Our new maid

Some of you may have known that I went maidless volunteerily in April after housing a maid for two months who did almost nothing (well, except vandalism which is something).

That was our Maid No. 4 who could hardly managed half the household chores, did not take care of the kids nor did she made an effort to bond with them, could not cook even the simplest meal (imagine, steam chicken that was not cook, fried fish with cripsy skin but still oozing with blood and raw, stirfry vege that's still raw, the list goes on) and yet within such a short period of time, she has managed to break two cups, blocked two toilet bowls by stuffing something in it, broke a stainless steel spatula and some other small stuff.

Many rounds of teaching and even showing her basic chores, and she still could not or would not get it right. The things which we told her specifically not to do, she'd do it for you. So you see, the day that she left, we rejoiced and yet braced the new life of doing everything ourselves, and also took the risk of hiring a cambodian maid (a lot of negative feedback from internet and friends).

End of June, we picked up our new maid, our Maid No.5

Kea Net who is 19 years old this year and comes from a big family of 9 children (herself included) from Cambodia. In her biodata, her father's occupation was stated as farmer but lately I found out from her that her father catches fish, and that makes him a fisherman, whereas her mother is a typical housewife.

From Day One, she has shown enthusiasm and initiative in her work, which really impresses me (I will tell you why later). She even knows how to switch off the fan before sweeping the floor. She is considered clean for someone from her country, and also has common sense. She picks up fast, except for the occassional forgetfulness but I am not worried about that.

In terms of learning, she does pretty well and follows instructions. If she doesn't, that's only because she doesn't understand our English language, which I can see from her facial expression or body language.

I speak English to her, and she speaks Cambodian to me. I have to do the normal hand language, some exaggerated body language as well, but at least she understands me. I picked up very little Cambodian from her, whatever that's essential.

Tomorrow marks her full 2 weeks with us now, and I can't thank God enough for answering our prayers for a good maid. She doesn't cook yet, but helps me in the kitchen and bonds well with the kids.

Last night, I told her to watch the kids after dinner whilst I take my bath upstairs. Vic was having her dinner and William was watching TV when I left them. 15minutes later when I came out of my room, I heard screams of joy and the kids were having lotsa fun downstairs with the maid. As I on my computer, I decided to take a peep and saw to my shock, the kids were BOTH sitting on the maid and making her their substitute "horse" because their official Daddy horse is not around. Hahaha... poor maid!

I'm glad she's with us. She cleans the house well, and sometimes she looks bored without any more cleaning to do. That's when she sits down and studies her picture dictionary. Just awhile ago I told her to clean up one part of my garden after showing her how to, and when she finished, she cleaned up the other parts as well even without being told.

Now I tell you why I am a happy Madam. People say MOST cambodian maids, as in 8 out of 10, are lazy, big eaters, prone to lie and slow. I was expecting to teach a maid who knew nothing, could not understand anything, and learned slow. But no, she has proven to be the opposite and even better than Indonesian Maid No.4 (or maybe I was so traumatised that anyone is better than Maid No.4), except her slowness which is true. She can eat a lot too, but some days she seem to eat even half her normal portion.

I hope she continues to improve everyday, and not like Maid No.1, Maid No.2 or worse, Maid No. 4. And hopefully very soon I can put on some weight after losing my precious kilos in the past 3 months. : )