Thursday, January 19, 2012

Today is the day my life got exponentially easier.  My Ayi started today!!!  For those of you who don't know, an Ayi is someone you hire to help take care of the home.  She cleans, does laundry, cooks and babysits when needed.  Basically, I have an Alice from the Brady Bunch (except she doesn't live here).  I was a bit apprehensive of having one at first.  The thought of someone in our house with me during the day kind of creeped me out.  As I learned, everyone here has one, so why not?  I could use the help!  So, Ayi Li started today.  I have to admit, I spent all yesterday cleaning in fear of her wanting to quit after seeing our disaster. (We are still living out of bins since our furniture won't be here for another month.)   She stayed all day and even said she'd be back tomorrow!!!   Praise God!!!  It will take some time to get over the guilty feelings I had.  I was sitting on the couch feeding Nick and reading my kindle while she was scrubbing toilets and carrying laundry up and down two flights of stairs.  I might not have felt so guilty if I weren't reading The Help!  I might have to reconsider my book choice until I'm more comfortable with her being here.  In the end, she was AWESOME!  She made a very yummy dinner, and even cleaned up the mess.  I now understand why everyone has an Ayi. 

Drew started playing basketball.  He's really enjoying himself, and starting to get the hang of walking and dribbling at the same time.  Baseball is still his sport of choice, and has started a countdown until the season begins in March.  Grace begins gymnastics after school in a couple weeks.  She's never done it before, but is very excited.  Our neighborhood club has a singing/dancing/creative activity class for Hannah.  She's going to try it out after the Chinese New Year.  All of the kids participated in a children's cooking class at our clubhouse.  This time they made donuts.  The kids had a blast.  They had chef's jackets and hats for them to wear.  Plus they each came home with four donuts that they decorated and filled.  Hannah was the only one who shared them with me. 

This weekend begins the Chinese New Year celebrations.  The kids have a half day tomorrow. Instead of their uniforms, they get to dress in traditional Chinese attire.  We'll post pictures tomorrow.  They also have all of next week off.  I heard it gets a bit crazy here with fireworks every night...for 2 weeks!!!  Most people take advantage of this time to go on vacation.  We are staying here with all the other expats who moved here too late to book any trips!  At least we'll have time to finish unpacking.