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July 23, 2005
The rain at Charlevoix
I never really liked the rain, especially drizzles, until today.
I was on my way to Charlevoix, a fairytale place near Quebec City. Almost everyone I know recommended that place to me. So when a friend from Montreal visited me in Quebec, I proposed Charlevoix as our destination.
It was a lovely auberge with a lovely sign: “Thé”. Sitting in the terrace surrounded by the beautiful flowers, facing the river far away, drinking my favourite green tea, I felt that I was in another country and another world at one moment.
It started to rain. The rain gently caressed the petals of the flowers, the raindrops rolled in the flower bed slowly as if they had a wonderful dream. An old lady with beautiful smile was picking up the fresh flowers in spite of the rain. I stole one petal and put it in my tea. With my eyes closed, I smelled the tea, smelled the rain. The light fragrance awakened all my sensations. Seems all the senses of my body opened up to embrace the mixed scent. I could just melt in the tea, in the rain.
We are always running on the road, we are always driven by the trivialities in life; we are always busy with work, school, house or family. How many times we think of stopping for a moment to indulge ourselves just to smell, to see, or to feel the little detailed beauty in life? How many times we could leave everything behind and just be with ourselves to enjoy the serenity in our heart for a moment?
I started to like the rain, including the drizzles.
I would say that Charlevoix deserved every single compliment. We drove along Saint-Laurence River and I was drunk in the blue. Sometimes it was hard to tell which blue was the sky and which blue was the river. As we were enjoying the mountain, the river and the different layers of the clouds, all of sudden, without any warning, it poured. It poured like hell. We could not see anything. The rain was fierce even a bit violent as if it was taking a revenge. It swept the windows, it roared, it whipped. We had to stop at the road to wait. My friend asked me: “What is the best thing to do in such weather?” I was thinking: “Making love.” But he was not the type of friends to whom I was supposed to say so, I answered: “Sleeping” instead. I did fall in asleep for a while until my friend woke me up, “Look! Look!” I jumped out of the car with my camera. It was a beautiful rainbow, oh no in fact two. It was just stunning...
At that moment, I smiled: It was worth to go through the rain if we can see the rainbows…
Posted by pengbo at 11:34 AM | Comments (0)
July 16, 2005
第几条罪状？
As per the request of Knee Ga To (special name btw), I tried to translate this posting. It was not an easy job because it had a lot of culture context.
(In China, we call those people who know how to enjoy life “Xixo Zi”. “Zi” means Capitalism while “Xiao Zi” refers to those people who are influenced by the life style of the captitalism :))
Li was accused of being Xiao Zi and she has confessed her 6 typical Xiao Zi behaviours. Compare to her, I am a lot worse. “Xiao” means small, which is used to set the tone of “Capitalism” style here. If Li is “Xiao Zi” I would be a “Xiao Xiao Zi”:
A few examples of my bizzar Xiao Xiao Zi behaviours are listed as following:
1) Like throwing myself into my bath tub, lightening candles along with my music, or reading in the bubbles. Not too often, only 5 times per week.
2) Like reading Murakami but prefer English translations to Chinese ones, which further proves that I always admire capitalistic stuff including the language.
3) Like inviting friends over to drink and chat. However the lights would become decorations because I would lighten my candles all over the house. Fortunately haven’t caused any fire so far.
4) Like listening to French songs as well as men who speak French… (Ah, nasty girl! )
5) Hate bringing an umbrella. Like walking in the drizzles and enjoy the feelings when my hair gets a little wet; dare not say I like the feelings of catching a cold but I do like the feelings of being taken care after catching a cold.
6) Can’t read in the library, will fall in asleep because it is too quiet; Can’t read at home either, will fall in asleep as well because it is too distracting and the bed and sofa are too accessible. So the perfect place for reading is the café where I can also “read” people, of course at the same time being read :P. for example today while I was reading and waiting for a friend at Café Cherrier, the waiter came over and brought me a beautiful pink drink and told me that all their employees thought that I was very charming….which was extremely helpful for my big ego and vanity…
I know that I can continue listing more yet that might be enough for the confession today…I will try not to ruin my beautiful image that soooooon.
