Sweet forearms... here we come!

Pull out the history books, ladies and gentlemen: I just embarked on my first hand-washing experience! :) As you may or may not know, washing and drying machines are not available for us to use for the duration of our time in Tanzania. Consequently, all my clothes washing must be done by hand and line dried. My roommate Sara (who also attends Luther) decided we’d gone too long in the same shirts and were running out of underwear before our three-day stay in a Maasai boma scheduled for this weekend. We didn’t have any buckets, so we did it all in our bathroom sink. It was incredible how much dirt was in a few articles of clothing and how long it takes to scrub dirty socks (thanks to the long walk on a day visit to a boma) to get them even close to looking like “new but clearly been used a few times.” Although it was tempting to save our lines of rope to use in Dar es Salaam for swinging from a tree into the Indian Ocean (right, Grandpa Westby?), there wasn’t enough space on the backs of our chairs to hang them up. So we tied rope from one window bar to the other, straight down the middle of the room, for drying the clothes.

I must admit, despite the pruny hands and a sore back from handwashing three “loads” of my clothes (come on, people, it was a small sink…), we had so much fun! It was quite pastoral and we laughed through most of it, but in five months, I’ll undoubtedly be whistling a different tune (and showing off my wicked sweet forearms – it’s a workout!). My entire life, I have been fortunate to have both a washing and drying machine at my disposal, although I'll admit I never really knew how to use them until going away to college... guilty as charged! Growing up, we line-dried our laundry during the summer when the weather provided, but handwashing entire loads? Ha! It didn't even seem remotely feasible! But as TZ faces a limited supply of safe drinking water and water shortages in general during the dry season (the prime time of when we're here), it is definitely worth sacrificing those modern conveniences that decorate my life yet go so easily overlooked.

A lot of things take more time to do here because of conservation efforts, but I’m finding more and more each day how life itself in TZ takes a little longer than what I’m used to in Western culture. It’s laid-back and relaxed, and no one is ever in any real hurry, which is proving to be both a blessing and a curse at times. For a girl who operates on a packed schedule – especially at Luther - this slower pace is something I’m learning to both appreciate and adapt to, though I’m not sure my professors back home will accept TFT (Tanzanian Flexible Time) as a legitimate excuse for class tardiness when I return for J-Term. Ah well - hakuna matata!