I have had a very strange week. It started off with my friend from New Zealand returning from her holiday and suddenly decided to pack up the family and leave Thailand permanently. Her mother is very sick and I am sure there are other underlying issues. As soon as I received her message I drove over there with some wine to find out what was happening and by then end of that afternoon I had found out she plans to leave by next weekend! So quick to pack up 3 years and a house FULL of people and stuff.
I also agreed to take on one of her dogs as she cannot take them home with her. New Zealand and Australia have very strict quarantine regulations and they flat out refuse to accept any animals from Thailand. So her name is Lady and she is golden in colour, smallish in size for a medium size dog, they raised her from a puppy so she is very lovable, good with kids and healthy. So our plan will be to take care of her while we are here and then hopefully find a new family for her before we leave. Marcus is not impressed but he isn't complaining too much, I think he misses having a dog around just as much as Judd and I do. Lillie will love it, whenever we visited their house she always fed Lady her snacks and chips.
I am a little sad too that they are leaving, I relied alot on them for friendship and advice as they have lived in Thailand for 3 years. My other New Zealand friends left just before Christmas so we are fast running out of drinking buddies. I have been spending some more time with my new friend from Australia and Judd loves playing with her kids so we wont be completely alone.
My other drama this week is the driver/hired help has had 2 days off even though she only came back to work last Thursday from 2 weeks of holidays, and what that means is that either I have to drive Marcus (with the kids) the 80min round trip twice a day plus get Judd to school on time and then squeeze in enough time for Lillie to have a nap and any shopping I may have to do before going to get Judd and then get Marcus again OR I end up like I am today with no car at all and Judd misses out on school because I couldn't stand the thought of sitting in the car for that long again. So my thoughts are that I will fire the driver and even though she is an all rounder and babysits and cleans a bit I have much more productive days with the kids and I even enjoy taking care of the household duties when she isn't here. I like my privacy and having someone in my home everyday is just becoming too much. Lillie sometimes prefers her over me, especially when I say NO to something she wants. We will get another driver who will ONLY drive and stay outside with the other drivers and I get my house back and I will do the cleaning myself (like I used to do 6 months ago back home) and maybe spend a small amount of money and have a maid come in once or twice a week, it would only cost me $30.
I am tired of listening to our drivers personal dramas and she has had well over 10 days off sick since we hired her 4 months ago. If only we could have a second car things would be so much easier but we cannot buy one and the company wont pay for one so we are stuck relying on other people to make sure our days run according to plan. I don't like relying on other people, if there is no driver then its up to me to up heave my day or he just doesn't get to work which is not an option. Some people think it must be lovely to have a driver and a maid, but having someone in your home all the time is too much when you are used to driving yourself everywhere, cleaning things your own special way and having private personal time in front of the TV without the maid chatting on her mobile in the dining area so I cant hear the TV. My problem is I just don't have the balls to sack her, she has become to personal by telling me about her children that live with her family up country and her boyfriends that treat her bad, blah blah blah, it makes it hard to sack someone who has nothing, BUT I gave her a final warning 4 weeks ago about having too many days off and today she didn't even bother to call, Marcus arrived at her apartment to pick her up and she opened the door saying she was too sick and she is not coming today. WHAT! Its like we are her employees sometimes.
So I really think that today is it, I will make the decision and do what I should have done 2 months ago.
I also had a huge bout of guilt too, I haven't been watching any news from Australia since we got the new cable TV and alot of people I talk to around the village have been asking me about home and how are the floods and do I have family affected by them and it wasn't until Wed night that we turned it over and realised how bad it really is. I immediately message my mum to ask about my aunty and cousins in Brisbane and my grandparents who are in Northern New South Wales. Luckily they are all dry and OK. But I felt so detached from it all and that night I didn't sleep well, remembering all the sadness from Black Saturday Fires and how many people lost their homes and their lives and worst of all their children. I couldn't imagine having to go through something like a bad flood or fire or any disaster really. So I apologise Australia for not paying attention, I promise to keep myself up to date.
On the upside of my week I am looking forward to having Lady come and live with us, wont be so lonely with her to cuddle.
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