I only host one of my private students at my house, and she came by this morning for a lesson. When you are a man living with other men, the imminent arrival of a woman on the scene forces you to look around and size up things that might normally go unnoticed. Will the clothes drying on the heaters be acceptable? Is the table a wee bit too dirty?
I noticed, in the bathroom, a towel I had bought about four months ago which had started out pure white and was now half grey. When you are assessing your own stuff, a hand towel that is merely gross becomes the most wretched hand towel that has ever existed.
I have been meaning to wash it for awhile, but clothes-washing here in Spain is more of a production than at home. (Notice my limber somersault into blog-relevant content.) What I was doing at home already seemed taxing, and now I have moved to an apartment with no dryer, which requires me to hang up all my clothes on a make-shift rack I have made out of the thing that used to go under my mattress. There’s limited room on it, so I need schedule two days (estimated) of drying for every load, and that means I can’t do two loads on the weekends, and, well, it’s just a shit show.
It seems that not only is there no dryer in this apartment, nor is there a dryer anywhere. The clothes dryer is a convenience that has passed the country by, for better or worse. The positive points here are that a) it saves energy, and don’t we all want to do that and b) apparently, according to an ex-girlfriend, air-drying your clothes keeps them looking better longer.
Whatever the energy savings, us do-gooders, in our little hearts, really just want to stick the clothes in the dryer, and just take our lumps guilt-wise. I’m beginning to find, though, that I’m getting used to not having a dryer, and I’m even fantasizing about doing this at home. I’ll save energy! My clothes will stay looking new! It’s a pleasant flight of fancy, this idea of going native and never going back, and it will end as soon as I get back, probably, but let me sit in my little bubble for now.
