last day of work!!!!!!! :D

Oh my gosh...finally no more work! I decided to make today my last day of work because 1) I have papers due soon, and 2) Denmark only pays from the 15th to 15th. So if I continued to work past December 15th, I wouldn't get paid until January 30th. And 3) I want to enjoy my last week here in Denmark!!

But yay!!! No more cleaning poo in toilets, no more cleaning (all sorts of) shed hair, no more dirty Chinese fob men in hotel (it's so true though, everyone like sighs when we see Chinese men in the lobby and out of all the people that come to the hotel, I can say that they are the dirtiest), no more cleaning 15 rooms and bathrooms, no more itchiness from detergents and sprays , no more scrubbing calcium off the faucets and showers, no more wearing the maroon apron uniform, no more free breakfasts and lunches, no more free danish goodies, no more free fitness center, no more seeing my English bosses and co-workers that I just started to get to know a little better... Goodbye Park Inn...

What an experience though to have to work as a hotel cleaner... I really have so much more deep appreciation for hotel cleaners. It is hard work! And I had it easier than my co-workers who were cleaning 23 rooms. That's professional status. And I thought I've gotten pretty fast at cleaning a room now - I have no idea how they do it. I keep telling the girls that: "I don't know how you do it." Some of them have been there for four years! I was working twice or three times a week for 5 hours per day and only there for three months. How tiring it really gets. But you do get used to the physical labor part. I even started to go to the hotel's fitness center on Thursdays to do running on the treadmill! So now that I know what goes behind the scenes in the hotel, some things that I myself would now do differently after staying at a hotel:

1) I wouldn't move the furniture around too much. Some of the people just like to really move side tables underneath desks, and move beds, etc. Try to keep things in the same place. It makes it a lot easier to clean.

2) I would throw away the trash in trashbins and leave bottles and recylcables outside the trashbins. Often times I would have to fish out gross beer bottles and cans in the trashbins

3) I would take off the sheets and pillowcases that I slept in and put it in a pile. And I would also bundle up the towels I used and put them in a pile as well. You don't have to do this, but because I know what hotel cleaners go through, I think I would because it makes cleaning go so much faster.

4) I would also tip well! In Europe I guess they don't tip - but sometimes I would see some Euros or DKK and that was really nice to get.

5) I would get checkout of the room before 12pm for sure. Basically, the later you checkout - the later we would have to stay at hotel to clean the rooms. So checking out in the morning is best so that the hotel cleaners can get out of there faster too.

The list could go on. But those are the major things...please be nice to the housekeeping workers in hotels. Say "hi" to them and smile please. Even those slight things made the job easier.

But yeah, I'm glad God gave me the opportunity and experience to do it - He taught me a lot from it. He made me think of what it means more to be a servant/slave as an analogy to being a servant/slave (doulos) for God. He taught me more on being submissive to my bosses - to do what they say and work hard without complaining. God placed my bosses there for a reason and my actions and obedience are a good way to be a witness for Christ. Having integrity as I work - it is so tempting a lot of the times to just skip over dusting, vacuuming, wiping...And I did give in a couple times :( He gave me the opportunity to witness to more people that don't know Christ and build at least one relationship with a co-worker...

All in all, I have to conclude that hotel-cleaning was a good job. God really used this job to teach me and refine me - to be more of who He wants me to become. But I'm so glad it's over! Haha. Thank You God.

Oh and here are pictures from Rome with Hyan!!!