Repoussant (ou en anglais, Repulsive.)

I can honestly say that the most repulsive experience thus far in my Reunionese adventure was NOT the traffic-cone chicken murder (facinating, really.) The sight that nearly made me gag was here, in my beautiful little haven of a room, not more than a half hour ago.
You see, with all the perks that come with this incredible set-up, there are a few draw-backs. These include surprising details like finding out that public restrooms are co-ed, realizing that they don't make anything resembling skim milk (crazy half-cream junk), and waking up to the sound of jackhammers every glorious morning. Perhaps the most inconvenient, though, is the lack of affordable washing and drying of clothes.

The drying isn't a major deal... Just pop up some clothes line, clip 'em into security, and let the tropical breeze take care of the rest.
The washing though... Yes, there are washers in my building, but each load requires a token that costs 2.60 euro (which is somewhere around 4 American dollars.) Add the purchasing of detergent, the risk of having clothes stolen from the community washers, and the spiked stress level from having to actually go into the basement by myself, and count me out. No, no, I decided to copy my new friend Heather and purchase a plastic wash basin (for the price of 4.5 tokens.) You got it; I've resigned myself to hand-washing my clothes for the next several months.

If you've never done it before, here's what I've learned:
Yes, it is difficult, but totally doable, especially if you have a detachable shower head like me!
Yes, your hands get very soft.
Yes, this does have to do with the first sentence of my post. AKA... dumping the dirty soapy water out made me want to gag. In a way, though, I was glad to know that all my hard work had a positive effect. If all that brown came out of my clothes, there's that much less IN them!
It's ultimately a very worthwhile experience, and I admit I feel accomplished. More than anything, I think having done tonight's medium-sized load will encourage me to stay on top of laundry by doing smaller loads and discourage me from buying anything new for fear I'd have to wash it!

Alright, well the evening is winding down, so I believe I'll be spending the next few hours reading HP and the Prisoner of Azkaban in French. (does anyone else accidentally spell it Prizoner every time?!)