Adventures in Laundry

So I just moved into a new apartment, and decided to take on the monumental task of doing laundry. You know, normally laundry is not a “monumental task.” Normally, you just start the washing machine and then forget about it for a few hours and everything is great. But this was not a normal day.

Okay. The washing machine in my new apartment has a hose sticking out of it, which presumably needs to be connected to the faucet sticking out of the wall above the laundry tub sink thing.

Right. Easier said than done.

So I stuck it on, and used a screwdriver to tighten the four screws as much as I could, but like, this is obviously not a good seal. Nothing here seems to be watertight.

So I turn on the faucet and SPEW SPEW SPEW WOW I MADE A FOUNTAIN! Okay. Turn off the faucet. Wrap a towel around the whole contraption, to direct the water down into the laundry tub, which has a drain. Perfect.

So I turn on the washing machine, and water’s kind of going into the washing machine, but about half of it is just running down the laundry tub drain. Well, close enough.

A few minutes later, I happened to look into the laundry room and discover there was water all over the floor. What?! How?! Oh look at this, the plastic pipe that comes out of the base of the laundry tub is connected to an opening in the floor, but that connection isn’t sealed or anything, and it’s overflowing. Because, China.

And the cat’s just sitting there looking at the water, studying it like cats do.

Okay. I grabbed a bucket and put it under the bad connection between the washing machine hose and the faucet. Once it filled, I ran through the bedroom, across the hall, and into the bathroom, where I dumped it into the shower.

Run back. Fill again. Run to the shower. Dump. Repeat.

And then I realized there was so much water gushing because the washing machine was not taking any. It was on the part where it spins the clothes. So ALL the water from the faucet was being directed into the laundry tub. Well, if the washing machine doesn’t need it, I think I’ll turn off the faucet. Or maybe turn it on just a trickle and keep an eye on the washing machine to see when it starts taking water in, then I can turn up the faucet more.

At this point I’m seriously questioning how the previous resident washed her clothes.

So I stood there and observed my washing machine, sometimes turning the water up or down, sometimes running to the shower to dump the bucket, etc. At some point I realized I could dump some into the washing machine instead, which worked well.

Longest 45 minutes of my life.

All right. The cycle is almost done. 5 minutes left. And that’s when the washing machine started jumping around everywhere. It was spinning the clothes so hard that the whole machine was rocking back and forth, walking across the floor, throwing itself this way and that way, and I’m just like “STOP STOP STOP” and trying to grab it and slow it down, which didn’t work.

Okay then. Then it was done. Finally.

I got my clothes out and hung them up. (We don’t have dryers in China.) Ah, they’re all covered with lint. Oh. I guess the inside of the washing machine wasn’t so clean to begin with. Whatever. I’ll just roll over them with the cat-hair-roller later.

And I’m talking to the landlord about that laundry hose thing as soon as possible.

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