象徵着自由的城巿----紐約,是我們度蜜月之旅的終站。華爾街上的Bankers走路好像都在小跑步似的,感受到他們分秒必爭。選擇在這城巿漫步閒逛的我們在布魯克林大橋慢步細嘗這個城巿,走累了,便到附近的Luke's Lobster買個龍蝦堡,靜靜的坐在長椅上感受這急促城巿的片刻寧靜。
.
朋友都好奇為甚麼我會選墨西哥和美國作蜜月旅行之地,其實是我的情意結,中學時看過gossip girl後一直想去紐約,再加上長不大的我又想去美國迪士尼(我是怪獸大學的忠粉),至於墨西哥當然是被馬雅文明所吸引,所以促成這次蜜月之旅。題外話,紐約的物價真的好高,窮小子的我們在美國消費勾起我們在瑞士的回憶,哈哈😂,連在便利店買飲品解渴都要思前想後。
.
PS1.美國人注重小費,不付小費是不禮貌的事情呀。我們在紐約住的酒店若要把行李箱放在store room,每個行李箱要付bellboy大哥一美元小費。
.
PS2.疫情反覆,大家記住要保持社交距離,Stay Safe!希望我們可以快點再去旅行:)
.
Here comes to our end point of Honeymoon – New York, the city symbolizes freedom. Walking on the Wall Street, the bankers are like jogging and chasing the daylight. We wandered around the city crossing the Brooklyn Bridge. When we were tired, we settled at the nearby Luke's Lobster to buy a lobster subway. Sitting quietly on a bench to look into this busy city, we enjoyed the moment of contrast.
.
My friends are curious on why I chose Mexico and the United States as my honeymoon destination. In fact, that’s because my fantasy with gossip girl watched during middle school, plus Disneyland (I am A loyal fan of Monster University), plus the Mayan civilization. By the way, the prices in New York are really expensive. It reminds me the living standard of Switzerland. Haha 😂. As a poor traveling couple, I have to think twice before buying a drink in convenience stores.
.
PS1. America is a tip based country. It is extremely impolite not to tip. In the hotel we stayed in New York, if we wanted to put our suitcases in the store room, we had to pay Bellboy a dollar tip for each suitcase.
.
PS2. As COVID-19 is still ongoing, everyone should stay safe and maintain social distancing, Hope we can travel soon :)
同時也有10000部Youtube影片,追蹤數超過2,910的網紅コバにゃんチャンネル,也在其Youtube影片中提到,...
「living in middle america」的推薦目錄:
- 關於living in middle america 在 Count Down To Travel Facebook 的最佳解答
- 關於living in middle america 在 李怡 Facebook 的最佳解答
- 關於living in middle america 在 美國在台協會 AIT Facebook 的最讚貼文
- 關於living in middle america 在 コバにゃんチャンネル Youtube 的最佳解答
- 關於living in middle america 在 大象中醫 Youtube 的精選貼文
- 關於living in middle america 在 大象中醫 Youtube 的最佳解答
living in middle america 在 李怡 Facebook 的最佳解答
Brave the pain, Hongkongers (Lee Yee)
In his comments on my yesterday’s article, a reader left me a YouTube link to an English version of “March of The Volunteers”rendered by Paul Robeson, an American singer who was celebrated in my youthhood. The lyrics are as follows,
「Arise, you who refuse to be bond-slaves./Let's stand up and fight for/Liberty and true democracy!/All our world is facing/The chains of the tyrant./Everyone who works for freedom/Is now crying./Arise! Arise! Arise!/All of us with one heart/With the torch of freedom!/March on!/With the torch of freedom!/March on! March on!March on and on!」
Information shows that Robeson chanting this English version in a concert held in New York in 1941 was captured in the video. That year, Liu Liang-mo, a leftist conductor, was dispatched by YMCA to further study in America. Since the Pacific War broke out, Liu had been engaged in a propaganda war against Japan. Presented by Lin Yu-tang, an eminent Chinese novelist and philosopher, he met Robeson and sang in front of the American a few war songs of anti-Japanese invasion, including “March of The Volunteers”. A few weeks later, Robeson made an announcement that he would sing a song named “Chee Lai” for Chinese. He then vocalized in Chinese before belting out the English lyrics mentioned above.