(Whew!...after the translation)
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Li 列举了其小资的六大罪状，如此说来偶恐怕是有过之而无不及了。似乎只有“小”字才能体会出“资”来，故而偶可自封为" 小小资". 罪状列举如下:
1.喜欢把自己仍在一池泡沫里,点上蜡烛放上音乐或是在泡泡里看书. 每周至少五次.
2.喜欢村上春树的英文版小说.总感觉英文翻译更具其神韵, 进一步证明我的崇洋媚外的资产阶级臭思想.
3.喜欢请朋友来聊天喝酒,有灯不点却点一屋子蜡烛.
4.喜欢听法语歌曲顺便喜欢说法语的男人.(阿呸!)
5.不喜欢拿伞,喜欢在小雨里散步,喜欢头发湿湿的感觉; 不敢说喜欢感冒的感觉,但喜欢感冒以后有人疼的感觉...
6.看书不能去图书馆,太静,要睡觉;也不能在家,床和沙发都离得太近,也要睡觉. 只能在café里顺便可以看人,当然也被人看...比如今天,我坐在Café Chérrier 看书等朋友, the waiter 送了我一大杯漂亮的饮料,并告诉我说他们所有的waiter 都觉得我很美丽...让我虚荣心极大地膨胀了一回...
我知道罪状不只六条, 先自我检讨到此吧...日子还长着呢, 给自己留点面子...:P
Posted by pengbo at 10:18 PM | Comments (0)
July 15, 2005
Home
I am home.
I always think that je suis une voyageuse...but I like the feeling of being home, even if there is no one in the home waiting for me; even if it looks a little deserted without me living in it for two weeks.
Yes I am back. This moment I think of that song again...
I am not bored in Quebec, but I do miss Montreal. I miss my bed, my bath; I miss Chinese foooooood; I miss the noise on Ste-Catherine; I miss the cafés on St-Denis; I miss the dear faces and sweet voices of my beloved friends...
Montreal I am back and I miss you. You know that, don't you? :)
Posted by pengbo at 2:08 AM | Comments (0)
July 10, 2005
Good luck!
Posted by pengbo at 11:58 PM | Comments (0)
July 9, 2005
A perfect afternoon
The raindrops were knocking at the windows.
Finally I could sleep in after an intensive week. I seem to have been used to living alone so all of sudden having many people walking around in my routine life makes me feel a little bit…suffocating. I need some fresh air, I need some solitude.
In spite of the rain, I left for Old Quebec. There were a lot of small cafés, shops and churches on saint-Jean. Looking at the vivid color of the buildings in the rain, I felt free and light, like the wind. ;) I went in a very cozy café and sat in the terrace. I started to enjoy three things at the same time: drinking my favourite café au lait, reading and watching people. I closed my eyes at times, just breathing the cold fresh air with the mixed fragrance of my coffee-----life was beautiful.
I spent the whole afternoon there reading a book, yes of course in French. Thanks to Karl, I had the chance to read this beautiful little book written by a Chinese, in French. Even though there are some new words that I did not understand, I did not stop to refer to my little dictionary. Seemed if I did so, I would interrupt the characters in the book and I would destroy the whole atmosphere. Yet I understood the sentiments, the feelings and the mood.
It started to rain hard. I moved inside, continued being absorbed in my little book. After a while, the waiter came over:” Excuse me, the gentleman over there wants to order a drink for you…” I looked over and saw a young smiling face......
Posted by pengbo at 9:24 PM | Comments (0)
July 8, 2005
Rencontre
Karl says that "Il croit en la rencontre", now me too.
Tuesday morning, the first morning after I moved to the new family, I went to the “Brunet”, a store that was very close to where I lived to get the bus pass. There I met two girls who were also doing the French immersion program in Quebec. One was from Romania and the other from Vancouver. We talked a bit, of course in French ;) then I left.
Around noon, I finished my first class at school which was in Old Quebec, very far from where I lived. I went to a café that I often visited to take my lunch. I opened the door and I saw the two girls there! “Bonjour! Quelle surprise! ” We ended up having lunch together and managed to communicate well in our not-so-good French! We exchanged the contact info and promised each other to keep in touch.
