These are Liesl's two little bedtime buddies, Elle (#1) and Moo. Elle has been her pal since birth and Moo joined the party at Omie's and came home with us. Well, they needed a bath the other day. They looked cute hanging on the washing line. So, I thought I'd take a photo and do a little post on laundry.
Remember, I'm trying to dissolve all the big, scary myths of living here. Yes, we have a washer and dryer (surprise, surprise!). :) The machines are located across the small yard from my house in the laundry that Leon's grandfather built. Unfortunately, our dryer is not blowing hot air at the moment. But we are managing just fine because we are entering the hottest months of the year. Laundry dries within an hour or so on the line...a little longer for heavier items.
Laundry has always been my #1 favorite household chore. There are a few things that I miss about doing laundry back home (namely: Tide, dryer sheets, and the convenience of a machine in the house). But that is outweighed by my favorite thing about laundry here. That is: hanging the washing on the line. I feel so domesticated. I love it!! And the sunshine smell is amazing.
We had a full-time laundry maid up until a few months ago. For various reasons, we do not currently employ a full-time girl for laundry. It is working out fine, though. Between me and my maid, the washing for this house gets done. And for my sister-in-laws house, her maid does their washing. For all the extra washing (church towels, main house linens, etc...), that is shared between all the maids.
Also, with the power cuts, laundry duty has gotten a lot more interesting. Sunday and Monday, the power is out from 8 am - 4 pm which is basically the working day. So I've begun doing a few loads after church on Sunday night and hanging it on the line for it to be done for Monday morning. Monday and Tuesday have been a bit hectic this week so my ironing pile is massive. Zondi is going to be ironing for at least an hour tomorrow!!
About the ironing...right before I was married, I remember someone looking at me in mild disgust and surprise before mentioning an exaggerated fact they had heard about living here. That is: putzy flies (not sure of the spelling). Supposedly, putzy flies embed themselves into every piece of wet clothing that has exited a building and then they implant their eggs into your skin and you have to squeeze a worm out! Ewww. Uh, not really. Out of all the family members who have lived here over the past 50+ years, only one putzy fly occurence floods into the memory. Is it possible? Yes. Is it likely? Not really. So what do we do? We throw everything into the dryer for a short while as an extra precaution. Right now, the dryer isn't working. We iron basically everything. Putzy flies are attracted to wet, stagnant clothing. That isn't possible in the current heat. It is most likely to occur in the rainy season. So we most certainly will have that dryer fixed by November. Even in the rainy season though, it is possible to avoid a putzy fly.
I am also ironing more than I normally would at this point because the dryer is down. It makes the clothes softer and enhances the softener smell. Oh. And I brought back two massive boxes of dryer sheets from the States. On top of the sunshine smell, clothes tossed in the dryer with a dryer sheet just about equals bliss. Which reminds me that I need to get on the dryer repair process!!!
So there you have it. Laundry. One of my favorite dailies about living here. :)
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