Wash Day Azerbaijan Style - HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY - One Day Late

I am luckier than most volunteers as my host family has a washing machine.  I now understand why clothes don’t last here. Number 1 reason; clothes are not made well.  Number 2 reason;  the wash cycle is 2 hours long and they use only Hot water! That would kill any clothes after a few times of washing.  After checking the machine I did manage to find a 30 minute cycle (that actually last 45 minutes I will explain later) and a somewhat cold water cycle.  You see the machine is written in Russian so everything is guessing (oh, except the “ER” – error code), that comes on when you have a minute to go and then you push the wrong button and it starts all over again (darn) and that is when it actually last for 45 minutes.  I’ve got that figure out though, I wait until it starts spinning like crazy and when it stops, I hit the reset button (I think) and it stops.  So what do you do when it is non-stop snowing and you need to dry your clothes?  You certainly can’t hang them outside, they would never dry (freeze maybe!!).  I have NEVER seen a dryer in this country and for many families they do not have washing machines as well.  And ALL the washing machines I have seen are in the family’s kitchen.  So I came up with a great idea for drying my clothes.  I had left over cord that I bought for hanging my posters and “bingo” a clothes line in my room!  I hang them on the line and take a couple of items and put them on my heater (see in the picture below) and on pipes that keep my room from being zero degrees.  As my things dry, I put them away and take a few more items from my clothes line and put them on the heater and pipes.  It is a process but I don’t have to wash them by hand.

Drying Clothes Azerbaijan Style

This has not been a good week.  First it was the muddy snow splashed on my new coat, then 2 dogs chased and barked at me until I threatened them with my backpack.  It was non stopped snowing, froze the pipes, so no running water, so no shower or washing clothes and we had to use the pit toilet outside behind the barn and behind the cow.  My throat was hurting and I had a headache that wouldn't go away. And we had no Internet. Boy, am I being challenged.  The good news is that it is February so only one more month of winter.  The news  showed that this whole area has been hit extremely hard this winter (oh really)!!!

Life Challenge:  As Sham of Tabriz would say (40 Rules of Love by Elif Shafak); “Try not to resist the changes that come your way. But instead let life live through you and do not worry that your life is turning upside down.  How do you know that the side you are used to is better than the one to come.