Found a lizard trapped inside our steamer today.
Yummy…. Steamed Lizard for lunch today…..
Would you like to know what steamed lizard taste like??
Then, read on…..
If you can swallow that (yuukkk!!) you must be out of your mind. :-))
Of course the lizard was released unharmed right after I am done with the photoshoot.
Still wondering how it got itself trapped in the steamer in the first place though.
More photos available at Free Photo Gallery
After the gory previous post, a humorous one regarding the situation here in Malaysia is in order. Article published in today’s Star
Maids on my mind
IN ALMOST every middle to high-income household, there lives someone who is not a member of the family, yet manages to have the most in-depth knowledge about every family member.
The father and mother may be the king and queen of the house, but it is this person everyone relies on for home-cooked food, crisp clothes and a clean living environment – our domestic helper, otherwise known as the maid.
When the subject of maids arises, some heads would shake and people would sigh.
“My maid is so hopeless”
“Mine is so stupid!”
“Mine stole my money, had an affair with an Indonesian man and ran away last night.”
In the newspapers, we read about maids who abuse the children in their care, maids who seduce their male employers, and maids who are dishonest and cannot be trusted.
If one didn’t know better, one would think that maids are hired for the sole purpose of making our lives a living nightmare.
Just as it would be hard to tell a serial killer from a superman, it is difficult for us to know, especially from just a picture, the mindset and personality of the person we are hiring to help us.
In the newspapers, there are reports of rape, murders and robberies; but this does not mean that everybody we come across is a rapist, a murderer or a robber.
Likewise, not every maid we come across is hopeless, stupid and will run off with the first man who promises them the moon and the stars.
My family has been extremely fortunate in the maids department. In the past 17 years, we have had four maids. The first two were from the Philippines and worked for four and five years, respectively. The third was from Indonesia and stayed with us for eight good, long years.
Our fourth and current maid arrived from Indonesia a month ago and is still trying to adjust to her new life here.
Sukini is 19-years-old, pleasant, intelligent and learns quickly. However, back in Indonesia, Sukini lived in a house with a dry-mud floor. She had never used electrical appliances nor cooked in her life.
It takes a saint’s patience and a bucketful of understanding to train an employee to do things the way you want them done.
Just like hiring a new employee in the corporate world, it would not be the best to yell and scream at our staff when they do not pick up the skills as quickly as we desire, or when they make a mistake.
Shouting at someone increases their fear and impedes their ability to absorb information. I have been in situations where I am so afraid to make a mistake that I lose my ability to think clearly and end up making more mistakes.
When maids leave everything familiar to them to work in a foreign country, they are equally apprehensive of how their employers will be like. It is also often that we hear stories of employers abusing their maids
Judging from the stories I hear and what I see, I have come to the conclusion that many maids have good intentions but wrong judgments.
For example, my grandfather noticed that for a week or so, the floor outside his room has been consistently wet. My aunt investigated and found that the maid has been diligently watering the fake plant placed there.
My next-door neighbour is so exasperated with his maid; he might get high blood pressure. One of the hospital-inducing incidents was when he cleaned his fish tank and left the sand out. The next morning, he woke up and found that all his sand was in his flowerpots.
Another common trait amongst maids is that they take instructions too literally. Employees would give instructions as to how they themselves would perceive it to be understood, but a maid’s background, culture and thinking are quite different from ours; therefore they would carry out an instruction the way they comprehend it.
My brother’s godfather’s maid drove him up the wall, and before she could drive him out of his own house, he sent her away to retain his sanity. One of the many mind-boggling instances was when he told her wait and to only clean the master bedroom once he and his wife are out of the room.
After that, he would find her waiting outside the bedroom door every morning, clutching the mop and the pail, as still and silent as an apparition. The first time he opened his door and saw her there, he jumped back and nearly had a heart attack.
Then there are the super-maids who seem to be able to anything and everything. My friend’s parents’ maid not only cooks and cleans; she obtained her driving license and is the designated driver when the family travels outstation. She also goes to the bank to pay all their bills.
Teaching a new maid is not unlike teaching a child – we have to spend enough time with them, explain everything in detail and know that mistakes are bound to occur.
Some people are luckier than others when it comes to maids, but like most things in life, luck is just a small part of the big picture, how things turn out depends largely on the decisions that we make.
