Bulgarian Washing Machines

Two nights ago, I had the privilege of doing my first proper load of laundry in my new apartment in Bratsigovo. I've heard from my counterparty, that the previous volunteer who lived here did not actually do his own laundry but paid a local lady ten leva (about six US dollars) a month to do his laundry for him. Either out of stubbornness, or thriftiness, I quickly decided that I would be doing my own laundry.

Arriving at my apartment my first night in Bulgaria, I was shown by Petiya what she described as a washing machine sitting in my closet. To me, this machine looked much more like a failed high school science project but I figured, "why not?" I'll give it a try. As you can see from the picture, this "washing machine" is a large, circular bucket that has a hose running from the base of the bucket, to the top. On the back side of the machine is a dial which can be set anywhere from one to six minutes, depending on just how long you want your clothes to swirl around in the bucket. This all of course, is plugged into the wall by an old, patched, and probably quite dangerous cord.

"How did it go?" you may be asking yourself. Well, it went... As far as can tell, this machine is used solely to swirl your clothes around in soapy water. There is no rinse cycle, no dry cycle, simply a swirl cycle. I was then forced to rinse my clothes by hand, ring them out, and hang them on the clotheslines on my balcony. Overall, I'd say it was a smashing success.


Currently Reading: "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand
Currently Listening to: "Crane Wife" by The Decemberists