Laundry

The laundry system here, if nothing else, is efficient.  You have this woven white bag into which you put all of your dirty laundry.  There’s really no need to sort things as everything is basically the same – browns and greens with some white socks.  You tie your strings into a knot with your nametag sticking out of the end of the bag.  You then take your bag to this little hut and throw it into the bin with everyone else’s dirty laundry bags and sign your name in on the register.  The laundry can be done in as little as twelve hours, but I usually pick it up the next day.   The clean bags are placed on shelves in the same little hut where you dropped it off.  You pick up your bag and sign off in the register that you picked it up.

Some keys to the laundry:

-          They don’t open the bag and put your clothes in the laundry, they just throw the bag into the washing machine with everyone else’s bag and then throw them in the dryer.  There is an art to getting just the right amount and combination of clothes into the bag.  Too many clothes and the whole bag is still wet when you pick it up.  Too few clothes and you have to keep going back.

-          Right after I got here, I was able to score a second white bag.  This allows me to put more clothes into the laundry at the same time, yet still get them dried.

-          When you wash your uniforms, which are big and bulky, it’s key to put in a couple of other clothes so they come back just a little wet.  That way you can hang them and some of the wrinkles come out.  Otherwise, they get dried into a big ball and look like you just slept in it.

-          I’ve gotten to the point that I can recognize my bags on the shelf without having to search for my name.  Some people have colored tags that they’ve attached to their bag or colored strings that they’ve woven into their mesh.  However, you get to the point that you recognize your knots or the way your bag looks without any of those markers.

-          Eventually everything turns a dusty grey color.  You can definitely tell the older bags on the shelves from those that have just been issued.  You can see the grey in all of the whites.  When my wife sent me some new white pillow cases about 4 weeks after being here, they were blinding.

-          The workers tie a small string around the neck of your bag before they put it into the laundry so there is no way things can fall out and get lost.  There have been several injuries from people using their issued Gerber knives while opening these small strings – to the point where we were warned at one of our doctor’s meetings to be careful with the laundry bag opening technique.  I use my little scissors to avoid any injury.

-          You can pay some money to have your laundry “ironed” if you would like. (The laundry service itself is free).  I have not taken advantage of this opportunity yet, but supposedly this ensures that your stuff will come back dry.

-          There is no limit on the amount of laundry you can do, so I do it about every other day.  This decreases the amount of clothing I actually need and I’ve noticed a significant change in the color of my uniforms that get cycled through the laundry compared to the ones still hanging in my closet.

Laundry before...

Laundry after...

All in all I think it’s a great system.  Very efficient and simple to use and don’t see why we can’t implement it when I get home…

Four Weeks

My blog was turned off for a little while – not sure why.  I’m going to post a small message just to make sure it works.  If it does, I’ll load some more pictures and stuff later.

Well I’ve been here for four weeks now and things have settled into a groove.  Hopefully my blog is back up and running.  I work 24 hours on and then 24 hours off.  My “on” days I spend pretty much at the hospital with breaks for lunch and dinner.  There are various meetings to go to and few administrative things to take care of, but mostly I just do radiology.  Some days are busy and I work all day, some days are really slow and I read a lot.  We usually get the Stars and Stripes newspaper a day late, so I do the crossword, the Sudoku, the word jumble and sometimes the Cryptiquote.  I’m on call through the night, but usually get some sleep.  I probably shouldn’t say much about what I actually do, but don’t be fooled by the lack of media attention.   People are definitely being severely wounded and being killed over here.

I kind of have a routine for my days off as well.  I have to be at the hospital in the morning in order to exchange the primary bleep for the secondary bleep (the Brits call the beepers “bleeps”).  Usually pick up a load of laundry at the laundry facility then go back to my room and change in to PT gear.  Then I go to the gym to workout – usually cardio stuff in the morning.  Come back, shower and watch an episode of a TV show (currently on the first season of AMC’s The Walking Dead) or a movie then walk over to Leatherneck to eat at the American dining facility for lunch.  Check in at work after lunch to make sure no one needs help with anything, then back to my room for some reading and a nap.  About 4:30 go back to the hospital and see what’s going on and then back to Leatherneck for dinner.  After dinner I go work out again – currently pull-ups and some kind of pushup routine.  There’s a hospital meeting for the doctors in the evening and then we usually watch a movie in the doctor’s lounge after that.

I usually e-mail somewhere in there every day and sometimes call home.  That’s about it.  It’s like a two day ground hog day sequence.  The only day that’s any different is Sunday.   I’m off every other Sunday and don’t work out on that day.  I also go to Church the Sunday I’m off.  The weather is usually the same – sunny, but not too hot.  We’re in the desert so it’s pretty dry.  It reminds me of Colorado in the summertime.   I guess it will get really cold in the winter, but you still sweat a little when you walk over to Leatherneck for meals.  It has only sprinkled twice.

I’ll post this today and see what happens to the blog.  If it’s still up, I’ll write more later.