Ayi, Day 1

My desk faces a wall of windows which open onto our balcony. Directions in Shanghai confuse me a bit, but at about 4:00 this afternoon our balcony was flooded with setting sunlight. We must face west, possibly northwest. I watched out the window as L-- sat on the balcony enjoying the nearly spring weather. She and her sister both have brightly colored chairs which are only allowed on the balcony, and the frequent use of these chairs is the highlight of warm weather for each of them. So, this afternoon found L-- sitting on her chair bathed in golden light. She held a pen and a pad of paper, apparently taking notes.

Xiao Wang, our new ayi, cleaned around her. She speaks no English.

L-- told Xiao Wang about the picture she was drawing, and asked her a question. No doubt Xiao Wang understood nothing of L--'s words. But she not only acknowledged the question; she sat down on S--'s chair and held a discussion with L--. She wrote some characters for her and the two of them discussed, in two separate languages. They both seemed quite interested in the conversation. It was a wonderful sight. After a few minutes, she got up and went back to work, after having taken the time to focus wholly on my child.

So far, I like her. It takes time to train any ayi on how you run your house - where you allow your children to snack, which clothes belong to whom, how to run the dryer, and so forth. But watching her and L-- relate on the patio, I felt that Xiao Wang has definite potential to be a wonderful new member of our household.

And, I can't complain about the lack of dust throughout my home this evening.

Because you were thinking it, I'll have you know that I just finished scrubbing the floor under our dining room table. On my hands and knees, I applied strenous elbow grease to the pizza sauce plastered to the floor. I'm not too good for it... yet ;)