Window washing

I've lived here a year and I've only just learned how to wash the outside of my windows. In Sharjah, the windows were washed for us, once a year (always, strangely, right before the rainy season). Here, I watched the windows get dirtier and dirtier and wondered if we were supposed to, like, hire someone to do it? Except I never saw dudes on ladders at our neighbor's house or anything. "Should know" culture strikes again.

Then, by chance, at a friend's house, she mentioned cleaning her windows! I pounced on the opportunity to ask and learned that there is a special tool you can use to open the windows into the home, where you can then wash the outside surface. I went home and immediately did this (after borrowing said tool from my friend).

(Have I mentioned how awesome our windows are here? They are double-paned, with a few inches in between the layers. They shut out the cold. They shut out almost all sound. My favorite windows continue to be Germany's, which you can open horizontally as normal, or crack vertically for a breeze, but Finland's are a close second.)

Of course, cleaning double-pane windows means you actually have to clean four surfaces - both sides of the inner window, and both sides of the outer window. But after a year of dust and rain splatter, it felt goooood.