想飛 I WANT TO FLY

來貼幾張去年去溪頭的公司旅遊照片好了

這張構圖很棒吧
除了我以外，這張照片裡的同事全已/即將離職，嗚嗚嗚
Great composition, isn't it?
Except for me, all those colleagues have quit or are leaving.



這張是劉大導的傑作，Debbie的pose擺得相當心不甘情不願
巧玲你一定要留下來陪我啊
This picture was directed by Jim. Debbie reluctantly did the pose.
Chaoling you have to stay here with me!

在辦公室牆上掛上從Gordes買來的普羅旺斯日曆，心情頓時輕鬆不少。

或許就如同村上春樹說的，我在這裡的角色就像個「剷雪者」--別人把製造出來的問題丟給我們，我們把這些問題處理掉。這樣一想，其實做什麼工作都一樣了。


With the Provence calendar hanging on my office wall, I feel lighter somehow.

Maybe I am just a "snow remover", a metaphor used in Murakami Haruki's novel "Dance, Dance, Dance", referring to the situation that we are hired to solve the problems for people. In that sense, it doesn't matter what job we do.

另一位好同事Jannie小姐今天也要遞出辭呈了。雖然說在職場上不能因為同事的來來去去受影響，然而我的心情仍無法避免的沮喪了起來，看著對面昏暗的H的辦公室，覺得好孤單。

Someone said to me after reading my blog that I write English in Chinese style. Apparently being back to Taiwan and exposed in a Chinese speaking environment have great impact on me. I've been reading English legal documents and John Grisham's novels, watching HBO and writing most articles in English but look how my English has become (probably doing a lot of translation job accelerates this situation). I even had difficulties to speak complete sentences and say the correct words when I first arrived in Marseille. Is there any other method I should try?! Maybe I should hire an English tutor to do the one-on-one learning.

昨天去餐廳領了皮夾後，我和H (咦，怎麼又是這兩人？）跑去SOGO買過年新衣（只有我啦，H只是當陪客），以彌補我在法國沒有買新衣的遺憾。短短兩小時內，我就栽在MK，花了從尾牙抽來的$6600元禮券另外又倒貼$942大洋，買了一件七分袖嫩綠色針織長外套，一件藍灰色七分袖上衣，一件米白色鬱金香裙（今年流行的喔）。此外，店員還送了我一條很具流行感的項鍊，據說是只送給當日買滿$8000元的顧客。不管怎樣我還是非常滿足！

After picking up my wallet from the restaurant, H and I (again?) happily went to SOGO for shopping. Within 2 hours I spent all my $6600 gift certificate plus another $942 for one 3/4 sleeve light green long cotton jacket, one 3/4 sleeve iron gray long linen/cotton top with a wide waistband, and one ivory tulip skirt. The salesperson also gave me a trendy neckless for free which she claimed that the store only gives it to any customer who spends over $8000 in one day. Anyway it was such a great shopping!

Yesterday after dinner at Giorgio Marseille French restaurant (hehe, I really miss Marseille), H and I went to La Crema coffee shop across the street from the restaurant.

We immediately picked the table next to the window which already has a big bear sitting at the corner. We felt much warmer with the big bear accompanying us in such a cold and raining winter night.

As we both felt satisfied with the cheesecakes and coffee, I found out that I left my wallet at the restaurant and the restaurant was closed (it was not the first time for me to leave my wallet in the restroom....), luckily we were the last customers and the restaurant owner had already saved the wallet for me.

昨天由於要去彰化開會的關係，客戶幫我們訂了高鐵從台北到台中的票。算算距離上次在台灣搭火車至少也有六年了吧。進入高鐵月台，我興奮地東張西望，在台灣坐火車居然也有travel的心情。

高鐵車站裡的廁所都是用玻璃門，裡面也都很乾淨，車廂裡的座椅前後之間的距離也很寬敞，不像一般飛機經濟艙的座椅小的不得了，只要前面一個人把座椅倒下就會讓後面的人坐得很不舒服。此外，雖然車廂內還沒開始賣便當，不過已有可愛的年輕美眉親切地兜售零食飲料，而且美眉的外表和服務水準比空姐還讚喔！不知道高鐵是否比照錄取空姐的標準來錄取高鐵車廂服務人員。

到了台中車站後，我們都非常驚訝台中車站看起來相當國際化，它的建築真的可以比擬小型現代的國際機場。來接我們的人說，雖然台中的薪水是台北的一半，但是因為台中沒有地方可以花，所以倒也存了不少錢。也許下次換工作可以考慮看看台中吧！

對於坐高鐵的感想：速度實在太快了！感覺好像只是跟同事聊了一下天，眼睛還來不及瞇一下，不到一小時我們坐的直達車就已經從台中抵達台北。科技真的使人方便。


Since we had a meeting in Chang Hwa yesterday, our client bought us two Taiwan High-Speed Rail tickets from Taipei to Taichung. It has been at least 6 years since last time I took a train in Taiwan, so I was excitedly looking around at the High Speed Rail Taipei station as if I was travelling again.

