Clothes

Clothes give me a continual stream of thought in Singapore.  I'm not one to wear skirts or dresses.  I can't find a style that looks nice on me - they look quite awful actually, and forget flattering.  But skirts are an excellent item for wearing in a hot, humid climate.  So, I'm challenging the neuroplasticity and I've begun to wear skirts.  But not without my Body Glide... seriously the best invention ever.

Wearing a skirt is not what monopolizes my clothes thoughts, though.  Naturally, you sweat a lot around here.  It's hot every day... it's particularly humid.  The heat isn't unbearable, though.  It also rains almost every day (warm, heavy rainfalls).  Since every day brings stickiness and sweat, doing laundry is CONSTANT activity.

Dryers are rarely used in Singapore.  Kitchens are typically laid out so there is a clothes drying area.  There is most often an opening without a window for air flow.  Kitchens are not air conditioned so you keep the door closed.  Many apartments have poles protruding from under the windows and clothes are hanging on them.  When it's humid out, it can take up to two days for your clothes to dry!

Our kitchen doesn't have those poles outside, but we do have the opening in the wall.  (We also have a bomb shelter and a maid's bathroom in our kitchen.  Yes, every building that was built post 9-11 has a bomb shelter...  not sure how protected we'd be since we live on the 13th floor!)  I've started to create standardization processes for the laundry.  I'm not sure if this obsession for efficiency is from 9 years of exposure to 'lean' at Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters or from having a bit of engineer in my blood (my brother, partner, and many colleagues will like that one:).  But I have these little systems for how to take the dry clothes from the way too high rod and fold them, take the wet clothes from the washer and hang using the clothespins that are conveniently located within reach (I even tend to use the same color pins on each hanger), and then I add more clothes to the washer and have steps to follow for that too.  (I'm sure part of this craziness is me missing my alphabetically organized CD collection! ha)

I'm definitely thankful I don't have a job yet while I spend this time organizing and standardizing.... then again these little obsessions might be a result of not using that part of my brain for the last few weeks.