In the English version, no “Chinese nation”, “the Great Wall”nor “enemies’ gunfire” is found, which makes “you who refuse to be bond-slaves” even more outstanding. Without distorting the original gist of the Chinese lyrics, the import of the English version, which encourages people to throw off the shackles of tyranny and fight for freedom as well as genuine democracy, is even more universal and perpetual.
Fights for freedom have been waxing and waning in succession throughout times and across lands for the fact that history has unequivocally manifested that people are being relentlessly enslaved by tyranny and freedom persistently suppressed by authoritarians.
Since 1997, after Hong Kong people had enjoyed liberty for more than one hundred years, freedom has been continually eroded and chipped away. In contrary to the authoritarian of gigantic power, Hong Kong is isolated and feeble. Being put in a vulnerable position, Hong Kong people used to have only three options: 1. Abscond from home, which means emigration; 2. Get used to living in a place with less and less freedom; 3. Haggle over protection for ourselves in an inferior position. The fourth one, “struggle to resist at the cost of one’s life” , had not even been contemplated until the anti-extradition amendment bill movement last year, in which young people were the vanguard and more than half of the population got embroiled.
Why did I put forward half of the population, but not a small minority figured out by the Chinese Communist Party? The reason is undisputed with just a glimpse of the mainstream opinion online, 2 million people in the demonstration and the ballot of the District Council Election.
Dragging on and on, the last year struggle, which tired Hong Kong people out, was to no avail. Since the Hong Kong version of national security law was tabled, the three options mentioned above have resurfaced. Confronted with the peremptory China, which has been legislating for Hong Kong in violation of the Basic Law, some legal professionals and democrats in town would rather succumb to the illegitimacy and counter-propose certain terms and conditions to safeguard the rights of Hong Kong people, including the provisions of retroactivity wiping off, interpretation of the law in accordance with common law, defendants tried in Hong Kong’s courts, stipulation of a sunset clause, etc.
When the US intended revising Hong Kong’s special status with regard to the Hong Kong version of national security law, some of them suggested that to preserve a firewall between Hong Kong and China, the US should conserve a little bit of the special status.
The haggling over protection for Hong Kong people in an inferior position, the third option, is surely not out of bad intention. Be that as it may, regarding what we have been experiencing in the past 20 years, showing the white feather would not stop the mighty authoritarian from seizing the overall jurisdiction of Hong Kong. Though conflicts might be alleviated, the plight of Hong Kong people would only worsen in front of the insatiable authoritarian. Worse still, Hong Kong people knuckling under to it would hinder the US from sanctioning China and Hong Kong.
Getting pained by uncompromising struggles has to be anticipated. The US sanctions on Hong Kong are definitely painful to Hong Kong people. In the past couple of days, Yuen Kung-yi said: To take this route, Hong Kong people should brave the pain.
Perhaps those who come to the middle ground intend Hong Kong people to reserve the minimum protection. Yet, meanwhile, I am reminded of the wisdom of a classic philosopher, Friedrich Hayek: Those who fantasize about trading their basic freedom off for minimum protection would eventually find out that they are given neither freedom nor protection.
