Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Vacuum, what is that?

Yesterday the carpenter was here redoing our closet. He made a big mess of sawdust, and asked me for a broom to clean it up. When I told him we didn't have a broom, he was shocked. And he kind of laughed. I think he thought I didn't know how to use one or something. I told him we didn't use brooms, that we had una aspiradora, or vacuum. His reaction to that word was similar to Jose's parents' maid when she was helping us clean before we moved in. She didn't know what una aspiradora was, and had never seen one. When I taught her how to use it, she was amazed. :) She looked at me with wide eyes and said, "But where does the dirt go??" I smiled, and said that it went into a bag inside the machine, and when the bag got full, all you had to do was throw it away and put in a new one. She then asked, "WHY doesn't Dona Marlene (Jose's mom) have one of these?!?!" Haha. I said that I didn't know why...but she should get one. Rosi (the maid) agreed.

I thought I had convinced her that my technology was better than her old ways (a triumphant win in an impossible battle with maids here), but the next day she came back with a broom.

4 comments:

Serch said...

Well, in my country we know what a vacuum is ;) But curiously, the broom is still on the top of "Most popular cleaning tools" list.

Hannah said...

Serch, thanks for reading. I too am a fan of the broom, however, the vacuum is more efficient when it comes to all of this effing dust! :)

Honduras Sprout said...

I brought a Dirt Devil vacuum back with me from the states. I thought I was just so sick to death of vacuuming. But lately...I've returned to the broom. Maybe because I feel like I'm constantly battling dirt and little pick ups and getting the darn thing out and plugging it in seems like more work.

The Shepherd's Journal said...

Interesting that your carpenter worked there on 1/26 and that's the same day that your cell phone bill started incurring roaming fees in Honduras. The thief owes me $428!!!!