Do they even have that in Poland? #9

Now *this* is the "Do they even have that" that started this whole "do they even have that" business. The "do they even have that" that helped inspire this whole blog.  The"do they even have that in Poland" that caused my husband to look at me with shock and horror and beg me to never start a conversation with that question again (so, of course, I have a whole category devoted to just that one question, what did he think would happen?)...

That's right. The clothes dryer. A miraculous invention that mimics the effects of wind and sun to get this:

The wet clothes, not the little boy. I would *never* put a little boy in the dryer. Wow, you guys are morbid!

To look like this:

Dry clothes.

Without having to do this:

There are clothes dryers in Poland. They sell them. Some people own them. But, I'm pretty sure that the majority of people do not own or use clothes dryers. 

Some reasons:

 1) they are expensive to use (Texas, in particular has lower electricity costs than other states), if you're trying to cut costs it's an easy one to axe.

2) they are huge, take up a lot of space, and a lot of Poles (in Krakow at least) live in an urban environment/ flats...

3) God gave us the great outdoors, suitable for air-drying anything that may get wet (except of course for the 6 months where it is too cold/wet to hand clothes outside and that's where God gave us...attics? bathrooms?  wherever you can fit one of these...)

4) They are, in fact, a luxury item. I'll say that again...they are a luxury item. Now, I never thought I would hear myself say that, but I do believe it to be true. Why I still think it is important, nay, necessary, for me to have such a luxury? I have a large family, and it's only going to get larger. And I plan on homeschooling, and taking language courses, and tending chickens and growing veggies, etc. I just don't know where I will find the time to do all that laundry *and* hang it up. Others have done it in the past, others will continue to do it in the future, but I'm not quite sure I want to join the "others" just yet.

5) Other reasons. I'm only one woman.

Last summer Martin and I rented a flat right in the heart of downtown Krakow. The entire week the children were the most sick I have ever seen them, all at the same time. I was 5 months pregnant with Kacio. And, to top it all off, we were on the 4th floor of an apartment building, with no A/C, during one of the worst heat waves Poland has ever seen. The children threw up (and other stuff. goo.) over every piece of cloth in that apartment, more than once. No towel, rag, duvet cover, pillowcase, sheet, or piece of clothing was left unscathed. And the majority of it was not ours. It belonged to the apartment owners. And we were there for a week! This was no hotel where they replace the linens for you on a daily basis. We were in charge of using what they provided and making it last a week. And yet, within 48 hours it had all been used up, soiled beyond recognition. 

I panicked for a bit. On the inside. What was I going to do? 

Never fear. The apartment came with one of these...

A washer/dryer combo, in one machine. No bother that I could only fit one sheet in it at a time. (European sheets are the same size as American sheets) No bother that I could only fit about 5 towels at one time. (again, towels, same size here, as there) I washed and dried my little fat, sweaty, heart out the entire time we stayed there (it took forever! why, when everything is the same size here, as there, do they insist on having such small washing machines!!!???) and I left that apartment manager lady with the freshest, cleanest linens known to man.You're welcome weird apartment manager lady. You're welcome.

I know, I know, clothesline are wistful and romantic. Sheets, line dried, smell so fresh and clean compared to machine dried. Having little baby clothes flapping in the wind in the backyard just gives you that warm and fuzzy feeling. One the inside. 

Yeah, well, you know what doesn't give me a warm and fuzzy feeling? On the outside? How clothes dried on the line are all stiff and scratchy. How any piece of clothing with the least amount of stretch doesn't "bounce back" into shape after being line dried so your pants just get more and more stretched out, and your t-shirts just start to look like big square sacks hanging off ya'. And how, when it rains unexpectedly,...you have to start all over. Yes, I'm spoiled, but then I could say the same thing about Poles, after all, they get rain at regular life-giving intervals, they have no right to point fingers. No right!

But, seriously,

For the first year or so I don't know that we will have access to a dryer. I might find at the end of that year that I just don't need one. I might just invent a new home-school class called "Hanging Clothes out to dry 101: the do's, dont's and everything else under the sun.  (get it? get it? "under the sun" like the sheets... under the sun... awesome) But, knowing that they exist, and that Martin has promised that we will have one in our house, if I want one, and even if I rarely use it, has made me a little more peaceful. On the inside. Where it counts. 

In closing, if we don't have a dryer, how in the world will we be able to do this?

Ok, so I *do* put kids in the dryer. But, honestly, who doesn't?