WATER DAY!

Tuesday is water day in the Al-Rabia neighborhood. You can hear the water truck playing its ice-cream truck-like melody as it fills the water tanks at each house. I have yet to distinguish that song from the song the butane truck plays.

So yes, each Tuesday the metal pipes that snake along the side of the house are opened and water is pumped through them to a tank on the roof. One tank of water should last entire week. If you run out….well tough luck. One girl in a homestay already ran out of water.

Typically, water day is laundry day and one load a week is the usual. So here I was trying to figure out this contraption called a washing machine. It looks like it was made in the 1940s. First, you plug it in, and be careful not to electrocute yourself. Then turn on the water from the pipe, let it fill part way (this is only probably a third of the size of the standard washing machine in the US), add the suds and throw in alllll your clothes. It’s cold water, so all colors of the rainbow went into my load today. Once filled with clothes you turn off the water, select the cycle (regular, medium or strong) and set the minutes…It said 15 minutes, I think it was 10.

Now for the tricky part. Once the 10 minutes are done, you detach this little hose on the side of the machine and put it into a drain on the floor. This drains out the water. Next, fill the “rinse and spin” section of the washer with a bit of water, make sure you re-attach the hose. Put a small amount of clothes in that section and crank the timer. If you don’t get the amount of water right, your clothes will either come out sopping wet or the machine will get angry and start growling.

Oh, there’s no dryer either. So all my clothes are currently soaking up the dusty air in Amman. Sounds fun doesn’t it?

Today my roommate McCahey and I decided to walk back from the gym. After having the best shower I’ve had while here, I trekked 30 minutes to get back home, and became ridiculously sweaty….again. Anything to save a JD, right? Here’s the thing about Amman. You can’t walk ANYWHERE. Whoever was the city planner was clearly high. The sidewalks have trees built right in them. YOU CAN’T WALK THROUGH A TREE. So we were ducking trying not to get hit by a car—this is not a pedestrian city. Traffic accidents are the second leading cause of death. We basically ran and hoped people stopped. But again, saves me some money.

Oh, we then got lost. Never assume anything is a shortcut. Because you’re wrong.