Almost 11 days have gone by since our last post! It has either been really busy or really boring. First things first, as you can see in the title, we (OK, really I) have decided that we have to hire some help to keep this house clean. Plus, we really need to find someone who can watch Natalie for an hour or two here and there. So late last week I started the search for an Ayi, which literally translated means "auntie" but is used to refer to domestic help here. This search has introduced the first amount of stress I have had since I got here. We had a cleaning service that came every two weeks, but never anything close to someone coming every day and doing all of our cleaning, laundry, etc. That loss of privacy is the most concerning aspect of this engagement. Many people here hire live-in Ayi's who live in the "Ayi-room" usually in the basement. THAT is definitely not in our future! There are generally Filipino and Chinese Ayi's available. those from the Philippines are typically looking for a live-in situation since it save them money. Chinese on the other hand will typically still live at their own home and have more flexible hours. Of course being the anal person I am, I wrote out a two page document on our expectations on how to clean. Tom was laughing at me, but I believe that some people feel they have trouble with the Chinese cleaning well, but I firmly believe that you just have to take the time to show them what our expectation is. In reality, our western view of how and what to clean is far different from the Chinese. Why would they have the same view of how to go about it when they don't have the same energy as a nation put into the cleaning of our homes, clothes, etc. I said in an earlier blog that I believed that our cleaning products are far superior to the Chinese brands. maybe that is because millions of women spent their youth watching "soap operas" and generally learning that CLEAN IS GOOD. Think about how many different brands of floor cleaners you have to chose from when you go to the grocery. Cleaning your home definitely falls higher in Maslow's Need Hierarchy as opposed to home and food! Anyway, I guess that is how I am justifying hiring help to meet one of my needs that is clearly a higher level than they normally prioritize their needs at. This level of philosophical self justification would make Nietzsche proud. Anyway, more to come on this topic!
Tom had a NCAA game pool this year, but the only participants were Tom, me, and Natalie! Natalie picked all of hers by color of the team. The crazy thing was that she was in first place until Purdue got beat in their 2nd game against Kansas! She picked Purdue to go all the way, which was better than Tom or I picked them. We are able to hear the games on the NCAA March Madness site. Not quite as nice as seeing the game on TV, but it works out OK. We also were able to hear the Women on Yahoo Sports. So being able to hear the games has softened the mileage between China and the U.S. though there is just nothing you can do about the 12 hour time difference. Tom was up this morning (Monday) at 3:45 a.m. listening to the Purdue game. Too bad on that one, at least Purdue gave them a good fight.
We had to buy a new vacuum this weekend. The one that was here when we moved in was not working correctly. So, we went to a Friendship department store in Hong Qiao to find a more 'western' option than was available at Carrefour. By 'western' that usually means Philips. Occasionally you see other home appliance brands such as T-Fal and KitchenAid but not that often and usually just one style. We ended up spending $350 on a vacuum! Geesh. And it doesn't even really have a rolling head on the front, just a brush that you have to push. I am not sure we should have spent as much, but oh well. It works! The store was running a special where they gave you back coupons depending on how much you spent. It took the sales girl, whose English was limited, 5 minutes to find somehow to explain how much the vacuum was really going to cost once we got our coupons back. She gave us a receipt for the vacuum which we took to the central cashier (one on each floor). We made our payment there and then she gave us a receipt to take to the coupon counter, which was one floor down. At this point, we did not have our vacuum in our possession. But, we figured there was some process we needed to go through to pick it up, so we were not too worried yet. I went down to the coupon table and they wrote down numbers into a ledger and counted out coupons worth 400 RMB (about $50). Then I had to sign my name next to the amount in the ledger. They gave me a receipt for the coupons which I took back to the cashier. She then gave us the receipt for the vacuum. But, we still didn't have the vacuum. We quickly asked her where to go, and she looked puzzled and pointed us back to the sales area where we picked out the vacuum. So, I took the receipt back and another girl took the receipt and placed it in a box. She pointed down the hall and went back to her station. I was starting to walk where she pointed when I finally saw the original sales girl coming down the aisle lugging a box. Our vacuum. She gave us a receipt and that was that. Except that now we had 400 RMB in coupons that needed to be used up. Natalie got a toy, Tom bought some power converters. We still have a 100 RMB Coupon, and we are not sure if it was only good that day or what. So I guess really the vacuum was only $300, that doesn't make me feel better. Besides, if I get my way, I won't be using it anyway! Weird....
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