All about Foreign Domestic Workers

Update on Mom: She sat up for several hours today, long enough to complain about the food and to lose at cards. I'm beginning to wonder if Dad had a "card luck" transplant, as he's unusually unlucky at cards.

We have hired a Foreign Domestic Worker ("FDW") as the Ministry of Manpower or "MOM" calls the live-in nannies / help. Her name is Basilia and is from the Philippines.

She lives in with us, but her room is actually quite separate from us, with her own entrance, so we both can have some privacy. We've hired her to help (okay - do) the cleaning and to help with the baby when I go back to work. She started last night, and today she cleaned up. Already the place is cleaner. Yay!

Joe and I get called "Sir" and "Ma'am" or "Madame" but that is the way things are. Oliver calls her "Auntie Basil" (pronounced Bazil). It is common in Asian culture for children to call their elders Auntie and Uncle. She is very interactive with Oliver, and he seems to already like her.

Joe commented that this morning he got to spend more time with Oliver before taking him to school, as he didn't have to clean up the kitchen, so I think that will be beneficial for our family.

But I will admit, it will take some getting used to having someone else in the house.