Washing clothes

After a few days here I had a serious pile of very dirty clothes. Fully expecting to find a little shop with cheap laundry service we (six women) headed out with bags of laundry. The hotel prices were kinda steep - 100 baht per shirt ($3 US). The 2 laundries down the street were 1/2 the price but not same day service. I thought they'd have a per pound (kilo) rate but no luck.

Back at the hotel we quizzed the staff. They understood what a laundrymat was but said there were none downtown - we'd need to take the skytrain. Bleh. So we all went back to our rooms. I did 2 sinkfulls of laundry and sprung for 2 shirts and 2 pants (all cotton which takes forever to dry here) at the hotel service. So my going home clothes will be clean and my quick dry stuff should be ready for my bike tour (spiceroads.com).

If this was a city in the US I'd know that there would be a laundrymat somewhere. But it's hard to navigate a different culture.

The idea that we're back in a beautiful comfortable hotel after a day in a refugee camp is not lost on me. And poor me is stuck (because I'm cheap?!) to wash clothes by hand. But the people we met on Wednesday have been washing clothes in a bucket for 10 years. There is running water there and electricity. We would see clothes hanging everywhere. We saw TVs and Cd players. Kareoke is very popular.

Whern refugees come to Syracuse they all do laundry in the tub and hang it to dry everywhere. It makes a mess of bathroom floors, but US laundrymats are not cheap. I remember last winter one family was washing their winter coats weekly and their church sponsor explained that we don't do that here.

THere has been lots of talk here about Cultural Orientation (CO in acronym speak). People who are resettling are taught about their new culture. But are they doing a good job? And what should be taught. The CO staff were really energetic and seem to be very thoughtful in what they teach and how they teach it. Wonder what they teach about laundry?