Life in Myanmar : Domestic Help and Bloopers

Here with Ko Phyo and his wife :)

Hello folks! Greetings from the Golden Land :)
This story is also on Vanity Shack - just so you know :)

It's been a fair while since I last wrote. I have no idea when my part-time job suddenly became full-time and things are just getting busier and busier. Actually, this is true for the country as a whole as more and more investors come in. And not to mention the 1,000 new cars on the road each day, making running a faster way to get to work instead.

The weather has also since changed... from 12 degrees to 39 degrees. And it is not yet even the "real" summer. Because of that, the black-outs have resumed its place in everyone's lives but nothing of the 7-hour rotation that I experienced when I first landed in this country! Thank God (fingers and toes crossed). 

Some changes has also taken place for MOH and I too - namely moving to a new apartment (because the landlord sold the last apartment we were in after only staying there for 8 months! Welcome to Myanmar!), a new job for MOH and because of the increased work hours for the both of us, we've included a part-time cleaner and a driver into our lives as well - both paid-for by MOH's new job.

Li Su, our part-time cleaner was really accidental - the movers who helped us move apartments recommended a lovely Burmese lady to help us clean the new apartment before the big move. She asked if we would hire her daughter to do some cleaning work for us since it was obvious we didn't have someone. I was hesitant at first, since I was one of those anal people (some say OCD but I refuse to admit that) who had to have my stuff cleaned exactly the way I want it cleaned and don't even get me started on my floor mats (specific floor mats for specific areas please!). I just thought that MOH and I were getting on fine without any help and I always thought - if my Mama could do it, so can I. But hubby reminded me that his new job meant he will not have time to help with the household chores anymore and therefore, I agreed to have Li Su come in for a try. I loved her to bits immediately and she's still helping us clean as I write this :) That she thinks my own cleaning isn't good enough and cleans up after me is a definite plus point!

Blooper - she doesn't speak English at all and I speak broken Burmese at best. So, a lot of times, there's a game of charade going on and if that doesn't work, we do Pictionary instead (and I can't draw to save my life!) . Secondly, she doesn't know how to use anything electrical and prefers instead to do it the manual way. She seems to think her cleaning is better than the machine (which could be true) and refuses to let me wash my floor mats in the washing machine and hand-washes them herself. Thirdly, she doesn't have a contactable number or mobile phone and that means if I was late to get home, the poor girl has to wait out for me. I still do some of the household chores, like the laundry, vacuuming, and using my micro-fibre wipes and MOH irons his own clothes, haha,... but overall, she's been excellent and very happy to have met her :)

Through a car rental agent, we managed to rent a car with a driver and our first driver remains one of the funniest experiences ever when it came to such bloopers. He started the week where MOH had to travel away on a business trip and so,.... long story short, on his first day at work, I had to park the car for him and reversed the car for him. He drove at 10km/hour and we were the butt of every car honks on the road. He didn't realize that he was driving with a flat either. There was a day where there was a bad traffic situation at my office and he had a brain freeze! And then the last straw happened when he successfully killed the car battery and the car wouldn't start. Finally, I relented and called the agent requesting for a change of driver. The agent actually said thank you for trying so hard because other clients would've sent the driver back on the first day itself. I kept him for another 2 days, since I was leaving for my CNY break anyway. On his last work day, he sent me to the arrival hall of the airport and went on the wrong traffic lane *slap forehead*. We both had a shock! I gave him a parting ang pow in any case for Good Luck! For me, I knew getting a job was hard for the people here and I tried. I really did try. But it was perhaps, a safety issue we needed to consider. I felt really sorry for him, but tough luck, huh. MOH also wanted to change him as he kept having to remind the driver to release the brakes when driving! Funny!

And so, while I was away for CNY, MOH started with the new driver. When I came back and met Ko Phyo for the first time, my first thoughts were "O-M-G. He is cuuute!!!" LOL! So, maybe my liking Ko Phyo a lot is biased, admittedly, however, Ko Phyo had proven to be a real good driver, safe and helpful as well. When he sees help required - like when I go to see the kids at the Homes, he'd step forward to help without being asked. He doesn't speak much English either, but he understands my broken Burmese and had not gotten any instructions wrong thus far (fingers crossed again!) I have since gotten him 2 English books and a dictionary and he had promised to read them while waiting for MOH at work. Though I wonder if the fact that MOH keeps making me take the taxi ("I am first priority for the driver!!") has anything to do with the fact that I keep telling him how much I like Ko Phyo. Hahaha! :)

The thing with MOH and I is that we both don't have that 'big shot' air about us and at the end of the day, we'd like to treat them as friends too. We don't sit at the backseat of the car, nor do I expect the door to be opened for me or my bags carried. It's just a basic understanding of what job scope they had been hired for and we'll stick to that. I have since cooked for both Li Su and Ko Phyo, have had meals with them and exchanged music with them too. Weve also been welcomed into Ko Phyo's home with opened-arms and celebrate their special ocassions with them. My Papa teases me and says "So, the employer cooks for the maid, eh?" and there's a standing joke in which he asks "Are you driving the driver today?" :) Harhar. Very funny.

