A Great Attitude

Although J has made a couple of mistakes despite clear instructions and demonstrations, I have been heartened by her sheer determination and enthusiasm.

A few amusing and slightly alarming experiences occured though, in this very short span of time:

Being eager to please and perhaps too enthusiastic at times resulted in her plunging herself into doing things that are not necessary. After learning to use the washing machine for example, she washed WAY TOO MANY clothes that we ended up with not enough space to hang them (we don't have a dryer). And on top of that, I found a bunch of squeezed damp clothes in our wash toilet, stuffed into our mop pail! She explained it was her own clothes, and I realised that because she already hung up so much laundry, there was no space for her clothes =P So I took out another spare clothes hanger I had in our store, and asked her to hang up her clothes - otherwise they would stink!

We also found her attempting to cook rice on the stove-top, using the rice container from our rice cooker! She got kancheong and wanted to have the rice ready (despite me already telling her that I would be back to cook with her). She explained that she did so because she forgot how to use the rice cooker =P I assured her it was alright, because I knew that was how she cooked rice in the Philippines, but explained that if she didn't know how to use something, it was ok to wait for us to be back to ask - otherwise she might end up spoiling some equipment without realising it!

What was heartening was that in that same morning, she also packed and cleaned my entire storeroom without me asking, and had our bedroom tidied without me teaching her how to (she observed the part-time cleaners and made our bed exactly like they did!).

Anyway, I have since found her holed up in her room during rest times furiously writing things in her notebook, reading through the 8-pages, and later referring to either one throughout the day. She has also taken the initiative to ask more questions to clarify what she could not remember, and even asks after the job is done if it was done correctly.

Don't get me wrong though - it is still very tiring to constantly coach someone. I have to very precise, I need to repeat myself, I need to observe and I need to check. And I am not even good at household chores myself. I need to think through what to teach first so that the learning curve is not so steep.

I also definitely miss our privacy :( Which was the main reason why I didn't want live-in help in the first place.

But I'm thankful that at the very least I think we do have a helper who has displayed a great attitude so far.