The Old-Fashioned Way

I’ve always loved doing things the old-fashioned way, and there are certainly plenty of opportunities for it here. For instance: our entire apartment is carpeted with oriental rugs, but we have no vacuum. And last Sunday we had invited all the Americans over for game night. So I got down on my hands and knees with a bristle brush about 4 inches long and ‘vacuumed’ our living room rug. It took me about an hour and a half, but it was totally worth it. It looked awesome. Then, the other night, I went over it again with a Comet-like detergent to brighten up the colors. It’s incredible the difference it made! I tried to take pictures, but it didn’t show up very well.

And two nights ago I did my laundry by hand for the first time. I can’t believe I managed to put it off this long. Cat’s been doing it since we got here, but I’ve always managed to take a load or two over to one of the other American’s apartments (everyone seems to have washing machines but us). But I always felt a bit guilty about it, like I was shirking part of the experience. So I finally did it on Wednesday night, and it was all I ever expected it to be. I’m still going to take my jeans to someone’s house, but I’ll probably start doing the rest at home. It was so cool.

I’m not even being sarcastic when I rave about doing all this stuff the hard way. I seriously love it. First of all, I’ve always loved old-fashioned things. I feel like I could be a character in one of my favorite books. I could be Jane Eyre or Jo March when I’m hanging my clothes out to dry. Plus, there is so much more satisfaction in something done like that. The sight of a handwritten letter is worth more than an email of twice the length. And never, since the invention of the vacuum, has anyone taken greater pleasure in the sight of a clean rug. I seriously kept sneaking peaks at it the whole evening while people were here.

And just to give you a visual...

Our washing machine, broom, mop, and vacuum. Yay

PS. Joel, this is for you... I wouldn't want to make your job too easy.