Mommy is a housewife?

One of our topics this month at school is occupation. After just a few days it is already quite clear that for our kids only two professions are the cream of the crop-- teacher and policeman. Most girls would like to be a teacher when they grow up and the boys don't want anything except to be belting with authority someday. No amount of glossy National Geographic pictures about space could budge them from their "dreams." Well, okay, a few policemen wannabes are leaning towards becoming astronauts only because they want to catch some aliens.

A few days ago we played a game in which one would think of a profession and the rest would guess what she/he was by asking questions, e.g. "do you work in a hospital?, " do you wear an apron?," etc. Then it was JH's turn (my co-teacher) to be asked what job she had in mind. Here's a snippet of the conversation which I'm trying to write in verbatim.

Kid 1: Do you wear white? Do you work in a hospital?
JH: No, I don't. I work at home.
Kid 2: Do you cook?
JH: Yes, I cook. I also clean the house.
Kids in a chorus: You're a Mommy!?
JH: No, I'm not a mommy. I don't have a kid. But I work at home. I cook, I clean the house. I iron the clothes, etc.

The kids started to look confused.

Kid 1: Are you a helper?
JH: No, I'm not. Helpers work at other houses. I work at my own.
Kid 2: Do you have a man?
JH: Oh, you mean if I have a husband? Yes, I do. He works in an office.

Silence. Frowns. Whispers.

Kid 2: I think you are really a Mommy.
JH: No, I’m not a Mommy. Ok, I'll tell you what I am. I am a housewife.
Kids chorusing: Housewife? Co to je? (What is it?)

JH: A housewife is a woman who stays at home and does all the work like cleaning, cooking, ironing, watering the plans, etc, while her husband is at work.

Kids chorusing and some yelling: But that's Mommy! Mommy cooks, cleans the house, does the laundry and irons the clothes. Mommy does everything. And she goes to work in an office, too like Daddy!

Oh well, what can I say? The mommies here in CZ really deserve a standing ovation. It's true, this is a country of superwomen. It seems to me they are unfazed in juggling everything at the same time. Ours is quite an expensive school and some of the kids' mothers hold high powered jobs yet they take their kids to school in the morning, fetch them in the afternoon, drive them to piano or ballet lessons and then cook and do everything at home later in the evening because for some reasons having a helper is quite unheard of in this country. On top of this, they still manage to look so darn good that some of them could pass as supermodels.

Really my friend Enday's description of wonderwoman is perfect--- we look at her and wonder. I wonder how the women here can do what they do without having a single hair out of place.

I might as well ask and learn the ropes from them.