Laundry Day

I have learned the true value of a washing machine and dryer. Yesterday was laundry day, and I decided that I would not yet cave to paying $1 per kilo of laundry to have it done for me - I wanted to do my own (I sent my sheets, towels, and blanket to the washing machine today though - those are far to big for me to tackle on my first try. My roommate does her own however...) I washed 8 shirts, a pair of shorts, a pillowcase and some undergarments in my first time. It took about 2 hours to wash and hang them all. The process is relatively simple, but it does rub your fingers pretty raw! I started about 8, and though I still have some clothes left, I will finish them tonight or sometime when I have a bit more time. Basically, you fill a bucket with water and detergent and soak your whites for about half and hour with a bleach-like powder as well, then you take a bar of soap and scrub at the garment till you feel its clean, then rinse and hang on the line. You have to be sure to rinse well or else your clothes dry crusty (we'll see how well I did this afternoon when I take them off the line). I was proud of my hand-washing abilities. i got a permanent marker stain out of my shorts that had been there since this spring and the washing machine hadn't been able to get out for me! I think handwashing works really well for stains and I'll probably keep doing it on tough stains when I get back to the States. I have also learned a trick from the Ghanaians here - wash your underwear with you in the shower each night. Not only does it make for less laundry on laundry day, but you won't ever run out of underwear! It's ingenious! Yes, handwashing is a lot of work, but doing it with two friends (Katie Klok and Emily Keller) and listening to great tunes (Sufjan Stevens, Ingrid Michaelson, and Nickel Creek, courtesy of Calvin Broendyk's computer) made the time go very quickly, and I actually look forward to doing it again - which is good, because I still have some to finish! I'm not going 2 weeks without doing laundry again here!