I can't wait to have a maid

You know I tell E all the time that one of the reasons I want to move back to Brazil is to have a maid (or rather a housekeeper/cook). This is not entirely true, of course, but there is a reason I say it. Although he doesn't say much, as he is a man of few words, I know he's thinking "yes, me too".

Now I don't know how (in)expensive it is to hire someone in Brasília to help you out around the house a couple of times a week, but it is an investment I am willing to make. I should start out by saying that I do prefer the word "secretaria" (secretary) to maid, but I think it's just easier to say the latter since it is not common to have a maid (for lack of a better word) in the United States and that's the word we know. In Manaus, most of my friends and students referred to their maids as their "secretaries" and I thought that that was appropriate. I mean, let's be honest, that's what they were. Now I don't want, or need, to have someone live with me (never!) or even to come to the house every day. We're only two people; we don't make that much of a mess. But I have a husband who loves to eat Brazilian food and who better to cook it than a Brazilian woman? Also, I'd LOVE to have help cleaning, so that is what I look forward to more than anything.

Now as far as maids go in the U.S., I only knew of one man  when I was growing up who had a housekeeper visit his house weekly to help clean up, but he had money. Apart from him, I had never met people with maids until I moved to South America. Everyone had one or two there. One of the families that I lived with in Bolivia had two live-in maids. I didn't even have to make my bed or clear the table. Now I do see a lot of families in Florida with housekeepers since there are a number of women who have cleaning companies and/or work as housekeepers to help support themselves. It is actually less expensive at this time to hire a maid in central Florida because of all of the competition.


Anyway, back to my excitement.....I'm really looking forward to hiring a woman to come to my house on a weekly basis to cook and (help us) clean. I mean, I've seriously considered hiring someone to help me on a monthly basis now, or at least during the week of my birthday, but it hasn't happened - and therefore probably won't before we move. I was never too sure I wanted to part with whatever money we would be charged in the event of hiring a maid.

But now just thinking that housekeepers/cooks are affordable, and quite frankly common, in Brazil makes me feel all warm and tingly inside. Now E can have all the rice and beans that he wants - and I can pay to have my bathroom cleaned.