With Much Gratitude 何等榮幸
Always, I feel that heart in me wish to
absorb more from those I am interacting with. Though I crack jokes, deep down, I
sense those fragile sides of my counterparts, the humanity, everywhere I go,
such as the moments they’d have to express themselves in front of the others,
regardless of their age, gender, nationality, and/or any backgrounds combined,
resulting my intention to remove that anxiety in them by applying different techniques
that I feel I am allowed to utilize in those various situations happening at
different timing and locality. I am not the controller of the universe, which
is why I truly cannot ask people to do what I think or feel is right; however, I
know that perhaps when I’m moved, I can also move mountains through those
moments I’ve been touched. These are the reasons I invited those whom we visited
in that particular classroom to stand up and tell us their family background,
be them such teenagers who have never seen foreigners, those from Taiwan, my
countrymen, to share a piece of their mind at another school we went to when
the faculty members and the students alike sincerely welcomed us through their
dancing, singing, and public speech, or even a Grade 2 student to talk to a
front desk hotelier by more proper English, as if the Grade 2 was the one to be
trained there by us watching him.
In fact, it would be the person working in
the hotel triggering me to ask these two parties to “act” again, one a little
boy, another a bulky guy who told me in the previous evening when we checked in
that he’s afraid of talking to the foreigners in English: the hotel he works at
is actually a quite local hotel with pleasantly amiable price range hosting pretty
often guests from his own country, despite of its tidiness making all those
from Taiwan feel comfortable enough to stay there. We needed to opt for that
one due to our local counterparts’ suggestions, as it is withing walking
distance from our host’s house.
How did I sense that this person working at
this hotel where I had never stepped in was fearful of using English? How does
one feel anything at all while facing an opposite gender who looks a lot taller
and more masculine?
I felt he was not really talking to me when
we’re trying to finalize the last step of booking all these rooms since he
talked “only” to our Indonesian host, not directly to me, although the two of
us stood before his counter.
By the end of the second day, the video was
recorded. It seems the kid’s English has doubtlessly improved; moreover, we’re
making that gentleman working inside the hotel a lot more satisfactory with his
English proficiency, which he later told me in person that he’s so merry that
he’d have to FORCE his kitchen crew to boil a few more eggs for us for our trip
to the mountains today!
In the past, I might need to spend three
days to make two people’s communication skills better; nowadays, I found the
speed can be facilitated through some minor techniques applied. How wonderful
it is that life is like this that I have learned so much from so many
interactions between myself with a lot of different people! It is like I have
never imagined that I can become better and better each and every day through,
for example, participants of this journey to Bali Island, where all of us,
while crammed into a minibus, are delighted to see each other, content to
listen to what the others can offer. I would make fun of people from time to
time. Mostly, though, I feel that tremendous amount of energy imbuing into my
head to toe, informing me that life can be so charming, with everybody even just
to spend a bit of the time daily, we’re able to crack those tough parts inside
people’s mind to generate a better tomorrow for each and every of us.
Forever I am grateful to all those contributing
to the ways I am today so that I can walk on the clouds of simply joy bridging
all together as they smile, share, see, touch, smell and eat, as even though the
visitors arrived here in Bali Island for just the second day, we’re brought to
restaurants looking like those in the travel magazines and/or blogs. Therefore no
words can describe how I had heard, many years ago, from the locals here telling
me that
“Though we’re in the tourist spots, few
ever care to know more about us. We welcome them to come and visit, but it is
even nicer for us to have an opportunity to interact with them.”
Responding to these kinds of words, here
there are a few outsiders who care enough to come, who have come to care more.
What an honor!
What a privilege!
As such a small potato as myself, I would
have such great, immense of amount of pleasure to play such a role to link people
from different ethnic groups, races, and so on.
What an honor!
What a privilege!
