Washing Clothes

We haven't purchased much since we're not in our permanent place. A washing machine is one of those things we have not yet purchased. We were getting low on clean clothes, so we started brainstorming what we should do. There's a dry cleaner in front of our current house, but we knew that option would be kind of expensive for the amount we would need washed. We'd heard of a person who could get your clothes from your house, wash them, press them, and then return them for a small fee. This option sounded wonderful. The only problem was that we didn't know where someone like this was located or how to find them. Therefore, we knew we needed to ask the family we're living with.

I (Kristen) went next door to talk with the mom about what we wanted. Since my language is very limited, I tend to use a lot of hand motions. They understood what I was talking about, and suggested the dry cleaner. When I expressed my reason for not wanting to use the dry cleaner they understood. The next door neighbor came by to visit and the mom told her what I was wanting. Neal thought he'd seen one of those types of clothes cleaners coming to our neighbors house one day, so I asked the mom if she used one. They discussed this in length, and I didn't understand hardly anything. Then the mom told me that she (the neighbor) could wash my clothes because that's what they do. I asked if they did that as a business, and they said yes. They told me the price and said I could bring the clothes over later.

The next day I got together all our dirty clothes, and took them to her house. When she came to the door she looked at me like I was crazy. I asked her about washing the clothes, and she went to get her daughter who spoke a little English. She translated for me that Friday she would come to wash them at my house. I was surprised that she would do them in my house, but I told her Friday would be great. 

Friday came, and she didn't show. Neal and I just laughed because once again we think we didn't understand correctly, or that we just confused them. Why does this happen so often! It's so funny!

So, I had no other option but to wash the clothes myself.

Neal and I took turns washing the clothes because it was taking a long time and we at different times had to leave to do something else. 

We would have dried the clothes on the clothes line on the roof, but our neighbors had company over and they were all on the roof. So, we rotated the clothes on the chairs with the fan blowing on them. 

Of course, this was the night the grandmother of the family we're living with decided to come visit us and see our house. I was so embarrassed!