Well, a few days ago I [Anne] promised some insights into laundry here. At last, some time to sit and write.
Perhaps it is not unusual that as a mother that as we were planning our 2 month stay in China I wondered what our laundry arrangements might be. I suppose this is a normal thing for mothers to think about occasionally as it is vital to the smooth running of life. When it's challenging, for whatever reason, to get the washing done life is that bit more tedious. When we stayed in Kunming in the West of China over 10 years ago as a family there seemed to be a lot of hand-washing combined with taking larger items to the street-side laundry down the road. This was very efficient & cheap but had the slight downside of having all your clothes on display to all who passed, including your own family (not very helpful when you were trying to hide the fact from your son that you had sent his prize football shirt to the Chinese laundry as things sometimes came back slightly smaller than you sent them – but they were certainly clean).
On subsequent visits we have stayed in hotels & have resorted again to a combination of hand-washing (wringing out items in the hotel towels) and the hotel laundry. That has been more expensive but clothes came back exquisitely presented and folded – much better than when I do them – but still sometimes slightly shrunk, having been boiled I guess!
So, what would happen this time, I wondered. I knew we would be staying in an apartment – but as to facilities, I didn't know the details. As we approached our apartment block I could see it was very modern. This is great – efficient lifts, a modern finish to everything & easy to clean. However, there is a difference between the modern block and the older blocks. In the older style apartment there is a support outside the window for you to place bamboo poles to dry washing on. You stand inside your flat and thread your clothing onto the pole and heave it out of the window onto the rack outside to dry in the breeze and heat of the day. If you are washing bedclothes you fold them over the pole & attach them with giant clips and arrange them outside. This is the system if you're on the 1st or the 10th floor and consequently older style apartment blocks are festooned with miles of colourful washing. Not everyone is blessed with a spin dryer so you will often get dripped on if you pass beneath when the washing is freshly hung.
(This hanging arrangement looks easy – but there is a definite knack to it as I found out some years ago at a friend's house. The pole is actually extremely heavy & when loaded with wet washing becomes even heavier & difficult to manoeuvre. Either you tip all your clothes into the street below or they end up bunched together at one end of the pole. It was an art I did not quite master)
Modern architects have sought to eliminate the unsightly effect of washing around their buildings by not providing racks outside the windows – but what are the alternatives I wondered?
Well, as we were shown into our flat I was pleasantly surprised to find cooking equipment, bed linen & duvet but no obvious means of doing laundry or place to hang it. As we were visiting our landlord to finalise the contract & payment we were in his apartment 2 floors below ours. It was an Aladdin's cave of spare furniture (his bed had several spare mattresses on it – I hope he doesn't fall off his high bed during the night) and the room was crammed full of wardrobes and bits & pieces. As we were chatting I asked what the laundry arrangements were. He looked a bit puzzled and thought a bit and then his eyes lighted on a small machine in the corner – we could have that, he said and laundry gets hung up on the roof. The only thing was I must be sure to use it in the bathroom – that's how it's done here. I was thrilled to be given an actual washing machine of my own. Pete picked it us (yes, that will tell you something about it) and we went off in the lift to find out how it would all work.
It looked suspiciously like a single tub version of my old twin tub that I started married life with – but I managed OK with that then so this would be a great arrangement. After a couple of days the washing started to pile up so I decided to get working with my machine. First problem, instructions are all in Chinese. Second problem, the machine has to be lifted into the bathroom (as when it is in place there is no room for anyone else). Third problem, the drainage pipe is too short and finally the filling hose attachment is not compatible with the tap. Well, these things are not insurmountable – are they?
Our friend helps us with the instructions and tells us there are lots of small shops selling plumbing bits & pieces – she shows us we are missing one vital piece & describes what we are looking for (did I say we – ah, this is where I was on my own!!!).
At this point there is a battle between needing to get something sorted and the fact that I cannot speak the language. I also do not quite understand the plumbing system which seems so logical at home – but this seems so different. This ceases to be a simple "I need a small fixture" but becomes a crisis of "I don't know how to do this". Help – it's another challenge of entering another culture. The solution is to put it off for a day or two!
