Can Collectors of NYC

It was a random encounter with this group of people – the can collectors in NYC. I was introduced by a colleague to be the interpreter for the director who is making a documentary of this specific group of people for HBO.

Before the project, I knew nothing about can collectors, though I saw them in every street corner, but they had such a blurred appearance that I couldn’t recognize their existence. We’re living in this huge city but our lives never intersected. However, that changed because of this random side job. Now, I became a friend of the can collections. They have names, friends, families, and also, stories. They’re no longer just a city scene, but living human beings who deserve respect and dignity.

Can Collectors FAQ

Who are the can collectors?

They can be anyone – all races, all ethnicities, all gender, all educational backgrounds, all immigrant status. We thought all things just mentioned above were important in order for success, and to some degree, they were. However, these things were trivial when it came to survival, particularly in bad times.

Why people are doing it?

For money, absolutely. Although news and discussion about the bad economy was everywhere, I thought NYC wasn’t hit as hard as other places. If I had observed carefully, I would have noticed, Chinatown for example, all the garment factories were now outsourced, restaurants had slower business, and rent was at its rocket price. I remember when I first came to the US, most Chinese immigrant women were garment factory workers, and these factories were all over Chinatown and mid-town Manhattan. In just 10 years, it was difficult to find one unless you fly to Asian countries like China, India, Indonesia etc. Moreover, a long time after 911, Chinatown was like a dead city, the main source for income – tourism was very slow for recovery. How would people not need to seek other ways for survival?

How do people do it?

The recycling business is a complex industry that not many people are aware of. The bottling company, beverage company, distributors, retailers and consumers were all involved in the system. It took us a very long time in the documentary to finally understand where the money was in the can collecting business. However, for people at the end of the chain – can collectors, the money was made through the hard way – street to street, trash cans to trash cans, dumpsters to dumpsters, buildings to buildings, one can/bottle at a time, 5 cents each,  boiling hot or freezing cold, all night out, hours of walking, picking, counting and redeeming. Sometimes, their work was life threatened.

Other than the facts, I actually want to tell a story.

Cheezy was the Chinese immigrant woman I met on the project, hardest worker with the greatest heart. When I met Cheezy, as well as other can collectors, I was a bit uncomfortable and embarrassed that I was different. How stupid was that? I thought we were different because I had the nice things that they didn’t have. I just realized, those things we had didn’t identify who we were as a person. This was a lesson that Cheezy helped me to rediscover.

Cheezy came to the US alone, left her family behind in the village in China. She used to have a job, just like many other can collectors on the street, but the restaurant she worked ran out of business after 911, and then she started her can business full time.

Cheezy worked so hard. On a regular day, she started her day around 11am – caning at designated neighborhood (downtown Manhattan, West Village, Soho, or the East Village), finish canning around 8pm then taking the carts full of cans and bottles back to Pathmark Redemption Center. BUT THAT’S NOT IT! She would continue a second trip for another two hours for more canning then back to Pathmark again and start counting how many cans and bottles she collected in a day. 2-3pm is usually when she can go home and rest. 3-4 hours later, she has to show up at Pathmark at 6am to redeem.The next day repeated the day before.

A long day and very tiring labor work. But Cheezy never complaint or blame her hardship on anyone. She is a core believer that everyone has the opportunity to make money if your work hard- yes, the core believer of the American Dream. And often, she laughed so loud. Many little things, like the director mispronounced a Chinese word, would just took her breath away, because she found it so funny and laughed so hard.   Sometimes I couldn’t understand, what she can be so happy when life is so hard on her?

What made me admire her is not just her optimism and enthusiasm, as well as her giving heart. Each time we went out, and usually when we asked for a favor,  she fought for the bill for a drink, a pastry and a meal. She took friend who recently immigrated and being exploited by his boss,  to grocery shopping and paid for his food. Do you know, HOW MANY CANS WERE THERE IN THE GROCERIES???  - she had to collect hundreds of cans for it. She gave a hair cut and shave to her friend J, who became homeless after 911 and no one came near him, except Cheezy. She picked him up under the bridge (don’t know which bridge), brought him to Pathmark where he could stay indoor, taught him the lesson of survive through can collection.

She surprised me, a lot. I don’t understand again, when life is hard, and every penny was made from sweat, how could Cheezy be so giving? And why some people, who have everything in their life, became very skeptical in helping others.

I learned a big lesson from this group of people: nice outfits, nice cars, Channel purses, even education level and successful career, don’t define who we are, but hope, resilience and integrity do.

When it comes to impoverishment, injustice, and inequality, we can’t just be selective blind.

Who am I? And who are you?

What makes a relationship difficult? Maybe it’s because everyone wants the same thing. If you listen to the stories of both sides from the relationship, it’s not hard to figure out that happiness, love and care are what people are pursuing. Then why, it’s difficult to work things out?

