Laundry Moroccan-style

We discovered upon arrival that the washing machine in our apartment takes 5 hours and the clothes come out reeking like mildewed road kill. The teachers before us left a load of sheets in the washer for the month before we came, which didn't help. Thus, we have to handwash everything.

Let me break it down for you.

1) Strip down to your bare necessities, swim suit, or pajamas...just something that you don't necessarily need to clean at that moment, is comfortable, and that you don't mind getting a little bit sloppy.

2) Sort laundry into various piles, about 5-6 garments per load. This is the last call to use stain remover, if needed.

3) Fill the tub with hot water.

4) Drop the clothes in.

5) Add the detergent. In Morocco, you will most likely use an all-purpose cleaner resembling dishwashing detergent that is, in fact, used to wash your dishes, launder your clothes, and scrub your shower.

5) Stir the laundry around. I like to use a large wooden stick I bought at the supermarché because it makes me feel like a pioneer woman.

6) Scrub the laundry with your hands.

7) Scrub some more.

8) Empty the tub. At this point the water will be black. Don't worry. It's not you, it's Morocco.

9) Next, use the shower head to spray the clothes, rinsing them thoroughly. Make sure to rinse out all the soap suds. (I am a bit lazy on this step)

10) Ring garments out well or they'll never dry. (Been there, done that, wore them wet)

11) Gather them up. A basket is best and tidiest. Or, if you're spry like me, you can gather them in your arms like a small child and dart through the house out to the roof without slopping around too much water.

12) Oops. Don't forget the clothes pins.

13) Hang the clothes and pin them over the line. Don't simply let them dangle from the line or they'll fly off with a big wind.

14) Also, try to pin only the back side of your garment unless you want a clothes pin gouge mark down your front. I didn't like that too much.

15) Remember, the best time to hang dry clothes is late morning so they can finish up by early afternoon. You could dry them overnight but they don't usually dry all the way and one time they dripped on me all night long (I sleep on the roof, under the clothes line)

16) Be sure to start early...like 24 hours before you actually need clothes. I learned that too. And don't wash ALL of your pajamas and undies at the same time. Yeah, one night I had to sleep in my swim suit.

LAUNDRY
1.5-2.0 hours to HANDWASH
5.0-12.0 hours to HANG DRY

If you're going to live and work in Morocco (or just visit), resign yourself to the fact that everything takes longer even though the process may actually be simpler.