一直以來，我都覺得自己喜歡從與我互動的每一個人身上吸收與學習更多寶貴的知識，即使我常常愛開自己和別人的玩笑，但在內心深處，我其實往往能夠感受到與我互動、與他人互動的那一方那些弱質的面向——
那份我們身而為人而具有的人性的脆弱面，無論我在何時何地，似乎都能多少感知，就像所有其他的萬物之靈一般。
這種感受尤其是在人們必須在他人面前、特別是運用不同於自己的母語來表達自己想法的那些時時刻刻，這種不論年齡、性別、國籍等背景，我都可以感同身受的脆弱，這種我自己在能夠站在他人面前表達之前，一樣經歷過的必經之途，不論任何背景都會產生的事實，那份不安，對我自己這個身為教育者的人來說，尤其深刻。因此，我總會在自己覺得被允許、也適合的情況下，運用不同的方式與教學時使用的手法或技巧，試著去減輕這些我目光所及者內心的焦慮——
因為每一個個體、每一種情境、任何一個時間與地點，都可以充滿自我突破的元素，而又是極為特殊的。
然而，我並非全能全知，自然我不會要求任何人照著我認為「對的」方式去處理他們該處理的事件或者心態；然而，我知道，或許正是在那些我被他人感動的那些瞬間，我也能夠撼動人心，甚至愚公般試圖移山。
正因如此，我才會在我們所進入的第一所相對較為偏僻處所的學校裡中，邀請我所進入的那間教室裡面的學生們站立起來，與我們說說關於他們的故事，例如他們的家庭背景；而在我們造訪的另一所學校中，當師長與學生們以舞蹈、歌唱與公開致詞真誠地歡迎我們時，我也邀請在場來自台灣、也就是我自己同胞的人士，分享他們的一點心聲。
同一天，甚至是一位年僅二年級的小學生，我也請他用比較正式的英文，和飯店櫃檯人員對話，彷彿這個男生才是那個正在接受我們「培訓」的人，而我們只是站在一旁的訓練者、觀看者。
然則，男孩之所以會與體格壯碩的櫃台人員對話「演出」，其實有背後的故事，因為真正觸動著我、並且促使我再三邀請此二人「演出」的緣由，是那位在飯店工作的先生。
那位飯店工作人員，即高頭大馬的男子，在前一晚我們辦理入住時曾「偷偷」告訴我，他其實很害怕用英文和外國人說話；而他所工作的這間飯店，其實是一家物美價廉卻仍堪稱精緻、廣受此次來訪之國人歡迎、卻從來不曾接待過太多其他國籍，反而只有他們印尼人才會光顧的旅館。我們之所以會選擇住在這樣的旅館，當然是由於當地夥伴的熟門熟路，尤其是這個旅館距離主要接待我們的主人家，在步行即可到達範圍當中。
那麼，我是如何感知這位我從未踏進過的飯店裡的、從來未曾謀面而在該旅店工作的男士，會對使用英文感到恐懼，而不是反而被他的高高壯壯給嚇到呢？我何以察覺了他的不安？
原因在於，當我們站在櫃檯前、準備完成所有房間預訂的最後步驟時，我感覺他其實並沒有真正「對我說話」——因為他只和我們的印尼夥伴交談。與其說他面孔嚴肅，不如說他表情僵硬，而沒有直接看著我說話，儘管我和印尼合作夥伴兩人是並肩站在櫃檯前的。
到了此次行程第二天結束時，那段影片已經錄製完成。很明顯地，那個與我們同行的國小二年級學生在英語力的世界裡面，因著我們幾位從旁「搧風點火」而又有了些許進步；但更重要的是，該名於旅店工作的先生，則對自己的英文能力感到更加精進，於是笑逐顏開!!!
之後他又私下親口告訴我，他實在太開心自己的小有進步，所以他幫著我們的團隊甚至還「強迫」他的同仁，也就是他們的廚房團隊，多幫我們準備幾顆水煮蛋，讓我們在今天上山義診的旅程當中，能夠盡情享用！
如果這樣打比方，在過去，我可能需要花上整整三天時間，才能讓這樣兩位來自不同世界、不同年齡層的人士的英語溝通能力有所提升；而現在，我發現只要運用一些在教學之上已然較為嫺熟的策略，就可以使人在英語使用過程中，得到身、心、靈的「淨化」，而加速讓他人「感到提升」的過程，尤其我自己帶出來的學生則在一旁全力幫襯，就像是他們自己也分別回到過去學習英語的場景，於是，生命竟然能如此美好，使我在與這麼多不同的人互動之中，能夠學習到如此之多，這實在令人感到驚嘆不已！
這就好像我從未想過，自己竟然能夠一天比一天更為精進，彷彿沒有盡頭般可以無限提升——
例如，在這趟峇里島的旅程中，我們所有人擠在一輛巴中型巴士裡，卻如此歡愉而樂於傾聽他人所能分享的一切。我偶爾會開開自己和別人的玩笑；但更多時候，我感受到大家所傳來那股巨大的能量，從頭到腳灌注到我全身，提醒著我：
生命可以如此迷人，只要我們每天願意花一點點時間，就能敲開人們內心那些堅硬的質地，為我們每一個人創造更加光明燦爛的大好明天。
我將永遠感激所有成就今日之我的人，讓我能夠踏著單純的喜悅，行走在雲端，串連彼此——在人們微笑、分享、觀看、觸碰、嗅聞與品嚐之間。即使這些來訪者才抵達峇里島第二天，我們就已被帶往那些宛如旅遊雜誌或部落格中才會出現的餐廳。
因此，多年前我曾聽見當地人對我說的那句話，如今依然深深迴盪在心中：
「即使我們身處觀光景點，卻很少有人真正想了解我們。我們歡迎他們來訪，但若能有機會與他們互動，對我們而言會更加美好。」
回應這樣的話語，這裡確實出現了一些外來者——他們在乎到願意前來，也在來到之後，更加用心去關懷。
我是何等榮耀！
像我這樣一個如此渺小的人，竟能在連結不同族群、不同種族的人們之間，扮演這樣的角色，並從中獲得如此巨大而深刻的喜悅。
真的，我是何等榮耀！
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