Manchester Museum曼大博物館

 Museum是每天幾乎都會經過的地方。

光Manchester博物館就不下10個，

而且幾乎每個都是免費(free entry)的。

所以趁現在課還沒有很忙，星期六就來逛了一下。

文物很多....也看到了疑是慈禧的皇冠。

不過，我覺得不太像....因為那個朝代的

裝飾不是這個風格的！

是不是西方人隨便拿個東方風格的東西，

就硬要和名人扯上關...來突顯優越吧！

還看到了很多的木仍伊...在英國很多。
不過不像去大英博物館一樣，
這次我覺得不太舒服，
所以就沒照他們了。

有些地方也很適合約會喔！

可惜....我每次碰到的帥哥，我又覺得

他肯定太年輕....「可遠觀，不可近玩焉」

那天....有個奈吉利亞的美國黑人學生，

因為和兩個室友出遊，

坐公車時我一個人坐，而他坐我旁邊。

自從一起坐聊了一下後，他就一直打電話給我！

以黑人來說....他挺帥的....但是啊！

我不能接受黑人啦～

白的、黃的可以，但不能是黑的。

後來...還和室友自娛了一下！

是不是有些諷刺？

他們竟在這些標本上寫著：「

動物保育(Animal Conservation) 」

的字眼.....但把牠們做成標本！

Flatemates--室友

加勒比海藉英國室友Michalan及台灣高雄人香琳。

本來以為都碰不到台灣人--清一色都是大陸來的。

雖然一直以來我都算是個很獨力的人，

但看到香琳時，我還有莫明的感動。

而Michalan也和我在台灣碰到的黑人很不一樣，

一開始我還有些害怕，畢竟有過去不好的經驗。

但她很熱心，個性很爽朗，

常常也會提供我很多的訊息及想法。

而且她身材超棒--很多的黑人女生屁股都超大的。

所以我們很快就變得很熟。

另外，還有一個加拿大室友Nikie、

日本室友Mio及兩個大陸室友高凡、俊卿。

那兩個大陸來的室友....對我來說，

都是小朋友。

但也很可愛，也很好相處。

覺得自己很幸運....

最晚到宿舍的俊卿，

和香琳及高凡一樣都是24歲。

那天因為煮紅蘿蔔，沒加水直接放在爐著上，

一下就煮焦了....罷明是不會煮飯！

但剛才她一副要雪恥的模樣，

還真的煮出了道不錯的菜。

雖然鹹了點，但味道不錯呢！

她真的很可愛吧！

(原來和姊及老媽比起來，

不會煮飯的我也算是很會煮飯的！！)

社團活動擠爆整個街頭--到處髒亂

It's all messy and dirty during the fresher's week.

There are flyers everywhere.

每天社團都會在Oxford Road上發宣傳單，

台灣的大學瘋狂程度可能望塵莫及。

9月21日-25日 新生週。

每人平均可能可以拿上百張的宣傳單。

所以到處都是亂七八糟的。

地上有掃不完的垃圾。

看到像小挖土機大小的掃街機不斷來回，

垃圾還是清也清不完。

If you ask me, I'd really say--I don't really feel

that I'm in UK, an organized and systemetic developed country.

I never expected to see things like what I see here.

Quite an eye-opener, as a matter of fact.

Maybe, I need more time to get used to

the new mindset about Manchester.

還有像電子花車的東西，

上面一些學生跳著舞蹈，

放著超大的音樂在街頭吸引學生加入社團！

這些種種現象不驚令人懷疑

英國其實並沒有想像得那麼有秩序。

唯一好處是.....常可以拿到一些像冰淇淋、免費的Pizza、

甜米果涷之類的東西。

就是這個味道--Flavor of Tea

7年前來到英國時，就愛上了他們喝下午茶的感覺….
我當然也非常喜歡在台灣悠閒地喝著下午茶
或和朋友一起打發時間、閒聊，
但在英國的那樣感覺和在台灣不太一樣。

說不上來….

一開始到這時，
只是一直忙著開戶、學校註冊事宜，
有些東西家裡的人會幫我寄來，
很多的東西都不敢買，
所以一直不敢買茶泡來喝。


但是那天去了Oxford Road上便宜的超市LiDL，
Oxford Road上有好幾家印度餐館，
雖然還沒去過，但聽說非常地好吃。
而這裡的印度人口很多，
所以Worldwild超市裡有滿滿的辛香料，
還看到的醬油……並沒有傳說中要NT$1000一瓶那麼
誇張，其實也很便宜的。

而早期也是英國人把印度的茶帶到西方世界的，

又加上英國人喝茶的習慣，

這裡的茶照理說應該是便宜的。

果然，茶一大盒才80p左右(大約NT$40)。

……所以我就買了。

因為牛奶很便宜，一大桶只有99p(大約不到NT$50)，

笫一次我還買到50p的牛奶(NT$27)。

現在我平均一天喝3次以上的奶茶。

所以一大桶的牛奶一下就喝完了....難怪歐洲人(西方人)
長得比較高大！

於是我終於又明白那味道了！

The tea drinking habit doesn't seem to be around

anymore, at least not in Manchester. Here, things
are very much the same as in big cities, i.e. people
prefer coffee. Strange was it to me, the living pace
here isn't as fast.

