SELF-INTRODUCTION 自我介紹
(total word count before editing 未剪輯前字數總計: 3958)
In this piece of work, Mandarin Chinese is shown
first; however, the English part was created before the Mandarin Chinese. Both
are in their creative processes, resulting the English and Mandarin Chinese are
identical but does not belong to the category of word by word translation.
本文中文先行呈現，但創作過程中，英語首先產生。
由於並非逐步翻譯，兩者內容雖然相當，卻不見得同步。
我們被要求著「請作個自我介紹。」
我坐在某系大樓的某個教室之中，以拿取第二個碩士的身份，看著台上的活潑「學姊」對我們發言。
在同一個校園裡面，我曾經坐在另一個大樓的另一個教室之中，歷經與陌生人變成同學的歷程。當時辭退空服人員的工作，放棄在世界各個大城飛行、停腳的過往，開始一段不短時間的薪給歸零歷程，也沒有前案可以參照，因我們是第一批正式接受國家訓練的初等教育體系中的英語教師。
當時的我並不知道自己的未來將會如何繼續呈現，自然，我也不知道自己是否有辦法在未來拿著自己工作階段所儲存的經費，順利申請國外學校著手更進一步的知識及人文探索，我更不知道自己有無可能在未來透過經驗和膽識，協助或多或少的更多單人或者人群，不論他們身在何方……
不過，自我介紹這件事情讓我回溯著當時在英倫攻讀碩士，於一個全球百大排名始終不落前五強的學術環境中，所遇到的同學們問我的一件事：
「妳看來非常年輕，怎麼會有那麼多不一樣的歷練?」
經歷這件事情是否真的要緊?
我在自我介紹的活動進行時，思考著這件事情。一如唸到什麼學校畢業，是否真的重要? 還是，許多其他元素掌握了真正的「重要」之事，究竟為何?
就個人的發展曲線上，我知道是自己的歷練教導我要即時與外籍工作同仁溝通，以在我們同處的教室當中，產生更大的效能。
其次，是我的服務歷程告訴了我，基於對他人服務的熱忱，以及這樣的服務熱忱帶給我一個總有全新視角的未來，所以在這樣第二個學位的學習過程中，造成我認領著「服務股長」的職務以期許自己服務更多人次。當然，因為有一些國內外工作經驗值，當在世界各地遇過為數不少的外籍工作夥伴後，我知道許多人們習慣探索先進地區，對於落後地帶的人們和他們的生活模式，較少接觸。
但我沒有想到的，是「生活」中間其實有生活自己的生命力，是這樣的生命力將我帶到自己曾經在身為一位少女時期，成長及求學所在工作，而這樣的台北市中心工作地點，正是當時取得正式教師資格的我，可以有絕對選擇權的區域(當時台灣的英語教育如火如荼推行著，各地欠缺英語教師甚多，而我和同儕們屬於在分數劃分的結果之下，第一批完訓的正式教師，可以選擇幾乎任何自己所想赴任的地點及學校)。
當時我並未如此選擇，但是經過一連串奇妙的巧合和安排，竟然我又重新回到這樣一個北市的精華區域，這是件令我至今仍然感到驚異的事。
我的同事是一位和我曾經同期接受正式教師授証，但我們並未真正在同一個班級接受訓練，更沒有像我一樣「不務正業」而離開校園的人。當時我們沒有遇見彼此，現在才遇到之後她對我說：
「妳會連續被學校安排在這個位置教這樣的科目，這種我們不想、也不敢接的科目，顯見學校對妳在能力上的重視。」
重用不重用我個人並沒有任何特別的想法，不過我總將自己的教室視為整個學校的「精華區」，在這樣的教室裡面上課，非常盡興，也能夠愉快地和學生悠遊在學習歷程之中，是不爭的事實。
