Saisho Wa Gu!

I have to start this entry off with the story behind the title of this entry. I have finally mastered how to say "Rock, Paper, Scissors" in Japanese. They played it in the car the first day I was with them, and I was enthralled. I wanted to learn it right away but I couldn't get a grasp of the words and I could not learn it for the life of me. Every so often I would ask the girls if they could say it again so I could learn it. This usually happened in the bathtub- I would be sitting on the toilet lid next to them and testing my Rock, Paper, Scissors ability. They would giggle non-stop and make fun of my accent. M once said, "once you practice it a lot your accent will get better". She called me out! Well, I am proud to say that although I have not mastered the accent, I now know the whole chant. I have no idea how to type it so you'll just have to trust me. But next time you're with me in person, ask me to play Rock, Paper, Scissors with you in Japanese and I will kick your butt :)

I really love these girls. I could never replace their mother and I know that I'm not, but it's starting to feel as if the girls are needing me more. Even though that's sad, I sort of like it. Today was the second day in a row where W came out of school smiling to see me. She held my hand the whole way to 7-11 which was unprecedented. One may think it's weird I notice these things but I think it shows a huge jump in our relationship. She was so sweet and cooperative in 7-11, not whining when I told her she could only have 1 pack of gummies instead of 2, and not running away from me like she used to do.

Even though I complain all the time about the mom and about the family situation, I'm actually pretty lucky because it could be a lot worse. I got 2 e-mails on my blackberry while I was on the bus on my way to pick up W, and they were both from the nanny agency I'm a member of. I joined this nanny agency and then got this job right beforehand, so I haven't actually used the agency for anything yet but I get the e-mails even still. Anywaaaay, one of the e-mails was saying this family needs a nanny who can be there all day and who doesn't mind doing housework on top of it. I can't imagine watching these girls AND cleaning the house at the same time. I pick up after them all the time but that's the extent of cleaning. The e-mail said the dad in the family is away on business trips a lot so they need someone who can assume a lot of the responsibility. That made me sad that the dad is never home. Then I got another e-mail about a woman who needed a sitter an hour and a half from then and who had an NYU ID. Well, ma'am, what are you going to do with your son in an hour and a half when you haven't found a sitter? I just can't believe that parents leave it up to such last minute.

I also got a text on the bus from the mother of my family saying that she and her husband are going out tonight and she said she cooked pasta that I would just need to reheat. Wait, rewind....SHE cooked the pasta?? I have a really hard time believing that...

W and I were finishing up a necklace that she was making for her mom out of colorful wooden beads when the mom came in and said she had a visitor coming. This visitor was a guy who came to assess all the doors and handles in their house, because the mom had made a list of each door that was having a problem, and let me tell you, these were hardly problems. Not problematic enough to call for getting the entire door replaced! They're replacing every door in the house almost because of a knob that's hard to turn or something lame like that. The mom told me she was expecting a delivery from the back door and that if the doorbell rang I should get it since she was going to be occupied with the handy man. The doorbell rang and I went to receive the package, and it was her dry cleaning....not just any dry cleaning....a Valentino dress. Valentino. Not fair.

W and I played on our own for awhile, playing hide and seek or playing with markers or making jewelry. She was fun to play with today again because she said "yes". She was telling me a story about how her mom once yelled at kids for being too loud in the park at night time because they were keeping W up. W said, "see? I told you she's strict". That was the first time I heard one of the girls call their mom out on being harsh. M, I think, feels the brunt more than W because she has tons of homework and W doesn't.

M came home later because she met with her tutor today. The mom told me in the text that M had to finish her homework before bath so I helped her with her homework while Mercy entertained W. Thank goodness for Mercy. While I was playing with M in the bath, Mercy was helping W make spiders out of silly putty to scare me with because W knows how much I HATE spiders. Isn't she sweet?

W had her bath time earlier which was awesome because I told her she needed to take a quick bath, and she washed her hair and conditioned it in 22 seconds. I'm not so sure how clean she actually got but I don't care because I was so happy she was so quick. M got a very quick bath too and then before I knew it, the mom was gone and I was left to handle the evening alone....and with Mercy.

When the mom left, she didn't even say bye to the girls. She stopped in the doorway of W's room where I was drying their hair and she was wearing a black dress with feathery and sparkly sleeves. She looked like an exquisite bird. She said, "I expect you to keep to your bed times tonight", and with a whisk of her dress around the corner, she was gone. No kisses on the foreheads and "I love you's". The girls either didn't notice the lack of love or didn't care, because then they got pretty hyper for dinner. I think they were taking advantage of the fact that their mom wasn't there so they thought they could act out more than normal....and I actually let them.

