But I just want to do my laundry...

Today is Friday. On Fridays, Venice International University has been kind enough to grant us the day off from classes. For most, this means sleeping in, missing breakfast, and enjoying waking up slowly at whatever time you want. Or, getting up superearly to go on some exciting adventure outside of Venice. For Saki and me, this means waking up at the crack of dawn (okay, 8 o'clock) because the cleaning ladies have posted a sign on our door saying we MUST BE OUT OF THE ROOM BY 9AM OR IT WILL NOT BE CLEANED. Some may think that a room can go two weeks without being cleaned, and sometimes I am of this opinion also, but when this includes your towel and your toilet paper rations, it is imperative to be out of the room before they arrive. As it is, Saki and I could easily have been toilet paper thieves in another life. We're stealthy. Anyway, I digress. So I woke up this morning and went down to breakfast at 8:30 with my book, expecting to read a few chapters while relaxing over breakfast, go back up to my clean room around 9:30 or so, and go to Palazzino 12 (another building) to do my laundry while doing homework and mending my shirt, which had lost a button a few weeks ago. That was the plan, anyway. I made it down to breakfast with my book, and then was joined by Margaret and Cassie, so I sat there til almost 10, talking with them. Then I went up to my room. It was still dirty. Annoyance #1. I figured well, it's okay, I still have to do laundry. So I grabbed my overflowing basket, my rather slim wallet, detergent and a book and make my way over to Palazzino 12. I sing hallelujah's when I get there because both washers are empty. Since I only have one 2 euro coin with me at the moment, I fill up one washer with two pairs of jeans and two weeks' worth of underwear, drop the coin in, and press start. Then I take out my 20 euro bill and go to Reception, where I know the oh-so-kind ladies there have changed money for my friends before. NO WE DON'T CHANGE MONEY CHECK THE BAR. Okay thank you very much. So I go to the bar, where again NO I HAVE NO CHANGE. O...k....so now what? I wander over to the coffee machine, thinking that it'll surely give me change if I put in a 20. Too bad it only accepts bills that are less than 10. So I march all the way back to the building at the other end of the island, thinking that surely by 11 o'clock my room's been completely cleaned and the ladies are done so I can figure out where to get change from. As soon as I walked in the door, I heard three women screaming in Italian. Somehow it didn't surprise me when I reached the top of the stairs and found the cleaning lady yelling with two of her superiors, and then at me when I tried to get in my room (I figured she was finished since she had so much spare time to get into arguments with people). At this point I discovered that there was something rather irritating right in the center of my eye, and I could see it because it was covering my pupil but I couldn't manage to poke it out. I knocked on Keshia and Caitlin's door, hoping that maybe one of them could give me some change, and thankfully Keshia had two ten euro bills. I tried using her bathroom mirror to get rid of the fuzz in my eye, but the lighting in our bathrooms is so poor that it was a hopeless cause. I thanked her profusely for her change and stumbled down the stairs and back to the building with the bar to try to change it again. As soon as the lady saw me walk up to her, I saw the smile fade from her face, and knew that I'd have to change tactics if I was going to get anything from her. So I ordered a chocolate croissant, thinking that I could at least save it for tomorrow since we'll be out on the first vaporetto and breakfast won't be open yet. She gave me my change with a scowl and shoved the croissant at me, but I was elated because FINALLY I had two more 2-euro coins. Of course, what I really needed was one 2-euro one and two 1-euro coins, because the drying machine only costs 1 euro (for all of 10 minutes of drying) and conveniently doesn't give change. I figured going back to ask the lady for some one euro coins wasn't the best idea, so I settled for the idea of having crunchy underwear and jeans for the next few weeks. When I returned after making a small, successful detour to the bathroom to poke the fuzz out of my eye for good, my laundry was waiting for me. I began taking it out and hanging it on the drying racks, when I noticed little bits of paper on everything I was pulling out. Now that is something I am paranoid about. I hate it when I wash things and they come out still dirty, so I check and double check my pants' pockets before putting them in the wash. Well, I check the front pockets, because I never use the back pockets. Except for last weekend in Milan, when I put my subway ticket in my back pocket to be able to find it easily. It was my own fault, but by this time I was ready to at least maim some pigeons out of frustration. Once I finished hanging all my "clean" clothes up, I set about doing my other load, which had my nice Lacoste shirts, a few Juicy shirts, and other nice brightly colored clothing. I always wash nice clothes on cold. Except this washing machine was stuck on setting 3, which was warm, and I didn't have a way of knowing that until the money was in and the machine was started, and once you push start on those ancient things, there's no going back. So I watched helplessly for several minutes as my nice clothes circled several times and then decided I didn't want to watch the expensive side of my wardrobe be mutilated, so I sewed my shirt button back on and came back to my room, which was finally cleaned. By now the wash should be done though, and I'd better run back over there before someone takes it all out and dumps it on the dirty floor. People here are so rude about laundry-- I finally found my two socks that were missing from last time I did laundry: someone had used both of them to wipe out the detergent slots, and then left them all crusty and goopy on top of the washers. I think I'll never complain about doing laundry at Williams again-- at least there the washers are big, the dryers go for 60 minutes, the machines are in the same building as you are, and they conveniently cost only $2.50 per complete load via a swipe card. Here I'm almost spending more on laundry than on trips, and I've got to make sure I've got 10 euros in 1 and 2 euro coins before lugging all my stuff over to the next building.


I think I may take a ride over to Piazza San Marco and see how much damage I can inflict on those pigeons after all...