I have a maid!

Saturday, 27 August 2010

When the teacher who'd lived in my apartment last year mentioned that he'd had a maid, I instantly jumped on the idea and kept asking him about it--how do you get a maid? Where did you find her? How much?

So when she came into the school (having now been hired to help clean after school), he introduced her to me. She speaks some English and seems very nice. She is still cleaning for him, and now that she works for the school--she sounds trustworthy. And I just love the thought of not having to worry about cleaning my own place!

So, we decided that she would come in on Saturday at 10 am, while I'm there, and from then on she would come on Fridays, while I'm at work.

It was a bit awkward, because, well, I've never had a maid, and I am not good at telling others what to do. Luckily, I just asked her, "What did you do for Eddie last year?" and when she told me, I said, "Okay." She dusts, sweeps & mops the floors, vacuums, irons, cleans the bathrooms & the kitchen, washes the dishes. How great!

Sophia watched a video and I graded papers while she worked. As she worked, I kept thinking about how little I enjoy cleaning and how much work it is to clean a house! So I was quite glad to have her.

I'm paying her as much as Eddie paid her last year, which sounds like a bit much to me, but I justify it because I'm not paying rent. And if I am over-paying her, well, then, that's okay, I don't have to worry that I'm exploiting her.

I feel a bit weird giving a near-stranger the extra set of keys to my place and allowing her in my house when I'm gone. But, I remind myself--the landlords' stuff is far more expensive than any of my stuff, so if she could be trusted last year then she surely can be trusted this year!

So far, so good. Every Friday I come home to a clean house. I've realized that I'm really not a very dirty person, the house is usually rather clean when I leave it Friday morning. But it's nice to know that someone will be doing the vacuuming for me, the floors will be mopped weekly, the bathrooms cleaned--and Friday morning's dishes will be washed. Plus, the ironing will be done.