The long overdue post on our Ayi.......... Mrs. Wang entered our home on the 18th of January eager to meet with me. I found her through a posting at an expat community next to ours. When I spoke to the woman whom she worked for for the past 3 years, she gave her glowing comments. I was not prepared for our meeting on the 18th as I had not written down a list of questions to ask, so I just went with the flow. She spoke little English but we were able to communicate fairly well. I liked that she knew how to clean, took care of kids in her past job, had a very clean appearance, & seemed confident. I hired her on the spot, with her start date Monday the 21st. I spoke with Phil, a Chinese couple that came over with us - wife works with Ron at OnStar, & asked him to come over on Monday to help me ask Mrs. Wang some questions & learn a bit more about her & her family. The meeting was long & a bit overwhelming at times - them speaking Chinese to each other, Phil translating her comments & the feeling that I really had no control of what was going on because I couldn't understand a thing they were saying. During the process, Mrs. Wang quite - misunderstanding on the translating of things - but we quickly figured things out. When everything was done, I felt that I got the short end of the stick - paying more than previous employer did, working less hours than previous employer plus on what we had decided on the 18th, expecting overtime pay monthly, not cooking which is one of the major things we wanted - there are a few more details but those are the major one's. However, we decided to keep her on board but have our eyes out for another Ayi. I can happily report that I have stopped looking for another Ayi & have realized in these past few weeks that she is well worth every penny (DOLLARS) we will spend!!!!! Not only does she do a fabulous job cleaning, she has been a lifesaver with dealing with the management staff here. Some other things I like about her is that she is very clean (washing hands all the time), likes to clean with a lot of the same cleaning products I like to use, knows how 'picky' we are when it comes to using bottled water for the cleaning of fruits/vegetables & cooking, knows much more English than I thought (can read English well too), she likes the 'finer' products and has been helping to show me what is good/bad here when it comes to foods/products, has been eager to cook for us (mainly Chinese stir-fry dishes but is looking forward to me showing her some American dishes after the Chinese New Year) & she loves playing with the kids - she has been teaching Tanner tons of Chinese (she is a good teacher - having him look at her mouth & using her finger to show you how the tone goes). There are so many positive things I could say about her but I will close with a few funnies of: 'life with an Ayi':
1) Privacy is no more - Expect to have your undies, bras, anything personal washed - even if you try to hide them, they will find your 'secret' hiding spot & wash them!
2) As the saying goes, "You only need 2 pairs of underwear, the one's you have on & the one's in the wash". I can't tell you how true this is!
3) We will end up spending more than we thought on our Ayi as she loves to have our clothes looking nice & they MUST be soft. She has gone through 4 bottles of fabric softener & more bottles of spray 'n' wash than I care to count - she will fill up a bucket with water & scrub our socks by hand, soak them in the bucket & them wash them - & if they aren't clean after washing, guess what socks, your back in the bucket....
4) Don't get your shoes dirty or they too will visit the bucket - which stinks because all our other shoes are on the sea crate - Amanda's have been in the bucket twice!!!!
5) Don't leave anything lying around that you don't want to be washed.....I left my hairbrush on the table from doing Amanda's hair for school, went up to take a shower, she arrives, can't leave the room so I use a comb to do my hair. Came downstairs, ran to the store & when I got back she asks me if this was Amanda's brush. I told her "no" & proceeded to get the brush to bring back upstairs. I was told that the brush was dirty & needed cleaning - after visiting the bucket, I am proud to say that my brush looks brand new....
6) Realize you are useless in the house!!! I try to make the kids a snack after school & I am told "go sit down". The kids too can't do anything (clean up their plates, carry their backpacks home from the bus, clean up food that falls to the ground - the list can go on but I think you get the point..). Tanner is having a hard time with this concept but Justin has adjusted very quickly - great, I will have a lot of un-doing when we get done with these 3 years.......
7) You have been cutting meat/vegetables for the family for years but you don't have a clue on how to do it properly! I have been 'shown' the proper way to cut chicken & how to correctly cut vegetables - and to think all these years, I have been doing it wrong.....
The funnies could go on & on. Life with an Ayi is good but challenging at times - your sense of doing is gone (there have been a few times I have snuck to do laundry on the weekend or did dishes while she was cleaning upstairs - sorry Mrs. Wang). I'm sure I will settle into this way of living over here but hopefully not too much or Ron better get another job when we get back to MI to pay for a cook, daily maid service & a chauffeur......
