"You work for those gringos don't you?"

Today is another rant session. It has been a while, but it high time for another since I learned some horrifying and very unflattering things about my neighbor. I think that regardless of who you are, and what country you live in, you need to treat other people with respect no matter who they are. Johana had been keeping her eyes open for a job for her mom. Well she found one. Unfortunately. The woman she works for is HORRENDOUS. I would go so far as to call her abusive. When Johana went down to see her, to apply on her mom's behalf, she knew that knew this woman was a tough cookie, maybe not the nicest lady, but her mom needed a job so a grumpy gal isn't the worst thing in the world, right? First, the lady said, "You work for those gringos, don't you?" Which I take offense to since it was not at all in a friendly context. The lady insisted that Johana tell her how much she makes, when Johana told her, she was emphatic that that was way too much. Also, she asked Johana what her hours were, and Johana said, 7-4, but sometimes I come late and leave late, or get there early and leave early, or they let me come late or leave early depending on what they are doing. Again, the lady didn't agree. She told Johana's mom that she will NEVER be late, and she will NEVER leave early. Then She asked if Johana had a uniform (she doesn't) her mom does. A dress (how can you clean in a dress??). These last things are annoying, not very fair, and definitely not ideal for an employee, but those I can let slide. The rest of this is where I have a problem.. First of all, she locks Johana's mom in the apartment when she leaves. That's right, she has a lock on the outside of the door with which to lock people inside. Not only do we not lock Johana in, we give her the key if she needs to leave for something and we are going out. What if there is an emergency?? She is stuck in the house. At least the apartment is low enough (2nd floor) that she could jump if she absolutely had to. Also, the lady follows behind her when she is cleaning, and runs her finger over surfaces and says that it is still dirty (which I highly doubt it is), so she needs to re-clean it. Also this nut job has a serious problem with the fact that Johana takes my kids outside to play. There are paths and walkways within the limits of our building and sometimes Johana likes to take them down there. She gets tired of being cooped up in the apartment all day, and they all like to get out too. Sometimes she takes them out to the playground, or the lake to feed the fish. It is really not a big deal. Well this lady thinks it is. One day she asked Johana what I was up to that I couldn't take my own kids out to play. Johana was just like, oh she's busy, and brushed her off. The lady was like, oh I don't like that. I don't like that one bit. Their mother should be playing with them. Besides your job is to clean, not to take care of the kids. So you shouldn't do it. Which I also take offense to. I hired Johana to do what I want her to do.. If I want her to take the kids for a walk, I have every right to ask her to. It isn't like I have different people for cleaning and for taking care of the kids. I don't make her stay late to finish cleaning that she should have been doing but was babysitting instead. Johana doesn't have a problem with that, and either do I. This lady also has a problem with the fact that I don't coddle them every time they seem a little upset. Emma fell once and cried for a second and it was over, and I looked over the ledge to investigate and I told Johana, "Oh she's fine, you don't have to run her up here" and I guess the lady heard. She was disgusted with the fact that I didn't run down to see Emma and give her hugs and kisses, and then bring her up to take care of her. I mean come on. Toddlers trip ALL the time. If I spent time running to comfort them every time they had a bout of tears, or a fall, that's all I would be doing. My philosophy is brush it off, you're fine. When Emma came up, she didn't even have a scrape on her. Obviously, as soon as one of them actually gets hurt, I am right there with a hug, a kiss, and a band aid. But they need to learn how to take care of themselves, and I run over to comfort them every time they look like they might fall, they will never learn to just brush it off. Also, another thing that irks me about this woman, is that she constantly tries to get Johana's mom to bring her up here so that she can see our apartment. No one knows why, but she keeps bringing it up. I should note that Johana's mom refuses to bring her up here. It is just weird. Also, they insist upon keeping the windows closed at all times so flies don't come in. But they also don't use an A/C. So it has to be like 90 degrees in there. Johana's mom gets paid terribly too. Half as much as we pay Johana (which I can't believe she can live off of). And less than what I make in 8 hours working at the hospital. For a whole month. Needless to say, the search is on for a new job. I told Johana that if she needs to leave to talk to people or get info during the day, be my guest. Apparently there is another potential family looking, and they live in the complex, so hopefully that works out. Johana also told me that when she got this job, people were telling her not to take because it would be too hard for her to work here since I am American and I don't speak Spanish. Well I for one am so relieved that she didn't listen because she is perfect for us. She friendly, has a good attitude, she doesn't walk around with a sour look on her face like some of the other workers I see here. Anyway, the nerve of some people. Just to celebrate the fact that I am a cool boss, and Johana is a treat to be around, I served up two key lime pie martinis. One for me, one for her. She was very delighted and asked if she could stop cleaning to drink it, I said of course you can!!



On a more fun note, my recent experimentations have been in the kitchen, but they have not been food. I have been working on my drink making skills. I started my experiments with margaritas. I got a craving, and looked up recipes, then I went to Carrefour to see of they had all the ingredients. Surprisingly, I found tequila AND triple sec there, which was a big surprise. Then I went home, we squeezed the limes and oranges and I enjoyed a nice refreshing margarita with my patacones and cilantro lime rice. Then we had a party at our house this weekend. I changed the recipe a little and also blended it with a little bit of ice. We ran out of oranges, so I had to use other fruit juices. I made many pitchers and the winner was the one with peach juice. A few people even asked for the recipe and said I should open a bar :) haha let's not get carried away!


This week has been all about key lime martinis. First of all, we don't have all the typical ingredients here. So the first one (made with frozen coconut milk and plain limes) was a disaster. The recipe calls for either heavy cream, or coconut cream. I used coconut milk instead. That was bad. The frozen milk was a bad consistency, and it didn't really do nice things for the drink. Also, plain limes taste different than key limes. Then my MIL called and told me that her friend brought over some tiny limes and did I want to try them? I think that they may have been key limes! Also, I bought some pina colada mix since it says that it is made with real coconut cream. Today's version was MUCH better. Johana even liked it! The first time I made them, she tasted a spoonful and made a face. She wasn't a fan. Today was a quite different story! Another plus was that I used a real(ish) martini glass instead of just a plain juice glass. I think this made a huge difference. I say ish because they are sold as ice cream dishes, and don't have a stem. But there is a lot more space for the graham cracker rim with these :)