the ya-ya

In case ya-ya is a local word only, it refers to the neigbor woman we hired to help us with the new baby, our first child. (I'm 50 and Jovie's 44). We live on my wife Jovie's property with numerous members of her family, a rural setting near Davao. She owns the house but wouldn't dream of charging rent to her brothers who keep their family in other parts of the house. It's a big house since Jovie and her 11 siblings were raised there.

Not all of the facets of my discussion center around the ya-ya. For example, my brother-in-law went through a period when he was monitoring for witches (signaled by the "wak-wak" sound made by some unidentified night bird. I would come home from a day in town to find all our windows and curtains shut and the house as hot as an oven at 9 pm. That only annoyed me a little, it was when he surrounded the house with burning tires to chase the witch away...I told my wife I'd rather have the witch right there in bed with us than to see our baby suffocated by the fumes from burning tires. About 3 am I jumped out of bed and insisted she get her brother to put out those fires, and she had to agree, she couldn't breathe either.

I try to take all this with good humor, as there are worse things in the world than superstitions. Generally I find this sort of thing interesting, but occasionally annoying like when I was allowed to bathe or eat vegetables in the house during the vigil after their father died. But in retrospect it's just funny and I always try to honor the right of a culture to have its own ways, and to understand that I will not always understand. God knows we Americans could use a little culture.

My question about the ya-ya is this. She likes to fold up a big fuzzy blanket and lay it on top of the baby, I counted one time and that was the equivalent of 36 blankets. Why should a two-month old baby be sleeping in a pool of sweat??? This one really gets to me. Is this some sort of weeding out process to kill babies who can't take the heat? In Tibet do they make babies sleep in the snow? I don't know what to do. My wife of course actively doesn't take sides, and she's off at her job all day, I'm the one who's there with the baby and the ya-ya. Can someone tell me the purpose of sweat? Is it like the tu-ob I've done twice, where sweating is considered a cure-all?

As for the ya-ya in general, I like her a lot, she has four grown children so she's obviously not an experienced baby killer (excuse my so-called humor) and if not for her making the baby sweat I would have few or no complaints about her. I did have to draw the line at her bringing too many family members to work (she's a friend and neighbor also, age 35?) The daughters are OK and I turn my back when she brings her kids in to eat my food, but when one of the daughters started inviting a little boy cousin I noticed the whole energy of the house change for the chaotic and drew the line. We have little nieces and nephews of our own in and out of the house constantly and have had problems before with neighbor kids not just visiting but making prey of us. Of course they think all Americans are rich and won't miss a few things here or there. My ya-ya asked for a 1000 peso advance and I made a point of acting horrified. Not because it would kill me to loan her 20 bucks and never get it back, but the worst argument my wife and I ever had was when I said I wanted to pay the ya-ya P500 per week instead of the P300 we're paying. I couldn't believe the intensity of my wife's objection. My solution is to always get Jovie to pay the ya-ya; the trouble started when I handed the ya-ya her P300 one time and got a "thank you" that sounded like anything but. Guilt-tripping, yes?

Well hopefully someone can clue me about baby sweat and what it's good for, I haven't the foggiest.

Luther

It's just the Ya ya's way of letting you know she is hot for you. Warm for your form. Hot to trot. WILLING

Wow ! what a big family you got. you will end up bankcrupt for them and you will realized one day that you have nothing to lift even one under wear.

it is good to help to relatives but make sure that we have something for ours to set aside.

me and my hubby are planning to retire there in pi but i dont want a big family or lots of people lived in the house,i want a privacy even before when i wasn't yet married to my hubby now. they can visit in the house most specially holidays but live in the house together with us is a big no.they have thier own family and i have my own family too.

i hate parasite people.

Originally Posted by MARS

Wow ! what a big family you got. you will end up bankcrupt for them and you will realized one day that you have nothing to lift even one under wear.

it is good to help to relatives but make sure that we have something for ours to set aside.

me and my hubby are planning to retire there in pi but i dont want a big family or lots of people lived in the house,i want a privacy even before when i wasn't yet married to my hubby now. they can visit in the house most specially holidays but live in the house together with us is a big no.they have thier own family and i have my own family too.

i hate parasite people.

I presume that by the word lift, you meant shoplift? Like they're underwearlifting? lol Meaning they're stealing his underwear!?

Originally Posted by mysticgirl

I presume that by the word lift, you meant shoplift? Like they're underwearlifting? lol Meaning they're stealing his underwear!?

i knew that is a wrong spelling but i forgot what is the right words,thanks anyway for correcting.

Originally Posted by MARS

i knew that is a wrong spelling but i forgot how the right words,thanks anyway for correcting.

So you agree with my explanation!? roflmao

Originally Posted by mysticgirl

So you agree with my explanation!? roflmao

pwede na rin kong gosto mo

[Fritz]

Luther

Ya-ya is country wide ... closest equivalent in English is "nanny"

As for why she needs to keep the baby warm you'll need your wife to to find that out for you. Most likely she is just protective and doesn't want baby to get to cold.

Mars

You said it exactly right the first time Lift is slang for steal ... just not used much any more aside from the term shoplift (needs to be done in a shop to be shoplift though )
I've had that same problem with some (former) lodgers here in US. Magpies go for the sparkly stuff, but when you've got poor neighbor kids visiting the wealthy furriner, clothing will also grow legs and walk out the door :P

A recent news article on problems US homeowners have when selling a home they're living in, also advises that portable valuables not be left out as they tend to disappear when potential buyers view the home. So this problem is not limited to PI

Keep on Truckin'
Fritz