The toilet there was made of glass windows and is very clean. Unlike the economic class of the airplane, there is a lot of space between seats. Even if the person in the front lies down, the person sitting in the back will still have enough space to stretch legs. Besides, the working staff on the train is cute and nice, much better than the stewardess.

We were all amazed that Thaichung train station is very modern and looks like a small international airport. The person who picked us up at the train station told us that even if the salary in Taichung is about half of that in Taipei, he still prefers to live in Taichung, for there is no place for him to spend money so he can save more, and the quality of life is better. Maybe I should consider to move there for jobs.

The speed of the train is so fast that it took us less than an hour to travel from Taichung to Taipei. I even didn't have time to take a nap! Technologies really make it more convenience.

今天我辦公室的好友H離職了，且今天是她的最後一天。一早到她的辦公室閒瞌牙時看到K向她使了一個眼色，H馬上告訴我，他們倆要一起去跟大老闆辭職。我還來不及阻止她，她就大步走開了。五分鐘後，人事部門就叫她們今天走，本來還想說今天中午至少還可以跟她們吃個飯餞行一下吧，結果人事又下了個指令要她們早上十一點以前要收好東西離開。連業務交接都免了。真是太過分了！他們倆人覺得早點走也好，雖然被趕走，仍然開心地吃飯聊天回家睡覺，倒是我一整天心情都被影響。以後再也沒有戰友可以跟我打屁聊天了，上班的誘因又變少，已經很boring的工作現在更是讓人無法忍受。更糟的是，三月底要離開的人，除了H與K以外，還有另外三人；四月則會有二人；蠢蠢欲動者：unknown。跟我混得比較熟的人都即將要走光了。這不是個大所，怎麼承受得起這麼頻繁的人事變動？真不知道是大老闆們不懂的檢討，明知下面的人流動率這麼高還不會反省原因，還是現在的人太草莓？這也許永遠也不會有定論，因為勞資雙方永遠都只站在自己的立場思考。

今天在juko網站上看到這個花香心理測驗
結果如下：

你是屬於草香形象
你擁有非常堅強的意志，不依賴他人，給人獨來獨往的印象。
你擁有旺盛的好奇心與豐富的感受性，是個過著知性生活的現代人。
驟看下你是個自命清高，不好相處的人，但是一旦跟你交談後，
就知道你很好相處，等到交情加深之後，就更知道你其實擁有很爽快的個性。
你所擁有的中性化魅力，讓你不論在男性團體或女性團體都大受歡迎，
不過你不喜歡讓人看到你脆弱的一面。你外表上看來也許很冷靜，
但實際上卻是熱情如火。能夠知道你真正本性的人，才能夠跟你天長地久地交往下去。

*****************************************
這個測驗似乎不會提出任何負面結果真不錯...

Gap是我這次拜訪的城市中唯一不是在普羅旺斯的城市。Gap座落於Hautes-Alps地區，所以整個城市均被阿爾卑斯山所環繞。雖然Gap的網站稱其為法國少數sunny的城市，但不知是否是該網站言過其實還是我們太過倒楣，我們去的那一天雲層相當厚，雖然還是隱約看得到阿爾卑斯山，但還是很可惜。


Gap is the only city that I visited which doesn't belong to Provence. It is located in Hautes-Alps region, and so the whole city is surrounded by Alps. Gap's website called it "takes pride in its reputation as one of the sunniest regions in France", and that "fog is non-existant", but I guess that we were just not lucky enough to see the clear Alps, and during our whole trip the top of Alps was always covered by clouds.

既然我在馬賽住了很多天，就來貼張馬賽舊港的照片吧。

很美吧。碼頭另一邊早上固定有魚市，出海捕魚的人家在港口邊賣新鮮魚貨，吸引了很多當地人（還有觀光客）。我也興奮地探頭去湊熱鬧，卻發現魚販們在剖開魚身拿出器官後頭也不回把髒東西往身後水裡丟，害我看傻眼....真是豐富又天然的魚飼料。一堆小魚大魚果然很快包圍上來。

I was suprised to find out that I am the only few Asian in South France. When I shopped in Marseille, there were always people yelling "Kong-Ni-Chi-Wa" at me. I thought that in those people's small world they probably only know Japanese. Well, the funny thing is, my flight going back home was transferred in Seoul, so a lot of passengers on that plane were Korean. The stewardess spoke Korean to me. I chatted with a Korean woman in the back of the plane when I was waiting for the toilet. I asked if she could tell that I am not Korean, she said, "no, you have a Korean face". WOW. Now I am surprised.

So here is a test for all of you who think that you are good at distinguishing Chinese from Japanese or Korean: www.alllooksame.com

I got only 8 correct on that game. Shame on me. I missed several points when the people are actually Chinese!

