How'd We Ever Do Without?

It has been pointed out to me that I have not sung the praises of our ayi.

Irene has worked for us 6 weeks now. And already, I don't know how I got by without her. She arrives at our home around 9:00 every morning, and heads straight to the kitchen where we've left all of dinner's dishes from the night before. She does our laundry - washing, drying, hanging and folding. She washes our dishes. She cleans the bathrooms, sweeps the floors, and keeps the balconies free of dust and grime. And she goes home again by 1:00 in the afternoon.

Irene is from the Philippines (where they speak English), and she has been in China from just over 2 months. She arrived in the country with a work visa, valid for 2 months. At the beginning of this month, she went to her consulate to request an extension. She has been granted 1 more month, and must be out of the country by July 11th.

The girls and I are heartbroken. She is their favorite babysitter - never a tear, or even a blink when I leave. She keeps the house spotless - she notes my desires and my quirks, and puts things away as I want them. She know my priorities, always getting the most important work done first and leaving what's unnecessary for the end. I think she is amazing, and I wish she weren't going to leave.

My friends and I wonder how people manage to raise young children without an ayi - this, even though all of us have done it in the recent past. How did we find the time to clean our bathrooms? How did we manage to fold an entire household's worth of laundry? How did we keep the kids occupied while we prepared dinner? The answer is that we didn't. Sure, in the states my washing machine could hold loads 4 times the size of my current washer. And sure, my dryer left my clothes neatly pressed. But lets be honest - those clothes often sat in the basket until they were thrown onto our backs. My dirty little secret? I only cleaned the bathrooms before company came over. My not so dirty little secret? My kids spent a lot of dinner prep time screaming. And they will again, beginning July 12th.

I will be in the market for a new ayi, but I hold only slim hope that we will find someone as wonderful as Irene. With the goal of moving to Puxi on August 15th, we may have to do without an ayi until we are in our new home. So, I will soon remember what its like brush my teeth over a dirty sink and to hear my children cry for me as I clean the vegetables for dinner. But over the next few weeks, I'm basking in the joy of having a wonderful domestic helper.