Edith - part savior, part survival

Edith

Jumping rope with the kids

Playing at the pool

It seems strange that Edith is such a huge part of our lives and is not in more of our pictures – she’s pretty camera shy but I have snuck a few in here and there.  I find her life fascinating and we have definitely all grown closer over the last few weeks.  Coincidence that Ruby and I’s Spanish has also showed signs of improvement these last few weeks?  I think not.  Knowing another language breaks down a huge a barrier.  I am constantly reminded of communication being the most important part of any relationship, even when you speak the same language.  When the language is different, it is hard to get very far.  It is particularly painful not to be able to crack jokes or make light of situations, which we find ourselves in Many ridiculous ones here.

Edith has always been enamored with Felix, not hard.  She never really took a shine to Ruby but I was attributing that to some issues with women in her own family.  Now they have bonded though and it is so wonderful to see.  Edith told me yesterday she is going to miss us all so much when we leave.   The feeling is mutual.  She has been an indelible part of our survival here.

She has a very difficult job, taking care of us.  She works for another couple as well (who hooked her up with us), but just for a few hours in the morning.  Then she comes here and her plate is full from about noon until 7 or 8pm.  The environment we live in is so hot and dusty that there is no such thing as re-wearing clothes before washing them.  Adults go through one or two outfits a day and kids go through 3 minimum.  (I will not go into any sort of detail about Felix’s potty training here.)  We did buy a laundry machine for washing but I notice she prefers to wash by hand a lot anyway.  And everything is hung dry, of course.  She also irons the kids' school uniforms (standard practice) and David’s clothes.  So laundry alone is a mountain.  But then the dust also creates a film over everything Daily.  She dusts and cleans the floor every day.  She also grocery shops, cooks lunch and does the dishes.  If there is any extra time she is mending something, cleaning up after the children, or fighting off the constant prospect of an ant invasion.  If a sweet crumb is left on the floor more than a few minutes, you can expect their arrival.  

It makes me tired just thinking about all she does!  But she doesn’t seem to mind and considers herself lucky to have a good gig with us.  She enjoys the children, although is realistically too busy to spend very much time with them.  She put herself through nursing technician school while working full time.  That is a lot of ambition for a place that is generally content with the status quo.  (She is working for us as a favor to our friends before she gets a nursing gig.)  But yet, I feel like she has given up on the dream to have a family even though she seems she wants one.  And since family is so paramount here, it almost seems she has also given up on everything else for herself.  Don’t get me wrong she’s not a particularly morose person.  In fact, she has quite an easy laugh.  But for someone aged thirty, there is a disappointed resignation to her personality.  Having never been in her shoes or her culture, I don’t understand.  My curiosity is yet another reason to get cracking on my Spanish skills.  I would like to gain more insight.

And you might ask yourself, what exactly are you and David doing if Edith is doing all of that?  Well, apart from our work (which we do more of here than at home), we are spending time with the children.  Which is nice – I never have the guilty feeling that we are not spending enough time with the kids here!  When I get off work I am completely available to spend time with them until they go to bed.  Which they need more here – we can’t just send them out to play outside, we can’t just go to a nice playground carefree, we can’t just pack them in the car to go shopping.  In fact, I find myself wondering if there is actually anywhere out of the house we can take them that is relaxing at all?  The pool is the closest thing – but even there Felix is constantly clinging to one of us and I worry about his overwhelming desire to drink the pool water.   David and I are also dealing with the myriad of problems we encounter – mainly internet connections but also electricity outages, leaking roof, faulty equipment, insects, electrical issues within the house, and most recently a bunch of travel plans.

Downtown there are a lot of just random holes in the sidewalk.  I often chuckle thinking about what would happen in the States –

1. Someone would complain loudly ‘Why isn’t anyone doing anything about this?  My child could fall in that hole!’ 
2. Others would agree.
3. They would complain to the city. 
4. A committee would be formed. 
5. Politicians would be lobbied. 
6. And start to use hole-filling in their campaigns.
7. Press would follow the story. 
8. The holes would be filled by city workers.
9. A plan would be set in place to ensure someone has responsibility for any future holes.

Here, they don’t even get to step 1.  They step around the hole.