June 27, 2011

High-functioning princess (HFP)

A friend forwarded me an excerpt of a eulogy that the chief of Taiwan's Examination Yuan, Kuan Chung, delivered at his beloved daughter's funeral in May. I cried in the subway when I first read it, and teared up again watching the TV clip of his speech when I got home.

It seems universally acknowledged that the father-daughter bond is something special - terms like "daddy's girl" and "Jewish-American princess“ (JAP) come to mind.

Although Chinese fathers don't tend to be openly affectionate, the few that are, from what I have observed firsthand, are testament to the Chinese saying that fathers and daughters were lovers in their past lives. Not lovers in a Western sense, but lovers in a puritanical sense - certainly celibate, and often pining from afar, as befitting the protocol of dynastic China. And perhaps that's why in their present lives, daughters hold a special place in their fathers' hearts - not a son that's imperative to carry the family name, but a little girl to spoil for spoiling's sake. That's the feeling I got from Kuan Chung's eulogy.

Kuan Chung's daughter by all accounts was the pearl of her father's palm (掌上明珠). What surprised me when all the news stories of her suicide/accident (a fall from her 27th-floor Shanghai apartment) came out, was how talented and independent she was, growing up largely on her own in the U.S. and carving out a film career in the U.K.

Chinese expressions like the ubiquitous four-character idiom can be fun but also excruciatingly difficult to learn for foreigners without the cultural context. The bright-pearl-upon-palm idiom is one such case of lost-in-translation, so for a Western tongue I would substitute it with "high-functioning princess". For my attempt at coining a new term complete with an armchair psychologist's observations, HFPs are often:
  • first-born, so growing up, they basked in the attention of their fathers without any competition from siblings in their formative years
  • attractive, so the pattern they established with their fathers are replicated to some degree in their dating relationships, with the balance of power titling in their favor
  • self-sufficient and usually fiercely independent, these type-A personalities earn the adoration they subconsciously seek
Kuan Chung carrying his favorite photo of his daughter and her remains 
back to Taiwan 

June 22, 2011

滙豐讓我氣到吐血!

出國在外遺失提款卡已經夠悶了,碰到我碰到的一連串鳥事更讓人想掐人!

我的悲慘遭遇之回顧:

6月21日
13:10
我在Buenos Aires市中心的滙豐大樓領錢的時候,在沒有把提款卡取回的情況下就離開了。事後證明不是我沒有取回眼前的提款卡,而是ATM吞了我的卡沒有吐出來還我!(不過我確實是因為前天晚上睡眠不足、精神不濟,才會大意的離開了。)

14:15
我的房租要用美金支付(原因需要另一個po文才能解釋),所以我回到滙豐換美金,白白排了50分鐘的隊後,才發現:
1. 3點過了5分鐘,不能換錢了(那在我後面還在排隊的40多人是怎樣?)
2. 我是台灣滙豐的客戶,不是阿根廷滙豐的客戶,所以根本不能在這裡換錢。那還是World's Local Bank嗎?

15:30
我意識到提款卡掉了,火速回到該滙豐大樓。雖然滙豐已在3點關門,但透過玻璃窗可以看到室內的工作人員仍然在作業,所以我請熱心的路人幫我翻譯,請守在門外的警察(在阿根廷,不是保全,是警察,這又是另一po文)走十步路、幫我傳個話,看銀行有沒有撿到我的卡。

很大塊頭的警察先生面無表情的叫我明天早上再回來。我沒有感受到一絲的善意或溫暖,頓時很想聽到台灣銀行保全阿伯的一聲“不好意思哦”。

6月22日
10:10
我回到滙豐,領了號碼牌,等了半個小時終於輪到我,可是替我服務的小姐不會說英文也沒有試圖要找人幫忙的意思。我的火終於壓不下去了,我衝回櫃檯,跟櫃檯小姐說我需要一個會講英文的人幫我翻譯。我說話太快以致她大概沒搞清楚,告訴我需要再次排隊等候。

這時候我很努力的控制自己的怒火,對她用英文說:“你們Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation 整層樓沒有半個人可以用英文替我服務嗎?”

