Our wonderful, fantastic, nearly perfect nanny E quit today. I just said goodbye to her 20 minutes ago. This was a bombshell this morning; I didn't see it coming at all. I was pretty sure she was happy here, I knew that we got along well and she was friends with our other staff, and I knew we paid her well. On the other hand, she speaks English better than any other nanny/maid I've met here, and she is smart and uses common sense, which is also hard to come by here. Knowing this there was always a thought in the back of my mind that it wouldn't last forever. But, I had hope that she would be with us as long as we stay in Indo. I had plans that if she had a baby she could bring him/her to work, or once LC was going to school some mornings we could help her pay for classes if she wanted to further her education, etc. Just random thoughts and plans for helping her reach whatever goals she has for her life. Instead, however, she had an offer we can't compete with.
She worked for a family in Taiwan for 3 years long ago, so she speaks Taiwanese and some Mandarin (in addition of course to Javanese, Bahasa Indonesia, and English - like I said, she's very skilled). Some agent contacted her a couple months ago to ask her to move to Taiwan to work for a family who was having a hard time finding a good maid who speaks Taiwanese and English. She debated for a long time, as this move means leaving her husband and family, and a job she likes. But the extra money she'll earn (almost 4 times what we pay her) will go a long ways toward helping her and her husband to buy a house and hopefully start a family soon after. I understand this, and I'm happy for her that she'll be able to earn more money. I'm not excited for her exactly, because I know she's giving up a lot to go.
Life is tough. Is life ever easy for any adult? I suppose if you compare hardships on this planet then yes, of course, life is easy for some. Losing family members, struggling against starvation or HIV/AIDS or poverty, losing the life you know due to war, etc...these are hardships. This is when you use the terms devastation, disaster, crushing. However, life is totally relative. In comparison, some of us live very blessed lives, which if we are honest with ourselves and aware of the world around us, we are thankful for. But this doesn't mean we don't experience hardships relative to the life we live. E has had to make a tough decision, and it will be hard on her and her family for the next couple years until she returns. This will be their hardship, and ours to a lesser degree as well. But hopefully it will be a relatively easy hardship, and in the end she will attain the goals she wants for her and her family.
We will really miss her. She had become like a member of our family. And maybe, just maybe we will be able to find a replacement who is almost as good.
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