Ariel in the Breeze

                Coming here in September I already knew that clothes dryers were not very common in Seville, because of the weather and the cost of electricity.  I had no problem with the idea; my family uses a clothesline for our clothing as well.  I knew it was a good thing because my jeans and yoga pants wouldn’t shrink and my clothes wouldn’t get stretched out.  But I didn’t know that I would experience a feeling like shock the first time I saw my clothing on that line out in our apartment’s courtyard. 

                I was sitting and doing homework or reading and went to open my window on a very hot day, only to see outside my room, a very full clothesline.  On this clothes line were at least three pairs of my underwear and my Little Mermaid nightshirt.  Fantastic.  I could not believe that now all of our neighbors knew what I wear when I am sleeping and what kind of underwear I prefer.  I could not figure out why this was so shocking.  I had been putting my clothing on a line for years and never felt this before. 

                I think maybe I felt this way because at home it’s no one’s business what I wear when I want to be comfortable, or what my panties look like, because they are the most personal items of clothing that a person owns.  At home my clothes are on a private clothesline that is shared by my family.  Here, in our apartment complex, each floor has a separate clothesline hanging in a shared courtyard, where everyone including me, hangs our clothing.  Now everyone knows that a twenty year old woman, who wears mostly black, has bright purple underwear and an Ariel and Flounder nightshirt.  There is no true idea of private here, and not necessarily in a bad way.  Windows to kitchens bathrooms and bedrooms all open up into one acoustically appealing space for everyone to hear, whether that is an intense phone conversation or a concert in the shower happening two stories up. 

                I think this is a good way to open up our, or at least my, comfort zone.  I am not one to share feelings, thoughts, or much of anything else.  This is a way that I feel I have opened up to my neighbors, and they to me, in a way that is kind of intimate, but also very innocent.  At the very least it was an eye-opener and a very funny story back home!