domestic helper (not!)

we've had our domestic helper around for more than six months now... and unfortunately, most of the time, she's not much help. she's more of a domestic cleaner to me and i personally think we are better off just hiring a part-time cleaner coming in once or twice a week. i'm sure its hard to imagine how 'unhappy' i am to have help at home since domestic helpers have been living with me ever since i was a little gal (i was brought up by the likes of them) and i have been 'the maid' at home for my dh for the past four years. on most days, our helper makes my blood boil, especially when i have to give her instructions to do something... let me give you some examples.

1. "Sri, cook rice" - she prepares fried rice
2. "What would you like to drink, Sir?", Sir says packet drink: green color - she takes the yellow one.
3. "Steam fish" - she cuts the pomfret vertically and makes soup
4. "Sri, take out the pot" - she takes out the blender
5. "Sri, cook rice" - she tells me "Mdm, no more rice"

Communication is obviously our biggest barrier. this is despite me 1) buying her a english-indonesian dictionary and 2) sending her for english classes. can you blame me for not wanting her to speak english around my little princess?

my other frustration - she eats bread & instant noodles all the time! mind you, i'm not a 'evil employer' who only provides bread and instant noodles ok! numerous times i've told her - "cook whatever you want to eat" but no, for some reason, she only eats bread and instant noodles. someone please tell her in bahasa that too much instant noodles is NOT good! there were times when i see her eating leftover rice with.... SAMBAL CHILLI! nothing else but sambal chilli!! no wonder my sambal chilli collection was gone within the first month she arrived! really beats me!

i have to say she's very good at cleaning though. our house is (quite) spotless and our mirror is extremely clean. she probably thinks she's snow white - think "mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?" and thus cleans my mirror EVERY DAY! no wonder my magic clean window cleaning solution finish so fast!

ok, ok... sorry for digressing, just had to 'release' my frustrations somewhere... back to my little princess... dh bought her a...

little tikes rocking puppy!

it appears that she really enjoys "rocking" coz the few times we put her on different rocking animals, we will find her squealing in delight! see below...

 

on this day, she was supposed to be sick! she had been coughing for three days and her coughing actually wakes her up in the middle of the night so dh asked me to take her to see the PD at raffles hospital. while waiting, i put her on the rocking horse... she doesn't look very sick right? : (anyway, she took one dose of the cough suppressant and stopped coughing)

we have been planning to take princess for a dip in the pool - unfortunately, its been raining so much... i've also been on the lookout for the 'perfect float' for her use but to no avail! anyway, see how happy she is in her swimming costume/cap!

hopefully the weather this saturday will be bright and sunny... we're going to enjoy a free hotel stay - courtesy of my mil, who religiously buys (different) hotel memberships every year. :)