Maid Story - #5

After Sarah left, we had to resort to leaving the boys at the baby sitter. She is the mother of one of staff working at the workshop. It wasn't for long. She then offered the services of her niece, Ani. Ani was hardworking but a bit rough. But I guess, after fragile Sarah, everyone would look rough!


Ani is like any youngster. Every evening I come home from work to see, not only the boys all fresh and clean but Ani too was dressed up and face made up. I suspect that she is not all okay "upstairs". The children likes her though and she is also a great cook.


The only part that I could not tolerate about Ani was...she doesn't work weekends. That doesn't sound too bad actually but she only appears on my doorstep on monday morning. So every monday morning, I would anxiously look out the door to see if Ani has arrived. She goes off to her friend's house in Nilai and her normal excuse is.. there is no bus or the bus is late. It definitely affects my work schedule too. 


So I decided that I had to look for a more reliable maid. 

Maid Story - Baby Sitters

I recall sending my son to a baby sitter in one of the government quarters at Jalan Cochrane. The BS's husband is a staff at my husband's office. The BS has many small children herself and she took in several other kids to care. The quarters/house is not that big but the lower floor was unfurnished. In one corner, there was a neat pile of thin mattress and a baby cot in another. Another room had plenty of toys in it. BS's older kids will help keep an eye on the smaller kids.


Every night, I would prepare a basket of clean baby clothes and nappies (in those days, disposable diapers was unheard of). There will be another basket of biscuits/food and baby milk/juice. We have to make a quick and early getaway in the morning, to avoid the traffic jam and to be able to reach the office in time. Most mornings, my son goes to BS's house still in his jammy. No time to bathe him. Some morning he goes poo poo and the whole car stink sky high. Whenever there are visits to the clinic for his scheduled jabs, we will leave a message and pick son up. It is quite convenient since, BS's house is still in KL. That is when I see the kids sleeping (or pretending to sleep) before lunch time. In the evenings, we will fetch son back, with a pail full of dirty nappies/clothes.


