Olga is from Columbia, South America. I am from Wisconsin. She speaks very little English. I do not speak Spanish at all. Well…ok…I know one phrase. “uno cerveza por favor” (more beer please). I only learned that from numerous vacations to Mexico.
Olga lives in Miami and I’m in Wisconsin.
So what is our common bond? My grandchildren…JP (boy, age 2) & GK (girl, age 1). She is their Nanny and she is absolutely wonderful.
I have always prided myself as a multi-tasker, very organized, great cook / baker, excellent housekeeper, and always on top of my game. That is until I met Olga. She could run circles around me.
Olga plays with them as I would. Kiss’s and hugs them as I would. Makes sure they’re well fed with fruits, veggies, and proteins…as I would. And she loves them…as I do. She speaks softly to them either in Spanish or using the little bit of English she knows. JP cannot pronounce ‘Olga’ so he calls her ‘Olda’.
I have had the pleasure of ‘tag-teaming’ with Olga twice in the last two months and will be ‘tag-teaming’ with her again in about two weeks. I call it ‘tag-teaming’ because without a lot of communication, we get the job done for my son and his wife. She handles GK and I take care of JP. My son and his wife are both executives at their respective company’s, therefore, a good share of maintaining order in the house and caring for the children, falls to Olga…and then to both of us when I’m there to help out. I help out when my DIL travels for business and is gone for three or four days at a time. Since Olga leaves at 5pm, I’m there to make supper, play cribbage with my son, give the kids their baths, and get them down for the night…just as my DIL would do if she were there.
Through our very obvious language barrier, we have a found a way to communicate. She looks up words on her phone in Spanish and translates to English and occasionally I will do the same or I will motion for her to follow me to show her something. Last week while we were tag-teaming, I knew one of the little projects I wanted to accomplish was to reorganize the linen closet. While explaining to Olga a project I was going to tackle in the garage, she said the word ‘towels’…and I knew she meant linen closet. We were both on the same wave length and started laughing. While I was working on the linen closet, she was tackling the kids closet that was overflowing with lots of clothes and shoes thanks to wonderful grandparents, aunts, uncles, and friends.
Olga arrives each morning at 8am. During the day she is nothing short of a calm tornado, if that makes sense. She moves through the house like a Ninja. Olga is a quiet, middle-aged woman who does not have any children of her own but has been a Nanny for many years. The first thing she does when she arrives each morning is to greet the kids with hugs and kisses, and then her day starts. Daily she empties all the waste baskets in the house, makes the beds, starts the daily laundry, empties the dishwasher, and in between attends to whatever the kids need. JP attends a morning pre-school program so it’s just Olga and GK. When the kids are not sleeping or eating, she is always, always on the floor playing with them.
When I make the daily run to the grocery store, Olga has a sixth-sense when I’m returning because she’s always coming out the front door when I arrive to help carry in the groceries. This woman just amazes me. (Maybe she’s got a GPS tracker on the car??? LOL)
There is a car seat for each child in her car so she occasionally takes them to the park. Sometimes she has to pick up JP at school and needs to take GK along. Once it’s lunch time, she makes a wonderful lunch of leftovers or she whips up something she knows each child likes…and makes sure they have fruit at each meal.
Once the kids are down for their afternoon naps, I tell Olga to grab a coffee (espresso) and we both sit on couch, try to have a conversation with our phones nearby for assistance, and just relax from the hectic morning. I do not know how many years she’s been here or anything about her life in Columbia. I know she is married to a man from Peru whom I have met. He is very cordial and friendly.
I am so happy that my grandchildren have such a wonderful Nanny in their lives. There is peace of mind from many miles away that the kids are well cared for and loved all thanks to Olga.
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