely feel the air coming out of the dryer (someone else was using it).

Now it’s my turn to use the dryer and…it won’t start. Here’s the control panel:

The two indicator lights on the left that are on I suspect are telling me something. I know that rein in German means pure or clean, so I take a wild guess that “Filter reinigen” means clean the lint trap in Dutch. I know this isn’t German because the other light is telling me water reservoir vol, which isn’t German. The first two words are clear enough. The last one is almost the German word for full (voll) but I’ve never heard of a dryer with a water reservoir. Having no better idea about what to do, I poke around the machine until I find—you guessed it—a water reservoir, somewhat like a smaller version of what’s in a dehumidifier. And guess what? It was full of water! I guess that explains where the water goes if it isn’t sent outside. I dump it out and I’m back in business! Who knew that doing laundry could be such an adventure.

Friday is my busiest day, at least as far as teaching is concerned. Both of my classes meet in the morning (there are no afternoon classes on Fridays to encourage students to travel).

I have a meeting and a reception this afternoon, and then…probably more grading.

A couple of us noticed how the Delhaize lion looks a lot like the Food  Lion logo. I’m not sure why I did this, but I happened to look in Wikipedia and Delhaize owns Food Lion.

Anyway, I had to go to Luxembourg City to be tested and x-rayed for tuberculosis. There are about seven different pieces of paper you need to pull together to get your residency permit (essentially you need to prove that you’re healthy, have a job and a place to live, and that you’ve registered with your local city hall). I’m almost done!

I spent most of the morning and early afternoon walking around Luxembourg City. I finally found a place that serves coffee and nothing else. It was wonderful!

I just hope I can find it again! It was tucked away in a courtyard of sorts.

I happened across another curious sign:

I’m not sure what that business does, but I was not expecting to see Kokopelli in Luxembourg.

Still no luck on the jacket/coat front, in case you were wondering. Saturday is the farmers’ market, so I’ll be down there again soon.

I am so far behind in posting that the next few posts will be brief. Besides, my main activities have been grading papers and preparing for my classes.

On Sunday (AKA the appliance day), I tried out the dishwasher in my apartment only to discover that it didn’t work. When the facility manager could not fix it, he called the technician. I expected one guy with a bunch of tools. Nope. Two guys, a pair of pliers, and a stair climbing dolly. This is what they did:

Cultural lesson #478: At least in Luxembourg, they commonly fix your appliances off-site. I suspect that my kitchen area is bigger than many, primarily since it’s also a dining room and living room. So that’s one reason for doing things this way. It probably saves time since the repair man doesn’t have to drive back-and-forth between his shop and the appliance.

“What do they do when your refrigerator breaks?” you might ask, thinking that it would be difficult to move a refrigerator. I suspect that most refrigerators in Europe are much smaller than the ones in the US. The refrigerator in my apartment is roughly 6′ high, 2′ wide, and probably 30” deep. That’s significantly more narrow than most US refrigerators. It’s plenty big for me, especially since I go to the store almost every day.

Yesterday I continued my quest for a winter coat. I’ve decided that it might be too early. What is disappointing is that many clothing stores either do not have men’s clothes or don’t have any for men over 25. I went all the way down to Luxembourg City to check out a coat I had seen online at Monoprix, and they not only didn’t have it, but they didn’t have any men’s clothes at all. So I went to Esch today, only to have the same thing repeated—stores without men’s clothing or with just a small selection. One thing I have learned on by visiting many stores in Luxembourg is that either the men here think differently about shopping than they do in the states, or men just don’t shop for clothes in Luxembourg. Maybe they go to France or Germany. I say this because if you’ve ever been to a department store in the states, you know that the men’s section is always by a door. Why? Because men like to dart in and dart out. Put the men’s stuff in the back and we won’t go in. Well, that’s not what they do here. Most of the time the men’s clothing was in the back of the store.

On my way home from Esch, I decided to see what the other terminus was like. Rodange seems  like a suburb—there are few shops than there are in other towns and more houses, which isn’t to say that it’s not beautiful:

I’m not sure why I like this but I do:

Strangely, Luxembourg Google doesn’t include maps.

Anyway, after I returned home, it was time to grade papers, which I did until nearly 23h. And now it’s time to sleep before the roofers return shortly after sunrise…

This morning I went to the Belval Shopping Plaza, which is only 12 minutes away from Differdange by train. If you look at TripAdvisor, people do not like the Plaza, primarily because not all of the shops are occupied and because there are not many people in the Plaza. One person thought it had a post-apocalyptic feeling (wie aus einem Endzeit-Drama). It is true that if you like your shopping to be cheek by jowl with other shoppers, you will not like the Belval Plaza. I personally prefer it when the number of customers is approximately equal to, or even less than, the number of employees. So I liked the Plaza. True, the stores are not very exciting, but they have solid offerings. The Delhaize that anchors the mall is definitely worth the trip from Differdange. Perhaps best of all, the Plaza is attached to the train station by enclosed walkways.

The walk from the Château to the train stop (it’s not a station) is very nice. There’s a shortcut to the stop through a park, and on the way home, most of the walk is around this school:

I believe the school was originally a house built by a steel magnate, who then decided (or his wife decided) after the house was built not to live in Differdange. Apparently the house has marble floors and whatever else was en vogue among the wealthy a century (I’m assuming) ago. It’s funny to picture pre-schoolers running around in such luxury.

I was poking around in the Château’s library today, and what should I see but this:

I have no idea why they have nearly a decade of Arizona Highways, but there it is.

Oh, and today was the first day of class. And the last day that MUDEC was philosophy class free.

Today is the day before classes begin, so this posting will be short and perhaps not very interesting.

I have been doing most of my shopping at the local Proxy. I had assumed that this was its name, like Kroger, Safeway, etc. I figured out, however, that the store’s name is Delhaize. “Proxy” is a way of distinguishing the three different kinds of stores they have. Proxy is supposed to be a neighborhood store with more products than their Shop & Go stores (which I assume are convenience stores) and the stores with no designation (which I assume are supermarchés). The nearest full-sized store is 12 minutes away by train. I went to the Proxy this morning shortly after it opened because I wanted to see what kind of pastries they had (normally by the time I get there the fresh pastry/bread section is all but empty). My plan was to buy breakfast there if they had anything that looked good. If not, to hop on the train for Belval where the full-sized store is. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the shop where I have been buying croissants was open. People will tell you that stores are not open on Sundays in Luxembourg. While that does seem to be true of the malls, I don’t think it’s true of the smaller stores, at least not in Differdange. Already at 8:30am, many of the places I pass on the way to the supermarché were open. So, I will postpone my train ride for another day.

I am also attempting to do laundry as I write. The Dean warned the students that European washing machines take around 2.5 hours to do a load. The machines here have an express setting, but I stuck with the regular wash. The settings on the machine were in Dutch (which I could understand when they were close to the German) and international icons (which I do not understand at all). The detergent comes in squares, much like giant bullion cubes. The instructions on the box offered too many choices. There are two places to put the detergent squares. It wasn’t clear to me if the second one is required or is only for very dirty clothes, so I put only one square.

Well, I found the manual online. Let’s just say that some of my assumptions were wrong. I don’t think my clothes will be damaged; just not washed particularly well. My experience with a European vacuum cleaner when more smoothly, but, alas, my dishwasher doesn’t work. There’s one knob and one button, so I’m reasonably sure it’s not user error.

The rest of the day was spent getting ready for tomorrow, the first day of classes. Not only is the first day of classes here, but it’s also the first day that philosophy has been taught at Miami’s Luxembourg facilitates!