Yes, the problem is the “I” issue. We’re all too busy thinking I give the most, I have more problems, I do it for you, etc. and you, you don’t understand, you don’t appreciate it, you don’t care, etc. Sounds familiar right?

If the ego me is the problem, then what should we do? Here is the sad thing, although we know the problem, we don’t want to change. Why I am the one have to change? See, again, here is the “I”. Our love comes with dignity and pride, we hold them so tight even they hurt us sometimes.

I really suck, so do you!!

Rich and Poor?

Just finished watching the series of a reality show: 窮富翁大作戰,  and I am eager to write down my feelings and thoughts, especially during the times when Occupying Wall Street movement is still ongoing and expanding locally and globally.

Before I start to nag, just to give you a little background about the show – it’s a reality show based in HK, where inequality between the rich and the poor widens. Five people from the top of the society, despite what they had in real life,  participated in the show by taking a role in the lower class struggling daily to have their needs met.

These five people, most of them have a descent upbringing that they never have to worry about money. They are well-educated and successful in their careers. Many of them, believe that your current situation is a consequence of the free-market battle, the weak ones are eliminated through competition. Moreover, they also believe that one’s current status is simply an outcome of previous planning or lack of planning. In the show, these five people live the life as people at the margin of the society – who  live in “cage room”, work 2-3 jobs at minimum wages and barely pass by. These people – from the lower class, never benefited from the rise of free-market, they’re parents who cannot afford to provide their kids with better education and opportunities, so that their kids begin to loose the game at the starting point; they’re young people who don’t have opportunities for upward mobility, even if they try; they’re elderly who have nothing to rely on, except themselves, and who have nothing to hope for, except the end of life.

And often, these people are invisible, invisible to many of us, to the government, to the people at the other side of the game. In the show, the five people would work and live like them, and to learn or widen their perspective of poverty. Fortunately for them, the show is just an experience whereas it’s life to many others.

After watching the show, I couldn’t help but to relate it to the recent hot topic – OWS.  Yes, many people, including many of my friends, questioned about the need and/or significance of the ongoing demonstration, and many of them didn’t even care. To be honest with you, although I protested and demonstrated, I didn’t fully understand the focus of it, the core messages and demands remained a bit ambiguous. Perhaps, I should have put it this way, what made it ambiguous and unclear was that we had too many problems and demands, and it is more complicated than just banking system, financial regulation, etc. Along those lines, inequalities and injustice are just ramifications.

The gap between the rich and the poor, with no doubts, is widening, ordinary people have less opportunities to advance and pursuit, resources have been unevenly allocated, the promise of American Dreams which emphasize on hard-work and accomplishment is broken – aren’t these problems daunted and exasperated? Should Wall Street be the only one to blame for all these issues? I don’t think so. Then who else? The government who is supposed to represent the majority but fails to do so? The protesters who might just be lazy people pointing fingers at others to justify their misfortune? Or million/billion dollar earners who lacks a sense of social responsibility? Maybe the answer is all of above.

I certainly don’t understand enough to talk about improving bank system and government policy. However, as idealist, there is something that I wish to see as a change. I am aware that the world is never going to be a fair place, but I wish to see the world to become a better place that everyone can work toward ensuring equality and justice.

I don’t hate the rich. To a large degree, I admire the rich, who have the talents, attributes, courage, efforts and opportunities to become who they are today. It’s surely more than a blessing. All I hope is that, they can also be aware of that, there are people who also work as hard as they do, just don’t make it. To the rich: God gives you the talent and ability to make a fortune, so you can help many others that don’t.

午餐女王的第一站

紐約有很多非常好的餐廳，各國風情，應有盡有。對於每一個嘴饞的人來説，是一件非常幸福卻有痛苦的事情，因爲好餐廳都不是太便宜。不過其實很多的好餐廳，在中午的時候都會有午餐menu, 可以用比較少的錢，吃到好餐廳。秉着錢包和嘴巴都要幸福的宗旨，我和馬克思媽媽要吃邊紐約的特價午餐，要平實也要奢華。

第一次出發，是深秋初冬的一個星期四，下着濕冷的雨。有一霎那，還真得想說，還是在辦公室附近隨便吃吃好了。不過畢竟，美食的吸引力大於方便。 今天我們要吃的是 Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ (牛角烤肉)。Gyu-Kaku好像很多地方都有分店。紐約有中城和東村兩家分店，最特別的地方是Lady M為他們家提供獨家綠茶口味的Mille Crepes！！！我們選擇了東村的分店，除了因爲東村是我們非常喜歡的一個neighborhood, 年輕，有活力，更重要的是東村分店的午餐Menu選擇比較多。

