Where strength and a lot of water are required
For some it can be a bit of a shock to discover that you have not realized that the way you clean a house is actually a cultural issue. When you live in a different culture, you will find that many more things in your life are more culturally based than you had previously thought. We often assume that the way we do things is correct, the right way to do it, and any other way by definition is incorrect, or the wrong way!
Half the misunderstandings could be avoided if we take the time to understand and learn how and why other people do things differently. And to understand that when they look at us, they view our way as wrong! We need to be consciously open to learning and understanding what the cultural nuances are in whatever we are involved in. This will be a deeper awareness of even our own home culture, and perhaps even begin to question that.
Take cleaning the house for example. How is it done in Egypt? Well again, that is such a broad question, and there will be differences in each village, town, city and family. However, here are some similarities:
Speed
Once Egyptian women (and indeed men) get going with cleaning, they seem to move in a frenzied whirlwind. The aim is to get through the cleaning as quickly as possible, so that you can get down to the good stuff, namely food and friends!
Water
Usually a lot of water that is used to clean and mop, particularly in the bathrooms. Everything that is movable will be moved out of the bathroom and then all the walls, floors, toilet, basin, bath will be sprayed with water, washed and then sprayed down again. The wonderful thing about most Egyptian bathrooms (and balconies) is that they have small drains in the floor. This enables you you can simply squee-gee the water down the drain. This leaves the entire bathroom wet, but with the heat here for the bulk of the year, it dries out very quickly. So a good hint is not to have too many things on your shelves or tables in the bathroom (as sometimes they get wet!!)
Mopping
A lot of mopping also happens. In the shops you can find a variety of products to mop with: soap for tiles, marble, liquid for parquet flooring, wood flooring and any number of types of brooms, mops and buckets. Again, all this done with high energy and speed!
Carpets and rugs
Egyptians are quite proud of having a variety of rugs, mats and carpets. These can be small ones to rather impressively large ones. Fashions come and go, and you can see a variety of the classic rugs, with their beauty and style, and then the more quirky modern ones with louder colours and less natural threads. Egypt tends to be a rather dusty place, and keeping these rugs and carpets clean is something every Egyptian woman has to work hard at. The easy option, but more costly, of having them cleaned is the local carpet cleaning man! You phone him and they send a younger runner (or 2) to roll up and carry the rugs back to the laundry. They will then beat, wash and dry them and finally wrap them in plastic. The same runners will proudly unwrap and lay down the new clean carpet for you, for a small tip of course.
However, if this is not an option, many homes will have cleaning ladies, either daily, weekly or once a month, depending on the dust levels. They will take out the mats, one at a time, throw them across the balcony wall, and then beat them with a carpet-beater. This is a sight to behold. However if you head the methodical sound of a carpet being beaten as you walk along the road, quickly cross to the other side to avoid when walking underneath the dust released by an enthusiastic cleaning lady. Once beaten, they are left in the sun for a time, to sanitise them, and then brought back inside. Once every few months, the carpets will be washed. This involves the usual beating first, and then a strong broom with a soapy mixture to wash the carpet. It will then be hung out to dry.