Wednesday, July 6, 2011

It's Just a Matter of Time

by William Jiles
I KNEW THIS DAY would come. Today is Saturday, July 2nd. This is the second day of a free weekend in the Cagli Project, and a haunting thought occupies my mind—with seven more days to go I am wearing my last pair of underwear, the same pair I wore the day before. This unseemly learning experience has taught me that the necessity to do personal laundry is another basic human need that forces one to interact with people of a foreign country—it's just a matter of time.

I had been making gallant efforts to communicate with local Cagli shopkeepers in their language, sometimes getting by with one-word sentences and hand gestures, sometimes completely failing to convey my message. Today, I have extra determination. I must have clean underwear. So I left the apartment on a mission to rectify my potentially embarrassing situation. My first stop is at a laundry and dry cleaner just beyond the piazza. I walked in a greeted a man who appeared to be in his eighties. “Buon giorno,” I exclaimed in my impression of an Italian accent. He responded the same. “Quanto costa lavare?” (How much does it cost for laundry?) I could not understand his response to that question, so I moved on to the next. “Com'e lungo lavare?” (How long laundry?) After listening closely to a lengthy reply, I finally recognized one word that answered my question: “Lunedi.” Waiting until Monday was out of the question at this point, so I decided to try the next best option—purchase some laundry detergent and figure out how to use the washing machine in my apartment that has controls labeled in German.

I walked to the supermarket where I encountered more difficulties communicating. I took a box of what appeared to be powdered detergent from the shelf and approached a woman who was restocking grocery shelves. “Lavare?” Her response was “Si, mano, mano,” repeatedly motioning her hands away from her body. Recognizing the perplexed look on my face, she continued to motion and state “mano, mano.” Finally, a man who was standing nearby approached and said “hand wash” in very good English. “Do you have a machine,” he asked. I said “yes, I have a machine.” The store employee then pointed out the right type detergent I needed. I paid for the product and was on my way.

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