England 2014 Trip

Just wanted to write a few simple thoughts down about my vacation(?) in England before I forget them... maybe I'll turn this into something more comprehensive and organized if I have time.

想要趁還沒忘記之前先將一些這次去英國玩的感想寫下來，以後有空再看看能不能整理成比較有序的東西。

It's clear that people invest a fair amount of time and effort in their gardens, but what struck me was how it's not in the Japanese way, where everything is immaculately groomed - rather, English people like to keep their gardens vibrant and healthy, but let the plants grow relatively naturally. This reminded me of something that Yuichi, an artist from Japan that my company worked with before, mentioned. He said plant life in Taiwan feels a lot wilder and alive than in Japan, and I finally see now what he was getting at - it's not about the species of plant or tree, but rather how you allow them to grow. Of course, their primary function in England is still as decoration, like in Japan, but I think there's more respect for the inherent properties of a living plant. That said, I do respect what Japanese gardens are able to do, and it's another type of discipline that I'm definitely not criticizing.

走一走很快就會注意到一件事情 - 英國人花很多時間在培養自己的花園或庭院，但又跟日本人的風格不太一樣。傳統日式庭院的植物都被修剪得非常的整齊，而英國人則是比較習慣讓植物較自然生長。這使我想起前陣子跟我們公司（伊日美學生活）合作的藝術家平子雄一說過的一句話；他認為台灣的植物比日本的有生命力，比較野。我開始了解他的意思了，不是在講品種，而是如何去讓植物生長。當然，英國人跟日本人都主要也是把它們當裝飾品，但前者感覺比較注重植物本身的活力跟生命力。（不過話說，我是非常佩服日本庭院的，所代表的是另一種值得敬佩的精神）

In Stratford, I was quickly reminded how much I absolutely adore live theater. There's just something magical that gets lost in filmed productions, and while most of the time I appreciate the strengths of the film format (special effects, creative editing, sound effects, CGI), the sensation of "being there" right next to or even in the world in which the actors are doing their thing  is unparalleled.

我在斯特拉特福的莎士比亞博物館有機會看個簡短的話劇，提醒了自己劇場是多麼好玩的東西。電影絕對有它的優點（特效、創意剪接、音效、電腦動畫），但那種站在演員旁，身在此處的感覺是用最棒的立體效果也創造不出來的臨場感。

It still makes me chuckle that there's a place named "Bath" because... there's was a famous Roman bath there. It's like naming a place "Corn" or "Pinetrees". (chances are, there are actually places with those names) On that note though, I'm glad we live in an age where people are slightly more creative with names than before. Sure, there are lots of "generic" names to be seen, particularly in white and Asian-American America - Steven, Alex, Tim, James, Jack, etc. are overrepresented in both communities, but it's still better than just naming your kid "Jackson" or "Carpenter" or "Smith" like they did back in the day. Even that's still better than they used to do things in China, where girls were basically considered worthless and didn't even warrant names, so they were just pretty much called "girl number two, girl number three".

我原本沒有發覺英國的巴斯之所以取名為巴斯是因為... 那邊以羅馬浴場（Bath)出名。這就有點像一個地方盛產玉米就取名為玉米、或盛產松樹就取名為松樹（我總覺得美國某些地方一定有這種地名）。幸好我們這個年代的人取名子比以前的人有創意一點。當然，有所謂的「菜市場名字」，尤其是美國華人都愛取一樣的名字，但總比取名為「捷克的兒子 Jackson」、「木匠 Carpenter」、「約翰的兒子 Johnson」、「巨匠 Smith」好吧？不過這都還比古代中國好一些，在男女不平等到極致的社會體制裡，有些家庭根本懶得為女兒取名字了...

