Domestic Help on the way

We successfully hired an Ayi! Her name is Zhang Cai Zhen. Don't worry, I can't pronounce her name either. She gave us a shorter name to call her, but I think that is even harder! Regardless, the search is over. She came to the house this morning and she and I struggled to communicate for almost 45 minutes. I was trying to explain how many hours we expected her to work. She wanted paid by the week, but we were quoting her a salary price by the month. Then I tried to explain babysitting. I had to get the Chinese dictionary out to find the word for her to read. Then she saw it and said "Oh, no problem" and made a sign for eating! Ah, the beauty of the "gesture" language used to get along here. And she actually speaks quite a bit of English for which we are going to pay for as she is a bit more expensive. But the cost is whole other thing that Tom and I agreed we would not post. Let's just say that hiring a full-time help costs less than my birthday dinner out with the girls! She is going to work 30 hours a week and then will also stay late if Tom and I go out in the evenings. She has worked for families for quite a few years. The family she was working for went back to the US this week. They also had a four-year old boy that she took care of. She has a son who is 22 and works outside of Shanghai. I was able to talk to another lady who liver here in Vizcaya who uses Cia Zhen for just one day a week, and she could not have been more complimentary. She said that she is a wonderful Ayi, very honest and dependable. I will post more when I know more and maybe some picture. Tom just asked me if I was going to get a job to pay for this. What a schmuck. Anyway, I will now be able to leave the house and shortly maybe even leave by myself! More to come next week after she starts.