Moving to the US, as a student, is having me relearn the meaning of being a housewife – all over again. Back in Cairo, I was a working woman who spent just a few waking hours at home during the week. Suddenly, we moved away from family and I became a full-time housewife.
Yes, I am admittedly finding some tasks easier to do, but some things have transgressed into a nightmare. Here's a list of 5 things I absolutely hate about house-wifing in America, to this day!
1. Help is damn expensive Where oh where have the times gone when I could get the cleaning lady for $6 a day!? Oh yeah, that’s ONLY in Egypt…its like $80 over here…and this apartment is TINY compared to our place in Cairo…so really, it isn’t worth it…so I’m ending up doing all the cleaning work myself. And I hate it. Yup. H-A-T-E it! Mainly because I'm so meticulous so its taking me endless hours. Also, cleaning the bathroom makes my stomach churn. And cleaning the damn stove every other day is just pure torture. And being the Freak of Nature that I am, I can’t stand seeing dirt or dust and just leaving it there. I always get up and do something about it. Yes, there isn’t half as much dust in Boston as there was in Cairo, so you'd think it's not that bad. Somehow, there seems to be more 😥
2. I have to cook everyday Okay, I have to admit, this isn’t America’s fault that I now have to cook everyday. This is purely my hubby’s fault. He is the one who used to have a full time job and had breakfast, lunch, and dinner at work everyday. So, I got used to cooking ever so rarely. And we never had more than a couple of dirty dishes a day. I personally had breakfast at work, or skipped it altogether, and more often than not, dinner at my mum’s. But now…we both have breakfast, lunch, and dinner at home. Don’t get me wrong, I love cooking. I love being creative in the kitchen and making new dishes full of love. But I simply hate doing it EVERY freaking day. So much goes into the prep and cleaning up afterwards, it's just exhausting. A girl needs a break from onion-smelling fingers, salsa stains on her shirt, dirty pots and pans…speaking of which,
3. I do the DISHESI don’t have a dishwasher - this is student housing after all - so I have to literally ‘do the dishes’. A few months ago I never would have said that my favorite household appliance is the dishwasher. Many of you reading this are probably thinking I’m a spoiled brat who doesn’t want to get her hands dirty and is just complaining too much over nothing…That may be true. What is also true is that I don’t do the dishes the way normal people may probably do them. I have idiotically high standards. I scrub and wash and rinse and scrub again to make sure there isn’t the slightest odor coming out from whatever it is that I’m washing. I use scorching hot water that burns my hands, despite the gloves I wear. And I do this THREE times a day! Threeeeeeee…why? Because I can't stand a dirty sink. Yes, I'm making my own life difficult.
4. Ironing
Fine, I admit it: Yes I’m spoiled. Never ironed a thing in my life. I’ve never ironed clothes before, because at different stages of my life it was either my parents’ housekeeper, or the "laundry home," which is a basic service offered in Egypt. Somebody is sent to pick up your clean clothes and deliver them the next day ironed and folded. So, when I got married, I used this service without ever giving ironing a second thought. And it was so freaking cheap too…so why bother learning how to iron? But here I am, stuck with my AND my hubbies wrinkled clothes…Luckily though, my hubby knows how to iron and has agreed to help out with this aspect. Okay, actually he had no choice, it was either he iron his shirts himself, or wear wrinkled or burnt ones.
5. Organization
The meaning of ‘organization’ has really changed for me. I used to think of that word as one dimensional, applicable to my home in how neat and clean it was. The shoes have their place. The laundry has its place. Papers and important documents have their place and everything is easy to locate. But today, there is a new dimension to this..it's actually being mentally organized and focused. Our sudden change in lifestyle in a brand new country, where it revolves around our classes and weird schedules, demands proper time-management. I’m now thinking one or two weeks ahead and planing every laundry cycle, every study hour, every coffee break, and every meal. Cooking regularly is making me ensure I have all the ingredients beforehand as now, I can’t just ask the ‘doorman’ to run to the corner market and get me some milk and eggs. Nor can I rely on my mother-in-law (who used to live one floor above us) to help me wash that damn chicken! Nor can I abuse my cleaning lady into mashing some garlic heads for me and storing them in the freezer all month. I am studying abroad and using up all my savings, I can't just splurge on a coffee or a croissant whenever I want - everything must be planned for.
Ahhhh…the things I took for granted!
However, this whole move has come with benefits…and I’ll explore those with you in my next post – so keep on reading!
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