Unsuccessful errands

I had an unsuccessful day. I went out looking for four different things. I made three different stops. I found zero of what I was looking for. Took up five hours of my day.
But, as usual, I saw other interesting things
At the coffee shop where I stopped for some tea, I sat on the balcony and watched the tide come in on the sea of motorcycles below.

At another stop I saw something new.
Do you ever look up at the ceiling? I do. And today I was rewarded. There were barefooted men walking over the panels of whatever the roof is made of, squeegeeing it.
Here's a brief look at the action:

Bad math

I was desperate yesterday evening for a clean house.
I went to the lady downstairs and told her I had guests with a small child coming and my floors were not clean.
She said, "Come in and have chai."
I went in and talked with her for a while and had some chai. She told me she'd send her house helper up the next day to see about the floors.
This afternoon a lady turned up at the door. She made a mopping motion and told me to let her in. I said that not only did I need her to clean the floors today, but I needed someone every day.
"What do you want me to do?"
"Clean the floors. Dust. Clean every thing."
"How much will you give me?"
"1300."
She didn't understand the number I said.
So I counted it out for her.
She didn't understand that.
So I wrote it out for her.
She couldn't read.
Finally she said, "I'll do the floors for 500 and the rest for 200."
Being generous, I asked, "800?"
"No. 700."
"You mean for a month or today?"
"For the month."
Sold. She'd just subtracted from my original offer and given me an unheard of deal for a foreigner. I'll take it. And count it as a gift from the God who knows how little is in my wallet.

My small visitor still managed to turn his nose black on the curtains, though.
Guess I need the number for a dry cleaners.

Thirteen hours later

Now there is shine. Now there is sparkle.
After seven and a half hours of cleaning yesterday and another five and half today, the kitchen is now clean. It has cupboards; it has all the necessary walls and gaps sealed up; and it is clean.
Ahh.

Particularly beautiful to me (now) is this power outlet. Before I started on it it was brown with years of baked on grease from those who previously lived and cooked here. Disgusting.
It's still not perfect, but so much better.

And a good thing the kitchen is clean, because I got ahead of myself and unpacked dishes the other day. Now I have somewhere to put them.

Enjoy the curtains

The curtains are fixed now. It took me two days to beat the dust out of them and thoroughly clean the windows--it's hard to clean with your arms so high above your head.
They're pretty. Now I can enjoy them.
And now I wouldn't mind if the curtain man came back. :)

Sparkling clean

I spent six hours cleaning the bathroom today. I even got the corroded metal faucets to shine once more.
I don't know if my fingers have ever been this pruney.
It is finally a room clean enough that I give it a mark of satisfaction. That means: one down, six rooms to go.
If you can't really see the sparkle, humor me and pretend you can.