The old and me

Me and Emmy.

Another night at the old folks home typing the night away. Really not much going on. While working night we really don't get to know our "costumers" very well. They mostly sleep. I'm getting to know a lot of TV shows that I normally wouldn't see though. Maybe I will be able to relate to the content in our trash press (read Aftonbladet, Expressen, GT, Se och Hör, etc) better now. I think most of 'our' old recognize me, but only a few would be able to remember my name. When they do I'm pretty happy. They rarely remember the names of the female staff or mix them up miserably. It's quite interesting that the old ladies are never angry or mean to me, but quite often to my female colleagues. The old guys are indifferent to whether the person that helps them are male or female. I think this is a sign of the deep rooted gender inequality among the older generation. During their lives these ladies would never openly question or go against a male. I've been trying to teach a few of them some Chinese, but so far with rather limited success. I should face it. The circumstances are not the ideal. The motivation for my students might not be the highest considering the limited prospect of any future use. That future might be particularly limited. The memory is also not always in top shape. When giving them my lessons I wake them up in the middle of the night and they are probably more interested to know where the hell they are and who the hell I am. I have to admit that when I'm woken up in the middle of the night I'm not very receptive for new Chinese words either. Yup. It's a challenge. It's a touch job and only I can do it.