12:30pm, 人流量不多。我們點了一份lunch special的”Meat Lover Set”, 有miso soup, 白飯，沙拉和chunk rib 和 Yakishabu 兩种牛肉。再分開點了蔬菜，烤蘑菇，烤菠菜，牛舌，Hanger Steak, Chunk Kalbi, 和多加了一份miso soup, 白飯，沙拉 （哈哈，好像太能吃了)

食物的質量：首先有點失望不是用碳烤的。肉的口感還不錯，還是滿juicy的。只是味道稍微太咸了，有點腌過頭的感覺，也因此吃太不出肉本身的新鮮度。不過烤蘑菇和菠菜可以推薦，食物都是用錫紙袋包着直接放在爐子上烤。烤好之後打開可以聞到蒜和牛油的味道，很香。 也許是因爲午餐的原因，食物種類並沒有很多，沒有什麽海鮮類的烤物。而且menu上的一些食物也沒有提供，比如説是bacon蘆筍卷和bacon金針菇卷也都沒有。 我們開玩笑說，因爲昨天晚上賣光了！最後，午餐時沒有提供Lady M的綠茶Mille Crepe！！！所以我們補償式的點了Lava Chocolate Cake. 網上很多評論都說，他們家的Lava cake很成功，蛋糕一切開，裏面的巧克力醬回像熔岩一樣往外流。可是我們點的是失敗之作，沒有火山，也沒有熔岩，而且非常非常的甜。

價格：這個午餐，我們兩個連小費一共吃了$46。比起晚餐的價格，還是很划算的。Meat lover的lunch set, 有10 oz的牛肉，只是索價$12。每一樣單點的烤物，午餐的時候只需要半價。像牛舌和牛扒，每一份就只需要$4. 而我們兩個人點的分量有點太多了，吃完了都撐得不想説話。

不過一點需要注意的是，吃烤肉是需要時間的。兩個偷跑出來吃午餐的小小白領，吃的一半的時候開始緊張無比，開始拼命的把食物全部靠熟，就急着趕緊吃完回到辦公室，免得被老闆發現說，我們的午餐居然吃了兩個小時。哈哈

Bon Appetit & Happy Lunch

不要忘記最初的夢想

康納，跟很多人一樣的年輕人， 厭倦了8年的工作，想要一個任性的的假期 – 用一年的時間環遊世界。只是世俗的人，在世俗的邏輯下，都想合理化自己的任性。所以他選擇了 – 在環遊世界之前，在尼泊爾小王子孤兒院做三個月的義工，一個“譁眾取寵”的理由 – “這裡雖然不是B612號小行星，沒有玫瑰花，也沒有小狐狸，但這裡是他們將夢魘埋葬，開始新生命的地方。” 在他的文字裡，我可以想像，一個陽光般的高大男生，第一次出現在小王子孤兒院，不知所措的被一堆蜂擁而至的小孩疊羅漢的景象。他不懂尼泊爾語，記不住每一張臉和名字。可是這一次的見面以及之後的相處，他和他的小王子們有了改變命運的牽連。 三個月結束了，一年的瘋狂旅行也結束了，延伸下來的是對小王子的思念。他承諾，他會回去的。所以，他回到了尼泊爾，想用另外三個月來結束任性的旅程，開始回歸正常的軌跡。只是，這三個月，他失去了7個孩子。而之後的故事，就是關於一個叫康納的男生，成立了一家叫”Next Generation Nepal”的機構，在尼泊爾，尋找丟失的7個孩子，還有更多更多因為戰亂，因為拐騙，他未曾找到，也沒有失去的孩子，還有他們的家人。 我被這個故事深深的打動，我已經很久不曾久坐幾個小時，只讀一本書，甚至寫下感想。但是我真的被深深的觸動了。很多個細節，我笑開了眼，也有很多文字，讓我模糊了眼。我對康納，不是只有敬佩，有更多更多的是羨慕。我敬佩他的勇氣，面對完全陌生的國度文化，戰亂的地區，落後的生活條件，惡劣的自然環境，看似不可能的任務，威脅生命的危險，他都堅持下來了，為的是給一群和自己毫無關聯的人一個家。無數次，無數無數次，多麼希望自己也能有這樣的勇氣和決心。我不一定能撐過落後的條件和環境，但起碼，我試過了，我順從了自己心裡的聲音。可是無數又無數次，這些聲音被現實掩埋，父母的期望和夢想，世俗的眼光和成功的標準，還有熟悉的安逸生活和穩定工作。 是的，不願承認，但我是一個膽小鬼，我用看似合理的藉口掩飾了自己的懦弱。在迷惘的時候，我更加討厭自己的世俗。 還記得，那一年我16歲，在一個人權機構做義工，每天看來自世界各地關於反人權的紀錄片，然後做成文字記錄。從曼哈頓血汗工廠到黎巴嫩的兒童軍隊，形形色色的紀錄片給了我很大的衝擊。但最深刻的是，16歲生日那天，我穿著新衣服來到工作的地方，跟每一個人宣布：我今天16歲，sweet sixteen. 除了大家的祝福，我還收到新的工作，一盤剛從印度寄來的紀錄片。上面有一個女孩，同樣16歲，可是除了沉默的臉，絕望的眼，什麼都沒有了。這是一個被拐賣到印度的尼泊爾女孩，過去3年，是一個無比年輕的性工作者。身上到處是被虐打的傷痕，但幸運的是，她是11個被救出的女孩中，唯一一個未被艾滋病感染的。我從來沒有忘記這個女孩的臉，也是當時的震撼，對自己暗暗下決心，我希望可以用自己的力量，讓世界變得更美好，哪怕只有一點點。 只是，這個決心，因為現實世俗的種種，我藏起來了。我甚至不願意去談起，因為我知道，我也再也沒有能力去實踐。但實踐，需要的也許不是能力，而是一種勇氣，像康納的勇氣。 我敬佩，非常敬佩那個叫康納的男生。但，更多更多，是羨慕。 從今，要好好謹記自己的夢想，不能輕易忘記和放棄。就算實現要很很長很長的時間和旅程。

