I just got an e-mail from the lawyer with a whole host of new forms to fill out. Apparently they just recieved them from the government.
Honestly, I haven’t had the time to go through them yet and won’t until Saturday afternoon at least. We’re one step (and a few more dead trees) away from being alowed back in the country.
Maria’s back.
She said she had “problems” and returned to the house on Saturday. Everything is fine and its like she never left. The house didn’t fall apart while she was gone, although Mita was having trouble trying to find someone to fill her shoes while she was away.
Now there’s nothing to worry about.
Having a maid seems so trivial doesn’t it? Most people reading this blog already do domestic work on top of everything else. There are much larger problems in the world than having to cook and clean for yourself.
Maria is gone. She was a hell of a cook, but she’s gone.
Maria took an “unauthorized vacation” last weekend.
Actually, she left for her day off and never returned. She was called. She said that she would be back today. She never came back. She was called again. No answer.
Another maid bites the dust.
The hunt for a new maid is on.
I know how much you like maid drama.
Well folks, I’ve been busy working again and neglecting the blog.
So far its been an OK month. I’ve got 4 classes a day and 4 classes on Saturday leaving me only one day a week to relax. Sunday goes by way to fast for this gringo.
I know what your thinking, that I’m complaining. In a way I am. I’m pulling 48 hour work weeks with no OT. (I don’t think overtime exists here in Peru.) That said, I know my workload isn’t nearly as much as a “real” teacher at a school. They put in many long hours without pay, but they get summers and most weekends off. I’ll won’t see vacation time until March… if we’re here that long.
My job is also keeping me away from my wife. She works during the day and I work evenings. So we see each other on Saturday nights (after 5) and Sundays. Otherwise she’s just something that’s next to me in bed every night. That makes our relationship sound trivial, but I’m being sarcastic. It does suck though. We spent two years seeing each other only on the weekends, now we are married and we still see each other only on the weekends.
The other day my boss asked me why I wasn’t playing on the institutes’s basketball team Sunday afternoons.
“Sunday is my only day off,” I said. “It’s the only day I see my wife. This place is already destroying my marriage.”
Of course the last part was a joke, with speckles of the truth. She laughed then reminded me to turn in some benign paperwork I’ve neglected. (Cultural Note: Peruvians love paperwork. While they have computers, they can’t seem to get over the fact not everything has to be filed and signed in triplicate. As a colleague told me “Paperwork puts a lot of food on a lot of tables.”)
In other news, I wrote an op-ed column for the Fargo Forum newspaper about business conditions in my hometown. My friends are loving it, but I’m not sure the rest of the world read it. We’ll wait and see.
Oh, there is some maid drama to report. Maria decided not to show up on Sunday before a big barbecue. So we ended up doing a lot of work. Which I didn’t mind. I’m always willing to help out, but I’m told not to do so because I’m not a maid.
It turns out Maria decided to take a little vacation. She claims she’ll be back tomorrow. You’ll be in the loop.