I am talking about dog poop, contrary to the usual impression of the grace and elegance of France. Dog poop is literally everywhere. I was kept reminding of watching every step so I wouldn't step in it, although sometimes I wasn't lucky. There was one time when I was sitting on the bus, the driver waiting outside on the street for other passengers tried to kick away a piece of newspaper lying on the street but dog poop was found to be under the newspaper, and so he kicked right at the target. How hilarious. Maybe the French government should impose a fine for the dog owners to clean up after their dogs!

We heard that the city Gap is surrounded by Alps and is quite beautiful, so we drove there during lunch time. Since we didn't know where to go or what to do there, we stopped by the Information Office and figured that we can still get some useful information there.

Well, we forgot to take consideration of French's habit....the office is closed between 12pm-2pm. I am becoming very envious for their casual life in France....the working hour starts from not too early in the morning, close for 2 hours for lunch, and close again when it gets dark. Also, people get 6 weeks of paid vacation in a year (8 weeks in Netherlands). As for us Taiwanese, everyone is forced to be a workaholic. We don't get ANY vacation during our first year in a new job, and only 7 days for the second year. I don't see we have more productivity under this policy, yet the quality of life keeps us from being as happy.

Anyway....enough for complaining about the job. We called a friend for restaurant suggestions, and he directed us to this restaurant where it offers traditional food "tourtons".

The bad thing about travelling in a non-English speaking country is that, it is always hard to get what we want. Although we always bring a pocket English-French dictionary and a couple pages of French food vocabularies copied from a book, we usually don't know what we will get even if we already spent 10 minutes trying to look up every word from the dictionary. So I always get whatever it is listed for "menu" since it is a pre-fixed course normally comes with salad, main course and dessert, and is normally cheaper.

Since this restaurant only lists two "menu" without offering other choices, we both got the menu and that saved our work. Before long the waitress brought us a plate of salads, a plate of sliced ham, and two bowls of tons of fried square thing to the table. The fried square thing comes with two kinds: one stuffed with potatoes and the other with tuna.

At this time I am gladly satisfied with the food here, thinking that if their "appetiser" can be this good, the main course should be no worse than this....until I found out that those fried square thing is actually the main course "tourtons"....^^; I started to joke about that this restaurant shall only hire one chef, and this chef only needs to fry those tourtons everyday without doing anything else....

I think it is a must visit place without doubt....it is just like a place only exists in a fairy tale. Although I already saw the pictures of Gordes in the travel book, really being there and looking at its beauty is totally different---it is just too breathtaking!

So I guess a lot of you have seen this background scenery from the travel book (both my Chinese and English travel book used this picture as the cover page). The building is Abbaye de Senanque, which is surrounded by lavender. Well, the picture I took is somewhat different....you don't see the beautiful purple color of lavender, because the lavender grows only in July and August. Just imagine that I am standing in front of a tranquil sea of beautiful purple lavender!

I don't remember the name of the restaurant, but we found this restaurant from the travel book Routard. We ordered fish (the whole fish again, which surprised me a lot) with couscous and chicken with banana. The reason that I am writing this is, I think this restaurant offers really great food and the food is not expensive. The African restaurant owner was so excited that his restaurant is recommended by Routard, and he took our book and showed it around to his wife (the big chef) and other African customers and only returned it to us after 10 minutes. With food and drink only cost 25 Euro. And the fish was not fishy at all and tasted really like Taiwanese style. I was wondering if millions of years ago maybe China and Africa continents were connected. This is definitely a restaurant that I will recommend!

So this is how you eat it....everything in the fish soup.
How did I like it? Well, if you must know, the first several bites were quite good. But then after the soup got cold, I started to feel a bit sick of it....imagine there were 4-5 different fish in it! And the whole thing tasted kind of fishy....I just ended up finishing all the bread! It was kind of fun to do some "work" on the bread and let it flow in the soup tho.

Voila! Here comes the Bouillabaisse. You will see 3 major plates on the table: one with the fish meat, one with fish soup, and one with bread and paste (don't know what that is). First of all, you should pick up a piece of garlic and rub on a piece of bread for several times, and put some paste on the bread, spread some cheese. Secondly, put the finished bread in the fish soup. Thirdly, you eat the bread with some fish meat.

I've already read some articles written by an author who writes a lot about great food in France, and I've got the impression that Bouillabaisse is expensive and only few restaurants offer good Bouillabaisse. So basically we have to be really careful to pick a good restaurant. However, the good restaurant recommended by that author and most travel books is Miramar--whose Bouillabaisse costs 60 Euro a person, and you have to order two Bouillabaisse, which means if you want Bouillabaisse in Miramar, a minimum of 120 Euro is inevitable! Of course for someone who likes great food like me, I can never leave Marseille without having Bouillabaisse....So we picked restaurant Oscar, whose Bouillabaisse is only 30 Euro, and we don't need to order two of it. So here it was....the waiter brought a big dish with 4-5 fish (note: they come with the whole body!) and other kinds of seafood on it, and started to scrape the fish meat to another big plate....