Day 4 entertainment

For this evening's entertainment, we will wash clothes:)
We have a washing machine from about 1980 (maybe older).

Kolia, Lena, and Yulia told us their best guess on how to work it, so I put soap in the "II" box, twisted the knobs, and nothing happened. Bummer. I twisted knobs in a different order, nothing, more twisting, fiddling, banging...nothing. I call Denton for help. He's an engineer and he can figure anything out! He's fixed our washer and dryer at home - very handy. He twisted, banged, fiddled, nothing. He kept at it for about 5 minutes & still nothing! We call our facilitator & she and her husband try to talk us through the process. Still no success. Ugh. We leave tomorrow at noon from the apartment & the clothes won't be dry it time if we don't get this moving! Finally, Denton has the right sequence of twists and the water comes on. YEA! I come back to the washer about an hour later. The cycle knob has not advanced AT ALL! It has just been tumbling for an hour. Back to fiddling. Another 10 minutes or so & Denton hears the knob clicking - he has gotten it to work properly & the cycle advances. By now it is after 9pm & I am wondering if these clothes will be dry by morning to pack. Doubtful. That is when a Mom goes to work. I have Denton light the oven (from about 1960) & crank it up. I find hangers all over the apartment & hang everything from the curtain rod in the kitchen. OSHA would have a fit.
I open the oven door and pray the clothes won't fall & catch fire. I set a trap for the oven door in case it falls open (an ironing board made of the asbestos-type counters found in a chemistry lab). The kitchen has a door, so I close the door & return to the living area. Denton (a little OCD) goes to the kitchen to check the clothes & it is a sauna! It is working! We turn the oven off & go to bed about midnight. That was fun and by morning everything was dry.