塑料

For two years now I've woken up to a haunting sound.  It's the sound of someone calling out in Chinese as they walk below our apartments.  It reverberates off the buildings nearby.  I remember being woken by this when I first moved here and wondering if someday I'd understand those words echoing into my bedroom.  It took me about a week to figure out that the old people shouting were the same ones who dig through trash cans to find discarded plastic in the form of bottles and cups.  They then take the plastic to a recycling center and get money for it.  This is their livelihood.

Two years and countless hours spent studying Chinese have passed and I still have no idea what is being called out as they pass under my window, but I do know that anytime I need to get rid of the pile of empty water bottles collecting in the kitchen, at 6:30 or 7 every morning I can find someone to gladly carry them off for me.  My favorite is an old man I call "Grandpa" (the polite thing to call any old man I see).  He doesn't speak Mandarin at all, just the local dialect I'm almost completely ignorant in.  So when he smiles toothily and chatters away, I smile back hoping that will communicate how much I wish I could understand him.

A few weeks ago I brought a sack of bottles down to give to a woman I spotted as she plunged her hand deep into the dumpster in search of plastic treasures.  She looked up at me with a radiant smile and asked, "Do you believe in the Father?"  In shock, I asked her to repeat the question, unsure if I'd understood correctly.  She took a step closer and asked again, "Do you believe in the Father and the Son?  Are you a follower?"  I told her that I was and she began jabbering rapidly in Yichang dialect.  I barely understood a word, so I called a friend over to help me translate.  My Chinese friend couldn't understand either since the lady wasn't speaking standard Mandarin, so we apologized and continued walking.  As I walked away I heard her wishing me blessings from above.

It's a wonderful world.

"I've learned that making a 'living' is not the same thing as 'making a life.'"
-Maya Angelou