How did we, of all people, end up with a maid? In Saigon, paying for goods is expensive while paying for services is quite cheap. The previous tenants of our apartment had a maid for the last two years. They recently asked us if we would be interested in hiring the woman to work in our home. We did not see the need to have a maid as we both like to clean, cook, and do laundry. Then, the previous tenants told us she is a young, single mother who needs the income. Like the suckers we are, we both agreed.
We ended up splitting services with a couple who work in our school and live about two blocks away. Now, three days a week for 3 hours each day, we have someone come into our home to clean, pay our bills, do laundry, and cook (if we would like).
On Monday we came home to our maid, Chao, sitting in the doorway, ironing a stack of Adam's shirts. She speaks NO English and we speak NO Vietnamese so right now the learning curve is huge. Today, we used google translate to leave a task-list for her for when she arrives on Wednesday. We should have put on the bottom, "Let's be honest ... we don't know the first thing about having a maid!"
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