I still don't know her name (don't ask why I didn't ask). But I know she has 12 grandchildren, has really bad eyesight and a lot of acquaintances in the estate. This encounter was purely coincidental. I was walking home and she was sitting on one of the benches. I looked at her, she looked at me. We smiled and she waved so I waved. Then I carried on walking but turned back to go talk to her. I don't even know why or how I managed to strike a conversation with her. I think it was an impulse thing.
Moving on, we talked and realised we were neighbours. And she told me more about herself. It was really cool to listen to her talk about her life. Her parents didn't work corporate jobs or anything. Instead, they had a farm rearing chickens and ducks. They weren't rich, but they had enough to eat.
It's quite plain to see after a while of talking that she didn't really like being old (when I asked, she said "ba shi duo shui le!". It means she's 80+ years old already, to my non-mandarin speaking friends). She kept saying it's not good and how it's great to be young. She asked if I agreed and I said (translated to english) something like 'It's not bad, just slightly inconvenient sometimes to be old, I guess. But being old has its good points too. There are stories, experiences and stuff. Us young people have stories but they're all pretty much the same old shiz. (imo)'.
Yes, so that was the highlight of today.
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