31 Days In Jakarta Day 14
MidNightVisitor Quiz
OK, this is a tricky one. We never had a maid when we were in Sydney. Nor did our neighbors.
Life is simple. We drive our own car, do our own laundry, cook our own meals.
Eat, love and be happy.
Not that simple in Jakarta, we can assure you that.
We drive no more, because driving takes to a whole different level.
Then we have maids.
Mrs D went home one day after running some errands. She saw a big truck in front of our neighbor’s house. People were unloading Indomie (A very famous Indonesia Instant Noodle), box after box.
‘Why do they need so many noodles?’ she asked our driver.
‘Oh, that’s for the maids.’ Replied our driver.
? ? ?
Why do they need so many boxes?!
How many maids do they have? An army?!
Our driver replied immediately, so we all know how many maids our neighbor have now. And that makes our jaw drop.
Just so that you know, our neighbor runs a very simple, quiet family. We saw their cars often but not the actual family. There are five people living there, a couple in their early 40s, plus 3 kids.
So this week’s MidNightVisitor’s Quiz is:
How many maids does our neighbor have in their house?
Be brave, and take your punt. We have done the hard work for you. Just press a button below, it’s that easy.
Enjoy your weekend with your loved ones. The answer will be revealed next week as usual in our Time to Reveal. We love you and can’t wait to reveal the answer. Bye for now.
Midnight Visitor 
It wasn’t uncommon, in Hong Kong, for every family to have a maid/cook, a nanny for the children (sometimes two), and, if they had outdoor space, a gardner. Generally, they were all related and from the Philippeans. We shared our maid with three other families. She was at our house three days a week to clean and do ironing etc. Sometimes she babysat, but not often. We simply didn’t go out that much since the main entertainment for expats seemed to be getting drunk in Central and making idiots of themselves. Not at all our cup of tea.
I miss having a maid. Mainly because I hate to clean. But it is cost prohibitive here in Mississippi. I can’t afford 25 bucks an hour just for someone to come in once a week and clean for me.
I went with 18+ just because you put it there and it sounds ridiculously outrageous, but one never knows.
Very valid reasoning, we might think the same. Things could be ridiculous in Jakarta, no doubt about that.
This is what I figured: for a family of five, 2 adults and 3 kids you will certainly want, hmmm, well, a nanny or two, maybe even three to spell the others if one of the children has or at least has been diagnosed with ADHD. You will need a cook, that goes without saying, and a housecleaner or two. A butler and a valet for the Mr of the family and a couple of personal maid for the Mrs. A gardener, yes, and a driver seems to be obligatory, as Midnight Visitor indicated. Perhaps a tutor as well, if the children need help with schoolwork. Who have I left out? Well, perhaps the servants need their own servants? I dunno…It’s been done before! Anyhow, by my count, the minimum number of “maids” that such a family could possibly get away with, then, lies between 9 and 13. (How’d I do? Did I miss anything essential? Perhaps chores and therefore servants assigned to them are broken up into smaller pieces, like bathrooms-cleaner and lunch-preparer?) This seems ridiculous enough, but I tried not to go too wild in my imagining of all the things that people might be too lazy to do for themselves.
‘Servants for servants’! Pamela, that’s a genius idea! Actually, we thought about that. It has to be that way.
Actually that’s the only way if it is in our household. What on earth do we need that many maids?
Now we have to admit that we are having a lot of fun on this one. Can’t wait to reveal the answer!
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