Laundry

Most houses in this neighborhood have a little patio area outside. Usually, the women string clothes lines across the patio area to dry laundry. The previous tenants of our house used the patio area to build an addition. Since we don't have a patio, there isn't an obvious place to hang clothes to dry.

I didn't think much about our laundry situation until Sunday when I noticed the week's worth of dirty clothes had started to take over the bedroom. I asked Hugo to drill some screws into the (concrete) walls so I could string a clothes line in the back of the house (an area we don't use). First thing Monday morning, I would do the previous week's laundry. That should keep me busy for the morning, right?

Wrong! It kept me busy for the entire day! And I only got through half the pile! We don't have a washing machine, so I have to wash all the clothing by hand. Each house has a sink that is used for both washing dishes and washing clothes. The sink has two sides: a shallow section and a deep section. Typically, the women fill the deep section with water. They store the water in this open area and always make sure it is filled to the brim. They dip a bowl into the deep part of the sink and scoop out the water they need. I, however, think that is disgusting. All the sinks that I've seen in other people's houses have bugs floating in the water. I've never understood why the water has to be sitting there all the time. Why can't you just run the tap when you need water? Well...I found out why.

It's because when you are doing laundry, you just about have to dislocate your shoulder to reach back to the tap to get a bowl of water. And, it takes ten times longer to wait for the tap to fill the bowl. If you could just dip the bowl into a reservoir of water, it would be so much easier!

As for the actual washing part...
I lay a garment out on the shallow part of the sink. I pour water over the item until it is saturated. Then, I rub a bar of soap all over the garment until it is sudsy. I flip the item over and suds again. For stubborn areas, I have a scrub brush. When the garment is clean, I pour water over it until the rinse water runs clear. Then, I wring out the item and hang it on the clothes line (oh, my poor aching blisters hurt just thinking about wringing out all those clothes!).

That entire process was just for one item. Even if I were to stay on top of things and do laundry every day (an don't let a massive pile accumulate again), I will have a minimum of 13 items. Certain things are easy...like socks. They are little. I struggle with pants. The sink is not long enough to lay the pants out entirely flat. I have to wash a section, fold it up, wash the next section, fold it up, etc. It takes forever. And, they are very difficult to rinse. I'm pretty sure all of our pants still have soap in them. It's ok if jeans crunch, right? I'm dreading when I have to wash our bed sheets. I might just buy new ones. It is going to be a nightmare trying to get a sheet from a queen size bed to fit into a sink that is 2 feet by 4 feet.

And you should see how wet I get. When I'm slopping those wet clothes around, the water goes everywhere! After I do laundry, I have to change my entire outfit (which only adds to the to-do list) and mop up puddles about five feet from the sink.

Here a few pictures: my sink and the clothes line! :)