Cheryl, the fabulous

One of the lovely things about living here is that just about every ex-pat has a helper. It's kind of expected. Since we're subletting a friend's apartment, we're also hiring their full-time, live-in helper, Cheryl. She makes less in a month than a full-time nanny in New York makes in a week. Heck, when I was packing up the Connecticut house I used a babysitter 4 days, 10 hours a day. She made more in those 40 hours than the helper does in a month!

Cheryl is from the Phillipines and has two children of her own that she hasn't seen much in the two years she's been here. She works here to send money back to her own family. The thought of that just breaks my heart.

She is fabulous though I still can't quite figure out our roles. She'll basically do everything I do: child care, cooking, shopping, laundry, cleaning - and oh - travel guide. That's great, but I mean, what am I supposed to do?! Ha! Seriously, she makes all our of meals. I just tell her what I want and it magically appears. Before I can make the beds, she's done it. Before I can rinse out the kids' swimsuits, she's done it. She knows what I want before I know what I want. It's amazing - and a little weird. I'm not used to having an extra body around. Still, I think of her as a teammate and hope that she'll do all the "wife" chores so I can be a better parent. I hate doing laundry, grocery shopping, daily food prep. So this will be a great thing for me!

The kids love her already, but I'm not sure what she thinks of us. Truly, hanging out with a jet-lagged family can't make a good first impression. I'm a pretty patient parent, but this week has been a particularly challenging one. I've gotten no sleep and Maisie has been at her cranky worst. She must be praying for the return of our friends who have a 7-month-old! 

Cheryl has a VERY small, closet-of-a-room in the apartment and her own bathroom which isn't near as nice as ours. She works 6 days a week, 12 hours a day. 

My favorite? She calls me "Mum" and Tom "Sir."

This picture is of Cheryl and the kids just around the corner from our apartment! Note Maisie the crankster's nice smile :-(