Joy of laundry

When I tried to convey how expensive everything is in NY, I always quote the price of single washing in a laundromat. It is 4$ for a use of a laundry machine and 25 cents every six minutes of a dryer (last a few minutes of drying cycle is cool-down, so I feel like I get ripped off for this!). Despite the complaint, I actually like going there. Yes, what a difference between having someone wash my stuff, iron and even put into my closet (few months ago, I had a such bourgeois life shamefully) and dragging a huge bag of clothes with a bottle of detergent like a student.

There is some kind of comforting feeling about it. I usually bring a book and my i-pod, but sometimes I just stand there and admire all laundry machines and dryers turning and turning, looking at bubbles and my clothes flying around in a huge dryer. I watch the laundry and feel a sense of “awe” because of many machines working at a same time like a factory, but also I feel like I can see people’s life in clothes that people are washing. I watch others and what they are washing, guessing and wondering what they do for a living etc. There is something more than that, which makes me feel happy, and I can’t explain what it is. Maybe, it is also joy of simple work.

The other day, I was helping my colleague to prepare for a meeting by photocopying and stapling documents. I told her I enjoy the mechanical work using my hands taking a break from our "intellectual work". We just think, analyze, strategize, write, negotiate, coordinate and organize things all day for 8 hours! And at the end of a day, we don’t really see a “result” as such (we would like to believe that we do!).