Laundry Saturdays!

The downside:  We don’t have laundry machines here.  In fact, we don’t really have running water.  When you need to do your wash (laundry) you fill 2 buckets with water (1 to wash in and 1 to rinse in) and then get a third bucket to hold your rinsed and squeezed out clothes until you hang them on the line in the sun.  You use bar soap and scrub your clothes by hand (no washboards here so do it well or your knuckles will be sore).

The Upside:  After a hand wash, some of the socks that had had regular wear and tear stains on them are perfectly white!  I had taken for granted that the bottom might be stained a bit from walking around the house with no shoes on (I’ll openly admit my tile kitchen floor isn’t always immaculate).  The washing machine rarely got all of the stains out no matter what miracle liquid you put in, but one wash by hand and the stains were completely gone!  The socks were as if they had just come out of the package. 

Sometimes I forget that in order to cater to the culture and lifestyle we’ve created in the US we often utilize things of convenience, even if we sacrifice the quality.  Maybe that’s a part of the culture here that I enjoy - Despite challenges and things often being time consuming, there is the expectation that all things be done well and right.