Laundry Adventures

Dear Family,

I am alive! The past week has been chaotic, but I am back on my feet, and with a few days of sleep under my belt, ready and rearin’ to get back into the swing of things! Although, truth be told, I can never sleep in until 7 am at the very latest, despite my fervent and persistent efforts to make it until lunch without stirring from my Bed of Indolence. I wake up every day at 6, look at my watch in disbelieving exasperation, and roll over- an hour later, I pick it up again, and discover that a mere 45 min to an hour have passed. At this point, lying about in a lazy manner becomes painfully dull, more so than getting up and sweeping the floor or doing laundry, so I push off the quilt and shuffle through my daily routine. Can I just say, it stinks to be on vacation and still stick to a school/working schedule out of sheer boredom? I’m not even being served 7 am breakfasts until Tuesday, and I’m waking at the crack of dawn! Sheesh. Stupid body clock. (lol)

The weather in Changzhou is just as charming as ever, consisting of dusty wind and intermittent rain- Dad says that you guys are currently enjoying pleasant weather, and I am glad of that! Here, the temperature is still wobbling between forty and sixty degrees. I’ve gotten so accustomed to it, in fact, that when I walked into Laura’s room on Monday, I thought her heater must be up to ninety, at least! She calmly replied to our incredulous inquiries that the temperature was a balmy sixty degrees, and that typically, our rooms don’t go over fifty to fifty-five. Wow, I had thought that was the outside temperature! It explains so much, though; I could never understand why, if our heater was functioning, it was that I had to wrap up in a quilt to sit down and read a book. Or why people still got numb fingers from typing on the computers at the school building if the weather was warm. *sigh*

Using the computers is a hassle most days, so I usually go every other day- that way I am always delighted with a full inbox, and can happily justify using a full hour to go through them. It’s important to get out entertainment where we can, here. Most of us have little to do besides work, read, use the computers, or do laundry. And before you scoff at the thought of washing clothing as a form of enriching entertainment, let me tell you that the process is significantly different here, and infinitely more engaging. In fact, because I am feeling like describing the process for you (mild familial torment via letters is also an accepted form of diversion), I’ll not skimp on the details.

1. I approach the machine. It looks like a typical washing machine, despite the Chinese characters instead of English labels, but it is as different as a canteen from a vase. The functions are similar, but the similarity ends quickly. The washer has only a power cord connecting it to the wall, no water hoses or vents are involved. There is a spigot protruding from the wall, with a blue plastic hose clamped on with a wire, from which the water for washing is obtained. The machine has two hatches, one for the washing, the other for spinning. There are three dials (which cannot be read, only guessed at): wash timer, drain/fill/?, and spin timer.
2. I lift my pile of clothing, and dump it all into the larger bin. There is no need to sort clothing, as it will all be washed with cold water, and will not be in long enough to allow color seepage.
3. I check the middle dial, and make sure it is set to ‘fill’. The last time I left it on ‘drain’, and tried to fill it, the water spilled out of the drainage hose beneath and made a filthy mess on the tile. I guess I know why the laundry area is set in a depression rather than even ground, eh?
4. It is set on fill. I scoot the entire thing over to the spigot, and turn on the water. As the hose delivers the liquid, I dump an amount of laundry detergent into the tub. I have no idea how much of this I’m supposed to use (the instructions are in Chinese), but I do enjoy the thrills of watching bubbles form on the surface of the increasingly grey water.
5. The clothes are covered in water, so I turn off the spigot and close the hatch. I scoot the whole thing closer to the squatter (harder when it’s full of water), and set the wash timer. Its max setting is fifteen minutes, so I have time to do a set or two of Tai chi (I can’t wait to show you guys!).
6. After watching the whole thing jerk around like a pinball for a quarter of an hour, it’s time to drain off the dirty water. This is accomplished by shoving the drainage hose underneath into the shower/squatter and twisting the middle dial. This provides me with the dual satisfaction of watching dirty water go gurgling down the drain, and of watching the clothes inside become visible under the scummy water and heaps of bubbles (maybe too much detergent, this time?).
7. This process (minus the detergent) is repeated for rinsing purposes.
8. Finally, the clothes are ready for the spinner. I pull out soggy handfuls, and slop them into the smaller compartment. It takes at least three goes to do an entire load, considering the inconveniently small spinner, but hey- it’s all about the journey, right? The spinner goes for five minutes each, during which the washer makes several attempts to either do a disco dance or tiptoe away. Finally, all the clothes are spun and ready to dry!
9. I lift an article of clothing, and put it on a hanger. I then reach for a long pole, at the end of which a pair of prongs has been fastened. I set the loaded hanger in the fork of the prongs, then lift it four feet above my head to the double poles running from one wall to the next- these will hold the clothes until they have dried sufficiently to wear. I maneuver the pole carefully, and set the hanger hook over the nearest pole.
10. Repeat x 20-30 times.

As you can see, this brings a great deal of color and fulfillment to my life. J

A lot of things here are different, but cool- like customs! Did you know, it’s considered highly offensive to go about in public with cleavage showing? Not even their movie stars do it! How cool would that be if we didn’t have to deal with that at home? No more gross-outs at Walmart…ahh… On the other hand, look up baby clothing online. Check out the pants. Enough said.

Dust is ever present here, and the dust bunnies reproduce faster than bacteria! I swept the floor this morning, and found a fist-sized clump. Six hours later I swept, and found another fist sized clump. It never ends!

DVDs- there are a lot of them. I wish I knew what was pirated and what wasn’t, then I could buy that boxed collector’s set of Miyazaki movies for two bucks…

Sooo…yeah. Haven’t gotten that aforementioned box yet, but it’s the weekend, so maybe they can’t give it to me yet- I’ll ask tomorrow. Write me, guys! I love you all!

Love, Calissa