Then I take the next course of action – go to the huge supermarket where you can look for yourself & do not have to interact with a person. That will surely sort it out. Sure enough I get an extension for the drainage tube and tape so one problem is solved. I also see the filling hose attachment & understand what our friend was talking about – OK it seems a silly system to me – but at least now I can understand it. But in the supermarket they only sell the whole pipe – I don't need that, only the small fixture so fresh from my victory in solving one problem I resolve to go to one of the small shops and ask for the small part I need.
Did I say ask? Well, I went to one of the many small shops and gesticulated and waved my existing pipe to show what I needed. They did think I was strange, especially as it seems you cannot buy the small part on its own – you do indeed have to buy the whole thing – at least it was cheaper here. They did also suggest a whole new tap – I thought that exceeded my remit as a tenant and I refused the kind offer. So I returned home proudly with my new hose complete with the missing part.
You can imagine my disappointment to find it still did not fit the tap. They were right – my tap was not standard (just my luck!!!).
But I could now hand-wash & spin dry – so I contented myself with that for a couple of days – my energy to interact with plumbing having been used up.
It's interesting, isn't it, when the motivation to do something outweighs your pride at looking stupid. It took me 2 days of hand-washing to reach that point. Pete had now entered the fray in an advisory role & showed me if we chopped up my two hoses & reconnected them it would all fit – all we needed was a jubilee clip.
So, I sallied forth again looking for a jubilee clip – no I do not know the Chinese words for that, nor did our friend. The first shop turned out to be an electrical shop and would not look at my hose & my gesticulations and would not think laterally about what I needed. (This made me think about how I respond to someone who needs assistance of some sort. Do I engage with them and try to understand & offer appropriate help. Or do I shoo them away and consider them to be weird?)
I eventually found a small odds & ends shop, full of all sorts of fittings and fixtures. As I pulled out my hose again the shopkeeper started to say he couldn't help but I did my enactment of a jubilee clip again & he got it!! Out comes a small plastic bag full of different sizes and he even fitted it for me. How much was it? – Y1 (1RMB) or 0.07p!! It was a eureka moment.
I bore my hose back in triumph and yes, it all fitted. I could at last do a complete load of washing.
The washing process is now comparatively simple, move the machine into the bathroom, start to fill being sure the outlet hose is safely draining into the shower & put something on top of it so it does not displace and flood the bathroom. Halfway through readjust the programme so I get 3 rinses instead of the 1and half it's programmed to do. All this accompanied by very musical chiming to tell you what's happening – I will miss that at home.
Then, indeed, the wet washing is hung on the roof to dry so it all goes on hangers and I take it in the lift to the 33rd floor. Up there it is so windy & dusty there is a Perspex walled room with rack to hang everything on. Inside the box it is like an OVEN. The outside temperature is often 35C at the moment so I dread to think what it's like in there. A tumble dryer without the tumble, if you like. But it doesn't take long to dry & the washing line does have a wonderful view.
And finally, to my suspicious minds surprise, my washing is still there when I go to pick it up later!
What a story of something simple that turns into an illustration of my struggle with difference!! I learnt something about myself and entering another culture. If it wasn't laundry it would have been something else. I'm now doing my laundry without turning a hair – this procedure is now normal and easy and I am extremely grateful for my machine & the provision for this need. I laugh at the difficulty I encountered in myself at finding the way to get it all working.
I am aware that despite my struggles, I have it so much easier than many here. In the older streets around here, clothes are washed by hand and hung to dry in all sorts of places, and dodging dripping washing can prove quite a challenge as you make your way along pavements also full of bikes (static and moving), street sellers, building works, etc, etc, as well as all the components of life lived as much on the street as in the small dwellings.
I'm also even more deeply aware of the very practical ways we may need to welcome others into our own nation and culture. Even simple things can be done in such different ways. And the lack of language is so paralysing. As Brits we are often in control & rarely in the outsider's position. I think that's the major thing I have learnt – and all for a jubilee clip!!!
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