Translated…
Every time I’d thought about Huei, I’d gotten reminded of her fully-packed backpack.
Huei was my roommate from my study at the teacher’s college, shorthaired, very petite, a very quiet, and well-behaved young woman. She’s the eldest of her home, she has a younger brother and a younger sister. Huei’s father died early, her mother raised all three of them on her own, they grew up very poor. And because of that, Huei seemed extremely mature, compared to the rest of the students her age.
not my photograph…
Back then, we’d had the meal plans from the school, and, the school would give us vouchers, and if we’d not had enough, or wanted to eat better, we’d had to, buy more vouchers ourselves. Huei saved everything, I’d often seen her with a simple Chinese bun, with the sauerkraut, or a bowl of white rice, with the meat sauces, and that, was her meal, she’d managed to save up a lot of the vouchers. On the weekends when she’d headed home, she’d exchanged the meal vouchers from school for the simple buns that the cafeteria sold, and sometimes, there were meats too, she’d packed the items up carefully, placed into her backpack, and took it home, to share, with her younger siblings as well as her mom too.
Every time I’d waited with her at the station, her stuffed up backpack always caught my attention, it was still, hot too. Back then, we’d all headed home, emptyhanded, only Huei, whose backpack was, stuffed up; waited until our returns to the school, everybody else carried along the knapsacks worth of snacks, only Huei’s backpack was empty, and then, the next weekend, it was, once again, stuffed up with the simple buns again.
not my photograph still…
In those times when resources are scarce, no matter how far, Huei would always, packed her backpack full, for her family, inside her knapsack, there was, all of her love for her younger siblings and her mother. Huei said, that when she saw that look of bliss on her younger siblings’ faces as they chowed down on the buns she took home from school, she’d felt so very blessed.
I was, deeply, affected, and influenced, by her mannerisms, being from a nearly poverty-stricken background we’d become, the best of friends. Later on, I’d followed her lead, saved up the food vouchers, and, on the weekends, I’d, brought the simple Chinese buns back home, which made my father, who’d especially enjoyed them very happy.
And now, as I recalled how that well-mannered young woman, Huei had, waited for the bus in the wind, she’d become, ingrained, into my memories.
So, this is how her roommate influenced her, by her behaviors, because they were both from families that weren’t well-to-do, and this woman’s roommate had the thoughts, of taking the cafeteria vouchers she’d saved up, and traded them in for those simple Chinese buns, to take home to share with her families, that touched this woman, and she’d started, following her friend’s lead, and made amazing memories of sharing foods with her own family too.
Life, the Obstacle Course 