As I remember, British people have tea culture,
and I had fallen in love with the idea of drinking
tea in the morning, during tea time, and after meals
when I came here 7 years ago. I love drinking both
tea and coffee in Taiwan, spending time with friends
to kill a whole afternoon or generally doing nothing,
but I hadn't found the same feeling I had when
I was in UK.


因為外面天氣涼涼的，
涼但不入骨，
所以熱奶茶喝起來很順口、沒有付擔。

但是在台灣若等到冬天，
這樣的奶茶又好像不太夠保暖。


Here I get to taste it again and come to realize it.


Climate and temperature have something to do
with the flavor!

Postgraduate Orientation開學說明會

Manchester Place, a modern new building on
Oxford Road, across from the museum.

在申請完學校，取得入學許可後，

曼徹斯特大學就陸續寄了一些資料過來。

大部分手冊裡的圖片都是徧比較漂亮、

華麗......當然實際上的城市都是比較舊些
且比較沒那麼好看些！
 
而這間在Manchester Place裡的大廳，

在手冊上也有看到。
也是唯一一兩個比較接近手冊上照片的地方！

原來在裡面參加說明會是這樣的感覺啊！

聽說.....全校外國學生就有5000人耶！

真是個驚人的數字！好像是我聽錯了喔！

英國的夏末是台灣的入冬

英國此時的天氣大約是15-17度左右。

上飛機前，
和姊、哥及清慶吃晚飯，
所以把一些東西都放在哥的車上，
像水壺及外套。

結果到了Manchester機場大廳，

就心想…..「糟了！有冷的感覺。」

但不知為什麼剛到的笫一天反而不覺得冷！
不過，笫二天以後就很有冷的感覺！！
撐了一天，終於有點受不了了。

在一家印度老奶奶開的雜貨店買了一些
生活雜物。
她告訴我便宜的衣服得到市區，
本來想再等一陣子，說不定衣服就寄到了，
怎麼知道台灣的家人還沒把東西寄出來。

笫3天，我在街上意外地發現一家二手店，
驚喜地發現一件便宜的紅外套，
才£7.99(不到NT$400)而狀況很好，
我就買了下去了！

還好我買了…..因為真的冷了！

街上行人的穿著二極化，
有人穿無袖的、也有人包得緊緊地，
我發現，英國當地的人有些反而更怕冷。


不知道不怕冷的姊在這裡是不是會覺得很舒服？！

Terribly slow administration

效率很差的行政作業
There are always queues for everything,
administration, seeing someone at the
Students' services center, opening a bank
account, getting vaccinated, etc.

從16日到曼徹斯特，每天總覺得老是在排隊。
銀行開戶要等一長隊、
打預防針也要排隊排到近3個小時！
    (救命啊！)

笫一次感覺.....時間可以這樣浪費的！

(Queue for the City Tours我們正在等去城市導覽的Bus)

In Taiwan,
if you go to a post office or bank to do some things,
there are always a sort-of machince which gives
you a number, and then you can choose to stay
and wait for your turn or you can simply just
come back later when you have done your
other things first elsewhere.

英國的行政效率可以說是差得不得了，
但為了辦事情，又不得不等。
不知道他們怎麼沒有想到可以
發「號碼牌」這樣的方法。

I just don't know why they couldn't
come up with this idea, but instead,
they wanted us wait for such a long time.
This is even worse in countrysides or
rural areas as I heard.


Don't British people know that
"Time is precious"?


It's really nice that people here are very just
and want to keep the order. When someone
cuts in line, s/he would get to be corrected or
mocked. But, can't there be more efficiency
in the administration process?

I thought
efficiency is crucial to good management,
no?

It's not fair that those people have to waste
our time like that. They may not have important
things to do, but we do. Time should be wasted
on good things, not the trivial and boring stuff.

聽說，在英國越到鄕下，
行政速度越慢！
明明曼徹斯特就是個大城市！

每個人身上都飄著香味Fragrance

When walking in the street of Manchester,
there is fragrance coming from everyone
that passes by me. It is strong and instant.

Don't they know how strong it is?

Do they wear strong perfume on purpose?

常聽別人說外國人因為不太愛乾淨，
體味很重，所以得使用「香水」。

但當你走在這裡，每個迎面走來的人，
身上都飄著重重的味道 。

這在台灣並不明顯。

好像除了一些特殊行業或專櫃小姐，
一般人的香水味道不會那麼得重....
他們的香味，可能10公尺外就可以聞得到！


於是終於知道為什麼老有一些很重的香水會大賣。


沒有多久，嗅覺就會疲憊。
所以才會越擦越濃。


I heard some people saying that Westerners
have strong bodily odor and they don't like
to be clean very much, or maybe they like
to be clean but they can't do it well with the
genetically smelly body, so they wear perfume
very often to cover their unbearable smell.

