the laundry adventure continues...

I was telling the head teacher of the high school yesterday about our interesting adventure in trying to get the laundry done for the first time. I was only sharing because I thought it was funny and because Whittington (who has helped us IMMENSELY in every possible way since we moved here... WE LOVE YOU!!!) had offered that I could wash the clothes at her house. I figured we would do a couple loads over the next few days until Kim came back and could show us. Well, the teacher Karen said, "Let's walk over to your house and I'll take a look." So she graciously came over and checked out the washer. She explained the pictures, temps, cycles, and the idiosyncrasies that we would have never figured out on our own. We redid the load that had been just sitting there sopping wet and dirty all day and left. Success!

Kevin and I still didn't have any real food at the house to cook and eat for supper, so we decided that while the washer ran to walk to the Greek restaurant a mile or so down the road for dinner. [Yes, Mom, we left the house with an appliance running!] We did it all by ourselves, and I must say that I was proud because I ordered my drink in Hungarian ("viz nem gas") and successfully pointed to what I wanted off the menu. We know the word for "check," so Kevin asked for that in Hungarian. The process of getting the check, paying, and tipping is different than in the States, but again, we knew this and were able to successfully do all of that without having to ask to speak in English.

We walked back to our house after that, assuming that our laundry had to be done, or at least close to it. It had been about an hour and a half, and we were told that it could take up to two hours for one load. We went upstairs (their washers here are kept in the bathroom), flipped on the lights, and I was dismayed to discover that the dial had moved maybe a millimeter. The washer started to make noise, so I thought that it was just super slow. (They run for a few seconds and sit for a minute or two...that's why the process takes so long!) I flipped off the lights and went back downstairs where Kevin and I began our Hungarian language studies. (The Hungarian language is one of the most difficult languages to learn...or so we have been told by everyone, and let me say their 14 vowel sounds are enough to drive me crazy at this point.) I went back up to check an hour or so later, flipped on the lights, and again, it had barely moved. It sounded like it was working when I was in there, and then I shut off the lights to go back down, again greatly dismayed. What was taking so long?

But as I turned the lights off this time, I noticed something. Maybe some of you have caught on to what was happening. If so, you are quicker than I am, but I did finally figure it out at this point. The washer stopped making noise when I turned the lights off, and this time I heard it stop suddenly. I flipped the lights back on, and the washer was really working this time. I flipped them off and then back on again... THE LIGHTS HAVE TO BE ON FOR OUR WASHER TO WORK!!!

So almost 5 hours later, our first load of laundry was done (clean and NOT sopping wet). We hung it out on the drying racks to dry, and now we have clean underwear at least. Praise the Lord!

By the way, I am about to go home and check on our second load. Wish me luck...