Making friends in unusual places
There is a reason for all things, and there turned out to be a very good reason why I found myself asleep this morning. I had been planning to wake up early and do some work at the lab, but I realized that I left my phone charger somewhere, so I decided to leave my phone off—so, no alarm clock.
Instead, I woke up this morning to the unmistakeable sound of thickly-accented frustration. I stepped out of my room—sans glasses, in my hurry—and found one of the maintenance staff wondering out loud what on earth she was going to do with all the dishes in the sink, as they needed to do their pre-move-in cleaning. I nodded and agreed that they were under a lot of pressure, and added that maybe last night wasn't the best night to have a party. Then I rolled up my pajama sleeves and worked along with them.
I was glad to help, especially as just a little effort on my part could relieve the two maintenance people a great deal of stress. They needed to be able to clean the surfaces, but maintenance had gotten so much flak from residents about stuff being moved or moldy food being thrown away that it was really good to have a resident around.
It was easy work: washing the dishes, moving food off the bottom shelf and out of the crispers in the fridge so that they could clean them, taking everything out of the bathroom and off the fridge. As we cleaned, we chatted—and it was wonderful being able to connect with Michael and Lily.
They told stories about fridges that were moldy and bathrooms that were almost black, and shared speculations about certain racial combinations and how that affected cleanliness. <laugh> For the occasional guilt I feel about how I keep the suite, it turns out that it's still pretty decent. No, I don't want to think about how messy everything else must be.
Aside from the gossip, though, we also talked about so many other things. Lily commutes from Richmond Hill, so I could sympathize with her about the expense of YRT and TTC. She loves the place, though. Michael lives in the middle of Chinatown, which is very convenient but also very busy - he's looking forward to escaping to his family's cottage this Labour Day weekend.
Lily mentioned her love of salsa. I remembered Alejandro, the gentleman who struck up a conversation with me when I was studying in the common room. He even demonstrated salsa moves; he loved salsa so much! He also worked in the building, and I was sure they'd have run into each other. "I know Alejandro! He's my husband! He's been telling me so much about you!" That turned into a discussion of how Alejandro's such a charmer and how women line up to dance with him, but Lily's not jealous at all because she knows him. She told me of her children from a previous marriage, too. Among them: a lawyer in Chile, a psychologist, a forestry engineering student in France.
Lily's vocation is working with seniors at a nursing home. That's what she loves doing. She occasionally helps out with Graduate House when she could use the money, but her passion is taking care of seniors. Oh, you should've seen her light up when she was talking about taking care of them. She's a very strong woman - "Half-German!" She reminded me of my mom when she said, "I'm my children's friend, but I'm their mother first." She's tough, but it's the kind of tough that everyone needs, and I can totally see her in that kind of environment. She used to be a physical therapist, too, which certainly helps.
Upon learning that I'm from the Philippines, Michael said a few Tagalog phrases he knew. (Why is it that everyone here knows a few Tagalog phrases? I've got to learn a little about other people's cultures...) He joked about wanting an Asian girlfriend because of our culture. I laughed and said I'd keep an eye out. It turned out that he's just a bit younger than I am - he turned 23 on Aug 23. He's looking forward to winter because he loves playing hockey, although he likes all the other seasons as well.
I shared with them the last bar of Godiva chocolate (thanks, Gabriel Mansour!), a bar of Cadbury (Michael's favorite, apparently), and the mint chocolate that Shane D'Costa gave me. Everyone likes chocolate. =)
I'd like to think that I made their day unexpectedly better, and that whenever someone gives them a hard time, they'll remember that people aren't all like that. =) It was awesome connecting with them and listening to their stories and treating them as *human*, y'know?
That was good. That was the best thing I could've done that morning.
And we got everything cleaned within their two-hour time limit! =)
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