Tonight was the best because I sat at the head of the table in between the 2 girls where the mom normally sits, and I had a big mug of coffee (Starbucks via again) and just sat there like the mom does. W was quick to inform me that I can't put my elbows on the table. She showed me the proper way- by folding your hands and placing just your hands on the table. I should have guessed that. From where I could sit at the head, I had the best view: I could see the windows to my left in the dining room with the city lights shining through, but then I could see into the dark living room with it's massive windows wrapping around all the walls, and I could make out the city lights faintly through the curtains. I would love to have that view every night.

There was some pasta left over in the pot and Mercy asked if I wanted it. Have I mentioned that I love her? So I got to eat real food for dinner! M had cantaloupe for dessert which I snuck some pieces of, and W had squeezy yogurt, her favorite. I even got my own dessert. I had gotten a Greek yogurt with pomegranate seeds at 7-11, so I ate that for dessert. Then when M saw that she wanted a yogurt and W wanted another squeezy yogurt. Normally I would have said no to 2 desserts but they had been good that day and I was in particularly good mood since we were home alone.

When I got the spoons for the yogurt I got a generic spoon, a silver spoon that I would use in my kitchen. W said, "you can't use those! You have to use the nice silverware!" She pulled out the next drawer which was full of Tiffany's silverware. Yeah, they use Tiffany's silverware at dinner every night. Whomp. I asked how come I had to use those instead and she said, "Mom says they're more presentable". I just can't understand how it matters what's more presentable or not when there's no company over.

Mercy was a hoot because she saw a notice from M's school that M was going on a field trip tomorrow and that they needed to bring a bag lunch. Mercy was like, "Mrs. U didn't tell me about this! Do I need to do this?" She didn't know what to pack them and was freaking out about bringing the wrong things even though it just said they can't have candy or soda or peanuts. She made M a roll with butter and cheese on it. It was...cute looking. I was helping her to figure out what to pack and what to put it in because she was so frantic about it, which is really funny because normally she's so on top of everything!

The girls gave me a tough time about brushing their teeth but then it was smooth sailing. I read to W first like I always do while M read to Mercy in the other room. I put her down, knowing fully well that she would not be going to sleep any time soon. Then I got my half hour time to read Harry Potter with M. I checked up on W, was not sleeping, so I turned out her light at 8:00pm. Then I went into the nanny room where Mercy was ironing. She was sleeping there again since the parents were gone and she was still working. She's a slave horse.

I ended up staying in that room talking to Mercy for half an hour. It was the best. We talked about her kids and all her grandchildren, and the family she used to work for and how long she's worked for this family. I learned she's from the Philippines. She asked what I did and I told her I was an actress. She got all excited and said, "have you heard of Lea Salonga?" I told her my room mate did a show in Asia with her and that they were friends and that Lea is very nice. She was very excited about that. She told me the family she worked for previously to the U's, she was with for 9 years. She was with them from the time the boy was 6 months old to when he was 9 years old. She slept there every night and she was the one in charge of waking up in the middle of the night when the baby cried to feed him and rock him. She said she worked 24 hours there and didn't get paid as much as she does here. I can't imagine. She said the mom was very lazy and did nothing but would order Mercy to do everything.

I asked questions about the U's because I have no idea what the parents do. As soon as I brought up the parents, she started talking in a whisper as if it was top secret and we weren't supposed to know. She said that Mrs. U's parents bought them this apartment in NY. She said they own a school that has locations in Japan, Hawaii, Italy, and in the US. I suppose they are the main source of income for their family. Mrs. U, however, is the president of this school and she makes $2 million a year. Mercy was like, don't tell them you know this! I'm not supposed to talk about this. Mr. U owns his own real-estate business.

Mercy was going on too about their weekend house in Purchase and how amazing it is. She said it's 5x the size of their apartment here which I honestly cannot fathom. She said Mrs. U's bathroom there is incredible. I told her I thought her bathroom HERE was incredible! Mercy said, "oh, this is nothing. You would be amazed".

I kissed each girl on the forehead before I left and said "sweet dreams" and I said a warm goodnight to Mercy because now I feel much closer to her, and I crept out with a full heart.