Monday, 4Sep06
Highlights: did laundry & ironed, then I employed a maid! Signed up for bottled water, newspaper service, tried to get wireless internet to work, 1st dinner at home, Nina
Happy Labor Day! I took advantage of the Embassy shutting down for the day to get some errands done at home: namely all my laundry & ironing, signing up for Agua bottled water service, two newspapers (Kompas & Jakarta Post), and a fruitless attempt to get wireless internet working at the house.
I went looking for the “pembantu” (maid) I had interviewed last week,,, we’re ready for her help, and had a better idea of what to look for; honesty being at the top of the list. There are a lot of pembantus in Indonesia. Many work for a room & food at the house & aren’t “paid” a salary, others are paid whatever they negotiate with the family. Some cook, some double as nannies, some become internalized into the family. One problem I hear is common, especially in Jakarta is stealing. So, after being repeatedly warned to be careful whom we employ, I was ready to interview her again. The SATPAM guard sent for her, and I thought she would come tomorrow morning.
Ironically, she showed up within minutes of me finishing my own laundry & ironing,,, eager to come work for us. Ha ha. Oh well!
“Eli” has worked at 2 homes in this complex before, her last family recently moved back to the states. She’s well known by the guards, the pembantu next door, she lives close-by, and her husband is a SATPAM as well. $40/month is more than many pembantu get paid, but in a bule complex like this, it’s about average. No wonder many want to work here for westerners! Ha ha
Aside from that, I arranged delivery of a daily Indonesian newspaper (Kompas) and an English newspaper (Jakarta Post) for $10/month, and bottled water service ($1 per 5 gallon jug/month). We had a computer techie gainfully employed for almost 2 hours, trying to figure out how to get our wireless Linksys router to cooperate… no joy.
Oh well, we’ll try again later.
After a quick trip to the store, Lydia cooked steaks (with mushroom & onion sauce), mashed potatoes & green beans for dinner tonight! It was our first dinner at home- and it was great. Overall a pretty productive day!
Highlights: did laundry & ironed, then I employed a maid! Signed up for bottled water, newspaper service, tried to get wireless internet to work, 1st dinner at home, Nina
Happy Labor Day! I took advantage of the Embassy shutting down for the day to get some errands done at home: namely all my laundry & ironing, signing up for Agua bottled water service, two newspapers (Kompas & Jakarta Post), and a fruitless attempt to get wireless internet working at the house.
I went looking for the “pembantu” (maid) I had interviewed last week,,, we’re ready for her help, and had a better idea of what to look for; honesty being at the top of the list. There are a lot of pembantus in Indonesia. Many work for a room & food at the house & aren’t “paid” a salary, others are paid whatever they negotiate with the family. Some cook, some double as nannies, some become internalized into the family. One problem I hear is common, especially in Jakarta is stealing. So, after being repeatedly warned to be careful whom we employ, I was ready to interview her again. The SATPAM guard sent for her, and I thought she would come tomorrow morning.
Ironically, she showed up within minutes of me finishing my own laundry & ironing,,, eager to come work for us. Ha ha. Oh well!
“Eli” has worked at 2 homes in this complex before, her last family recently moved back to the states. She’s well known by the guards, the pembantu next door, she lives close-by, and her husband is a SATPAM as well. $40/month is more than many pembantu get paid, but in a bule complex like this, it’s about average. No wonder many want to work here for westerners! Ha ha
Aside from that, I arranged delivery of a daily Indonesian newspaper (Kompas) and an English newspaper (Jakarta Post) for $10/month, and bottled water service ($1 per 5 gallon jug/month). We had a computer techie gainfully employed for almost 2 hours, trying to figure out how to get our wireless Linksys router to cooperate… no joy.
Oh well, we’ll try again later.
After a quick trip to the store, Lydia cooked steaks (with mushroom & onion sauce), mashed potatoes & green beans for dinner tonight! It was our first dinner at home- and it was great. Overall a pretty productive day!
posted by jonathan adventures at 1:46 AM
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