Cleaning Denmark

By Amire Nerongo

When a Zimbabwean woman arrives in Denmark, she thought a vacuum cleaner is used on carpeted floors only. But this is only one of the many things she has to learn about the modern world

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Aug 23, 2015
• ISBN: 9781329495920

Book preview

Cleaning Denmark

Cleaning Denmark

Amire Nerongo

Cleaning Denmark

A LULU BOOK: 978-1-329-49592-0

Copyright © 2015 by Blessing Zvomuya and brothers

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher/author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.

This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Published by Blessing Zvomuya                                               

St Jude’s Primary School                                                                                                          P.O Box 73                                                                                                                          Juru                                                                                                                         Harare                                                                                                                                 Zimbabwe

About the Author

Thirty-five. Female. Heterosexual. Human. African. Zimbabwean. Shona. Zezuru. Denmark.

Cleaning Denmark                             

Chapter 1

‘Here is the vacuum cleaner, many houses don’t have wall to wall carpets, so you would be expected to wash the floors with water and soap but no floor polish,’

‘What do I use to sweep the bare floors?’

‘You use the vacuum cleaner as well, you just change the brush by pressing this button and the brush will come out and on rugs and carpets, you press the same button and the brushes will go away again.

I don’t have a dishwasher but I don’t think you would be doing the dishes. But if they do ask you to do the dishes, don’t be embarrassed to ask how to operate the machine. There are so many different brands and they work differently.

‘The key for the main door also opens the door to the basement and the laundry room. And this is your copy. It also opens the letterbox. And here is the laundry card.

Now let’s go down to the basement where the laundry room is.

Bring your key, so that you can try while I’m present.

Also, take this warm jacket and these gloves. It is cold outside. Tomorrow we will go and buy you winter shoes.’

‘There are three washing machines, two dryers and a roller for ironing sheets but I would prefer that you use a normal iron.

You put clothes in here, soap in here, Sta-soft in here, then close the door and choose the right temperature. Then go to that box on the wall, choose a language then pay with this card. Come back to the washing machine and press start. I use 40o C and take an hour.

When the laundry is done, empty it into one of those white baskets on wheels and put the clothes in the dryer over there. I use medium heat, then pay and press start. It also takes an hour. So you can go back to the apartment and come back after an hour.

When the laundry is done, empty it, take it upstairs, iron it, and put it away into the wardrobe. I usually do my laundry on weekends – once a week. It’s very expensive.

Every time you come down for laundry, you must remember to book time, otherwise you won’t be able to use the machines. We use these little padlock keys, and this is our key. And its key is that little key on your key. So when you are finished with your laundry, you unlock it, choose your next date, put it there, and lock it again.

Now let’s go and collect Melanie.’

‘This is our bus stop. So in the morning, you take the 8.00 bus. Melanie will show you where to get off. I’ll show you too now but it’ll take you a while to remember. When you have left Melanie at school you take the same bus, only this time it’ll be going the other way (the long way). But you won’t get lost; just remember to press the stop button when you reach the golf course. Or you can just tell the driver. I’ll give you the bus timetable when we get home and mark all the stops for you. And don’t worry, most people understand English. If you are lost just ask.

‘You can get free newspapers over there. That’s where you can look for cleaning jobs’

‘Go in there and take a passport photo. We need one for the bus card’

‘Here is your bus card. You must keep it safe. Because everyone is registered here I put my name on the bus card.’

‘There is the post office, and here is the library. We must go in. I want to show you the notice board where you can find cleaning jobs and how to borrow books,

‘You cannot borrow books if you are not registered, so I’ll give you my medical card. And you must carry it with you everywhere just in case you have to show an ID. There is no picture, so no one will ever know.

‘This is Super Brugsen and the notice board is over there’

‘Here is Fakta and the notice board is over here’

‘There is the Red