Domestic Help

At first glance this is one of the big bonuses of China. For mere dollars a day (US $5 to be specific), the expat can procure the services of a native Shanghainese resident to perform those tasks deemed distasteful to the bachelor or lady of the house. This may be the first taste expats get of the cultural differences between westerners and Chinese.

I have never been accused of being particularly neat or tidy; however, I noticed several weeks after moving in that the level of the dish soap did not appear to be going down and the floor soap remained unopened. I wisely chose an ahi (maid in Chinese) who did not speak any English thinking it would force me to get serious about my Chinese studies. Faced with continuing to eat off dirty dishes and walk on filthy floors, I brought one of my well-educated colleagues in my office over to translate, a task well outside of her professional job description. Confusion reigned when I tried to explain the purpose of the soap. “Soap on the floors?” inquired the colleague as if I had three heads. Yes, and on the dishes in the sink. And she needs to change the water in the bucket when it gets dirty rather than trying to stretch the whole bucket to cover 250 sq. m. of space.

My clothes are now two colors: pink and dirty gray. Some still fit. We separate nothing. But it makes getting dressed easier in the morning.