Helpers

We heard a little bit about "helpers" on our house hunting trip and since we've moved here have learned they seem to be a big part of most expat's lives.

To give you a little bit of background, here is an excerpt from one of my guidebooks:

"Domestic help is abundant in Tokyo. These resourceful and hardworking individuals come from the Philippines, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Nepal and India, often leaving their own families and children behind in order to work to send money home to support them.  Many hold higher degrees and were once teachers in their home countries, but by working in Japan they can have a consistent job and earn four to five times the salary they would back home. You will find that many helpers are well qualified and that they will cook, clean, babysit and manage the household."

Basically, a helper is a babysitter/nanny that goes above and beyond. The going rate seems to be around 1,500 yen an hour (around $15 US) which seems reasonable.  You can either hire someone part time or "sponsor" a helper full time, which sounds like a complicated process involving visas and contracts.  If you decide to sponsor a foreign worker, you are guaranteeing their employment and wages. You also need to provide them with paid vacation, Japanese health insurance and typically one trip home per year. The minimum wage in 2008 (when my guidebook was published) was 150,000 yen per month ($1,500).  Some people have their helper travel with their family and I've heard of people leaving their children with their helper so they can travel as a couple.

So that is some background for you. Having full time help sounds like a real luxury! Since I am not working and able to stay home with the girls we won't be sponsoring a helper.  A friend who is leaving Tokyo kindly passed along the information for their helper, Vicky, who has grown to be a part of their family.  We have had her watch the girls twice now and she seems great.  She comes prepared with fun activities to do with the girls like origami and balloon animals, and seems to 'get' Lizzy's firecracker temperament. So far we have only used her in the evenings, once so Joe and I could attend a new member mixer at the Tokyo American Club and once for date night. It's nice because after she puts the girls to bed she cleans, does laundry, irons, etc.  I know it is the norm here but I just cannot get used to that!  So nice to come home to a clean house after a night away, and only be paying ONE fee versus paying a babysitter AND a cleaning person.

We don't have her regularly scheduled, but I think the plan for now will be to have her come over twice a month for date night and then maybe once or twice a month during the day so I can run some errands kid free.  We feel lucky to have found someone we like right away, Annie was so tired tonight but wanted to stay awake to see Vicky.  They also made me a bouquet of origami flowers that Annie said "would be a good present for mommy." :)  I miss my Burbank babysitting co-op but this is a good trade!