Spring Cleaning

Twice a year every Spaniard (well, every grandmother at least) cleans their home from top to bottom. Luckily, they're apartments and don't have as much space as our house. Thank you Mom for not making us do so. Angelita is giving me a free education in all of the traditions, even the cleaning ones.

Bathroom: Grab a bucket and rags. Wipe down the walls from the ceiling to the floor with soapy water, then with wet rag, then dry. Move the furniture from the wall, clean floor and wall behind it. Undo the lamp and clean it. Wipe down door.

Room:Move furniture, dust corners, clean blinds, wipe down furniture with damp rag, sweep, mop, dust, feather dust the corners of the walls and ceiling, clean windows.

I suppose the cleaning is fairly normal, but I haven't done it before and I would say that it took me awhile. Luckily I just have my room and the bathroom!

The reward for cleaning was going to Noemi and Armando's house, the pastor's family for lunch. They're from the Canary Islands...their accents remind me of Señor Delaguardia...Cuban accent almost. We had fiesta arroz. Mom sometimes makes something really similar: Frito chips on top of meat, cheese, lettuce. I can't for the life of me remember what it's called. Since last Sunday was my last Sunday here before Christmas, we needed to organize things to give the kids their prizes for the semester before I left. New cheap toys that the kids earned by earning stickers bringing their Bible and memorizing the Bible verse. I'm going to miss teaching them next semester.

I spent the evening catching up with Sara, a friend that took English classes from me and led the small group I participated in last year. She got married a few weeks before I came to Spain this past September, so we had a lot to talk about. The summer, being married, and teaching. She teaches evangelical religion classes in an elementary school in Madrid.