Some days of the week are unarguably better than others: Mondays can be bearable if you’ve got something nice planned for the evening; Wednesdays on the other hand drag on – while you’re stuck in the middle of the week, time is stuck somewhere between 12.12pm and 12.13pm for hours! Sundays can be quite depressing because the weekend is nearly over, but Fridays never fail to let me down!
But recently I have discovered that one of my favourite days of the week is Thursday. This is not because it almost feels like the weekend or because Sex and the City is on TV, but because our lovely domestic helper (is that p.c.?) comes on Thursdays and removes the mess that Ewa and I accumulate during the week.
Before I came to South Africa, I could only dream about having a cleaner and knew hardly anyone who did. But once I moved out here, I quickly realised that not having a maid would be the unusual case.
When I started washing the dishes on our first evening in the guesthouse, the others gave me a weird look and pointed out – after I was finished, how lovely – that a cleaner would come every morning and tidy up the place. While this seemed reasonable (after all, it was a guesthouse) I soon realised that most places had a maid and quite a few of the apartments we looked at, even came with one - the maid was included in the rent!
Obviously we were more than happy to have Anna even though we decided to have her come only once a week and pay less rent … this must have been highly unorthodox request as most people have live-in maids or at least cleaners that come in every weekday! What they do all day long, I don’t quite know – Ewa and I do not produce anywhere near enough washing up, laundry or ironing to keep a maid busy on a daily basis! Fair enough – come Thursday our place is slightly messy and there is usually a lot of washing up and ironing that needs to be done. So when I go to work on Thursdays, I leave a whole lot of dirty plates, un-ironed shirts and showers that need cleaning. But when I come back in the afternoon after a long day at work, all my clothes are neatly folded, my bed is made, the covers changed, all glasses are back in the cupboard and the rubbish has been taken out … all I have to do is walk in, take of my shoes and start getting into the weekend spirit - What a life!
But while I love having a maid and believe that it adds a lot to the quality of life if you don’t have to worry about cleaning the toilets, things can get out of hand…
Hayley told me a story that still leaves me speechless and baffled: One of her close friends had been with her boyfriend for a few years and they were about to get married. But then she found out that he strongly opposed to the idea of having a domestic assistant and was shocked that he expected her to do some housework (not even all, as far as I understood it, he was perfectly happy and willing to do his share and maybe even have a maid come in once a week). In complete disbelief that someone would ever ask something as horrific as that of her, she decided to break off the engagement! Can you believe it? She turned the back on the men she wanted to spend the rest of her live with because he did not want a stranger in his house on a daily basis, but rather share the housework between them! I can’t write anymore … speechless, baffled, in disbelief … Works every time!
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