Laundromat-o-mine

[This post has been published a year later than planned]

Who would've have thought doing my laundry would always be such an adventure?

Once a week (or perhaps a stretch more) I lugged my basket down the windy path through the snow-blanketed Kapelvej courtyard, across the street, making my way to my laundromat. Each time I am greeted by a different encounter. But the one that I will never forget is the one that happened most recently. Usually there are a couple of people in there, Danish, Middle Eastern, Northern African for the most part. The Danes do their part as the non-involved/ head down/ don't acknowledge your existence character. The Middle Eastern is usually a covered woman with several children running around and the Northern African steals glances at you when they think you're not looking.

Why am I talking about this?

When I was there yesterday, I must have given the impression that I was lost or didn't know how to operate the machines - its been a few months, I have it down pat. But this sweet lady, I think she was Iraqi, came and tried to explain it to me. She didn't understand English, I don't understand Arabic, and neither of us spoke a word of Danish. And yet she was so determined to teach me. In the midst of the chaos her children were causing, she managed, by speaking loudly, repeating the same Arabic sentences over and again, with dramatic hand gestures to get her message across. And after all her much appreciated efforts, all I could say in response was "Tak" (Thank you in Danish). She gave me the most warm-hearted smile I have ever gotten and then turned away, told off her children and continued on with her mountain load of washing. I never saw her again.

On the walk back to my flat, trudging through the snow in my chucks (not advisable), I found myself thinking about how different that could have been if we spoke the same language. Maybe she wasn't just talking about how to turn the dryer on. Maybe we could've had a few laughs and she could've told me some thing about her life and me about mine. Not this time Natasha, you can't be friends with everyone.

In all my travels over the past few months it couldn't be more blatantly clear how important language is in all our interactions with other humans and the urgent need for a universal language. Perhaps this is too big an ask for the time being. There are a lot of other pressing matters in the world at current that take precedence over address this social barrier for now but I think its certainly something that deserves more thought. It would certainly remove the issue of communication being lost in translation..