Tuesday, August 19, 2008

A NewWay of Living

I woke up yesterday morning at 6 a.m. to find a little woman mopping my floors. Don't be alarmed - I invited her in Monday night at midnight. She's our new full time maid from the Philippines, and it seems she has a good work ethic. She cleaned the entire house yesterday. She's going to have some time on her hands soon.

Erik and I have held out on getting a maid in Singapore - it's common among expats here to have one. In fact, we have been quite in the minority our four years here. I had a part time maid in China, and while it was a HUGE blessing, I never completely grew accustomed to having someone in my house. And that was only 25 hours a week. Here, full time maids must live with you, so it's like having another member of the family, except she has the lion's share of the work. On the upside, explaining what I want done in my house in my own language is quite refreshing.

Erik isn't here to enjoy this lifestyle change, but he'll be back tomorrow. I think he might faint at the sight of how clean everything is here. Things are being cleaned that have NEVER been cleaned in my house. By the end of the week there will be nothing left for her to do and I'll have to invent things.

5 comments:

Ryan said...

You could always suggest that if she wanted she could find a part-time job cleaning a friend's apartment. That way she won't be in your hair all the time and she'll get a chance to make more money.

Gina Marie said...

Yeah, good idea except it's totally and completely illegal.

Ryan said...

What?! Why?! It's just like having two jobs.

Gina Marie said...

But when you're in a foreign country, you have to do only the work you have an employment pass for. Her employment pass says she works for us.

Ryan said...

oh. well that sort of puts an end to that doesn't it.

TOO BAD.