Robeson’s husky singing is reverberating in my ears.
living in middle america 在 美國在台協會 AIT Facebook 的最讚貼文
💕「愛台灣,我的選擇」系列第9發:Kim Kawamoto退役後來台開創新生活
「我來自夏威夷,我是一位退役的通信中校,我在軍中服務了21年半,這是我退役後的第一份工作。我來台灣之前,曾在西點軍校擔任體育副主任,也曾在西點軍校打了4年的籃球並擔任控球後衛,2016年時,不知道為什麼,但我被選入西點軍校體育名人堂。從軍隊退役後,我開始探索各種可能,我請人才仲介幫我找工作,她告訴我台北美國學校正在招募體育主任,當時我對台北美國學校很感興趣,也希望能把台北美國學校的中學校隊打造得更有競爭力,而且,每個人都跟我說台灣是個非常棒的地方。我來自夏威夷,早就習慣島嶼生活,所以感覺台灣也很適合我。我最重視的就是安全,有人說中國有很多詐騙,但大家都說台灣不一樣,台灣很安全,當我到了這裡後,真的覺得台灣很安全!我出生於越南,算是半個越南人,在成長的過程中,我爸媽常說:「你要用功讀書!要考到好學校!」我爸媽並不支持我打球,因為他們覺得打球沒辦法養家餬口,總是要我努力讀書。很多台灣學生也是在這樣的環境下長大,從小被教育念書比運動更重要,所以我很高興能夠來這裡,啟發學生,做學生的模範,對我來說,體育這條路為我的職涯和人生開啟了很多扇門,很高興能向學生展現這一點。很多人喜歡聘用有校隊經驗的人,因為這表示你能展現團隊精神。作為一名運動員,就是自我學習的歷程,因為失敗的機會遠比成功多的多,這是學習愈挫愈勇,屢敗屢戰的好機會,運動如此,人生也是如此。」
Kim Kawamoto是台北美國學校的體育主任,她在1992年榮獲著名的軍隊體育協會獎項,並兩度入選美國女性運動聯盟的全美明星隊。在任職於台北美國學校之前,Kawamoto曾於美國西點軍校擔任副體育主任。
為了慶祝五月的亞太裔傳統月,我們特別邀請Kim Kawamoto接受「愛台灣,我的選擇」系列的訪談。
💕Why I chose Taiwan #9 - Kim Kawamoto's new life in Taiwan
"I’m from Hawaii and I am a retired military lieutenant colonel signals officer. I served 21 and a half years in the military and this is my first job outside of my retirement. Prior to coming here, I served as an associate athletic director at West Point, where I had played four years of basketball. I was a point guard. In 2016, I don’t know how, but I was inducted into the West Point Sports Hall of Fame. After retiring from the military, I was exploring different options. I put my name in with a head-hunter and she told me about an athletic director position at Taipei American School. I was intrigued at the prospect of helping to build TAS’s middle school athletic program into a more competitive program. Plus, everybody that I talked to just said what a great place Taiwan was. Me coming from Hawaii, I am used to island-living, so it seemed like a good fit. My biggest thing is safety. You hear about the shenanigans going on right now in China, but everybody said Taiwan is different, Taiwan is safe, and coming here that’s been so true. I was actually born in Vietnam. I’m half Vietnamese and half all different things. Growing up, my parents said, “You’ve got to study hard! You’ve got to go to a good school!” They didn’t really support me in athletics. That was not something that was going to put food on the table. It was always, “Study, study, study!” So I am happy to be here as a mentor and a role model, since a lot of these kids grow up in that same environment where athletics aren’t as valued as academics. But for me, it’s been the key to opening so many doors professionally and personally. And I get to exemplify that here. I think a lot of people like to hire people that have played sports because it shows that you can be part of a team. Being an athlete is like its own classroom. It’s a really great way of teaching kids how to be resilient, because you lose more than you win a lot of the time. You deal with failure. Grit, resilience: these are all key aspects of sports. You can fail, and if you do fail, it’s how you come back from it. That’s what life is like too. "
Kim Kawamoto is the Athletic Director of Taipei American School. She won the prestigious Army Athletic Association Award in 1992 and lands two-time American Women's Sports Federation All-America selection. Kawamoto served at Army West Point as an associate athletic director before joining TAS.
Kim’s “Why I Chose Taiwan” interview is also in honor of May Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.