透過這個歷程，我重新了解少女時期成長的行政區，歷經如何的變革，也徹底了解在這樣的變革之後，過去我所熟悉的地方和我所不熟悉的地方，其不同之樣貌。
在我所讀過的書籍當中，有許多作者常常書寫到：
「每件事情都不是偶然發生，在背後一定有其深意。」
近來我所見面的的學生也在與我談話的過程中告訴我：
「老師，很奇怪哦，本來遇見的人、去過的地方，好像會一直不斷重覆耶!」
就在同一所目前我所任教的學校當中，竟然有當時同期接受訓練成為正式教師、甚至正好在訓練時期同班，表現出眾的同學也成為同事，這位十分友善又極度專業的夥伴告訴了我：
「學生們必須參訪一些重要的設施，像是有外國人在裡面的機艙等等，來訓練他們的英語，我們要準備好跟他們一同出遊哦。」
對於學生們要到這些模擬機艙、或其他設施當中，與一些外籍人士們互動及學習，我個人當然感到非常適切，只是在這經年與一些不同國籍、膚色、社會經濟背景的人士互動之後，我想提出的是：
「不知道什麼時候人們會有更加了解他們遊歷世界各地時，較不會抵達的世界的另一端的機會?尤其我的學生之中，高達百分之九十以上都有過搭乘飛機的經驗值，只是，他們可能不曉得在一些落後地區像是中亞、非洲等等，人們在怎樣的建築物之中，又是如何度過夜晚……」
不過，這個議題其實更應該具體表達為：
「和那些比之於我們，在物質、經濟條件、種種發展更加低落的人，有什麼好學的地方呢?」
這讓我想到一個近日發生在自己生活場景中的故事。事情是這樣的：
一天，當我正在教室埋首於教材及教案時，一位到校協助課後班的老師，年過七十卻老當益壯，氣色紅潤健步如飛，她請我到教室外面一陣子。
在教室外，她指著藍天白雲告訴我：
「看看那些白雲的形狀，多麼美麗呀?! 我很喜歡這些雲朵變化的模樣，也常常和我先生沿著北海岸一路開車，一面欣賞，而我也一面會把雲朵的樣子拍攝下來。」
「老師您以前就是如此嗎?」我問道。
她說「哦，我以前可不是如此的……當時孩子們還小，要做的事情很多，速度必須很快。」這位老師極為優雅，說話慢條斯里，是一位讓人非常舒服的談話對象。
「謝謝老師的分享，這樣的話，我也和老師分享一個在閱讀的時候所發現到的故事。」我回應到。
「故事是這樣寫的，有一位女性在北美的某個市區百貨公司中工作，她所負責的是一個化妝品專櫃，一天，一位陌生女性同時也是此篇文章的作者，進到她所販售的化妝品舖子裡面，要求她跟著自己一起到百貨公司之外一會兒。而這位專櫃小姐就尾隨她出了百貨公司。
熙來攘往的大街上，文章作者跟百貨公司的專櫃小姐說：妳看一下天空上面的彩霞滿天，多麼美麗呀! 老天爺會照顧我們每一個人，每個困難都會迎刃而解的!」
這位年長教師在聆聽著我所表述的故事時，非常專注，引發我繼續將故事描述下去……
「幾年之後，文章的作者經歷著一段非常痛苦的生命歷程，不但婚姻觸礁，丟失工作，教育孩子的壓力也源源不絕，正在垂頭喪氣之際她在某處隨手翻看著一本雜誌，雜誌裡面刊登著一個故事，故事是如此說的—
我曾在人生最窮困潦倒之時，於某百貨公司工作，一天，一位不知從哪裡冒出來的女性突然來到我的化妝品專櫃，要我跟她到百貨公司大門外一下，我跟著她走出去之後，她指著夕照對我說：看看這個美好的世界吧! 上天會照看我們每個人，我們所遇到的所有困難都會有其解決方案的……
閱讀了那篇文章之後，我當年那份雄心壯志又回來了，我立刻打起精神，重新面對挑戰!」
聆聽著這個故事的老師睜大著雙眼，跟我一樣感到不可置信，並且說：「真是好心有好報呀!」
在英語裡面，那位原著作者寫的是full circle(有始有終、回到初心等)，對我而言，我的circle(圓圈)從哪裡開始的呢?
