bow cow ow

 I could write about so many things such as the Angkor Wat International Half Marathon, returning back to site after some additional Peace Corps training in Takeo, getting back into a teaching schedule (kind of...), but the main focus of this post with be about doing LAUNDRY (bow cow ow). I have spent most blog posts waxing philosophical from which I have been getting positive feedback from readers, but I realized while talking to my (American) mom today that some of the things I now experience as normal, are still probably very confusing to family and friends back home. My social world currently consists of Khmer and PCVs, so things like doing your laundry, working/not-working, biking, pooping and reading are regular topics of conversation. I'm going to take you as best as I can through the process of doing my laundry, which usually takes me between one hour and an hour and a half. My mom asked why I don't take my laundry to someone since doing laundry sounds pretty challenging here. It just becomes another task folded into the day with some slight back discomfort thrown in there. I also realized while documenting this process today that my host family is totally understanding of silly foreigner things I do, such as wearing my big Nikon on my back as I scrub my clothing. They even wanted to take a picture of me so my mom and others could understand what doing your laundry is like in Cambodia. Let's get started:

1) Notice the laundry in the hamper. I usually do my laundry once a week, but sometimes that ends up being a decent amount of clothes. This is behind my house, and no, I don't do my laundry in a sink.

2) Detergent is on the left. I have been using the same bag for approx. 3 months and it costs about 3000 riel (75 cents). The "Hygiene" is fabric softener which is pricier but essential to making your clothes seem cleaner and smell nice. It unfortunately spilled all over my floor today, but now my room smells pretty.

3) Source of my laundry water. We have running water that my family fills this cistern with. Families without running water, like my training host family, use collected rain water.

4) First I put in some detergent, then a small amount of water to wash each clothing item individually. I also sit on this tiny "stool" as I am not truly Khmer and can only squat for maybe a minute comfortably. I blame it on my sizeable muscular legs.

I'm also supposed to scrub each item with a bristle brush to really clean it. If my host family sees me feebly rubbing my clothes together, they make me use the brush. Although it does make clothing fall apart quicker, it really gets stains out as well.

After only a few items of clothing, the once clear water turns murky and the suds quickly disappear.

5 & 6) After "scrubbing" each item (or sometimes just dipping and swishing around), all the clothes go back in the tub and get a lot of water poured on them for rinse #1. Each item is dunked in and out several times to get the soap out. I usually do this standing and bending over. Then you squeeze out each item before a second rinse. Rinse #2 involved some fabric softener. I then let the clothes soak for about 15 minutes before ringing them out and hanging them up. The fabric softener ensures that the poor job I did cleaning will be unnoticeable due to the camouflage of the fresh scent.

Host mom was sure to catch me in the act. She didn't give me any pointers, but I think she gave up on that a while ago. She respects my laundry method at this point, although I'm sure other PCVs and definitely Khmer people would dispute my method. 

7) After each item is wrung out, it is hung up on the clothes line and you really hope that it won't rain at any point during the day. Luckily, we're now in the dry season, so this will most likely be the case. My youngest sister helped me today as she is much more adept at housework than I and she also has become really interested in spending time with me since I've returned back to site.

Formatting makes me exhausted. I'll have to return to the other items initially listed sometime this week. Until then, you can check out some pictures from training P3 and the Angkor Wat Half on my flickr page (http://www.flickr.com/photos/sam_wise/sets/72157632187727135/).

Also a friend sent me this quote: "You need intelligence and you need to look. You need a gaze, a wide gaze penetrating and roving - that's what's useful for art." - Toni Morrison

I do admit, coming back to site this week has been more thought provoking than my first 2ish months at site in that I have been questioning my effectiveness and usefulness a bit more. The things I already take for granted as easy or everyday will in the long run amaze me and widen my perspective. It all seems commonplace and at times monotonous now, but that will not always be the case.