Chaos

Each Saturday, our team gathers as we normally do in the mornings, but rather than singing and sharing with each other, we take the hour to clean up around our site. We are each assigned a task, such as cleaning the toilets in the admin building, sweeping the verandas around the buildings, tidying up certain areas where clutter has formed, and so on. We consider it a time where we are able to serve with our hands, and have ownership over this huge chunk of property we have been given.

Chaos is actually my least favorite day of the week, because at the end of the work week I'm pretty exhausted, and cleaning isn't really the first thing I want to do in the morning. During the summer is particularly brutal, as you have to bring a second set of clothes because just standing outside means you are sweating profusely, let alone how disgusting you are after cleaning for an hour, and this is first thing in the morning (I'm not really selling Hong Kong, am I?). At least now, during a slightly cooler time (ie 60F), it's a lot more bearable.

I usually put my hand up to clean toilets. That may not sound like it would be your first choice, but hear me out. I volunteer for the toilets in the admin building, and since I do them almost every week, I have my routine down and it really isn't too bad. Wipe down sinks, wipe down toilets, pour some cleaner in them, sweep up, mop up, replace paper towels, and take out the trash. (side note: to fill the mop bucket, since it won't fit in the shallow sink, we have these cut out sections of hoses, of various sizes, so you put one end to the faucet and turn it on and have to twist the hose just right so the water flows down to the bucket and doesn't get pinched and flow backwards, creating a mess. It's not an attachment or anything, just a bit of hose we cut out to use to make it possible to get water from point A to point B. It always confuses new people because they don't know how to fill the bucket until you teach them.)

As much as I dislike Chaos, I recognize that it's important for us to do, so we have that ownership and also so we sometimes have to do dirty work that others have to do all the time. So, I will continue to do it and thus leave my mark on this place in the form of clean toilets, which I think everyone appreciates.