Everyday life in Egypt: Part 1 Laundry

So I have been living in Egypt for two years collectively now.  Life in Egypt is not what one would expect and each and every chore is a little harder than it is in Western societies.  Egypt lacks many western conveniences and it is hard to find many others.

One thing that took me a while to get used to was washing laundry.  As a mother of 3 daughter I have done a lot of laundry in my life.  Laundry never really was that much of a chore and I felt like I was a pro. Hahaha!  That was until I moved to Egypt.  A lot of things are different when you wash laundry and it becomes much more of a chore taking a lot more time and energy.

One of the first things I want to discuss is the drying.  In most Western countries we dry our clothes in dryers, or at least own a dryer.  I did do a lot of line drying in the summer because it saved money but always dried underwear and socks in the dryer.   It is very unlikely that you will find a dryer in Egypt.  They are technically reserved for the very rich or used in hotels for foreigners because they are outrageously expensive ($1000+).  They also take a lot of electricity, which there is a shortage of in Egypt and therefor is extremely expensive as well.

Clothes hanging from the balconies.

Most women hang dry their laundry, all year around.  This can be quite challenging being 90% of people in Egypt live in sky-rise apartment buildings. It is generally hung from a clothes line over the edge of your balcony, which can be quite tricky. Here are a few tips I have learned when hanging laundry.

• Use plastic clothes pins.  They are stronger than the wooden ones and do not leave rust stains on your clothes. Pin large or heavy items with extra pins.  Egypt is windy and you are possibly several stories off the ground.  I have lost an abaya and a lot of my husband's undershirts from not pinning things securely. 
• Do not spin your clothes out all the way.  This is a good method to avoid wrinkles. A lot of women hang them soaking wet, at least in the summer. They only take a couple of hours to dry in the hot sun and it saves you a lot of  ironing time. 
• Do not hang your clothes above your neighbor's clothes.  If your neighbor below you has clothes hanging and they do not have a balcony, please be polite and avoid hanging your clothes above theirs.  Even damp clothes drips and if it is dripping on theirs it could wet their clothes or possibly even damage it.
• Don't lean too far over your balcony edge.  Can you imagine falling several stories... Think about it... 
• Hang your underwear on the inside line behind the rest of the clothes. Traditionally, men's underwear and under shirts are hung on the outer line to show that there is a man living in the house.  If you're foreign this might be a good way to keep away unwanted guests.
• If you're still uncomfortable hanging your underwear outside, do as a good friend of mine did. Purchase a wooden or metal hanging rack and place it inside your home.  This provides you with privacy and the peace of mind that your underwear won't fly away.
• Hang the longest clothes (pants, skirts, abayas, sheets, etc...) closest in, just in front of your underwear line.  Try to go outwards from longest to shortest.  This is something I learned the hard way.  Egypt is windy.  If you hang long items on the outside line, they will just blow up and over the rest of your clothes and possibly tangle around them and blow with several other thing, away onto the street. An example of the best way to hang clothes is in the image below from dreamtimes.com.

As you can see, clothes are hung from the longest on the inside to the shortest on the outside.
Image from www.dreamtimes.com

Another thing that was a big difference in Egypt was the washing machine itself.  While there are automatic front loading washing machines, and most upper middle class families have one, you may not.  There are technically three kinds of washing machines in Egypt: automatic washers, bucket style washers, and split washers.  

I currently own a split machine, also known as a half automatic.  The automatic washers, like my mother-in-law and sister-in-law have, are going to be basically the same as what you're used to in the West except that the setting will probably be in Arabic.   

Bucket or Baby washers are small washing machines that only wash clothes.  They do not spin them and will not automatically fill or drain.  They are meant for small loads or small apartments.  They are pretty simple to use, my sister-in-law also has one of these for baby clothes and underwear.

Modern Bucket/Baby washer

The split washers are a bit to get used to.  Often times you will have to move them into your bathroom to wash with them because the waste water hose has to be lowered to drain the water out, which will run out the drain in the bathroom floor.

I have made the photo tutorial below which explains how to basically use a two sided washer:

Notice it has two sides.

This is a picture of my two sided washer.

The controls are in English and Arabic

The first step is to add water:

This is where you attach the hose for the water.  Make sure to switch it over to wash (on both the water feed and machine) when you are filling and select the load size you will need.

I don't have a hose so I choose to fill it with my shower hose. This works just as well, just be sure to remove it before washing.

If you are using your shower or other hose in the bowl, make sure to stop filling as marked on the inside of washer for the load size you will be washing.  I will be washing a medium sized load. If you don't do this you could easily overflow your washer.

The second step is to add your clothes and laundry detergent: 

Make sure to add soap appropriate for your machine.  Hand washing detergent is best in half automatic machines but I do use automatic detergent but make sure to have extra water to ensure it dissolves.

Set your timer and cycle type and close the washer.

Step Three: Drain water

Turn the washer knob over to drain and lower your hose.  Don't worry, your bathroom should have a drain.

Step Four: Rinse

In this step you will repeat the first two steps, but do not add soap. If you have fabric softener add it now. 

Step Five: Drain

Again, you will manually need to drain your washer

Step Six: Spin (Optional)

In this step you take your wet clothes from the wash portion and put them in small amounts into the spin portion of your washer.  Make sure to put the rubber shield over-top of your clothes. After you spin one portion, remove them and repeat until finished.  Remove washer from your bathroom when you're done.

Finally, I want to mention washing detergent.  There are several brands available but be careful on what you select because some is for hand washing and some is for automatic machines.   Also, if you wear black abayas often I suggest you get the detergent for darks (woolite or similar brand).  My preferred brand of detergent in Egypt is Oxi though I have used Tide (VERY expensive).  I do not like the Persil brand because it seems to be very generic and lacks scent and suds. Ariel is what I use for hand washing and is a decent brand and my preferred after Oxi. 

I wish you all the luck in your Egyptian journey.  Just remember to have fun and don't be afraid to ask for help.  Stay tuned for more this week on Part 2 of this series: Cooking!