威尼斯是我認為此行最美的城市，整個城市在水上，往來交通都靠水上計程車搭載，相當新奇。雖然夏天觀光客不斷湧入，但我仍然認為這是個相當浪漫的城市。我們的飯店剛好在離聖塔露西亞車站步行兩分鐘的距離，相當方便，只是威尼斯旅館相當貴，一晚90歐的房間狹小的可憐。由於威尼斯的照片通通不見了（可恨啊~~），只好待下次再去威尼斯時補上。
威尼斯最有特色的水上巴士。
- 3月 27 週二 200723:10
義大利照片分享之四--威尼斯(Venice)
威尼斯是我認為此行最美的城市，整個城市在水上，往來交通都靠水上計程車搭載，相當新奇。雖然夏天觀光客不斷湧入，但我仍然認為這是個相當浪漫的城市。我們的飯店剛好在離聖塔露西亞車站步行兩分鐘的距離，相當方便，只是威尼斯旅館相當貴，一晚90歐的房間狹小的可憐。由於威尼斯的照片通通不見了（可恨啊~~），只好待下次再去威尼斯時補上。
威尼斯最有特色的水上巴士。
- 3月 27 週二 200717:14
義大利照片分享之三--佛羅倫斯(Florence)、比薩(Pisa)、聖吉米那諾(San Gimignano)
很多人看了「托斯卡尼豔洋下」，以為托斯卡尼(Tuscany)是城市的名字，其實是義大利中北部行政區的名字。托斯卡尼的首府為佛羅倫斯(音譯英文的Florence)。但其實在當地講Florence沒有人聽得懂，因為義大利文叫Firenze，所以徐志摩當時翻成翡冷翠其實比較符合義大利文的發音。
聖母百花大教堂 Duomo, Florence
烏菲茲美術館(Uffizi Gallery)前的街頭藝人
- 3月 26 週一 200722:00
義大利照片分享之二--拿波里(Napoli)、龐貝(Pompeii)、卡布里島(Capri)
為了探訪龐貝城，我們離開羅馬後就南下拿波里(Napoli)(英文叫Naples，中譯成那不勒斯)，在Napoli住了兩天。對南義浪漫的幻想在抵達後幻滅--治安及交通相當紊亂，即使是大白天走在路上也讓人感到害怕。
南義的英文程度很差，比手劃腳了很久才坐上不確定是否到得了旅館的公車，沿途彎彎曲曲，因為到處在施工導致煙霧瀰漫，非常後悔訂到一個離火車站極偏遠的地方。下了車後，我們站在看起來荒涼、附近又是工地的地方，完全分不清東西南北，只好招了計程車，前往旅館，才5分鐘車程就被索價15歐，簡直是被搶劫。下次記得一定要殺價。（還有下次嗎？）但是不小心在拿波里車站吃到的pizza真的很讚，比整個義大利行程中所吃到的都還好吃。
蛋城(Egg Castle, Castel dell' Ovo)，位於散塔露西亞港口(Porto di Santa Lucia), Napoli
就是在這裡我遇到了當地記者拿著麥克風攝影機上前訪問我為什麼要撐陽傘。我很得意的告訴她，因為我們是亞洲人！看著她疑惑的表情，我內心對話：哎，您小姐是沒有看過亞洲人吧，這種現象如果到美國的中國城就會發現見怪不怪了。
- 3月 26 週一 200709:48
Work place courtesy
Sxxt.
The partner in the next room yelled at the secretary again for trivial stuff. The terrible one-way communication lasted for 20 min and I overheard every word because the wall is too thin. I don't know how the secretary manages to work here and maintain a stable mood, but I think working in an environment where people behave without showing respect to each other just sucks.
I've worked in different firms in both the US and Taiwan. From my observation only the Chinese (and Taiwanese) boss yells at his own employees. I always wonder why. Maybe it is the work ethical thing or the traditional seniority concept that Chinese people always follow for thousands of years, and so it is still considered "normal" to be mentally tortured by the boss. If you have a great boss, congratulations. If not, well, that's too bad.
That just reminds me of the novel I've been reading recently called "A Year in the Merde". The book is about the things happened to an English guy who worked in Paris for a year. One of the interesting parts in the book is about that the English guy asked his Parisian boss to fire the employees in his team because they didn't make any contribution. The Parisian boss refused because he was afraid that the employees would have a strike for being fired, and that might damage the company's image. A different way to look at it.
The partner in the next room yelled at the secretary again for trivial stuff. The terrible one-way communication lasted for 20 min and I overheard every word because the wall is too thin. I don't know how the secretary manages to work here and maintain a stable mood, but I think working in an environment where people behave without showing respect to each other just sucks.
I've worked in different firms in both the US and Taiwan. From my observation only the Chinese (and Taiwanese) boss yells at his own employees. I always wonder why. Maybe it is the work ethical thing or the traditional seniority concept that Chinese people always follow for thousands of years, and so it is still considered "normal" to be mentally tortured by the boss. If you have a great boss, congratulations. If not, well, that's too bad.
That just reminds me of the novel I've been reading recently called "A Year in the Merde". The book is about the things happened to an English guy who worked in Paris for a year. One of the interesting parts in the book is about that the English guy asked his Parisian boss to fire the employees in his team because they didn't make any contribution. The Parisian boss refused because he was afraid that the employees would have a strike for being fired, and that might damage the company's image. A different way to look at it.
