As I prepare to move to Switzerland, a very wonderful list comes my way via email attachment. The girl who's moving out of the apartment I'll be moving into is offering to sell me some of her furnishings. The list is in French and very organized with furnishings listed under headings by room. The bedroom is first with all the usual suspects - bed, for one. A desk and shelf are also thrown in there. Then I come to kitchen. The first item makes me run for the dictionary even though I know I'm reading it correctly: "A light blue camping stove with two burners and an old fan oven." Skip over a spice rack and garbage can and I arrive at "One camping butane tank and one wooden stool from IKEA."
I don't know what is more staggering - being asked 40 CHF for a tank of butane and an IKEA stool, I mean how much butane are we talking here - or the fact that it's listed under kitchen in the first place. Naturally I begin to imagine myself perched on the edge of the wooden stool from IKEA, cooking on a camping stove on the floor of my kitchen in Switzerland. For dessert will be, of course, s'mores! This is not an attractive picture.
I attempt to counter these thoughts, which are growing increasingly absurd by the second, with some reasoning. The wooden IKEA stool perch and stove have now moved out to the small balcony - yes, even in the Alpine winter, where I huddle near the pitiful flame, thankful that I am not inhaling too much butane and thereby dying. Wait! The Swiss are exceedingly outdoorsy people, I remember, this gal must be an avid camper, right?? Maybe, but I am thrown by the heading of "Other" at the bottom -- wouldn't camping gear go under other?
In the end, I email the sender of the list with my potentially (hopefully) ridiculous questions and hope for a favorable reply.
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