Still very sane....

Yes. Day 4 of being Maid-less.
And still very sane. Heheheh. Of course I would be....as I wasn't really doing any housework at all. Surprisingly, the floors are still fairly clean (or maybe it's because I am wearing house-slippers? :-P ), and boys have been aiming at TARGET so toilets haven't stunk up. All I have been doing so far is to make sure the laundry is washed and pressed; and some light cooking for brekkie and dinner. Boys were asking "since no maid, does that mean we will be buying lunch at school?". When I said "Yes"....they were shouting "YAY" in their hearts. Mmm...I wonder it's because the food is cold and unappetising by lunchtime, or is it because of a Peer Pressure thing??

Anyway, boys generally have been pretty good. Making their beds in the mornings before school, and washing-up their water bottles after school...and of course, washing up after dinner. Yes. It is indeed good training for the boys. But the floors in this house is certainly too extensive to not have a maid. In our next move, we will be in either an apartment or a small house...and will then do away with the maid. Maybe have a part-timer for ironing....Donno. We'll see.

Since we are still in the topic of maids... How about some stories about my grandparents/parents' maids?? Many I can't even remember ...but there were a few distinct ones. In those days, the domestic helpers/nannies were all Chinese girls from the kampungs... and I remember following my grandmother to places like Tanjung Malim and Batangkali to check out prospective girls.

I really don't know how the house could house soooooooooooo many people. In my childhood days, there was our family, my dad's brother's family, dad's unmarried brother & sister and then there's my grandparents, my great-grandmother plus the many many maids around. I really wonder where everyone slept?? My earliest memories... I had my own nanny, my second sis had her own nanny...and then there was one that specifically looked after my great-grandmother. And then there's the maids for the other chores.

The oldest helper that I could remember was my dad's amah....she was called Han Cheh. She wasnt' working in our household when I was, but did visit our house once in awhile....always in her distinct bun and sam-foo. Yup. Those loose tops and pants....but not white and black lah...

Then there was Ah-Ber, who looked after great-grandma...think she was from Batangkali. Apparently, she tried to entice one of the brothers (as in my dad and his brothers??), and was caught by grandma. Not sure if she was dismissed there and then....but when she was gone, found out that she took quite alot of Great-grandma's jewellery, my nice M&S underwear (mind you, I was a little little girl. So don't know why she wants underwear that she can't fit into!!) and hair-clips.

There were two girls that came to work much later...As usual, with two maids in the house, regardless of nationalities or race, sure will be fighting and bullying. Think they were both from Tanjung Malim. Can't remember their names...but let's call them A and B. A is older and came to work first, and so felt she had seniority...and would bully B and even was rather harsh on us grandchildren. Stupid A even used a spoon to whack my head once. Apparently, A forced B to eat some cockroach sh!t...and donno what. I remember grandma trying to sort out the problems between the girls...

We had one that was quite good with her work, but was a bit koo-koo. She would tell us girls..whilst sitting on the swing with us that she wants to commit suicide blah blah blah. Until one time too many, grandma told her to leave..."want to die, please go outside. Don't die in my house". Yes. Very dramatic.

Chan-Cheh worked with us the longest, as far as I remembered. She was like a koon-kah. She knows exactly how many spoons, forks, knives etc that we have in the house. By this time, it was just our family in the house. All uncles and families have moved elsewhere. And if grandma ever gives food in our container to one of the uncles, Chan-Cheh would bug her about bringing it back. She really took care of us.... But once, she decided that she didn't want to work anymore...and that was when we had this other Cheh who was MEGA koo-koo. Talking to herself...talking about empress and family being murdered etc etc. I remember standing outside her room together with dad eavesdropping on her own banter in the dark. She was going "the whole family so good, why murder them? Why?". Err...this was before the advent of mobile phones. So NO way she was talking to someone over the phone. We got abit scared, and told her to leave the next day. And then we had to go and beg Chan-Cheh to come back to work for us, which she did...until she retired to China.

I remember Chan-Cheh was always nagging the Filipino cleaner, L. Now with her gone, and L still with us many years later, I actually told L that she is just like Chan-Cheh now. Sooo naggy towards my sister's maid.

Interesting read??