And later on, perfume is worn for the purpose
of attraction. People wear it to attract one another.

However, in my opinion, the strong smell makes
it hard to distinguish which is which, and who is who,
not to mention to attract the right one.


Those passersbys all smell the same to me.
If the fragrance(smell) is similar, why bother using it?


I thought people wear perfume to smell appealing
to another. But...in the end, they smell the same.
So, what's the use of it then?

有些人擦香水來吸引異性。
但這令人開始思索.....人愛上的倒底是另一個人，
還是那股味道。

如果是味道，
那麼相似性如此大的味道，倒底還有什麼意義！

他們連洗衣精的味道也得弄得非常重。

是不是，他們現在已分別不出味道的濃淡了？

Le 01.15-Room房間格局

進門的長廊。房間有A-G。

左邊的門是廚房，右邊那個門就是我的房間。

我的房間小小的，但有個洗水槽。

大概不到4坪吧！

我們的房間雖小，但公共區域可是很大的。
廚房大得很.....

The lounge room is huge, 3 or 4 times of

our bedroom size. We cook here and have

some interaction among flatmates.

There are 7 of us sharing 1 flat.

When opening the door to the flat,

the corridor is what we see first, and

there are A-G rooms, 2 toilets and 2 shower rooms.

及2間小到不能轉身的洗澡間及廁所.....

Whitworth Park宿舍Leamington

One of the school halls in Manchester.

Whitworth Park是一棟房子裡有
好幾間像公寓的空間，
有紅色、黃色及藍色的斜屋頂校舍。
而Leamington House，有3大棟。



 

我們在中間棟2樓，笫15號。

所以才叫 Le 15。

Be bold and challenge yourself

In Chinese Yijin, "you change when you feel it's the end of it;
you change so you prosper; you prospe so you last."
(易經：「窮則變，變則通，通則久」)


After doing something for more than 10 years,
it's inevitable that people tend to feel jaded.

I myself seem to be a person who can not settle with
the same thing for too long. After teaching English
for about 12 years in Taiwan, even though my students
were ranging from pre-school kids to 82-year-old seniors,
there were different twists and touch of things, I couldn't
help but feel really trapped by the pretty much
fixed schedual.

Finally, I decided to do something for a change.
I quit my stable jobs in a state that the global recession
was till everywhere and obvious. This is rare in most
Asian countries, after all, most people are dying to hang
on to whatever they get hold on to.

After making up my mind for the up-going change,
I still managed to do my job well unitl the last minute.
"You do what you should do and do them right."


I moved all the stuff from my appartment back to my
hometown 2 days before my journey to UK, got to pack
the night before my flight!


Surprisingly, the first day I stepped on the land which
was pretty familiar to me 7 years ago when I was brought
to England on my very first trip abroad, there wasn't
much difference between the Taiwan and Manchester.

In Manchester, a big city with an industrial feel,

the muddy-coloured buildings and squared houses, makes

me have this mirage feeling that I had never left my

homeland. There are some old men nodding off and
drooling over their newspaper, the sirens from the ambulance

can be heard everywhere, jade-walking is normal, a lot

people don't seem to take good care of themselves, etc.

Had I not been in UK for a long time?

Chinese people very often think big about westerners

so they tend to believe those people with blonde hair

and eye-colour other than black are in higher and better

social status and class. Therefore, they don't know how

to distinguish people.

When I look around me, I see kids of mature faces but with

zits or badly applied make-up. I don't wear make-up much

myself, but their make-up can really be a lot nicer if lighter

or a bit more sensative. Some kids or adults with odd dressing

and clothing, seemingly seeking for something.

Yet, more often more people whose life scares me a lot,

whose life doesn't really have a meaning in it, are all around

me.

一直都有種「時空的錯亂」的感覺，

真的不覺得自己有離開台灣。

唯一開始不覺得人在台灣的地方....

都是黃皮膚的而外國人比較少；
現在看到的大部份是白皮膚、黑得發亮的黑人及


中東那裡包著頭或眉毛粗的人種，
就算有東方人，大部分也是來自中國那裡的人。


因為台灣人很容易被外國人的臉騙了，
所以看不太出來、也分不出不同,

   我可是看得很清楚。

但老實說啊….在我看來….不是皮膚不好、妝化得不太順、
就是穿著低粗、太過邋遢。
就算注重外表，外表體面，但臉上總少了點什麼。

走著走著…我開始覺得我算是Model級的。
糟了！真得不是故意比以前更「自信」的！
但這真的是我所看到的。


 「有沒有帥哥喔？」

好像沒有耶！是我變得更挑了嗎？！
其實看到了幾個啦！
昨天遇到了一個長得不錯的法國人，聊了一些話，
他對我很有意思喔！可惜帶了女朋友，也不能怎樣！

I don't mean to feel cocky or anything, but I feel like a super
model when I see more of those people around.

Even some people who wear a suit, something seems to be

missing. Are they aware of themselves?

Or are they being TOO AWARE?

Is it that people gradually take things for granted and feel

numb, so the alienation effect can't be detected easily?