Long Time

It's been so long since I've blogged that I've almost forgotten my password! Dale headed home this Monday and has arrived in Canada safely. Hopefully she's been able to find time to rest up before she starts preparing to move her family to Cold Lake (military transfer). I have oodles of photos of our time together and some will be posted soon. I have been quite busy around the house and haven't had much time to sit at the computer. Right now I'm taking a break from my "new schedule" and need to get back to it soon or I'll get too far behind.

Two weeks ago we bit the bullet and fired our house helper. We let her go because of dishonesty and it is such a relief to have my own home back, and not have to think that every time I go out I have to lock things up. You may think it's not a big deal having no house help, and if you love to stay home all day it isn't. I compare it to my life in Canada where I had to do the house chores as well as chop wood, walk the dog, garden or prepare the gardens, can veggies etc etc etc. However, here life is just a bit different. When you go shopping you can't buy bulk and store things, so every week you have to make sure you have your list in hand to buy all the items that keep running out (like laundry soap...who ever thought I'd be buying laundry soap each week? That's supposed to last weeks!). I have the top freezer of my fridge for freezer storage and so meals have to be planned out quite thoroughly. Impromptu meals don't occur much here.

As for cleaning, I am quite enjoying it. The workout is great and I love knowing what has been cleaned and what is on the roster. However, for the last week my day has looked like this:
5:30 am wake up. Make lunches, start laundry, wash dishes from breakfast (importing two basins of hot water from my bathroom), dust main living area and the piano (dust is ever present here), wipe down any sticky surface, or potentially sticky surface including chairs, tables and counters. Bugs and ants love sticky.

When you have a helper, the bathrooms and floors are cleaned every day, mostly because of ants and bugs and lizard poop, but I am choosing to alternate days unless the lizard poop is a little too much. LOL.
From 7-9 am I sweep floors, wash floors, although I alternate washing those too, make my bed (kids make their own), hang laundry to dry (which could take a few days depending on the sun and rain), wipe down bathrooms.

If I need groceries I try to head out in the morning to avoid the craziness of the supermarket. If it's not a grocery day I try to do one out of the ordinary thing like wipe the dust out of a dish cupboard or wash curtains. You are never ahead of the dust and dirt but I figure as long as it's maintained things won't get too dingy. Once I get back from shopping I wash all the fruits and veggies in a bleach water solution. Dale will attest to the fact that when you see the places people put their hands and fingers (ears, nose....) you don't want to eat any unwashed fruit and veggies!!!!

During the day I need to maintain the laundry, which often involves moving the drying racks around to follow the sun. I was told that things get quite yellow/grey here because of the smog but I've been pleasantly surprised that our whites are still mostly white. Sometimes the challenge is to get the "sweat smell" out of our shirts. If anyone has any suggestions, we are open!

In the afternoon I iron for about an hour (2 if I've skipped a day). I used to mock one of my sister-in-laws for ironing her underwear and now I am doing it myself! The reason? To make sure that all the moisture is out of the clothes and linens so they don't mold or get musty in the cupboard. I've been using this time to catch up on my MASH reruns. O how I love MASH!! Thanks to Dale I now have every single season and I'm working my way through them gratefully.

Dinner is usually ready for 5:30 and then it's back to the basins of hot water for washing. It reminds me a bit of camping...good thing I like camping! One thing I keep forgetting is that when I'm done if I don't clean every itty bitty bit of food out of the sink or, heaven forbid, leave something with water in it overnight, I'll end up with cockroaches and/or cicak (lizards) in my sink the next morning. Thanks to Matthew, I don't have to remove any of them myself.

This isn't a bad schedule, but stick a social event in there like last nights' wedding shower and I have to squeeze baking in there (and kitchen clean up) somewhere. I have had a friend come over and chat with me while I've ironed and that was fun. There are always the once a week chores to do like hauling the large carpets outside and beating them (this is really a two person job...no vacuum cleaner either) or washing and ironing the sheets. There are also things we cannot find or that are pretty expensive so we make them ourselves, like tortillas, pie shells or really good chicken soup.

I am in no way complaining about the new cleaning schedule. Like I said, I am thoroughly enjoying it. We are in the last 2 weeks of school and so there are so many parties and obligations and things to bake so things are quite packed in. I admit that I am sleeping very well at nights and that is a huge bonus. Things will be a bit different when my family is at home all day, but that's okay, because the good news is that last night we found another helper. This one is Amy (Ah-mee), and she's married with 2 children. She comes very highly recommended and is very experienced. Her english is decent and her ability to communicate what it is she is expecting from employment is excellent. I am looking forward to having her around the house. It sounds like she is quite willing to teach me how to cook Indonesian (our other wasn't so keen or able) and is quite happy to go home mid-way through the week for the night. I've always struggled with having someone around our house all of the time for two reasons: one, it seems like they'd be so bored! and two, privacy is so difficult to find around here (our talking and laughing can be heard outside our property at times) so to know we are not being heard/observed every evening (whether we are entertaining or just watching a movie) is a treat. We've been praying for a helper that will fit with our household and I think Amy is going to work out well.

So, the White house in Indonesia is back to supporting the local economy by hiring a pembantu, and I will have a bit more time to blog and bake. School's out next week and I'm heading to Singapore with Judy Comrie for 4 days (we're heading to WWII museums and maybe a POW camp...I'm very excited). Our families are also heading to Bali during the break as well. My family will receive a well-deserved break from the reality of studying and homework. Their only homework this summer is to make a home-made movie in Bali with the Comrie kids, because this has become our family tradition when we'd go camping in the summer in Canada.

Thanks for reading.