Today I finally finished my very last course for the whole week. I stepped out the gate of the school and I saw a familiar face: the girl from Romania who was just wandering around. We laughed hard and decided to spend the whole evening together. A simple but relaxing dinner in a terrace in a small restaurant, a lovely walk to see the show of the “Festival d’été”; some impulsive shopping that proved that we were the real women; a cappuccino and an espresso in a cozy café watching the pink sky after the sunset; some casual dancing along with the Spanish singer’s sexy voice from the festival and finally a bus trip together to go home….An unplanned evening with so many vivid and enjoyable memories!
That is what I love about life. The door is always open; you never know who will walk into your life and paint some colors...:)
Posted by pengbo at 11:30 PM | Comments (0)
July 4, 2005
Back to school
Getting up at 6:30am is not normal for me. It may have to be my routine. However while showering in the sunshine on my way to school, I never enjoyed morning so much. It was quiet yet bright. People were enjoying their morning coffee in the café. They smiled at me and I smiled back. A guy was busy broadcasting when I passed by CBC. Cool morning.
Ten of us were waiting for the placement test to see which level we would be at. It was quiet at the very beginning, then I heard a few people start to speak Spanish, then some others German, two people from US had no choice but speak English…(someone told me a joke: if you speak two languages, it is called bilingual; if three, it is called trilingual; if only one, that is called American. :)) I smiled: Maybe I should start to speak Mandarin! It was amazing that we came from different world with different background but one common purpose: Learn French!
I moved, to a new family further away with 3 daughters including twin sisters, 1 son and 2 cats. At least they have internet!
In one day, I did unpacking, packing and unpacking again.
Posted by pengbo at 12:23 PM | Comments (0)
July 3, 2005
Leaving for Quebec
It is the time to leave, Helen. (La chanson d’Hélène)
This is the road leading to my temporary new life, familiar and strange. I drove alone, with the thoughts flying everywhere and nowhere. I used to be sitting on the co-driver’s seat. The car fell off the highway and we survived. At that time I thought: we could survive the death, what else can’t we survive? Then I found that there were a lot that we could not, sadly.
After 3 hours, I was in Quebec City. The lady who welcomed me was very nice and the place was very close to Old Quebec. The only problem was: no internet access as promised. To me, not able to check e-mails, to update my blog, to flicker and IM for 2 months, this was unbearable. Anyway, I could not do anything tonight.
I took a long walk to check the site of the school in old Quebec. I fell in love with the city right away. The small cafés and restaurants with flowers smiling in front, the tranquil churches with secret gardens, the little bookshops and art galleries down the road, the people who crossed the path with me at this special moment…everything touched my heart so tenderly…
I am in love…though I know most of the time in life, only love is not enough…
Posted by pengbo at 9:28 PM | Comments (0)
July 2, 2005
Bonjour!
Posted by pengbo at 9:18 AM | Comments (0)
July 1, 2005
A day to remember
An intensive week. And an intensive day.
Unexpected things at work came up and I had to work around the clock; my computer decided to be on strike and it had to be re-formatted completely; When the beautiful thunderstorm came, I heard some interesting rhythm on my floor---my roof was leaking; a long to-do-list and final cleaning up was waiting for me before I leave...
It was raining at one point. I lay on the floor, listening to the melody created due to the encounter of the raindrops and some metal buckets outside. It sounded dramatic and ...complicated. Unfortunately I seemed to play the same melody. I heard a voice from my heart:" Girl, you need some rest..." Oh yeah, I do.
It seems to be a day to remember: Canada Day, the birthday of CCP (Which seems soooooo irrelavant, yet it is a holiday for people in China anyways), the day the HongKong was back to the arm of China (I feel like I am being tested in history class)and all of sudden, I remembered in this very day, an interesting wedding was held in a small town many years ago...my mind was flying too far...
So it was a day that worth celebrating anyways. Spending the whole evening with two great friends made this day even more memorable. Joking over Cosmopolitain and Pink lady, playing with the umbrella that was flipped over in the rain, stealing some shots in the crowd of Jazz Festival, running so hard after the two b*****ds with my high heels, (not too high but still can't run with them!), dancing with our bare feet at the old port with the salsa music and watching the fabulous fireworks...We were suddenly teenagers again, suddenly innocent again, suddenly forgetting the complicated world...Viv said to me:" Hey girl, you are wild tonight!" Yes honey I am...once in a while...
Posted by pengbo at 11:20 PM | Comments (0)