Her Name is Moon

Here is a post for those who read from time to time. I won't make this one public but rather, keep it a little under wraps.
So this year I soon learned that my capacity to teach and keep house really are at odds with one another. I can do one or the other but not both. Not even in a tiny little apartment. When I made this not so startling revelation I realized I needed help. So I did what many other teachers have done before me. I hired a cleaner to come in. I still feel like that is a guilty little secret. I would never have been able to do that a few years ago and I sure needed it then.
At first I was hesitant about allowing someone I have never met to come into my home and only sanctuary and have free reign. It would be unheard of to do such a thing anywhere else but in Korea.

Her name is Moon. She has been helping to keep my life a little neater for several months now every other Monday. I still haven't met her. Our relationship has strictly been through a couple of text messages and mostly notes going back and forth on a yellow note pad. She is like a little bit of magic that comes in and sets things to rights and then leaves again all while I am at work. The only other fact I know about her is that she has two children. Yet this person I have never met, who I willingly let into my home, makes me smile nearly every time she comes. It isn't the fact that I come home to a neat house that makes me smile, although that is a major plus, but it is in the way she does things that I get a kick out of.

Here are some examples. When I see the bathroom, I now like to see how all of the bottles of shampoo, gels, conditioners are set up. Sometimes they are in one area from tallest to shortest. Sometimes they are separated by types. Sometimes they are lined up like little soldiers in two different areas.
Every other week it is a mystery. I have a double sided comforter, one side has a floral pattern, and the other is plain. I prefer the plain side but each time I return, the floral side is upright. And I know I am well past the age of 30 but I still have the stuffed dog on the bed that I made with Christa and her boys. I was embarrassed at first for her to find the little guy but now it is fun to see how his scarf is tied and if he is on the pillows or in front of them.
The kitchen is sometimes a mystery as well. She has yet to decide where she wants to keep the rolling pin. I suspect that it is in part due to the fact that so many Koreans don't bake. So I have found it on the microwave, on the exhaust fan of the stove, and even tilted on end stuck between other objects. Sometimes my childish side comes out and I put the rolling pin out just to see what will happen. (I guess I have a lack of entertainment at times) Everything is neatly folded, swept, dusted and mopped. I realize that I do not have really any pictures up of me and sometimes I can only imagine what ideas she has made up about me in her head. In a way, maybe it is a game for both of us.
I know that there will come a day when I get to meet her. For now though I like the pleasant surprises I find every other Monday. It keeps me guessing. I also know that I could not do without her now. She is such a help and I make sure I tell her in my notes or with some small token of appreciation every time she is here. I just wish I could find her more work in my apartment complex as I know she is looking. Other than that I can give her thanks. She is definitely a good memory of my time here in Korea.