The house that I live
now has 5 rooms, kitchen, and 2 bathrooms.
The owner of the house is trying to rent all the rooms, but so far only
and me and my friend live here. I love
the freedom that we have here. For this
freedom, we can invite the kids here to have an English class and all. But this freedom comes with some
responsibilities of clearing the whole house and other house chores. Those chores can take a half a day without
washing machine, a dryer, nor a dish washer. First of all, we have to go to a market
3-4 times a week since there is no refrigerator. With the heat we get during the day, all food
goes bad very quickly. Washing clothes
can be a big job really. For me it can take up to 1 hour just washing, and I get
muscle pain on my arms afterwards. Of course before I wash my clothes I have to
watch the weather. If there is no sun,
no washing. After I wash my clothes, I
have to stay at home to make sure that there is no rain. If rains, I have to
take all my clothes inside.
I don’t know why, but I
love living this way, very simple. Yes,
my body hurts from carrying vegetables from a market and walking home for 20
minutes or all the washing I have to do.
But we always have fresh food, and I think clothes get cleaner when you
wash with hands. It’s just a good feeling when you finish washing and put them
in the sun. I love the small of sun from blankets when I go to sleep too. I just think that with all the convenience that
we have we sometimes forgot that we are just a part of this nature, and we can’t
live without soil, sun, and all the gift we get from nature. Living this way makes me feel like I am going
back to the basic, a part of nature. I
really doubt that I will continue washing my clothes with hands, but I am sure
that I will always dry my clothes outside in the sun.
Living in Bolivia, I used to wash my clothes by hand every day. Jeans are the hardest to wash, I would use the bath tub to scrub down my jeans, after wards I would hang them out to dry. I must say though I love the convenience of the dryer and the softness that comes with a Snuggle or Bounty dryer sheet. I would not know what do to without my wash machine. After all then I would have no time to study ;).
ReplyDeleteMichy,
ReplyDeleteI have enjoyed reading your post and for some reason, attributed to my appreciating life for the simple things. To note, not that I don't anyway, it's just that we can forget and take for granted our blessings that so many aren't afforded. Not sure when you return, but have a safe trip.
I will never choose hand washing over putting them in the machine. If the machine can't clean something good enough that piece goes in the garbage. I got better things to do with an hour.
ReplyDeleteThe drying part I might consider doing. Nature is doing the work instead of a machine so either way no effort is required on my part. Also, it would save me $1.50.
Nikita, isn't Bolivia in South America? I remember you telling me German was your first language. Did you live somewhere else before you came to Bolivia or does that country have German ties I never knew about?