Finally, we got our new helper.
Previously we had a new helper, named Marissa. Â We interviewed her over the phone, and told her about our family dynamics, 3 kids etc, and she said she was fine with it. Â When she came, we all liked her, Â the kids too! Â But after 4 days, she dropped a bomb on us, that she don’t think she can handle 3 kids. Â I asked her what she meant? Â She herself have a few kids, what did she mean? Â AND it was on the night that we were suppose to leave for our holiday. Â So we had to delay our trip by a day so that we can send her back.
You know how tough it is to find a helper who is willing to work for us? Â Now i understand why Lennie, with 6 kids, is managing on her own. Â Initially I thought she was very gung-ho, well, she still is, but one of the reason was NO MAID WANTED TO WORK FOR THEM!
My apt is only a 2 room, so the maid has to sleep in the bomb shelter, which is also our store. Â The bomb shelter is very small. Â The kitchen/yard area is very warm. Â So to find a helper who is willing to sleep in this room is already very tough. Â Plus 3 kids… Nowadays the maids are very choosy, especially from this agency that I got Marissa from, because of her, I’m stuck with this agency, I have to take another maid from them, but all their maids are transfers! Â So more choosy… haiz…
Anyway, the agency sent the new helper, Siskha, to try out at our place for 2 days, to see if we are both agreeable. Â Turned out, she is quite good. Â At least, more hardworking than Marissa. Â Marissa went straight to bed at 10pm the 1st night, and subsequent nights. Â I thought normally you will try to impress your boss on your first day?
She is an Indon Muslim, so the only “issue” i have is that whenever I plan for the meals, I will have to make sure there is at least 1 dish with no pork.. sometimes quite a headache. 
Other than that, she is quite good. Â She is patient with my kids, and on the 1st day she came, she bought stickers, coloring books and crayons etc as gifts for them. Â And whenever she goes for her offs, she will use her own money to buy some snacks for the kids. Â Once, Donald wanted Kinderjoy, so on her off day, she went to 7-11 and ask them what is knderjoy. Â When she saw that there were 7 left, she bought all of them.
So let’s see how she will turn out. Â :D
My maid sleeps in the bomb shelter also wat. Quite cool actually. Bc there is a large window just outside facing the room. And there’s louvered folding doors so the air does go thru’ somewhat even tho’ she closes those louvered doors when she sleeps (bc of those folding doors, we never close the heavy bomb shelter doors). She also has a fan in her room.
This is what the bomb shelter looks like when it was first empty. *haha*
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2073/2370921721_ef5d5febf1.jpg
It came with those doors, we didn’t install those, but maybe if your bomb shelter doesn’t have, you can put something like this so your helper doesn’t have to close the heavy door for privacy?
Hi, your blog is very interesting to read and always illustrated with great photos.
I also have an Indon Muslim helper and so far we don’t have problem with the food planning. There’s always at least 1 dish which is non-pork
Hope this maid is able to help you more to lessen the daily chores that we, parents don’t have time to do >_<
Your bomb shelter looks much bigger than ours.
I even had to set the criteria of getting a maid of less than 1.6m, anyone taller than 1.6m will feel uncomfortable sleeping inside!!
You installed those louvered doors, then what did you do with those bomb shelter doors? We tried to change it, cos when opened, it blocks the kitchen entrance slightly. But the designer/contractor said we are not allowed to dispose the bomb shelter door!
I’ll try to take a pix of the current bomb shelter to show you… now my darling maid is sleeping. Poor thing, sick… caught the bug from all of us.. yes! my entire family is sick. Nowadays the virus is scary.. so strong! My son hardly falls sick, at most running nose for 1 night. This time round, he has been down for 1.5weeks! Yucks!
Thanks for your comments!
What non-pork dishes do you do? We always have 1 vege dish, 1 meat and 1 side dish, plus 1 soup. Soup uses pork ribs, so she can’t drink. If the meat dish is pork, then she is left with vege and side dish. My side dish is normally eggs. If I plan for chicken, i feel that it will be too many meat dishes. What other side dishes can you recommend?
My bomb shelter not so big. It’s exactly the size(length) of a single-sized mattress. And the width is around 110cm or 120cm, I think – just enough for the width of the mattress plus a row of shelving along the wall. I bought 3 of the ikea chrome shelving and 1 of them is for the maid’s clothes. The other 2 for our storage stuff like laundry barang & other maintenance barang. I really measured exactly correct before buying!
No, I did not dispose of the bomb shelter door – cannot do that, lah, as your contractor said. And no, I did not install the louvered doors, bc it was already there . That is, it’s provided that way by the developer.
The thick bomb shelter door just stays permanently open and acts as a magnetic notice board as well. *haha*.
I don’t have a photo of the bomb shelter door in full – but you see on the left of this photo, that’s the bomb shelter door. And this photo – what you can see, is just about all there is to this room:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2044/2370921809_4d8b24faed.jpg