Wow, the month of August literally blew by us. Weeks with family. Weeks working. Starting school. Whoosh! There went August.
And finally, as promised, a post about Santa Luisa or Saint Luisa, the most wonderful person on the face of our Costa Rica planet; our most favorite engineer of the domestic arts; the MAID! :)
Here are the top 10 reasons why I think Santa Luisa should be enshrined in glory forever:
10. As a Costa Rican national, we pay her a higher salary than other less experienced or illegal immigrants. We pay her 1700 colones an hour. At the current exchange rate of 503.75 colones per the US dollar, 1700 colones is $3.37 an hour. Working from 7am to 5pm, it costs us $33.60 a day. Our housekeeper in the States who came twice a month cost us that much an HOUR.
9. Paperwork...like NO paperwork. She's self employed. Basically an independent contractor here. Means we don't have to deal with the Costa Rican government for her taxes and other deductions. Amen!
8. For 3.37 an hour, Santa Luisa does everything. No exceptions. No "I don't do windows". She simply does whatever needs to be done or we ask her to do. Clean windows, clean the gas grill, watch the kids, laundry (more about laundry here in a minute), dishes, cook, mop floors, scrub walls, change every sheet, clean every toilet. Oh, and the other day, without being told to do so, she completely organized our walk in closet from top to bottom. I was ready to call the Pope right then and there to nominate her for saint hood!
7. Spanish only! She speaks a little English but not much. This is actually a GOOD thing as it forces the kids and James to learn a little more Spanish every Wednesday.
6. Hard working...Luisa gets more done in a 10 hour day than I could get done in a week! She is never rushed. She just never stops the entire day. I'm seriously wondering if there is divine intervention involved.
5. Laundry...OMG does she DO LAUNDRY! Besides the usual wash/dry/fold, Luisa irons EVERYTHING and folds laundry just like it came from a department store. Our t-shirts have never looked better. Everything is sorted by size and neatly stacked. (I asked her not to put the kids’ clothes away so they would actually still have some type of responsibility. Gee...I know...it's tough on them.) Before James leaves the house on Wednesday mornings, Luisa insists on ironing his jeans and shirt first. No exceptions.
4. Sewing...She also mends anything which needs repairing (buttons, ripped seams) and hemmed up Corwin's school pants when they were too long. She saw them on the table with my sewing machine nearby. I intended to hem up the pants when I got home (I know...good luck with that on my schedule). When Santa Luisa put two and two together, it equaled the pants being already hemmed up perfectly by the time I got home.
3. Honest...Our relocation mobility coordinator has known Luisa for 15 years and highly recommended her. Now, I completely understand why. We can actually leave Luisa alone in the house and know not only will our $50 box of laundry detergent still be there after she leaves, but the house will be spotless and the door locked. We worry about nothing with Luisa in the house.
2. Dependable...Santa Luisa is never late. She never misses a day. The ONLY drawback is she's only available one day a week for us right now. She works for another expat family as well and only has the one day a week available for us. (sigh) Someday...3 days a week! Maybe 4!1. The top reason I think Santa Luisa should be enshrined in glory forever is she does everything with a smile on her face and happiness in her voice. She is a beautiful person inside and out. She whistles while she works. She sings to the radio. :) She is always positive; energetic, outgoing. The kids love her. She is always willing to learn something new (I introduced her to my good friend the Dryel home dry cleaning process the other day!). She's a little shy. She didn't want me to take her picture here. She's a very humble person. She makes our lives better every Wednesday. I only hope, before long, it's every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. :)
Next post: Jaci's parents come to town! Pura Vida!