她這時候才跟她的主管請示,她主管看到我火冒三丈,於是跟著我去找不會說英文的小姐,總算確定他們有我的提款卡。我緩和了下來,跟她說"Sorry about that, I was really frustrated." 她說她理解,我也跟她解釋說這在美國和大陸應該不會發生,在台灣更不可能發生,所以我才會反應這麼大。她說美國和大陸應該也會公事公辦,但她去過台灣,知道台灣人真的比較有人情味、可能會幫忙。

原來她在北京讀了兩年的書,所以我頓時對她有了好感,謝了這位Augustina小姐。

10:47
我用失而復得的提款卡,試著領錢,結果好死不死的用了同一台提款機,這次我非常警覺,確定是ATM沒有把我的提款卡吐出來。我大步走回櫃檯找人幫忙,一位會說英文的小姐對我說我必須下午3點再回來。

我暴怒,跟她說這是你們家ATM的問題,不是我的問題,還掏出了我的ATM收據,給她看是和昨天的ATM一模一樣的序號。我說我不會下午3點再回來,你們的問題要自己解決,不是叫客人再跑一趟。

我看到Augustina,就跟被我教訓的對象說,我直接找Augustina,她也很樂意的將我脫手。

11:40
離我來到滙豐的一個半小時後,我終於帶著我的提款卡離開了,發誓再也不踏進滙豐大樓。畢竟這件事情應該是滙豐理虧(我在其他阿根廷滙豐分行的ATM已經領了不下10次的錢都沒出問題),但我沒有聽到任何抱歉的意思。那台有問題的ATM也是我跟滙豐說他們可能需要檢查一下,以防以後再發生同樣的事情(他們好像沒有把問題根治、免除後患的概念)。

滙豐大樓

後記:
1. 我因為這件事跟滙豐耗到沒時間吃飯、氣到沒胃口,順便減肥。

2. 50、60坪大的滙豐大樓一樓,至少有10名警察(不是保全)站崗,讓我意識到阿根廷的治安真的不太好,而我的本地台灣人朋友Martin說現在局勢不太穩定,昨晚電視就播了上一次軍變的紀錄片,好似事件又要重演。(我還因為覺得這個警察多到快跟客人一樣多的畫面太經典,偷偷拍了一張相,但被發現、警察小姐要求我洗掉所有在滙豐拍的照才讓我走。)

3. 阿根廷法律禁止人民在銀行裡使用手機,我想不透,應該又跟治安有關係吧。

4. 阿根廷服務的速度我不敢領教,我大概算了一下,40個客人,有8個人服務,但我仍然排了50分鐘的隊,等於一個人的作業時間大概是10分鐘,我的天啊~不過跟大陸有的比哦!

June 19, 2011

Happy Father's Day!

While it's Father's Day in the West today, I thought I'd share an observation on how Argentines dote on their kids. Parents anywhere love their children, but parents here are certainly not afraid to show/flaunt it!

As I understand it, inflation here is creeping towards the "out-of-control" direction yet again and the middle class is shrinking fast. A typical Chinese parent in this case would be saving for college tuition at breakneck speed, and even without the threat of an impending economic "reboot" every 10 years, I don't know any Chinese parents that buy designer clothes for their toddlers. Are we frugal or prudent?

I'm sure I'm stereotyping, but my guess of the Argetine psyche is, doomsday fears are no reason to stop spoiling your children with an occasional trip to a pelotero (children's playhouse with a pool of colorful balls to dive into) and dressing them in adorable upscale children's clothes for a special occasion.

Of all the countries I've been to so far, Argentina has the highest density of children's play facilities and clothing stores by far - it's a great place to grow up! Imagine peloteros almost as common as cafes (albeit in a nice part of town) and children's clothing labels occupying a fourth of all clothing stores in a mall - not the case in Asia or the U.S., right?

Andreas, Charlie, Ewan, Seb - doesn't this look like a great place to bounce around in for a few hours?

