My Anniversary Gift

by Amy

Today we got together with some friends and Brad told them that, although he's not the most observant guy in the world, he noticed that this week has been my happiest week since we arrived. I'm not sure I can remember all of our weeks well enough to say if I completely agree with that assessment or not, but it has been a great week! On Monday I went and interviewed and agreed to hire our new house-helper. She's a relative of a friend of ours, so the interview was just routine as we had already decided we wanted to hire our friend's relative. (We had been waiting a month for her to complete her previous job so she could come work for us.) And, Tuesday morning, she showed up with a nervous smile, ready to work in our home. Why is she nervous, you wonder? She's not sure she'll be able to communicate with her employer! I will say we spent a good portion of the day (and week) playing charades, but that was OK. One of the things I most appreciate about her is her patience with me. I am constantly saying things incorrectly (like, not clean instead of dirty) or pausing to look works up in my treo (cell phone) dictionary. But, not once did she ask to call my friend Rachel, who was our translator at the interview. We have smiled and laughed together many times.

One of her main jobs will be to prepare lunch for our family every day (Asian style food, of course). We gave her very little direction as to our likes and dislikes. We just asked her to cook local food and said we'd let her know if we didn't want to eat it again. (I didn't even tell her I don't like mushrooms!) So far, we have been very pleased. I have to admit two out of the three days she cooked for us last week, I went to the table a little nervous about what I saw, but was pleasantly surprised both times. Peter, on the other hand, decided to fast for lunch each day; Alex has eaten what I tell him to eat, even if it doesn't taste great to him, and Savannah licks her plate, asking for more. We have been very pleased so far.

The greatest thing about this week has been the time I've been able to play with my kids and study my new language. Since I have someone here that is preparing lunch, washing all the breakfast and lunch dishes, as well as doing tons of other household chores, I feel like my life is manageable again. I am not overwhelmed every time I step into my home. I am not totally exhausted by the time to kids go down. I feel like I am finally able to be the wife and mother and language learner I know I need to be. Not to mention the 40 new words I learned by having a native speaker in my home 8 hours a day!

I know that there are challenges that will probably come with having an outsider in my home everyday, but so far, I have been so thankful! And many of the challenges I expected (as they seem quite common here) have not been issues. She is a hard worker, she's been on time, she's willing to do things my way (rather than insist her way is best). To be honest, I cannot imagine a better situation. PTL!