Over the last few years, I have come to a respectful appreciation of architecture and engineering. When I was younger, I pretty much took things like buildings, sewers, subway systems, and airplanes for granted, probably because I didn't understand how much work went into making these things an everyday part of modern life. When I visit historical places, there's even more to appreciate, to see what people were able to accomplish without heavy machinery, without calculators - just pure math and hard work (admittedly, a lot of slave labor). I also chuckled a bit at how special hot springs/baths were to England, because they're so common in Taiwan. Appreciate what you have, because what you take for granted may be something incredibly awesome to someone else!

我最近幾年開始特別欣賞建築和工程。小時候覺得建築、下水道、捷運、飛機這種東西很理所當然，可能是因為不懂前人花了多少努力才能將這些科技變成生活很正常的一部分。當我去歷史久遠、古老的地方參訪的時候就更加佩服古代人，在沒有機器、電腦的情況下還能做出這麼厲害的工程，就全靠數學，勞力（雖然說很多都是靠心不甘情不願的奴隸）。另外，看到英國將浴場視為這麼有趣的東西對我來講還滿好玩的，因為台灣的溫泉處處可見。從此可看，身旁的東西要好好珍惜，你看似理所當然的東西對別人來說可能非常稀奇，羨慕得要死！

We have 18 people in our group, and we're almost always the youngest group to be found in all of the hotels we stay in. This really highlights how fortunate I am to work where I work, where the company gives my coworkers and I a chance to see and experience different worlds and places while we're still so young. Looking around me at breakfast, I'd see mostly middle-aged to elderly groups or couples, finally relaxing after a lifetime of hard work. Cherish opportunities to travel while you can, it's not something to be taken for granted.

在飯店裡吃早餐的時候難免注意到我們這一團人總是最年輕的，明顯地反映出我們有多幸福，公司給了我們這麼多機會體驗不同的生活跟文化，不用等到工作了一輩子後，老了，身體也走不太動了，才能環遊世界。我們應該更加認真的去開放自己的視野～

The British Museum may be controversial to Chinese people, but you'll find few who can complain about its merits as a place of education. I love how many of the museums (special tip of the hat to the Natural Science Museum) have exhibits that are kid-friendly, because if you don't take hold of children's imagination and sense of wonder early on, it can be too late later on in life when they're already too far gone in Angry Birds. And I think they proved that an exhibit doesn't necessarily have to be particularly interactive (and hence prone to breakdown and repair) - the key is in how the information is displayed, making it fun and easy to digest while not dumbed down or simplified to the point of absurdity. Should the British Museum return artifacts stolen from China? If the National Palace Museum in Taiwan agrees to return all the artifacts the KMT stole from China, then you have an argument.

許多中國人可能對大英博物館有意見，但它的教育價值是很難批評的。英國大部分的博物館都很適合小孩子參觀（而且幾乎都是免費的）；抓住孩子的興趣跟注意力是非常重要的一件事情，因為等到他們都已經沉迷於手機遊戲之後就往往沒救了。展覽不一定要有互動性（能夠玩的裝置也容易故障），重點在於如何呈現想表達的資訊，好好的規劃如何用有趣、好吸收的方式分享給參觀者。大英博物館從中國偷來的寶物應該歸還嗎？如果台灣的故宮博物館願意將國民黨從中國偷走的骨董全部還中國，那就還有可能吧。

I normally don't enjoy browsing department stores all that much (despite my line of work), probably because I'm still a kid at heart and haven't grown to appreciate the subtleties of the adult world, like fancy watches and suits. Hence it I was pleasantly surprised by the wonderful Harrods Department Store - or more specifically, the toy section. It was so great to see employees playing with the toys and demonstrating how to use them, and it made me feel like a wide-eyed child, for whom everything was awesome.

雖然平常的工作跟百貨業有關，但我本身其實並沒有特別喜歡逛百貨。或許是因為我打從心裡根本就還是個未成熟的小孩子，還無法欣賞大人世界的名錶、西裝。因此，哈洛茲百貨的玩具區令我初期意外的開心，眼睛掃到哪都會看到員工玩給你看，看他們真誠的笑容就覺得很好玩，超想買。雖然很短暫，但我彷彿回到兒時的感覺，一切都有趣好玩。