Housemaid

I try to post something here weekly, not only for my loyal readers at home, but for our kids, who might think this is a cool family archive some day. (Thank you all for reading by the way ;-)SHOUT OUT here to Jill, Ann, Connie, Michelle at the IEC, Trevor, Alicia, Mom and my sisters, and a mystery reader named Darsantre - Who are you?? )

But I've spent several days in the last week at the immigration offices in Dubai, trying to legally hire a full-time helper to live in the separate tiny quarters we have at our villa. Why isn't Billy doing this - you might ask? Billy has indeed taken charge of our cooking and food shopping (this means lots of cabbage and internet recipes from Iran), putting kids on the the school bus (picture Rosie with crooked pig tails) and watching over homework (resulting in perfect pencil renditions of the Japanese flag). But since I am the legal 'Expatriate Resident', I am the only one who can officially submit papers and sponsor a dependent employee.

This is all well and good with me, except that the language surrounding the help here seems third-world. The first time I heard 'housemaid', from a modern Swedish woman, I bristled. How old-fashioned I thought. As it turns out, 'housemaid' is the official occupation listed on the passports of people hired to be live-in help. So for the locals, the word is natural - and normal. And for those who've lived here for a while, it seems to become normal too. But as I meet more westerners and other Arab expats, I can see the struggle to use the right word, depending on the social situation where the discussion occurs. My Turkish officemate for example, uses 'helper' when talking about her housemaid to me , but she uses 'Maid' when she's talking with Europeans. Another American teacher uses the word 'nanny' mostly, because like me, I think she finds the term 'housemaid' distasteful. At any rate, full-time live-in help here is common and inexpensive, and you could say we're 'going native' as we work to hire someone ourselves.

The gal we're trying to hire is 24, married, and from Sri Lanka. She is smiley, hard-working and sending money back home. She is our friend's nanny's niece and has been coming to clean house every Friday for several weeks now.

So, after 5 visits to immigration, numerous papers which had to be professionally 'typed', sitting in wild yet bumper to bumper Dubai traffic after work, hanging out in the ladies sections of smelly crowded government offices (much like dingy U.S. government offices only with more marble decor), a $1500 deposit, and another $2000 in fees, we have officially and legally sponsored our own 'helper', who is moving in this week. As we move through the adjustment to having daily help with cleaning, ironing, after-school-care and kitchen-help, we'll let you know how our life is impacted and how our vocabulary for 'housemaid' evolves.