She's back! Our helper, Ami (Ah-mee) has returned and our routine has fallen nicely back into place. It's funny how time and circumstance can change someone's mind, even someone as stubborn as I've been told I can be. It took me over 2 years to actually agree that the idea of having a helper (nice name for maid) was ok, and then last year I began to appreciate how Ami really does keep this place extra nice and running extra smooth. There were days when I was feeling too ill to do much other than get dressed, eat, do a few errands and then have a nice long nap. During that time she'd clean the house, do the laundry and get dinner on for 5:30. In Canada I'd wash or vacuum the floors once or twice a week (daily in the kitchen, even less than once a week in the not-so-used rooms), whereas because of bugs and rodents here, the floors need to be cleaned daily. In the warm, dry months I'd hang my laundry, something I considered a real treat, but mostly we used our dryer. Here it is done daily, with no access to any kind of dryer (although if you place items that you need quite quickly in front of the a/c fan, they dry within an hour!). During Indo's rainy season, most items need to be ironed just to get that last bit of dampness out. In Canada, our family just made sure that we didn't buy too many clothing items that needed to be ironed, or we just wore the wrinkles out during the day (I'll credit Tris for that idea).
While Ami was away, our family worked together to keep the house up to par, which included dishes ALL the time, wiping floors, sweeping, cleaning bathrooms, folding & ironing laundry, and making meals. I think that my family sighed a unified breath of relief when Ami showed up on Monday, because now that school has started, homework takes priority and our house would probably end up a little chaotic. Usually I'm around and during those times we haven't had a helper, or she's been on holidays, I've maintained well enough. Lately though, I've been able to take on some opportunities that require me to be out of the house from 6:30am to dinner time, and so coming home to a sparkling home, with laundry folded on my trunk and food cooking in the oven is a wonderful treat.
I'm pretty sure that when we are directed back to Canada (or wherever), it'll be unanimous that the one thing we'll miss most is having a helper. It's a blessing that we have such a good one, and I need to remind myself of that when my expectations get higher than reality can provide.
Thanks for reading.
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