Move Update #6: A Major Glitch, Then, One Apartment, Clean and Empty.

Just when I thought we were all done with the hard work of emptying the apartment, things took a turn for the strange.  We left a small handful of items in a closet last night, and arranged with the woman who cleans the hallways in our building to come early today, and give our apartment a thorough cleaning.  She said it would take about 3 hours, and she would arrive early.  We went to the apartment at nearly noon, and found that she had managed to clean the floor in one bedroom, and was working on one bathroom.  She had not touched the second bathroom, the living room, or Ricky's bedroom.  Most disconcertingly, she had not started on the kitchen.  She said she had been there since 9 a.m.  At this rate, she was going to finish at around 9 p.m.

I don't know why she worked so poorly.  She seemed to have no organization, and no real idea of what she was doing.  She was going to clean the floor in the kitchen before she began cleaning the counters and the stove and the refrigerator.  She took a glass shelf and put it into a bucket of water, and then forgot about it.  Then she dumped the bucket into the toilet, and the glass shelf went right in.  Fortunately, the glass shelf did not break.  Unfortunately, it poked a hole in the bowl of the toilet.  Ana and I worked with her for an hour, during which time she was able to clean the refrigerator.  Finally, Ana told her that we needed to leave soon.  She asked her to finish up in the kitchen, and then go.  At this point, the cleaning woman got insulted, and said that at other places she works, she goes at her own pace.  She refused to finish the kitchen, and we paid her and she left.  An hour later, we were done cleaning the apartment.  Tomorrow I will go there early, fix the hole in the toilet, and meet with the landlord to get back our deposit and give him the keys.  Come Monday, we are in motion!

While the cleaning was going on, we took a break and went to our corner store, called Esquina de Silvano.  It is a combination grocery store, bakery, and bar.  The groceries are somewhat expensive, but they have very good bread.  We had never had coffee there before, but today we did.  The coffee was very good.  Most everything in Spain was closed today, because of the Three Kings, marking the end of the Christmas season.  Children put out shoes, and received presents in and around them this morning.  There is a traditional cake eaten today, called roscon de reyes, and we were given pieces of it by the bakery guy.  I've been to this store about 20 times, picking up eggs or milk or some forgotten item.  It's served us well, and today it came through one last time, giving us a break when it was needed.