Going Back to Basics: Laundry

A year ago I went on a missions trip to India. It was a very real experience. I learned so much while I was there. One important thing I learned while there is how to do laundry by hand. I think it's safe to say that most of us, being American in this day in age, have never hand washed our laundry. Well, really, is it practical anymore? No. Why should we when we have a machine to do it for us? India is a very different world. I was in a house with 10 people and we just learned how to do it. To be honest, I never thought I would have the chance to do it. But you know, I wouldn't trade it for anything. It made me appreciate what I have at home and what most of the women around me in that culture do pretty much every day.

Now this is my last year of college. I also have an apartment. Things are changing and this is the perfect way to transition out of college life. One thing I just recently had the opportunity to do was wash my laundry by hand. It was definitely a flashback from my time spent in India. I had gone all weekend avoiding my laundry. I knew the time was coming and I just couldn't put it off anymore. Our lovely laundry machines are started by a special card. Without this magical card I was completely lost. I looked all over the place and there was no trace of my ticket to clean laundry. I found myself thinking "I really wish I could use coins."

Borrowing a friends card ended up only allowing me to do one load..... and only one wash. No dryer allowed. Something is better than nothing, right? I came back to my wonderful abode with load #2 staring at me waiting to be cleaned. The search for the magical card continued. It had to be somewhere. After much searching (and praying) I realized I needed to face it. I had no choice but to wash my clothes the old fashioned way.
                                                                                       

Now this is no easy feat. I carried this pile (which was like carrying a small mountain) and dumped it in the tub. Luckily, I had just enough laundry detergent to actually clean my clothes. Praise the Lord! Now the next question comes, where do I hang everything? I have a small apartment and not really places to hang things seeing as the only doors we have in the apartment is the front door, back door, and the door to the bathroom and no closets. I ended up having my sheets dry on the table like a tablecloth. I had shirts on hangers from the bunk bed and various other places. Although I was not particularly thrilled to be doing this by hand, I learned that God has a sense of humor. He just keeps finding new ways to humble me. And, I have clothes which are now finally dry.