I was paid my first month's salary on Saturday, so we were able to make some major purchases this week. On Monday a student at ICB took us to the electronics store to help us pick out a washing machine, DVD player, and microwave. The washing machine was delivered on Tuesday, and it was such a nice early birthday present. It's great to be done washing things by hand before we start having a lot more laundry due to the colder weather. I've never had a front loader before; it's amazing how little water it uses! We still have to hang clothes to dry, since dryers are not very common here. They did have a couple of machines that both wash and dry, but they were a little out of our price range. I was going to try to convince Benjamin that we could afford one until I heard that the clothes come out super wrinkly. I'd rather have to hang-dry my laundry than iron everything!We're happy to have Seth back in cloth diapers again since we have our own washing machine. We were able to find disposable diapers here in Beijing (I was surprised by that), but the cost is the same as in the States. Well, we're living on a much reduced salary here, so they really seem expensive to us now. Here are some pictures of Seth checking out the energy label and the cool buttons on our new washing machine.
