It's fun to get back in the habit of writing something every day on the blog. I hate that I let the summer get away from me with out keeping you all in the loop.

M came to work for us the first week of July and it just seemed like those first few nights when I wanted to write something, all my thoughts and all my stories were centered around having her here in the house with us. I just found it impossible to put my many thoughts into coherent sentences that could adequately explain how things were around here. I am not a good enough writer...

I know you are all curious about what exactly it means that we have a domestic helper and what she is doing for us. Keep in mind the cultural gap is ginormous and please don't think I sit around eating bon bons all day. I definitely do get to sit down more often--that much is true! But really life is just so much busier over here. And not that it makes any difference to you but, for real, most everybody over here has a helper. Especially people with young kids. On a scale of 1-10 (1 being she's got it super easy and 10 meaning she's treated like a slave) our lucky M ranks about a 1.5.

M arrives at about 9am. My kids get up at 6:45 or 7am. Since they have afternoon Kindy we have the luxury of a leisurely morning and we cook a hot breakfast most every day. When we finish breakfast, I make sure the table is cleared and cleaned so I don't have to look at the mess on the table and that's it. M does all the dishes (we do not have a dishwasher) and finishes cleaning the kitchen when she gets here.

She does most of the normal household chores like putting away the clothes that were hung to dry from the previous day, straightening the kids rooms, laundry. I make my bed every morning and she remakes it because I guess I don't do a good enough job. ??? Depending on what we've got going on, she may watch the kids while I go to yoga if B isn't here or she may watch D if I take G to ballet and he doesn't want to go. If we all leave the house as a family she will deep clean something like the bathroom or the floors or she'll change sheets on our beds.

I do not direct her too much. She has a little routine for cleaning and I am generally happy with how she does things and the amount she gets done. She's a hard worker. But some people do say they have to tell their helper exactly what to do all the time. That would make me crazy! I love that she just does stuff. I would feel like a major bossy lazy lady if I was demanding her to do things all the time.

I usually let her prepare (and clean up) lunch and while she is doing that I spend time with the kids doing arts and crafts or, now that school is back in, helping them with homework.

The kids get picked up by the bus at 12:45 for school. It is AWESOME to have an extra set of hands to help me get them dressed and ready when B is gone! M takes a long lunch while the kids are at school. I tell her she doesn't need to be back until 4pm but she always gets back around 3:30.

Sometimes she cooks dinner, sometimes we cook. It depends on what we're having and how much I feel like cooking. B and I like to cook so a lot of the time we want to do it. If I want her to cook, our routine is that I set out the recipe for her and tell her what time I want it to be done. When dinner is done she cleans up the kitchen and does dishes while we bathe the kids.

While we read bedtime stories she tidies the bathroom.

She leaves between 7 and 8pm.

Jealous? I know. That's why I have a hard time writing about it. But I want to lay it all out there. It's a fine line between sharing the awesomeness without making it sound like I am bragging. So I hope that it never comes across that way.

I want to write more about what M had to deal with while working for her previous employer here in Hong Kong... but it's long. If our house is a 1.5 on the scale of ethical treatment I mentioned above, the house she used to work in was a 9.5. This is a great deal for M. I will write more about it from her perspective soon.