- 3月 24 週六 200722:22
宜辰，祝你幸福 My cousin's wedding
今天去老爺酒店參加宜辰表姊的婚宴。由於她是我們家族中第一個結婚的孫女，她的結婚可算是我們家族的大事，只是每個人在高興中還有些不知所措。
宜辰一直是我最親的表姊。由於哥哥，表姊，表哥和我年齡相近，記憶中的童年總是我們四個一同玩耍，直到十七、八歲，表哥表姊移居加拿大，哥哥當完兵後去美國，我留在台灣，我們四個各奔東西。即使見面的頻率以年計算，我總是很珍惜見面的時光，而這份契合從不因空間與時間而改變。
看到宜辰和沈浩在一起幸福的樣子，真的很為她高興，也祝她幸福快樂。
Today I went to my cousin Vera's wedding banquet. Her wedding is quite a big event for our family, because Vera is the first one in our generation to get married.
Vera has been my dearest cousin since we were kids. Since my brother, Vera, Vera's brother Pocheng and me are about the same age, we used to hang out together during the summer and winter vacation. Although Vera and Pocheng moved to Canada for more than 10 years, I still feel special bound between us, and we always enjoy the time together.
- 3月 19 週一 200721:43
義大利照片分享之一--梵諦岡(Vatican city)、羅馬 (Rome)
(source: 五福綜合旅行社)
去年夏天帶著我媽在義大利自助旅行，共停留十天，平均每兩天換個城市，雖然幾乎每個大城市都去拜訪了，但是因為平均每兩天就要拖著行李搭火車到另一個城市，還要一直不斷去適應新的地方，新的路線和地鐵。等到稍微摸清一點時又要換地方了，所以相當辛苦。建議下次要take it easy，不要太貪心，否則皮繃得很緊，比較沒有休息的感覺。
有趣的是，在我們停留梵諦岡及羅馬的三天中，滿街都看到拿著地圖相機的觀光客(約95%的路人)。真正的羅馬人只有店家，其餘的都到外地渡假去了，以致於要問路也不是這麼容易。
梵諦岡 Vatican city
梵諦岡面積很小，把整個梵諦岡走完--從梵諦岡博物館走到聖天使城大概只要一小時吧。收入完全從觀光客而來。
梵諦岡博物館(Vatican Museum)裡的有趣雕像（一）
- 3月 18 週日 200721:21
"The Partner" by John Grisham
拖了好久才把這本書看完。這本書是當時閒閒時在馬賽當地有賣英文小說的書店買的。我聽到這本書要價14歐元時差點以為自己聽錯了，比原價美金$7.99，或誠品書店的新台幣$285貴了一倍。但為了精神食糧也只好忍痛買下。
書中的男主角是一間小律師事務所的律師（what a surprise），由於對自己的生活現狀不滿意：對工作不滿意、事務所的其他合夥人想要把他趕走、老婆不斷cheating、小孩的爸爸不是他，這一切讓他急於想要逃離現在的生活，於是他花了很多時間計畫讓自己消失---終於，他策劃了一場假車禍，在大家都以為他死了的時候，真實的他卻以不同的身分，以不同的外表在不同的國家生活....
我不禁想著，雖然我還是不想改變我的真實身分，但是如果真的有這麼一個機會，可以讓自己從充滿無力感的生活中drift away，可以不用面對現實，不用改變現狀，到另一個沒有人認識我的地方，從新開始，隨心所欲做自己想做的事，該有多好。
然而，書中男主角之所以可以過著隨心所欲的生活，是因為他在消失前，從事務所偷走9千萬元。但我呢？看來沒有錢，一切免談。所以，我想這本書給我們的啟示是：停止做白日夢，開始計畫怎麼樣可以賺大錢。
Finally I finished reading this book. I bought this book from a Marseille local bookstore which sells English novels. It cost me 14 Euros, which is twice as much as the original price US$7.99 or the selling price in Taiwan (NT$285). What a rip-off!
書中的男主角是一間小律師事務所的律師（what a surprise），由於對自己的生活現狀不滿意：對工作不滿意、事務所的其他合夥人想要把他趕走、老婆不斷cheating、小孩的爸爸不是他，這一切讓他急於想要逃離現在的生活，於是他花了很多時間計畫讓自己消失---終於，他策劃了一場假車禍，在大家都以為他死了的時候，真實的他卻以不同的身分，以不同的外表在不同的國家生活....
我不禁想著，雖然我還是不想改變我的真實身分，但是如果真的有這麼一個機會，可以讓自己從充滿無力感的生活中drift away，可以不用面對現實，不用改變現狀，到另一個沒有人認識我的地方，從新開始，隨心所欲做自己想做的事，該有多好。
然而，書中男主角之所以可以過著隨心所欲的生活，是因為他在消失前，從事務所偷走9千萬元。但我呢？看來沒有錢，一切免談。所以，我想這本書給我們的啟示是：停止做白日夢，開始計畫怎麼樣可以賺大錢。
Finally I finished reading this book. I bought this book from a Marseille local bookstore which sells English novels. It cost me 14 Euros, which is twice as much as the original price US$7.99 or the selling price in Taiwan (NT$285). What a rip-off!
- 3月 13 週二 200720:57
Pictures of South France
我去的地方，就在地圖右下角之處
(Source: www.sitesatlas.com)
Calanque in Marseille
Beautiful, isn't it.
- 3月 13 週二 200720:43
我的好同事們 My dear colleagues
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.
- 3月 13 週二 200717:47
剷雪者 Snow remover
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.
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.
New Caledonia (1)