Okay, so I'm going to tryt he Blog thing again! I really wish I was better at expressing all that is happening here. There are so many things that are so different its hard to pick something to talk about. But today I'll tell you how Moldovans wash clothes.
So I hadn't washed my clothes since I got here. And you can imagine that my pile was getting larger everyday. While in Chisinau (the city) I went to the market (piata - see the pictures in my slide show) and actually found TIDE laundry detergent. Lemon scent and all - i was very excited to get home and take care of my growing laundry problem. So the next day I told my mama gazda (host mother) that I wanted her to show me how to wash my clothes. When she sent me to the neighbors house to get some water I was really confused but she obviously knew what she was talking about. So I returned with a pale of water and she looked at me with a "are you crazy look" on her face. She sat the pale of water down and then walked me back to the neighbors house and took me over near the outhouse where they have a large tank that collects the rain water from the roof of the house. For a moment it all made since! Then she lifted the pale out of the tank. Just for a moment imagine the ..most interesting pool water you have ever seen. Yeah thats it - green, slimy, and full of mosquito larve. Okay, so then she looked up at me with a happy face assuming that now it was clear to me. I'm not sure exactly what my body language was saying to her - but rest assured i wasn't as happy as she was. I tried to make it clear that i wanted to w a s h my clothes. Probaly just saying the same phrase only louder and slower, as if that would help her understand.
Well we returned home and she poured the water through a t-shirt to remove the larve. Then she poured in some laundry powder and made suds in the water - showing me that now the water was good to use. So the lemon fresh Tide was not so fresh - it barely could cover the smell of the rancid water. Anyway, I began to wash my clothes and then I noticed that my host mother was watering the flowers with the first pale of CLEAN water that I got. I was completely blown away. How could it make since to her to use clean water to water the flowers but made me wash my clothes in the most interesting water I have ever seen. I have decided to wait until she isn't home to do my laundry the next time.
She asked me if I had to wash my clothes in America - to which I responded yes! Then I motioned with my hands that I put them in a container and push a button! She laughed
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