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Editor's Note: The results of the fifth SCNU English Writing and Short Video Contest have been announced on the website of the Office of International Exchange & Cooperation of SCNU (see results). We congratulate all prize winners on their outstanding performance. Winning entries will be published in this column.
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By Shan Shiqi
In the clean and tidy university canteen, we can see a dazzling array of food and observe the crowd, but we easily fail to notice the students who clean up the dining hall after meals. Last week, I had the honor to participate in a volunteer activity of the canteen, during which I caught sight of the clean-up work by the canteen ladies after our meals, and now I have a deeper understanding for them.
Auntie Nie is one of the many aunties in the canteen, and also one that I have been in contact with during other volunteer activities. Every evening, when the students leave the canteen with a sense of satisfaction, Auntie Nie's busy life is just beginning.
Auntie Nie cleans up the food and left overs on the table. She does that over and over again every day, skilfully and carefully. After clearing the table, Auntie Nie will clean the dishes. There are a host of meals and different tableware specifications in the canteen. Our volunteers' job is to help the aunties sort the tableware after meals for their convenience so that they can efficiently clean tableware by category. Usually, they first sort and stack the dinner plates, and then carry out the cleaning.
For the cleaning, Auntie Nie stands in front of the big sink, puts on rubber gloves, turns on the faucet, and the sound of running water and the collision of utensils mixes together. Detergent liquid wets every piece of tableware. She carefully cleans each plate and each pair of chopsticks, and spends more time wiping vigorously where there's particularly much oil. Auntie Nie fixes her eyes on dishes, as if they are very precious pieces of art, not allowing for a single flaw. She concentrates on the cutlery in her hands, forgetting the flow of time.
After cleaning the dishes, Auntie Nie is also responsible for cleaning the floor of the dining hall. Sometimes students accidentally drop food on the floor while eating. In that case, auntie will immediately seize a mop to clean the floor to make sure students won’t slip and fall. After dinner, auntie will give the canteen a comprehensive cleaning. She pushes the heavy mop, from one end of the canteen, slowly dragging it to the other end, not missing any corner. The carefully cleaned floor seems to reflect the light.
Throughout the cleaning work, Auntie Nie doesn’t stops to rest. I ask her if she is tired, but she just smiles and says: "I am used to it, this is our daily work." The next day students can comfortably come to eat, I think it is worth it."
Like Auntie Nie, the other canteen aunties do this trivial but vital cleaning job. They are barely noticed on the crowded campus, but through their hard work and sweat they maintain a clean and comfortable dining environment for us. They are ordinary workers on the campus of South China Normal University, but they too are SCNUers who deserve the respect of every one of us.
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