But we did not use BS's services for long since it is expensive and we still come back to a messy house and I still have to cook and wash. And we both agreed, our children should grow up in his own home.
~~~


Another time, in between maids, we seek the help of the mother of my husband's worker to take care of the boys. This mak cik's house is near the main road but behind the house is secondary jungle plus rubber trees plus fruit trees. I always make sure, we pick the children up before dusk. I have heard many stories and some related to this mak cik's family. I heard that there is a python the size of a coconut tree trunk, slithering across the road. And the occasional roar of a tiger in the jungle, but the tiger is not like the ones we find in the zoo!


But in any case, I am thankful, the mak cik agreed to care for the boys when we asked her.

Maid Story - #4 Sarah

Just before Embah left, we had to get a new minder for Faizal. Azhar was living with grandma in JB, so Faizal was our main concern. 


We didn't have to look far. Hawa lived with her husband, children and her younger sister just next door. Since the sister, Sarah was not studying or working, we asked if she would like to be the children's minder. Sarah ended up working with us for almost 2 years.


She would hop over in the morning and go home when we return from work. She would attend to the children's needs. She also cooks for the family. Being a fellow johorian, I especially enjoyed her mean asam pedas.


The only problem with Sarah was, she is quite fragile in health. So whenever she is not well, her sister Hawa will take care of Faizal together with her own children.


But soon enough Hawa and family decided to move to Cheras. So we were maid-less again. Thus began our search and enduring the short stints of various types of maids.

Maid Story - #3 Embah

When Maid #2 was sent back, I was without a maid for awhile. Mom came up and stayed in KL. Dad was at that time working in KL. We bought a house in Hulu Langat, not very far from my rented house. We passed the rented house to Mom and Dad. It all falls in like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. 

Every morning we send Azhar (on motorbike) to Granny. Every evening, after work, we will stay until dinner and then go home to sleep. It was a new housing area - - read: no electricity and no water piped into home. It was quite a miserable life but it is something we have to go through in order to own our very own house.

Not many people stayed in the housing area of less than 200 houses. My neighbor send her son to an old lady staying a few doors away. So one day, we asked the old lady if she would mind taking care of our son too. At that time she was only taking care of one child (my neighbor's) and had ample time on her hands since her own son has just got married. 

Embah (granny in javanese) is like any other grandmother. She dotes on the kids. If she needs to go to the lorry selling vegetable/fish, she would carry both boys in two slings (javanese style) crossed over the shoulders. She asked the kids to call her Embah. By this time, Azhar was almost two years old (same age as Firdaus, the other child). Dia tak ada bezakan anak2 yang dia jaga. She would feed both kids at the same time, by mixing the rice with fried fish and vege and kicap all in one plate. If we let her have her way, she would not allow us to take our kids back in the evening! She really took great care of our boys. 

By this time, I was expecting my second child. Four months into my pregnancy, Embah's son asked if we mind taking in their mother. The son got a promotion and had to move to another town. Embah chose not to follow them. We welcomed her with open arms. Talk about 'bulan jatuh ke riba'! By that time, Firdaus too was taken care of, by his own granfather.

Having Embah live with us means a much2 pampered life for me..especially since I was pregnant. We never had to worry about Azhar..if fact Embah had started to 'kidnap' my son as early as eight every nite. And when I delivered my second son, I 'berpantang' at home. Huhu..it wasn't much of a pantang since after 3 weeks, I was already out in town getting baby items for Embah's daughter who was giving birth soon after.

Embah stayed with us for more than two years. When Faizal was two, Azhar went to stay with his grandmother in JB. Dad has retired and moved back to JB, so to keep them occupied, they asked to take care of Azhar (who was more than delighted to be the apple of grandma's eye!) So Embah had only Faizal to take care of. Every time she goes back to her home town, she would also take Faizal along. So I never had to worry about who takes care of my kid when the maid/babysitter takes leave. Embah cooks all the lovely javanese food. There is always some kueh on the table. So Faizal grew up plump and chubby. My nephews too enjoys coming over to stay. Each time she comes back from Sabak Bernam, my kitchen will be full of bananas which she will make into banana chips, pucuk2 ulam and all the kampong food.

Meanwhile Azhar lives the jetsetting life. He started his kindy and then his primary schooling in JB. He gave his grandma joy and pain. I remembered (hearing from his grandma) him having "accidents" in school and grandma/pa have to drive to school with his clean pants. I also heard about him judo-kicked another kid in kindy and that kid's grandpa showed his fist at Azhar whenever they crossed paths. I was told that Azhar paid the RM1 insurance and promptly fell at the canteen, that required stitches in his upper lip (talk about making full use of the facilities). Every school holidays, his aunt will send him to Senai airport and the stewardesses takes care of CTA (child travelling alone) until he reaches Subang Airport. At the end of the holidays, we will send him off at Subang back into the arms of his aunt in Senai. If the timing is right, he even gets to spend his holidays in Sabak Bernam with Embah. That went on until he was 12 years old. 

Living with Embah also means my children gets to pickup a smattering of a third language - Javanese. Although my dad is 100% javanese, he doesn't teach us the language. In fact, that is the language he speaks to mom when they have secrets to share! So I get to hear my kids go.. manok (bird), ewak (ikan), oooo toman (chiding) and many more. This was when I understood a little bit of javanese (passable to scare my future Indon maids, it seems).

But all good things came to an end. One day, Embah's son in London, invited her to come over and stay with them. They also dangled the carrot in the form of Haj. Initially Embah did not want to go to London because she could not stand the cold. Her knees ached even in the Malaysian cold weather. But the call of Haj was stronger this time. So she left for London.

Next: Maid story - #4 Sweet Sarah

Maid Story - #2 Kakak Busuk

Maid #1 Miah's tenure ended when we personally delivered her back to her parents. We survived without a maid for a few weeks before sister-in-law called to say they have another kampong girl for us.

So off we went to a tiny village in Kedah. I can't for the life recall Maid #2's name. She lives with her family in a typical kampong house on stilts. Lantai dapur pun tanah sahaja. 

On the way back from Kedah, we stopped at a restaurant to get dinner as it was already late and I am too tired to even think about cooking. Suddenly my nose caught an absolute stench, I looked around and spotted the communal bin in a back lane, nearby. I thought the stench came from that bin, so I hurried hubby to drive off.

The next day, I took leave to 'train' (so to speak) new maid. During my conversation with her, I found out that she previously worked with a family in Johor. Okay..running-in the new maid would be easy, I thought, since she already have working experience. What I didn't expect was, "Masa saya kerja dulu, majikan suruh saya jaga anak2, beri saya tengok TV dan tape sahaja (Really???) Ada majikan yang suruh maid tengok tv ek?

But my son refuse to go to her, saying the only word we understand.."busuk". So I wasn't imagining the stench the other night, that it came from the maid! I gave her sweet smelling soap, shampoo and other toiletries to clean herself. I even gave her deodorant, teaching her how to use it. I gave her new clothes. But it didn't work. It was like the bad smell ooze out with her sweat!

And if the one year old retaliates, what can we do but send the maid back after just 1 week. So it was back to granny for Azhar (my first born).

Maid Story - #1 Miah

Hearing my friend's search of a maid, brought back memories of my life when I was dependent on them. 

Beginning with my first born, we seek the help of family and relatives in Kedah to find us a maid. We ended up with Miah*. We went to her parents house somewhere in Guar Cempedak area. She turns out to be a lovely kampung girl complete with hair so long, it was past her waist. We brought her back to KL and then shipped her off to JB to stay with my mom. The deal was for her to help out my mom as well as to learn how to care for the baby. Life with my mom was easy, as granny did most of the work anyway. So much so, Miah had time to 'menebeng' at the neighbours' house, makan jambu air cicah kicap/cili. Everytime, Granny wanted her help, she had to call Miah back from the neighbours. Miah also got granny to trim her hair.

So, after settling in our new rented house, we finally brought back Miah and baby to KL. Each morning, I have to shake and rattle Miah's door to wake her up. Well, we can't just leave the baby alone can we? Dengan rambut mengerbang macam hantu, Miah takes the baby and we leave for work. At times, I come home early to find baby asleep in the baby walker and Miah in the bathroom. Miah said, "Adik tertidor masa Miah bagi dia makan tadi". From the neighbours, I found out that Miah befriended the Indonesian contractor workers living in the house across the road. As she hangs out the washing, the Mamat Indon will come over and they end up chatting while the washing ends up drying in the laundry basket! Miah's long hair is a bane too! She keeps on requesting for all types of shampoo. At this time, I was still using Johnson Baby Shampoo (tak pedihkan mata!) and Miah was asking for New and Trendy. Everytime we clean the car, we find many many long strands of hair stuck to the car seat.

When we start having maids, I too start my PI work. We can't trust them wholeheartedly. This was when I found out that Miah was planning to quit work giving the excuse that her mom needs her help back home. So, I told the father, we have to send Miah back before she runs off on her own and her parents blame us for not taking care of their daughter. So macam mana kita ambil dia, kita pulangkan elok elok pada parents dia jugak. Later we found out that Miah was actually afraid her boyfriend would run off, if she stayed in KL for too long. Soon after her return, she was married off to the boyfriend.

We asked granny to come and stay with us until we get a new maid.