2. August 2017
In Fuzhou it is really hot. Min Hou is a suburb, about an hours drive from the city. During the winter its freezing cold but the summers are hot.
The workers begin their day quite early during the summer. About 5 or 6 in the morning. They take a brake from 1 to 3 in the afternoon. Most of the time they don´t go home, or at least if they don´t live in the neighbour hood. Then it is good to have a place where you can sit in the shadow and enjoy the nap.
My balcony was a good place to rest.
One day I arrived with my interior designer and we found the workers resting. They did not move, just continued their rest.
After mowing in I witnessed a lot of work done in the houses next to me and opposite.
It was sweet to see the man give his lady a massage. They were bricklayers and worked as a team. A heavy work. They had to carry the sand and cement up 2 floors. I never understood how these tiny people could be so strong.
The little blue tracks brought the bricks and other material needed.
After the massage the husband had his reward. A bit of sex and then they slept in each other arms until the heavy work began, again. What kind of love is that? Beautiful and heart warming. When I left China they were still working in my neighbour hood and I gave them some pillows and a dune duvet. The next day I brought them bed linen. Beautiful one and they had tears in their eyes when accepting my gift. It took a long time to convince them to accept it but that is the culture here in my wonderful China. I am sure they never spent their money on anything like this but they deserved only the best. Sometimes we forget how wonderful it is to make our fellow human beings happy and surprise them by doing something different.
I had watched them for weeks and talked to them. I will never forget this wonderful couple and their wonderful hugs when I left.
The workers that took the siesta on my balcony when I came to see how my house was doing, became good friends. After I moved in they did not take a siesta on my balcony but they took care of my garden and made sure it looked beautiful and did not have any weed.
There was just one gardener I did not get on with. We fought about my bushes. I wanted them high, he wanted them low. We fought, he screamed at me and I was pissed off. Eventually the house company got me another one to cut the bushes. He understood what the strange lady wanted and did what she asked. One day the other one was there again. I saw him. He saw me. We looked at each other. The workers stood around waiting for the fight. That day we just stared. The next day I meet him while having my morning walk. He said good morning and I replied. After that everything was ok between us, he did what the lady asked and the lady said thank you in Chinese. Problem solved.
Hulda Björnsdóttir
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