A little later they prepared their Chinese breakfast. They had some of their Chinese bread and wanted to toast it and since my toaster worked so well they wanted to give it a try. That was fun helping them figure it out. It toasted theirs very well also. For the toaster that is not a cultural issue.
At my apartment I had a water dispenser. That saved me boiling my water and it was always cool. Here they have a pot in the living room setting on its little 220 volt heater with water in it all the time. If the apartment is rather cool or enough time has elapsed the water would cool off. If I wanted water to drink I would take my cup and go get some. I didn’t care what temperature it was. At first the cooler the water was the better. They could not understand how I could possibly drink cool water when the room was cool. That just did not compute. Now as the weather is getting cooler and the apartment gets cooler – you see we have no heat here – I have come to understand their thinking. There are times when warm water just hits the spot. I had to experience it to understand. Much in another culture you have to experience to really understand. That is why living here is proving to be such a rich experience. I wonder what heaven will be like when all the cultures of the world come together with all their customs and languages and dialects. I can hardly wait to see.
Laundry time here was also an experience. Here washing machines are designed to use only cold water; no problem. The washing machine is in the bathroom that serves the home and is the one I use for everything except my shower. You take in your clothes and separate them by color and by how dirty they would be. You always do socks or jeans last. You draw hot water in the sink and put in some soap and you hand wash to loosen the dirt and work in the soap. After working up a good exercise the clothes go into a wash basin. After you finish washing all the color cloths they are put into the washing machine and it is started to run full cycle. The wash cycle uses the soap you worked in during the hand wash. While that starts, you hand wash the white things, like your underwear. As soon as you hand wash them they go in the washer along with the color clothes. After a while the washer is done and you take out the clothes and go to the windows on the seventh floor at night and hang them out to dry. The sun is sure to come up in the morning and by night you can finish the laundry you started yesterday. How economical and free exercise and the clothes are fresh when you bring them in.
