A New Experience to an Everyday Task

The way of life in a sub-tropical climate is to hang dry your clothes. This is very common in Taiwan. Even many Taiwanese who have spent time overseas and have assimilated to a more western way of drying their clothes - using a dryer, prefer to line dry their clothes when they return to Taiwan. The warm climate naturally lends itself to this method of drying. Line drying is advantageous for many reasons, better for your clothes, saves energy, better for the environment and the list probably goes on. Well, here goes my experience...

A new dryer was on its way to our place, but we had been in Taipei for a few days before settling into our temporary home in Kaohsiung. And, with two little ones, we go through clean clothes like there is no tomorrow. Out of necessity and curiosity, I decided I would give this whole line drying a try. I found it to be quite relaxing. It was a cool December evening in the city, there was a nice breeze flowing through the patio and the constant traffic noise below was calming. The process was a little tedious and a little more time consuming then using a dryer, but all in all a nice experience, similar to the monotonous chore of washing the dishes. The comforting lull of this repetitive task was surprisingly enjoyable.

My measure of laundry success is the fresh whiff of soft fabric rubbing against the tip of my nose. The clothes were still a little damp when I checked the next morning. I learned that my clothes were a little too close together. From the first touch of the damp stiff fabric, I could tell that my expectations had to adjusted. After a little re-arranging, I was excited to sniff my efforts. the best part of doing laundry for me is the lovely smell of clean soft warm clothes right out of the dryer. Without the dryer, I knew my clothes would not come out warm or as soft and fluffy. But, I was raised in the 1980's, so I have seen enough fabric softener commercials with clean white sheets swaying back and forth in the clean beautiful country air to still have the anticipation of expecting something wonderful. Fabric softener was used in the wash...

A day later, the clothes were ready! The result - dry clothes that were a little stiff. And, somehow our clean wet clothes swaying in the air filled with the congestion and all the aromas of a bustling city lost its fresh smell. With each piece of clothing that came down, my excitement for the line drying method came down with it. Ultimately, our goal was to have clean dry clothes. That goal was achieved, but the joy for me of doing laundry was lost a little in the urban translation. We have since received our dryer and my first load was washing the girls' new school sleeping bags. Oh, the delight in knowing that the girls will lay on something soft and fresh smelling is priceless! And if using a dryer is wrong in Taiwan, I'm okay with not being right!