光是看雲朵這件事情，從在身為一位空服人員時我就愛在各種各樣的工作空檔，見識天空之美。這是一種十分幸運的際遇。
而千變萬化的雲朵正恰似這瞬息萬變的人間，不是嗎? 有時候一些地區、國家、人民較為富庶，也有可能在文明、文化、經濟條件的殞落之下，喪失了那樣的富庶。
十年河東、十年河西，於我而言，這世上的人們俱為平等，不論其種種包括生長、社會經濟等背景。
雖然我對於自己的未來，全然不知，但是我想，以同樣的慈善之心、加上對於所必須處理之事的專注，這樣的未來會一樣充滿令人感到驚奇、魔幻連連的元素!
後記：如果不是由於年長的教師三番兩次提醒我她自身的年齡，我應該不會選擇把她的年齡放在文章當中，可能這是由於在國外修讀碩士階段的外籍同學對我的看法是
「為什麼妳看來年輕，卻有這許多經驗」的註腳，我認為一個人可以年紀輕、年紀長，端看此人的行為模式及心態展現。
“Please tell us about yourself.” We were
instructed.
I was sitting inside the classroom of a certain building. On the same campus, I quit my job as a flight attendant
working on flights heading towards international destinations and became a
student who was trained to be a formal teacher in the public school at where I grew
up. Clearly I recall the feeling of experiencing my salary all of a sudden
dropping to zero for quite a while, not knowing whether my ambition of saving
my own tuition to study overseas, to help someone or a lot of people would ever
take place in the future or not. At present, things have become different;
thus, like the time when I was for my Master’s Degree in the UK at one of the
top five universities, now, here in Taiwan, for another Master’s Degree, I find
myself thinking about my fellow classmates’ comment when we’re asked to introduce
ourselves before we began the postgraduate program there in the UK, years back from now,
“How old are you? You look young but you seem to have so many
experiences!”
Does it matter, however, whether one has a
lot of or zero experiences? Of course, it would be my experiences teaching me that
I needed to communicate with my coworkers immediately, reaching certain common
grounds, so that we can smoothly work things out inside the classroom. Moreover,
it would be my experiences allowing me to know that I have to just volunteer to
be a person willing to serve the others inside the new class, quite aware that
providing services to the others has become an anchor in my life, and yet, it
is something not easy to be explained when or if the others never experience
such invaluable lessons. Furthermore, it would be my experiences working with
many foreigners prior to today that I have found majority of the people from my
part of the world never really have that leisure to investigate things and individuals
other than the developed nations.
What I never expected would be that LIFE itself
has brain and heart inside, carrying me to the areas where I used to be; it has
taken place quite a few times in my life that I find it rather magical to be
so. For example, before this second Master’s Degree, I was placed in a district
in the capital city of Taiwan, Taipei, once more, to work there—beforehand, I
used to go to school and live there as a teenager. When I was certified as a
formal teacher, I had absolutely the right to teach downtown inside this
capital city where I work now; however, I never opted doing so. Then, a series
of magical moments brought me back, something to this day I am still very much
in awe. Through such changes, I have had the pleasure to look into areas
what I was both familiar or unfamiliar in the past as the district has
transformed itself through the years that I was not around.
In my reading process, I have discovered
people like to write
“There are no coincidences. Every single
thing happens for a reason.”
A very good student of mine also informed
me something similar.
“We always circle around the same places, even
meeting the same persons!”
Linking with this ideology, I have learned
that one outstanding colleague used to be trained with me inside the same
system to be formally teaching English to pupils in the public schools: we’re from the same
class. Being extremely friendly and talented, she told me that
“Hey, there will be a day when the students
taught by us need to visit those mock cabins and so on to experience something
very different, the real thing in life, by mingling with some foreigners there.”
