Underwear - January 30

We have a wonderful man, a dhobi, who arrives each morning and picks up any dirty clothes we have and gives us clean clothes from the day before. But modesty, modesty, modesty has been drummed into us - and the appropriateness of distance between men and women as well. So what do to with underwear that needs washing? Certainly I can’t give it to the dhobi. So, I figured out that when I finish a “shower” I dump the underwear into the remaining hot water, add some detergent, swirl it around, rinse it, and hang it to dry. No problem. Yes, problem. It is so cold in my room (the building is designed for defusing summer heat – no roof, holes in the walls for circulating drafts – and my room faces away from the sun) that the underwear simply does not dry – even the nylon underwear. After 4 days I, most unhappily, finally put on slightly damp underwear.

Now, here is the amazing thing. I bought a towel, face cloth and wash cloth from REI for this trip. They are small – and are made of a nylon-polyester mixture. They dry quickly. I can’t believe that something sopping wet is dry within a few hours. Clearly I need to find underwear made of the REI fabric. You might want to pass the info on to REI – a new market niche for them.

The other remarkable thing about the dhobi is how he returns the clothes. All the clothes I gave him yesterday – a pair of pants, a top and 6 pair of socks, are in a neat bundle, clothes within clothes. Each pair of socks is matched and 2 layers of 3 pairs lay across the shirt that is folded neatly on top of the pants, and the pants are folded neatly around the whole bundle. I don’t want to take it apart – I just stare at the art of it. I need a dhobi in Pacific Grove. We all need a dhobi. I bless our dhobi. I just wish I could figure out the underwear thing.