Washing machine wars!!!

As the title would imply more than one washing machine is involved in this story - the association is by name only not ability.

When I left Utah I came to Italy expecting to wash my clothes in the sink or shower the majority of the time, I was hoping to find a laundromat that on occasion I could really wash and clean my clothes. So when I discovered that Formia had not only a washing machine but 2 front load washers I was over the moon with excitement.

Thursday morning before workout Kyle and I went to wash our clothes. Both machines were being used so we left our stuff in the room and went out to workout. 

Later that day Kyle went back and found one of the washing machines empty so in went our whites and on went the machine. When Kyle came back he told me that he wasn't sure about that machine, he had to unplug it and restart it to get our clothes going. So I'm already really skeptical about this things ability to really clean our clothes. After 2 hours we go back to take our clothes out and dry them. The machine says 1 minute left, but as we sit and wait for 5 minutes we realize that the washer is not working. So we hit pause and tried to get our stuff out, however those of you with front loaders know that the door locks, well as far as the machine was concerned there was still 1 minute left and the door was to remain locked. Kyle decided to put it through a quick spin cycle and maybe that would reset it. Well after not spinning and minutes passing by, we tried other things - like unplugging the machine, I think we pushed just about every button on it and after debating about breaking the door to get out things out (my idea, Kyle said NO), I fiddled with the knob that controls the speed the machine spins at, and bam we heard the click of the door unlock and we opened the door as fast as we could, grabbed our whites which were sitting in dirty brown water and took them back to the room. 

Kyle was convinced that they were washed, I think I could have convinced him to put them in the other washer had it not been full of stuff. So back to the room, we used the shower head to try and rinse them and hung them out to dry. Upon checking to see if they were dry or not I took one of the dry fit shirts and smelled it, it was defiantly not clean, so I checked another and another. None were clean but now it was evening and so we decided to wait until tomorrow to try again with the other washer. 

We went back to the laundry room in the morning before practice and the one washer was full and washing. We were not about to use the other washer again, which was still full of water anyway. So we decided to check in a few hours. Kyle went back to check on the situation, and when he returned to the room he told me that one lady (we see her at lunch with a bunch of kids, who are not training they just show up for lunch- I think they must be orphans or something) was rotating her laundry. This went on all day, we never found a time that she was not using the washing machine. 

Determined and not being able to sleep very well because of our stiff mattresses Kyle awoke at 6am and went to put our whites in the laundry and found the washing machine to be full but not running, and being the gentleman that he is he didn't want to take the stuff out and make someone upset, so he just returned to the room. I woke up at 7:30 and went to do the same thing, and of course it was full and running, and apparently the person who put their stuff in the washer took the stuff out of the washer and just sat it on top of the machine. Later Saturday afternoon I went into the laundry room and found the lady rotating her laundry, I pointed at the machine and then at my watch she said no and showed me her other bag that was to go in after this wash finished. Then she pointed at the stuff on the washer that she had taken out, I shook my head no, and said "that's not mine". Then she had the odassity to point to the broken washer implying that I should use that washing machine. I shook my head no and pointed to the only one working. Then I put my stuff down next to the washer and left. 

It wasn't until I got down the stairs that I realized what I should have said -that she should use the broken one if it works so well. But of course I always think of these things when it's too late to say them. 

The story ends well we eventually got our whites and colors washed in the working machine. I guess I mislabeled this post because this was not a washing machine war it was more of Kyle and I getting our butts kicked by a 5 foot tall, 100 lb, very quiet woman just taking over the washing machine. I guess the only war was when we tried to extract our stuff out of the first machine that was broken. Adventures of city life and reasons why I love living in a house in a quiet neighborhood.