Laundry Day

Almost all my clothes were dirty, so I did laundry today.   Here at Brot und Rosen, the efforts and rhythm of everyday life predominate.  Finding the right time when I can take a shower, and someone else will not need the bathroom (which serves about 6 rooms).   Making the evening meal, which is the hot meal of the day, and the time when all the people come together.   And, of course, laundry. 

So most everything is dirty now.   I have a limited amount of clothing, so I go through it every week or so. It’s been 9 days since my last laundry, and except for one item of clothing (can you guess which?) I could go another 2 or 3 days.   

In Germany, and elsewhere in Europe (ou might remember this from Italy) dryers are scarce, particularly in homes.   People hang their laundry.  I have a “Besucher” room (guest room) which I suspect is nicer than the others, and which has a terrace.  It’s a small terrace and it has a lot of weeds growing on it, but it is nice.  So, not wanting to impose my wet clothing on everyone, I have put it out on the terrace, on one of these ubiquitous drying racks (You see them everywhere in Germany!) 

Focusing on the daily tasks of life, from this meal to the morning cleaning, to laundry, to dinner together, is a lot of the life here at Brot und Rosen.  While some of the residents work, full or part time, and others are taking language lessons or somehow other engaged, some are not able to work because of their current immigration status.  And these, especially the ones studying reman in order to get a residence permit at some point in the future, basically have their whole lives within the walls of this house.   There is a significant effort to make that time, and that experience richer, with sharing, with conversation, and with even the rules of the house and the negotiation of when to do what work. (For example, there is only one washing machine, so you red to fit in your wash when others do not need it.  For me, I am active in the morning and some others are not, so I did my wash first thing in the morning, even before our morning prayer service.   Washing machines are slow here, so it was an hour and a half later, on the fast cycle, that I took it out and hung it out on my terrace.  Tonight I will fold an place the stuff on my shelves and in my drawers, and be done until most likely next Tuesday, when I’ll be preparing to go onto the next step in my Sabbatical. 

Please do pray for me.   There is some indication on one of the Israeli travel web sites that they may open to visitors in October.  Of course I need them to do so in the first week of the month to maintain my itinerary, and I need to know that it is going to happen in the next two or so weeks so I can change my schedule to accommodate.  It would be wonderful to be able to go to Israel.   If not, I will spend extra time in Germany, and likely will finish in Greece.   

2 questions.   What do I run our of first?  And what single piece of my wardrobe is the most valuable to me?   I’ll answer in the comments.