How did people live before washing machines?!

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Well....I finally learned how to do my laundry....by hand. I'd been putting it off for months - the daunting pile of dirty clothes and a gaggle of gossiping local girls by the well outside my house had me doing everything I could think of to avoid doing the laundry. I hired women, I let Ghay's mother wash them (to my chagrin, but hey, the woman literally packed them up and took them away from me!) and generally just remained slightly stinky for longer that hygienically acceptable periods. I know, you're all shaking your heads at me, the coward. So one afternoon when I didn't have diving, and Ghay didn't have a tour, we attacked the beast head on.

Here's what I've learned. It's messy, wet, blister-induing, back-breaking work. I have a new-found respect for all women who claim 'washer woman' as their job description. I could NEVER do this day after day! Our first foray was not the easiest. We chose to do everything we owned. Combined with a general lack of knowledge on my part and only expereince from watching his mother on Ghay's part, it took us FIVE HOURS. It was dark when we finished. Correction, almost finished. We gave up on a few whites and decided to finish the next day.

Apparently doing laundry dark ages-style consists of large tubs, hard bars of soap to rub your brush against and a board to lay the clothes over and countless changes in water. I really had no idea. Here's a picture of me at the beginning when I'm still feeling optimistic. It was pretty funny when all the neighbord passed us and made jokes about how hard we were working! I was just glad to have a helper!

I survived, barely, but I'll be honest and tell you that I was so exhausted by the ordeal that the next time I needed laundry...I hired a woman again. Haha. These past weeks though, I've learned some tips and I've started doing a small pile (8-10 items) every 5 or 6 days.I also arranged it so I can use my neighbor's bucket right outside my back door so I'm not so conspicuous and I can listen to music. It's tiring, still takes me 2 hours, but I'm doing it and I feel kind of good about myself. Getting more local by the minute! Also becoming a bit hunchbacked, but apparently that's normal. Eek.

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