I suppose, that's just how it goes. I am in someone else's country and it just will not do to behave like some big-shot-snob expat. I've seen too many of them do that and forgetting their Ps and Qs with their domestic help. I'll continue being as kind as I possibly can to Li Su and Ko Phyo. Because unlike office work where I'm "Gordon Ramsey in disguise" and bringing something to the table, I have nothing else to offer Li Su and Ko Phyo except to encourage them to do better in their lives and teaching them English. If they do abuse my trust and friendship, I'd be heartbroken, sure. But like with the whole Myanmar move - risk is necessary :)

So, till the next time around, people!

p/s : Over and above all, I think we had been brought up very well by our respective families :)

Voting For Change

Here with Lone Kyaw, Myanmar's
Lethwei champ and my trainer, taking
a pic for the Jom Bali Undi campaign.
Lone Kyaw understands completely
our fight and supports our "vote for
change" :)

So, the election is just around the corner. I wish our Ah Jip Kor will make the announcement soon cos people like me need to make travel plans (and reapplying Myanmar visa) to go home to vote. Chances are, it is unlikely I will be able to make a trip home to vote as I am going back for Cheng Beng end of March and if the elections is not during that time, I can't be flying home again to vote. After all, no one's paying for my flight ticket except me :P

This'll be my second time voting. And so... if I do get the chance to go home to vote, I will mark my 'X' on anything that doesn't have the icon of a balance scale. Wait, first of all, I'm not very into politics, really. I'm not one of those political bloggers nor am I one of those who reads incessantly about all these political views and analyse them whatsoever. Secondly, I have not lived in Malaysia for the past 5 years and more. Harder to keep up with what's going on except through FB and emails from family and friends.

But here's MY reasons for voting the opposition - I don't care who, as long as it is not the balance scale. Because I think it is time for change. After so many years of seeing the injustice and racial politics in Malaysia, I'm just fed-up. Hearing stupid remarks from our leaders about us being second-class and "balik tongsan" and all that crap is making me angry. I may not live in Malaysia, but I have my businesses and investments in Malaysia. So, I am one of those voters now who have vested interest in making sure the country grows economically and socially.

Now look, previous years, I can't be bothered. I was born with the Chinese mentality. When I scored with flying colours in my SPM and applied for a government scholarship (because BOTH, not one, but BOTH my parents are government servants) and I wasn't granted one despite the fact that our household income made me eligible for one, I applied for private scholarships instead - and got it. It had been at a young age that we were brought up to rely on ourselves and our own capabilities to make it in the country and beyond.

A couple of years back, my company was asked to put forth a quote to a GLC to manage their events since we had been highly recommended, and also, we had planned the chairman's son's wedding in the previous year. I was running our business in Cambodia at that time, but the person from said GLC called my partners and told them "You cannot be chosen to do the job because you are not a bumiputera company." Needless to say, that got my partners hopping mad.

And it is also very embarassing for people like me living overseas, and you get foreign friends who come up to you and say "What's up with your local oil company? There was a secondment offer but I went for the interview and they told me I will not get the secondment because of my religion." Say what???? This particular friend - I believe is well-qualified in whatever it is that she does. Just unfortunately, she works for our famous oil company outside of Malaysia.

So, I would say, enough is enough. I want to the chance to pitch and rightfully pitch for a government project because of my company's reputation and capabilities. Not because I am bumiputera. What is this bumiputera nonsense anyway? Both my parents were born here in Malaysia. I was born here in Malaysia. Does that not make me "original" or should I still balik tongsan?

Don't even get me started on the crime rate. I am constantly worried about the safety of my loved ones who are in Malaysia. Can you believe that a country like Myanmar is safer than Malaysia? I go running ALONE early in the morning before the sun rises with full confident that nobody will do me any harm. When you don't feel safe in your own country anymore,....... it says a lot.

To say how badly the government and our leaders had fared since winning the last election is by looking at my business partners. For ten years that I had known them, they had never kept up with politics and always shut their ears when I am making comments about votes. They don't vote either. But this year, even during our CNY "Hoi Koong" lunch, while doing our Low Sang toss, they were saying things like "Hope BN lose the elections!!" I was actually caught by surprise.

Basically, after ranting on and on, I am all for the Opposition because I just want the change. I don't want leaders who talk about race and religion. I don't want leaders who are not helping the poor equally. I don't want leaders who change our country's constitution per their whim and fancy. I don't want leaders who think I have no rights over my own country. I do. I have every right to have a country and a government in which I can be proud of.

My business partners and I believe that if the incumbent government wins again, it'll be another 5 years of backward progression for Malaysia. And that being the case, we will pull out our investments from Malaysia and put it elsewhere. How about the final Asian frontier for that matter? Because mark my words, if our leaders don't buck up, Myanmar will soon overtake Malaysia in terms of growth and development.

So, I will vote for change. I hope you will too.