My Pembantu

There are a lot of things that are hard about living here in Bandung. There is constant noise. The tops of our windows only have screens on them and thus any noise outside comes right on in. During the night I get awoken by roosters crowing and the Call to Prayer. There is a large construction project right outside our apartment (that I can see out my bedroom window) which they will still be working on when I leave here. The construction workers live in a little shack they built on site. They play the guitar, sing and laugh all night long. During the day, there is of course the constant sound of construction. The sound of street vendors going from house to house still is very strange to me. They each have a unique call to let you know what they are selling (of course they all sound the same right now to me). Because we live in an area with a lot of westerners many of them have dogs as pets. And so we hear lots of barking and howling. Cats here are like dogs in Mexico (if you've ever been to Mexico you know what I mean). Stray cats are everywhere and they all must be sick because they sound like they are dying and are loud.

For some unknown reason our hot water stopped working. It worked the first few days we were here but for the last week and a half we've only had cold water. So we take cold showers or find a friend who will take us in and let us get clean. Actually, over the weekend our water shut off completely for almost 2 days. We asked the school to call our landlord to get it fixed. The person at the school said the landlord came by and said it worked fine. Strange... not sure how that can be.

One of the nicest things about living here is my pembantu (translation: helper). My roommate Emma and I hired her just a few days after arriving. She comes around 7am and leaves around 2pm. She does all of the cooking and cleaning. I come home after school and my bed is made, she's washed all our dishes, and gone grocery shopping. She does all of the laundry, which is quite a process here, because it includes everything being ironed. She makes us dinner and even makes bagels from scratch for breakfast. And, since school has started she will make us lunch and bring it to us at school. She cleans the bathroom, sweeps, and mops almost everyday. I love a clean house and it is so nice to have someone else take care of it all, especially since most things are more difficult and take longer here. I hate to admit it but until just a few days ago I didn't even know how to turn on our oven. I'm constantly surprised by how cheap things are here, but to me one of the cheapest things is labor. We pay our pembantu $50 a month.