Personally, I like the idea of students
talking to some foreigners inside a cabin on the ground, with some people of
different skin colors acting out either as cabin crew or fellow passengers. Nevertheless,
that brain and heart of mine mingling for years with people of varied skin
colors in the poor regions of the world would ask myself,
“In a world of disparity, are those more affluent elements the only
things students here can see and experience? After all, 90% of my students have had
the pleasure of taking airplanes, for example, but none of them has ever seen
how a person living somewhere at a mountain in Africa or central Asia sleep at
night.”
However, this issue is more in relation to
this:
“Is it worthy to learn from some people or
places which are least advanced?”
This reminds me of an incidence taking
place at where I am teaching now.
The other day, a 70-year-old teacher who is
helping the afterschool classes in the current school where I work asked me to
stop working for a while and came out of the classroom. At the corridor where
the sunshine is blocked by the smartly designed buildings for the pupils to
learn more effectively, she pointed out the clouds roaming on the sky for me.
“I like to watch the sky and clouds. My husband
and I would drive for hours during the weekend, coasting the seashores by
observing the scenery, especially the clouds which I would take many photos of.”
She mentioned.
Curious, I asked “Were you like this when
you were younger?”
“Oh, HECK! No! kids were small, not like
now, much older. Beforehand, I needed to work so quickly. There was no time to
appreciate views like this.” She replied.
“Let me share a story with you.” I said. “I
read somewhere that a lady working at the department store north America was
once asked to please go outside that cosmetic shop she was stationed by
following the writer. Once outside, writer of the article pointed out the sky
with sunset and said to her
‘All is well in the hands of Heaven.’”
The older teacher now facing me, with her much
graced smile and hairstyle, she appeared to be attentive. Under her silent
encouragement, I carried on.
“Several years later, the writer
experienced much hardships: she was divorced, jobless, and had kids to care
for. Mush depressed, she happened to read an article one day which lighted her
spirit up. Inside the article, a female wrote
‘Many years ago, I worked at a cosmetic
shop inside a department store when I was experiencing the lowest point of my
life. I did not like the job nor my life. I was depressed. Then, one day a
woman from nowhere entered my shop while requesting me to leave the building
with her for a while. When we were outside, she pointed to me the clouds
transforming themselves during the sunset hours by telling me that
‘Things will be alright. Heave is watching
over us.’
Through that incidence, I found the
inspiration needed to climb up one bit after another, delivering a life that
makes me more fulfilled as of today. Seeing myself in the story printed by that
magazine, I found the strength to carry on.”
The teacher listening to this story
expressed her surprise; meanwhile, I remember in the work, the writer, the
first female asking the other working inside the department store to go outside
the building with her wrote
“It has come full circle!”
To me, many things in life accidentally
come full circle for me. Just like this senior teacher, I enjoy watching the
clouds: I started by the time I was a flight attendant who could have those moments
of leisure to appreciate the wonders generated by the sky.
Isn’t international relationship also very
identical to that of the human relationships that from time to time, similar to
the changes of weather as well as the clouds, some places are with people who
are more advanced, whereas there are people who are savoring better lifestyles
than that of the others?
I tend to believe that my experiences have
taught me to be humbly viewing my fellow humanity as a joint matter that needs
to be respected, regardless of their skin colors or social economical status.
Although I have no idea what stories still
lay ahead of me, how my SELF-INTRODUCTION will form its own LIFE to make things
even harder to explain, I am convinced with much kindness and dedication to the
things I need to work on, things will definitely be alright in the end.
NOTE: I would not be putting the older female teacher's age here were it not for her to emphasize such an issue repetitively. Just like the time when I was earning my Master's degree overseas with my classmates comment on me being looking youthful but were already with many different experiences, in my eyes, a person can be young or old not due to the physical age but the mindset.
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