An Unforeseen Conversion

I hate doing laundry. You can ask my mom. Or my sister-in-law. Or any roommate I’ve ever had. I hate laundry. I wait until I run out of underwear completely (the only item of clothing on which I cannot compromise cleanliness), and I cram ALL of my clothes (this is usually a few weeks worth, mind you) in the washer at once to avoid having to do more than one load. Then, naturally, having felt accomplished, I leave the clothes in the washer for a few days (never mind the underwear situation, that part does not concern you) until someone else gets annoyed and moves them. Then the clothes stay in the dryer for a week as I visit every day to pull out a clean outfit and unders. Now, coming to Swaziland did not look to be promising at making me want to do laundry an more than before. And indeed hauling water 1/3 of a mile (2/3 round trip - just let me play my sad fiddle here) to wash my clothes with a bar of soap in a bucket too small to sit in has not been my idea of weekend fun. But a couple weeks ago some boys were walking by and called to me to come do laundry with them. Remembering the warning of schistomiosis I got from the Peace Corps, I politely declined. Strangely enough, a group of six teenage boys did not easily take ”no thank you” for an answer. I spoke with Gogo and she assured me that the water is perfectly safe in the river and I recalled conversations I’d had with currently serving volunteers who told us new comers, “If the water is moving, you are fine. There are no schistomes. It’s the ponds and lakes you really have to watch out for. We swim in rivers all the time.” I weighed my options and figured there was no way I was going to make it two years without touching the water in the stream (I have to cross it every day to go to school - no bridge, just jumping stone to stone), so I may as well jump in head first (not quite literally). Sitting on large flat rocks in the middle of a stream, chatting and laughing with the boys (ok, they were chatting and laughing, I was pretending to understand siSwati), the sound of the water rushing over the rocks, the sun, the spring trees budding their green leaves... I fell in love. I have done my laundry three times since. I hang my clothes on the barbed wire fence (yes, they do get little spiky marks all over them from the barbed wire, but I find I never see myself anymore, so I don’t really know what I look like. Thus, I don’t care) and sit the shade on the edge of the stream listening to the water and the birds, reading a book until they are dry. I just can’t get enough of it. I LOVE doing my laundry! It is the most peaceful, relaxing thing... I don’t have to haul water, my clothes get 5x’s cleaner (when you don’t have much water, you really can’t rinse well), and I just love sitting there! Who would have thought, to get me to do laundry all you have to do is take away the machine, the running water, and the laundry detergent!

 Here is what my mornings are like!

Dig This

So the other day, for less than $4.25 (US equivalency of Swazi currency) I got eight tomatoes, five apples, six lemons, five carrots, six eggs, and over a pound of margarine! And seven marriage proposals (those were complimentary). I feel like I am living in the 1940’s (sans the propositions).

And here's a little friend I had hanging out last week. i figured I had enough time to either take his picture or squish him... he ran away as soon as he saw my shoe.