Laundry & Power

Hello again!

I just had to write about my laundry experience! There is a little open room in our backyard where the washing machine is. Since the laundry was piling up, I decided I better go check it out. When I went into the room, I discovered that I had not one washing machine, but 4, as well as a dryer! It is a luxury to even have one at all. After I investigated a little more, I realized that only one of them was hooked up to the water, and the rest of them had some type of problem, so they didn't work. They are all front loader machines, except one really funky looking one that looks more like a deep freeze freezer than a washing machine. Anyway, I went ahead and put my first load in. I started with towels, just in case the machine decided to eat laundry. There is a little tray you pull out, with 3 compartments. I wasn't sure where the detergent should go, so I guessed. I guessed wrong--I put it in the "pre-wash" compartment. Oh well--it still seemed to work. After I got the load started, I found the directions and read them. I discovered that the load that I just put in, was going to take 2.5 hours to wash! Yes, you read that correctly! Two and a half hours for one load of wash! And, if that wasn't enough, the machines are tiny. The most I can put in at one time is about 10 clothing items. If it's anything bulky like jeans or a sweatshirt, then I can only put in about 8 items! Bill was ready to buy a new machine, but after talking with other people from the area, they said that is typical, and that you cannot find machines that are any bigger than that. After reading the directions more thoroughly, I did find that there is a "quick wash" setting, that only takes 30 minutes. I've been using that! The dryer seems to be working okay, though for only 10 clothing items, it still seems to take about an hour to dry things fully. Things have to be dried fully, or ironed (which I don't do!) because there is a little fly called a Tsutze fly (not sure of the spelling) that likes to lay its eggs in damp clothing. Then, when you go to wear your clothes, the little eggs hatch into little worms, and they embed themselves into your skin! Don't you all wish you could live here??!!! Anyway, since I don't iron, I make sure my clothes are extra dry when they come out of the dryer! I think I would about die if one of those little worms ever got into our skin!

Now that you are all fully grossed out, I'll move onto the subject of power. I had just finished putting the kids to bed, and was just sitting down to update my blog, when all the power went out. Of course, tonight would be the night that Bill is at the mine site, so I'm here by myself. Luckily, the kids were asleep, or they would have freaked! The dogs were no help--just kept on sleeping. Luckily, I have a flashlight on my phone, so was able to turn that on. Within a few minutes, the guard had the generator going, and I had power again. It really was not a big deal, but it just took me by surprise. The power had actually gone out a couple of days ago as well, but it was during the day, so was not as big of a deal (although the kids thought it was because they were missing Hannah Montana)! I know I need to get used to this, as I do believe it happens fairly regularly.

The kids started school today. They both said they hated it, but they both seemed animated and happy when they got home, so we'll see. Dustin even says he sort of likes his uniform! The shorts are so huge, it almost looks like he is wearing a dress! They didn't do much at school today--just got their books and met their teachers. Jensen said she had to write a scary story, and she did, but she said the teacher didn't like it, so kept making her erase it and re-do it. That made her upset, as she really loves writing. Bill and I stayed for the beginning of their school day, when they do "assembly". The entire school assembles outside, in lines, according to grade. Then they do a little prayer type thing, where they say thank you for food, parents, school, this great country, etc, etc. It was so funny to listen to--sort of like a chant. I sent both of the kids to school with hand sanitizer and told them to use it before they ate. Both kids said they used it a ton. Dustin said he used it everytime he touched his desk! Dustin wouldn't use the bathrooms there because he said they were so gross, so he held it all day! He was dying by the time we picked him up! Everyone was impressed with Dustin's skills in sports! I think they played basketball and volleyball today.

I just heard the generator go off, so the power must be back on!

The kids and I are getting used to sleeping under mosquito nets everynight, and taking our malaria pills everyday. I'm still trying to get used to things like drinking powdered milk and having to peel my apples before eating them. We have to leave our butter out on the counter, or it is so hard you can't even get any off. The bread is hard before you even leave the store! Maybe that's why the butter is so hard! For some reason, everything just seems to take a long time to do (the laundry, for example)! It took 2 minutes to re-heat a piece of pizza in the microwave (normally 15 seconds), and 20 minutes to cook chicken nuggets (supposed to be 10 minutes). Even boiling water (which I do all day long) seems to take longer than it should. But, I think to myself, what else am I doing all day? I'm not working, and I've got someone cleaning my house. Everyone says that in the Congo, you need to have patience. Everything is slower, and everything takes longer. That is the absolute truth! It's very hard for Americans to adjust to this, as we are so used to getting and doing everything quickly. I used to get frustrated if the internet took longer than 15 seconds to load up. Now, I sign on, and walk away to do a load of laundry or something. If I'm lucky, it will be up when I'm done. No, it's not honestly that bad, but definitely different!

Our house cleaner came today. He did an okay job. I had to point out to him several things that were not done adequately, but I think he will learn. He seems very nice, so I hope it works. We have 2 refrigerators, and both have locks on them. We don't have a lot of food, so we are only using one of them. I went ahead and put all of our valuables into the other one and locked it up! That worked well. Now I don't have to worry about things when the cleaner is here!

It's getting late here, and I'm tired, so it's off to bed for me. Oh yeah--I found the directions to my camera--now I just have to read them! I promise--pictures soon!

Laurie