Go with the flow...literally

After my marathon day yesterday (which I'll tell you about soon), all that I wanted to do was sleep in on this Sunday morning.  I stayed up late last night and skyped with my brother, and showed him this funny video my mom passed on.  Although it's not necessarily Christmas-y, it still reminds me of the reason for the season and I love it :)  

Pretty great idea, no?  :)  It still makes me laugh each time I watch it now.  Especially the little kid jumping at the end of the line.  

Back to my not-so-lazy Sunday.  I was awoken earlier than I wanted by my upstairs neighbors doing construction projects that included hammering, sawing, and drilling.  I had my ear plugs by my bed, put them in, and was able to sleep for another two hours :)  Shortly after I got up at 11 am (granted I didn't go to bed until 2 am last night), my doorbell rang (or chirped, as Kurt so elegantly put it yesterday).  

I stumble out to the door, guessing that it's probably my landlady or her husband here to work on things. I was supposed to be getting a new RANGE (the proper word for the stove/oven combo)...or so I thought.  Something must have happened (beyond my comprehension skills)...so the husband was here to work on the old one and make it operable.  I had plans to do laundry (by hand), cook (this recipe), work on some grant info., etc. today...but, well, plans change.  You have to learn how to go with the flow.  

As I set to work picking out what laundry I wanted to wash today,  the husband asked me why wasn't I using the washing machine (that is in one of the back rooms that I don't really use).  I answered that my counterpart's husband is supposed to come over and hook it up at some point. Vova (my landlady's husband) said, "psh!" and told me to help him move the washing machine into the bathroom.  I thought to myself,  "This is gonna be interesting..." and boy was I right.  I tried to document most of the process, albeit with iphone pics. 

How to Install a Washing Machine: Ukrainian Style

This is Vova, trying to fix my shower hose (which is now the SECOND one that has broken).  I asked him why they break all the time and he said (in Russian), "Because they're made in China." 

Let me explain a few things first.  This washing machine has a "washer" part on the left side and a "spinner" part on the right side.  There is no telling when this machine was last used...I'd put money on at least 5 years (or more) ago.  It has been sitting in the apartment for years gathering dust/dirt.  It has a hose that is for the dirty water, but no intake hose.  

I asked Vova, "How do we get water into the machine?"  His response was so Ukrainian it basically slapped me across the face.  "You get it from the bathtub and fill it."  Oh, of course you do!  I've honestly never thought about how a washing machine worked, but to Vova this was just another step in the process of washing clothes.

After I filled it up with a few buckets of water, we turned it on for the first time and boy was it was gross.  All of the black stuff you see in the washer is dirt/grit of some kind.

We ran it for a minute and chunks and chunks of dirt kept appearing.  We turned it off and I asked him what next to do.

You take the outlet hose, turn it "drain," and the water (and chunks of dirt) are put in a bucket.

The dirty water being emptied.  When the bucket is full, I'd dump the water into the toilet.  

 And then you repeat the whole process.  Fill bucket with clean water from the tub, dump it into the washer, run the cycle for a few minutes, turn the button to "drain," and empty a lot of buckets of dirty water into the toilet.  Repeat.

Almost clean water...note the dirt in the bottom still.  I think I repeated the whole process at least 8 times, maybe more.  

Vova, trying to undo a pipe for the water to be emptied into.  You can also see the right side of the machine that is the "spinner"...which spins the clothes to get them a bit more dry.  I didn't even start cleaning that side of the washer today.  And the whole process is put on pause because I broke my only big bucket by dropping it full of water in the bathtub.  Whoops.  

So, 6 hours later, he's gone and I can finally go make my split pea burgers.  He did a thorough cleaning of the stove in the kitchen and connected the gas to it.  It was almost a Lydia-worthy job of cleaning too...complete with bleach!  Good job, Vova.  More pictures of the kitchen later.  Time to start cooking now.

Did you get the pun of the title of the blog post?  Washing machine...flow?  You're welcome :)