31 January 2016

Washing Clothes

Saturday was the first sunny day in a while; it had been cold and foggy every day for some time, leading to such problems as the cancelation of all flights to Tumlingtar (the only alternative way to get here is a harrowing multi-day bus ride - more on that in a future post) and low morale in the mornings. However, my boss was flying here on Saturday, so the universe conspired to facilitate his arrival. I decided to celebrate the heat in the best way possible in far-afield Nepal:

1. I made a mug of unsweetened tea, which is nothing short of an assault on the very foundations of Nepali society;

2. I went up on the roof of my house, from where one finds a spectacular view of the "hills" (regular-sized giant mountains that are dwarfed by the extremely large giant mountains behind them); and

3. I washed my clothes.

I've been doing my best to ignore the political nonsense happening in the US - Nepal has more than enough of its own to hold my attention - but I support whichever candidate will make it mandatory for every American kid to wash their clothes by hand one time. There's no doubt in my mind that this will directly lead to the eradication of most of the world's dire problems.

For those of you youngsters who have never washed your clothes by hand, let me tell you that it's a Herculean task. After my first few attempts at doing it myself, I felt like I had finished a forearm-marathon. I'm more fit now than I've ever been in my life, partly because I have to walk up and down big flights of stairs to get just about anywhere, and partly because I always wash my clothes by hand.


Buckets!
Here's how to do it: collect two buckets, one bar of detergent soap, several gallons of water, and about a thousand Calories' worth of effort. Combine vigorously, while maintaining an air of actually knowing what you're doing, so that all of the Nepali people who may be watching you don't laugh. Repeat weekly ad infinitum.

That's all for now.