Wa-shin Powder

Friday, 11 December 2009 at 21:52

:) Hiiiii-ya!

I remember being fascinated by the fact that the Chinese invented gunpowder in my Year 7 history class. It opened my eyes to the richness and early roots of the Chinese society.
Today, however, I realised that we all have different talents and inventions for a reason. The inventor of gunpowder should have really stuck with gunpowder and not have dabbled in washing powder. Today's story will elaborate why.
Nearing the end of my first semester as a guiri I have a load of clothes washing to do so I decided to go to a nearby tienda china and buy some powder. Half an hour before my venture I mentioned it to my flatmate that I am off to buy some washing powder. She said:"Cool, just don't get it from the Chinese shop, if you hold life dear. Pleaaaase go to the supermarket." Typical andaluz concoction of mistrust mixed with a dash of xenophobia, I thought. I also didn't fancy going to the supermarket by a ten minute bus ride when I had the tienda china right across the zebra crossing.
Of course, I ended up buying the powder, a strange greenish, mass reminiscent of UFO space dust. I thought tienda china here sold cheaper quality cheaper price home brands like everywhere else but it turns out they sell actual Chinese powder imported straight form Beijing. I put the washing in the machine all according to instructions and went for a little afternoon siesta. One hour later I come into the kitchen with a :) expression on my face which quickly turned to this :) and then this :) aaaaaaaah (scream) which made my flatmate run promptly to the kitchen saying "are you OK are you OK?" with a flustered look on her face thinking I'd fallen or something (which knowing me wouldn't be unusual). And then it sunk in. The ENTIRE kitchen was flooded with foam or should I say foamded. I mopped the mess up, apologized, what else could I do. Thankfully, no clothes was ripped, damaged or anything of sorts. My flatmate was sweet about it saying "ay, no problema" (I love that here nothing is ever is a problema) but then told me off for buying the powder. She:"Listening not you strong poing is it?" I was like "errr...." The best part is that I actually heard her but brushed it off as mistrust when as I found out later, she had the same experience and THAT'S why she told me not to buy the powder there (something to do with the powder type being incompatible with Spanish water,something blah, blah technical). Whow!
All is well that ends well. Good thing I sealed the day by buying a pair of Ying-Yang earring to lift the mood! :)