June 8, 2011

西班牙文的驚艷

我把西班牙文當作未來半年的學習目標。在學習語言上,花半年的時並不算長,但因此在異地紮根、生活,也不算短。對於家人、朋友的好奇,我只有粗淺的交代我的思路,不外乎西班牙文是世界第三大語言,外加拉丁美洲經濟起飛,所以學好西班牙文可以增加我在跨國工作上的競爭力。

比較細膩、難以解釋的原因,是西班牙文帶給我的驚艷。我多年來訂閱A.Word.A.Day (AWAD)的觀察是,英文字彙的多數字根都可以追溯至拉丁文,而雖然拉丁文已經作古,但它的精髓仍然在西班牙文裡延續下去。

比方說,對初次見面的人,西語系的人會說"encantada/encantado"。它是英文“enchanted"的近親,跟一般老美打招呼的方式相比,顯得格外文雅!我在美國住的七年當中,最讓我印象深刻的道別語,是一位德州老先生對我說的"enchanted",原因就是這個字非常的不白話,有一種上一個世代的優雅。

還有一個例子就是阿根廷計程車司機最愛問的"A qué te dedicas?" 。西班牙文和英文的相似度不低,"dedicas"如同英文的"dedicate",所以計程車司機問得是一個簡單的問題(你從事什麼職業?),但表達的方式別帶意境(你的一生,致力/奉獻於什麼?)。

還有一個簡單明了的西班牙文常用字,就是"tranquila/tranquilo"我每次聽到這個字,腦子裡都會浮現"tranquil"的湖面的畫面。當有人對你說"tranquila"的時候,氣焰不立刻緩和下來都難吧!不像有人用英文叫你"calm down",只會更氣吧!


我每次聽到"tranquila"這個字,腦子裡都會浮現這個湖的畫面(2005年攝於西藏)

June 3, 2011

Ice cream heaven

I bought a half kilo of ice cream and gelato today to celebrate the return of my sense of taste after a bad bout of the flu. The best Italian ice cream in town set me back by a whopping 43 pesos (US$10)!

Frutiera (strawberry, peach, orange), banana, mango,
and a complimentary sampling of apple

While ostensibly about ice cream, this post could also be aptly titled "Latin men heaven".

At the ice cream parlor, a 6' 2'' footballer-lookalike opened the door for me, and not because I was looking hot myself! Two strapping grown men eating ice cream together in public, and to open the door for me on my worst-looking day ever (sans make-up, in glasses, sneakers) - what is there not to love about Latin men?

Footballer-lookalike is in white and shades on the 
lower right-hand corner

June 2, 2011

烤肉天堂

我過去10天所吃的肉(牛、羊、豬、雞及其內臟)比我過去半年吃的還要多!我能想到最接近的比喻,就是台灣飯店在過年或婚宴上的海鮮全席,好像魚、蝦、螃蟹、海膽、烏參、鮑魚都不要錢的一樣。我已經算是個很愛吃肉的人,但是見識到阿根廷人吃肉,還是會嚇到!

我朋友一上街買肉就是扛回10公斤的各式肉類,多到愛照相的我都懶的一一攤出來照。但有圖還是有真相,所以分享一下我和朋友的雙人晚餐:

烤箱前

烤箱後

P.S. 我自作聰明把milanesa的豬肉薄片放到烤箱裡烤,但意外的發現烤乾後有牛肉乾的嚼勁!

Bilingual it is!

I was debating the merits of writing a travel blog in English or Chinese, when I came across this most-emailed New York Times article The Bilingual Advantage. Most of my friends are English-speakers, and a significant subset of them are bilingual in Chinese.

As cognitive neuroscientist Ellen Bialystok points out, bilingualism sharpens the mind. In this spirit, I have decided to write my travel blog in both languages as they pop up - depending on what's relevant in the moment.

This decision also saved me from procrastinating further on documenting my time in Argentina, which started on May 23. A day-by-day play of my life here would be overindulgent on my part and a bore for you, so I'll use my best judgment on interesting, beautiful, bizarre, or mouth-watering things!

Thank you for being a friend and showing an interest in my travels - it makes me feel less alone at the other end of the world.

First day in Argentina, with the Rio de la Plata (Silver River) and Buenos Aires coastline