I met my new housekeeper tonight, and his wife and son. He will come by twice a week to do some light housework, which I can use since I am now working about 12 hours a day, 6 days a week. He had worked for the previous American at this house, and works for our Management consular as a housekeeper and cook. I hear he’s a very good cook, both American and Pakistani, and since I love to cook I asked him and his wife to teach me how to cook Pakistani cuisine (similar to Indian) while I am here. Mmmm How much does a housekeeper cost? $6 a day. So I hired him for 2 days a week, but since I had two extra servants apartments” on my property that were empty, I am letting him stay there for free, along with free electricity, and hot water. Plus his family is now much safer than before.
He has a young boy that is learning English and is quite bright. His school has no computers so they are teaching kids about computers by only reading about them. I’d like to find an old cheap iMac on-line – something in the $50-$75 range and give it to him. Anything is better than nothing at all – and there is no way his family will ever be able to buy any sort of computer. I figure if he can learn to type and use a computer, his chances for job will be a lot better than his dad.
Here’s a fun story.. I have been in this house now for 5 days, and every night I made extra food for my night guard. I have two guards who live in in two of the remaining servants quarters. They cook outside on a nasty grill and have virtually no concept of food sanitation.
So this week I made New Mexican Green Chile Stew (vegan), Spaghetti with home made chunky tomato and mushroom sauce (Vegan), and last night was Southwest Chile made with ground turkey served over green chile corn bread. I gave him a plate and he was so thankful and happy.
Tonight, I told my housekeeper (name withheld for his security) that I was making Southwest Chicken Chowder and would give my guard a bowl. My housekeeper (who speaks fluent English) told me I should not feed them, because they will not eat anything I make. I told him that have been feeding them all week, and they enjoyed it. The housekeeper, who knows the guards well from working here before, told me that “no, they throw the food away” but will not refuse my offer because that is rude. I asked him why, and was told that the guards are “old school” and feel that Americans do not eat proper and eat dirty things, so they could never eat our cooking.
Then my housekeeper laughed and said that the guards have no brain, since we buy all our food from the local (Muslim) markets and stores. There is no pork in this country. And then he smiles and says “have you seen how THEY cook? And they call YOU dirty?”
So tonight, just to be sure, I asked my housekeeper to go out and ask the guards if they would eat some Chicken soup, with no pork. I specifically wanted to know if he would throw away my food, and if so, I would not bother feeding him again. He came back and said that the guard claimed that he would indeed throw my food away, and will never eat anything I cook. So no New Mexican Southwest Chicken Corn Chowder for them! Oh – the guards did, however, ask if they could have an extra 500 Rupees ($6.50) a month for tea!
OK, on a better note: Back in August when I got this assignment, I wrote the Embassy and told them that I wanted any sized home as long as it had a big yard for a vegetable garden. So I get here and I am offered this home, which is really quite nice, but it has a huge back yard, in addition to the lush flower gardens in front. There’s also banana, pear and mango trees. So I also hired the Embassies gardener (again, name withheld), and two others to take care of this property. I then told him that I wanted to dig up a portion of my back yard for a large vegetable garden, so that he and I, and our housekeeper’s family can share in the bounty of fresh food. He was shocked at first, but then elated. It seems that I am the first and only American here who has offered to grow food. Everyone else just wants grass and flowers. I had had some seeds with me from the USA, and gave them to him. There is no translation for Acorn Squash or Zucchini in Urdu, as these things are not native, and have never been imported. I will help with those items, I told him. But the Roma tomatoes, Romaine lettuce, sweet corn, carrots, peppers, onions etc.. they all know those!
So I come home two days ago and I see that our large plot has been tilled, and fertilized. But as I get home tonight, I see someone out back working in the dark. It’s the gardener working in the vegi plot. As I walk out I see what they are doing, I see dozens of young plants already in the ground! Winter crops he explains. My seeds are summer crops, so he went out and bought cauliflower, broccoli, radishes, and who knows what else. I have to get the list translated. But he was smiling, and was so happy working in a garden other than flowers.
That’s when I dragged a large box that came in the mail today. I had gone on Ace Hardware’s on-line store and ordered a shiny new set of garden tools, work gloves, and a pruning set. I gave them to him and it was like watching a kid open presents at Christmas. He was so happy and gleaming. As I turned away to head back into the house, he runs up and tells me that he is going to now plant many more flowers around the house and he wanted to show me exactly what he would plant. He opens up a folded booklet of flowers from a local florist and starts to point at dozens of assorted flowers, from pansies to petunias. I told him that I couldn’t afford that many flowers, and he stops me and says that he will get all these from cuttings and extras at the Embassy (read – that any way you wish). “No money” he says. So now I have a very happy gardener who is going out of his way to decorate my yard (like it needs it!), while I’m just happy to have some fresh broccoli. I just hope he can keep the monkeys away! My house is right next to some steep mountain hills, part of the Himalayas just an hour or so from Kashmir. I have monkeys in my yard and they keep steeling my bananas!
If this country was not in the sad state of affairs it’s in now, this would have been a great assignment for a family. I wish I could post a Google map of my home, but the threat to my life here is too great to pinpoint exactly where I live. Crazy place here.
