Catch Up Day

19 Sept 2011
Since I only work 4 days a week, today was my first day off. Did I do anything exciting--like go to the beach? Unfortunately not. I'm still feeling sick and I had a lot of household things to catch up on.
First, I went shopping for some more basic things. I headed back to Al Campo (the Spanish Wal-mart) for things like laundry detergent, a rug, a drying rack, etc... I wasn't able to find everything that I wanted--either because it wasn't where I thought it would logically be or because the store didn't have it. For example, for the life of me, I couldn't find regular rugs--like you might put in a bedroom or living room. I found kitchen rugs and bathroom rugs, but no regular rugs.
My second task of the day was to figure out how to use the Spanish washer. I know how to do laundry, but this washer had a LOT more options than my washer at home. That, and I had to figure out what temperature in CELSIUS(!) was safe for my clothing. No pasa nada. It wasn't a big deal, but I was a little worried that my clothes would shrink. However, everything turned out fine. Then, I had to figure out how to dry my clothes in my room. Most Spanish homes (including my apartment) don't have dryers so you have to hang them outside on a line on the balcony or in your room. Since I don't have a balcony, I had to wait forever for them to dry in my room--which was unfortunate because I really wanted to put my sheets on my bed...