A hard question.
The short answer would be yes.... we are spending the time as a family which I love and no as our daily life is in many ways so far removed from what I thought daily life in Bali would be. Also it is different from our own lives in freshwater.
The little things that I surmised in my planning.
Washing. At home it can be unto 15 loads a week . This was a huge part of the everyday I wanted to escape on our trip. In the planning I thought each person would have two outfits one on and one off. each night i would quickly hand wash the dirty one.Simple . No clothes to put away or wash baskets needed....
We did bring the 2 sets of clothes and I was inordinately proud of the tiny backpacks that were our luggage. Although we had 2 huge bags full of books, medicine etc
When we arrived it rained every evening and the first clothes did not dry for over 2 days... it became clear out to me if we did our own washing we would be taking someones job away.
So we have damp whiffy t shirts and clothing strife. Pretty much straight away.
So much for planning
3 months in we are used to sending the clothiers off to the laundry every 2 days. they come back clean and irons. Noah said " I like the clothes in Bali they are all flat and smooth" no i don't iron those 15 loads of washing. If the joy of flat clothes is something Noah wanted to continue it's time to introduce him to the iron when we get home. I think he will be happy with his clothes the Australian way really quickly. Even the road workers here have clean ironed clothes for work each morning.
Yes no washing and what a delight that is. The clothes are bleached sometimes started and washed within an inch of their lives. coloureds and whites are often mixed... there is little control over quality. the result is our clothes are falling apart quickly. Seams rot and split. strange patterns turn up on white tshirts. Shorts have the beautiful addition of bleach stars.
Does it matter ? Not for the look because certainly here we have no standards. But we do need clothes or at least I do. The children are constantly naked. In the pool , dancing, reading. you name it they have done it - naked. My constant refrain at home was where are your socks? has been replace with " can you at least put shorts on. You will get a burnt bottom."
The need to get away from washing is so great that I ask the kids to drop it off!
** if you are wondering why the design has rapidly disappeared. my mac is unwell. With no programmes available it's just blogger and iPhoto for now.
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