Tae Yoon: Life from 2006-2021

it's currently past 5:00am in bangkok and i'm at my friend's apartment.

i'm here doing my laundry because he lives in a nicer building with an excellent washing machine in his apartment, and has access to good dryers as well. thailand's tropical weather---along with the fact that i walk more than the average person---makes me sweat buckets and leaves me usually drenched in sweat, so it's important that i give my clothes a good wash. unfortunately, my building has really shitty washing machines, which sometimes feels like it doesn't really do any washing at all. not only are the machines at my building old and dissatisfying, but there's only 5 for all its residents and no dryers either. i'm forced to do cycles of laundry quite often so i make-do with the washers at my place, but every now and then, i'll lug my dirty laundry to my friend's in order to give it a good, thorough cleaning.

it's interesting because before i arrived in thailand, i never thought about how crucial it is for the country's residents to have adequate clothes-washing-access. the hot and humid weather pretty much guarantees that doing laundry on a frequent basis will be a normal part of life, and that's also the reason why fabric softener is such a HUGE industry here. walk through any supermarket in bangkok and you'll be able to find a whole aisle stockpiled with shelves upon shelves of fabric-softener-merchandising. since i come upon individuals everyday who reek of sweat and b.o., i can't even imagine how much worse it would be if people weren't able to buy fabric-softener here. while thai brands are the most popular and easiest to find, i'm fortunately also able to purchase some good ole' downy. now, if only they sold dryer-sheets in thailand, that would be awesome. but dryer-sheets will most likely not become readily available anytime soon since dryers are not used here by everyday people. instead, they are most often found in fancier and nicer apartment buildings and that's why i've got to come to my friend's house to use one. another reason why i like doing my laundry at my friend's is because his washing machine has a standard wash cycle that is over two and a half hours. yes, you read that correctly---TWO AND A HALF HOURS. at first i thought my friend's machine was just special and super nice but after seeing machines that other friends have, i realized that it's just the norm. it makes complete sense though due to the hot weather.

the last time i lived in a house with a washer and dryer was in the seventh grade. living in new york, you get accustomed to laundromat-culture and going to laundromats and putting up with all of the bullshit that comes along with the experience of cleaning your clothes: throwing all your clothes into a laundry bag (i used black garbage bags until i graduated college), putting it into a granny-cart, pushing the granny-cart to the laundromat no matter rain or shine, fighting other laundromat patrons for laundry-carts, keeping a watch on your granny-cart and clothes to make sure no one tries to jack your shit, having to wait through the whole wash and dry cycles for your clothes to finish, and then lugging all that back home---it can sometimes be an irksome ritual.

man, i can't wait until the day i'm living in a place with my own washer and dryer---that's when i'll know that i've made it. i know, dream big, right? it doesn't take much to make me happy...