First Routine Day!

February 7, 2011
Our first Monday in Brazil marked the first real “routine” day of our life here.  I had been nervous about being left alone all day, as Matt was working a full day at the office, and the boys would be in school.  Matt, still without a car, took a taxi into the office, and I put the kids onto a bus (a temporary arrangement until I get a car – and get brave enough to drive here) and off to school.  Eager to get back into an exercise routine, I met Katherine at the gym and worked for an hour – it felt great!  Back at the apartment, I decided to enjoy the peace and quiet, take advantage of the internet connection I still had to send some emails and start my blog.  Just as I was ready to start cleaning, my service phone (only used to call the doorman or between apartments in the building) rang – it was a new friend (a lovely lady from Spain) offering me a ride to the store, since she was headed that way and knew I didn’t have a car.  I reasoned that I could always clean tomorrow, and took her up on her offer. 

Cleaning the apartment is a necessary evil – and a much more challenging task than back home.  In the States, the way houses are designed, they are relatively easy to keep clean.  Here, however, it is a constant battle.  With windows always open, there is a never-ending flow of a fine dust (smog and dirt combined) that settles onto the floors and furniture.  The apartments in our complex are big, with marble and ceramic floors that need to be swept and mopped multiple times a week.  In our kitchen and laundry room, all of the walls are white ceramic tile – smog and white walls don’t really mix!  All of my cabinets and drawers are also white, so I could literally clean all day and never finish.  Laundry is a whole other ballgame!  People here rarely use clothes dryers, as the cost of electricity is so high.  Not to mention, that to fully dry a whole load of laundry (keeping in mind that everything here is small, so a full load isn’t really that big) takes about 3 hours!  So, laundry rooms are equipped with these very nifty clotheslines on racks that hang from the ceiling and operate on a pulley system.  I have figured out that what works best for me is to put the clothes in the dryer for about 30 minutes, just enough to soften them and get out the wrinkles, and then I hang them to dry completely.  Of course, since we can’t just pull things out of the dryer and put them away, there is a lot more ironing required, too.  I always hated doing laundry and ironing at home, now I know I had it easy! 

All of this brings me to the issue of having a maid.  Every apartment that we looked at has maid’s quarters – a little bedroom and bathroom dedicated to the household help.  Everyone here has a maid!  I was convinced, before arriving, that I would not hire a maid, as I wouldn’t be working outside of the house, and would need “something to do”.  The life of an ex-pat is a privileged one, and as we met more and more of them, we found that they not only have full-time maids, but several of them have “babas” (nannies) and drivers, too!  I was a bit intrigued by the idea of hiring a driver, as the traffic here scares me to death, but I still didn’t think I’d need a maid.  Well, I’ve changed my mind!  Though, I still don’t think I’ll need a full-time maid, I definitely need help!  So, my friend who called, introduced me to her maid’s sister who was looking for work – I hired her on the spot!  When I talked to Matt later that day I filled him in on what my day had been like (gone to the store, out to lunch – and, oh yeah, by the way, I hired a maid today!).  For now, she’ll work 2 days a week – who knows, maybe I’ll eventually break down and hire her full time.  So, my first “routine” day turned out to not be so routine for me – looks like I won’t have to clean after all!