記在26嵗的第一天

 

現在可以保持聯係的方法很多很多，但是最親近的還是這裡。

跟我分享這個地方的，應該都是跟我最親密的人，認識已久的老朋友。

 

不知不覺我也26嵗了，過了一個非常低調的生日。收到很多的祝福，跟好朋友吃了一頓非常簡單的飯。也許到了一定的年紀，慶祝的方式都不再重要。重要的是有那麽一些無比親密的關係。覺得這幾年的自己，多了很多的世故和現實。突然閒有一種學生時代沒有的領悟，就是人生原來有很多很多的事。不過比起當時，我更缺少了一點樂觀和勇氣。那個時候得自己好像快樂許多。其實每一年，我都祝福自己未來一年可以快樂健康勇敢。

 

最近，過了我工作以來最忙的一段時間。我終于可以體會工作十幾個小時一天，一個星期七天是什麽樣的概念。 我累得人仰馬翻， 不停的在趕deadline。這樣的辛苦，都只爲了在夏威夷的conference。忙到一個點，我甚至會懷疑，就是一個trip，這得我這麽多的體力和時間嗎。(這中間，我的家還被小偷光顧了一次。丟的東西不多，但是電腦裏面多年的照片，論文，各種的資料確實損失大了)。

 

可是當我到了夏威夷的時候，我覺得一切都值得。不單單是因爲夏威夷本身很美，也是因爲我身心都需要一個放鬆的假期，可以跟大自然很接近的假期。 如果不是開會的原因，我不知道我什麽時候才會產生起去夏威夷的欲望。我印象中的夏威夷，就只是陽光與海灘而已。但是我不會游泳，所以我近山不近水，也相對的，其他地方對我的吸引力更大。不過原來我誤會夏威夷了， 夏威夷有很多的地理環境，火山海洋沙灘熱帶雨林峽谷峭壁平原，幾乎都有。我在夏威夷有了很多的第一次。

 

第一次當first author.

第一次坐limosine作爲主要的交通工具。

第一次見到這麽多的日本人。

第一次看到火山。

第一次去看日出，雖然最後因爲山頂在雲霧中而沒有看到。

第一次從山上騎自行車到山腳。

第一次坐Helicopter。

第一次看到這麽這麽多的瀑布。

第一次Snokel。

第一次賞鯨。

第一次看到很多的彩虹。

第一次倚着大海日落看草裙舞。

……..

 

過了一個非常快樂的假期。希望有更多的機會可以旅行，我喜歡這種認識世界的方法。

看了心情變好的電影

看了兩部愛情喜劇

這一向不是我愛看的電影類型

也許是太久沒有輕鬆的心情

又或許是很久沒有看過電影

反正看完的時候 心情是飛揚的

我對電影的評價 就只是簡單的喜歡和不喜歡

我喜歡美麗精致的畫面 我喜歡輕鬆溫情 或深刻
(我真的沒辦法看沒有美感的畫面，我個人就認爲斷背山的畫面都髒髒的，是我太膚淺了）

不喜歡刻意的搞怪或純粹的搞笑 

隨便挑的兩部電影 不深刻 可是有美麗的畫面 (謝濤會說的是小資情調)

兩部電影 都是簡單俗套的愛情故事 不單純 卻很美好

好的電影 就是看完之後可以微笑 也可以深思

嗯 我還是願意相信那些簡單的美好