Maid or no maid that is the question. I knew that everyone must have maids here when we were looking at houses because every place we saw had a VERY small room and bathroom near the kitchen/laundry area for the maid. At first you think my god how could someone live in such a small area but you soon learn that it is much better then where they are from. The Malaysian people ALL have live in help, one main reason is there is not day care here like in the US. The girl's school in Sugar Land was open from 6:30am to 6:30pm. Here there is no school for children less that two years old. Then the Montessori and public schools are only until 1:30pm. So if you work you have to have someone to pick up your children and take care of them.
I was very lucky because my friend Arika (she is a friend of a LM coworker who has "adopted" me) recommended her maid to me. Renu and her daughter came the day we got our keys to help us clean up the place. Who am I kidding, she didn't help me clean, she cleaned it all. Both of them came twice a week, 4 hours each time, for two weeks. Now that all the major cleaning is done and her daughter has gone back to college she is coming by herself twice a week for 4 hours each time. I it amazing how inexpensive it is. I pay her 120RM (15RM per hour) a week, so that is $34. She does all the cleaning and also irons Kyle's shirts. It is working out pretty well.
One day I got a text message from another friend and there was an expat family leaving and they were looking for a new home for the live in maid. I texted back and said we would be interested. So this week I met her on Wednesday at the play group and then she came over last night to meet the girls and Kyle. She is very highly recommended from several of the moms. She went to college in the Phillipines and speaks both Bahasa (Malaysian language) and English. She was trained in restaurant management so she cooks and she also drives, which I understand is a huge plus. Kyle and I really liked her but I am just not sure I am ready to have someone living with us just yet. It is unfortunate because ask me in 6 months and I will probably be dying for help and not be able to find anyone. I think I need to learn more of the "ropes" first. Everyone is curious about how much she would cost and we finally got the scoop. You have to pay about $120 a year for their working visa. Then it is $400 a month (yes, the same as we paid for one week of childcare in the US, no cleaning included) plus room and board. Then you also pay for holidays and give them one month off a year to travel home. The ticket home is also paid by the family. Not a bad deal.
We have decided to increase Renu to three days a week so she can watch Emily and I can go do stuff of my own if needed. I found a pilates studio just down the street so I am going to do that on Thursday mornings when Renu is here. Renu is Indian and has four kids of her own. The girls really like her so it will be nice to have a babysitter.
I am posting pictures of our maids quarters and bathroom so you can see what I mean about small.
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