2018-08-24

【Aiden in English】

        Today truly was the first day I felt this adventure was almost over. Thirty-six hours in Nanjing, twenty-four more in Beijing, and then fourteen hours sitting in one place surrounded by strangers while flying through freezing clouds. Oddly enough, when the finish line is in sit, mom slows the pace down, deciding now would be the best time to spend some family time. 

        Normally, Chinese families only have a section move overseas, and hence so many ABC's living in the US. However, most make annual trips back to China, seeing family and never leaving their family behind. I wish I could say the same of my family, but that isn't true. I haven't been anywhere in China outside of Beijing, and mom hasn't been to China for 18 years as her parents or my grandparents went abroad. So pretty much, this side of the house hasn't visited its corresponding relatives for as long as I've been alive. 

        As for my mom's relatives, it isn't a complete mystery. Her sister, my aunt, and daughter visited the US several times a few years ago, and they stayed over at our house. Once again, that was a while ago. Regardless, the family doesn't change that dramatically over such a short period of time, so I expected to know everyone pretty well. At least, that's what I thought.

        I shouldn't underestimate the growth of young kids. From a constant perspective of parents, sometimes growth can be overlooked. But if you see someone years apart, you forget the young years hold growth spurts every other month it seems. Unfortunately, the Chinese population appears to lack a few of these spurts, so my tiny seven-year-old cousin spent most of her growth within her mind. It's really depressing to know a little girl eight years younger than you and a Chinese vocabulary twice the size of yours. And I even took AP Chinese. Therefore, my cousin kind of bossed me around at times, and I let her have her fun. That is until I realized she had an irrational fear of water, water banks, and bridges. Some may say it's cruel, but I had to make her cross every bridge we saw.

        Due to the lack of exposure, mom's modern Chinese technology skills took a severe dip. WeChat has built quite a monopoly, controlling the texting system, voice chat, calls, video messages, photos, social media, calling taxis, and wireless paying (Alipay). Now that's what I call growth. WeChat officially combined iMessage, FaceTime, calling, Snapchat, Uber, and ApplePay into one app. The result? Practically everyone has WeChat. Of course, we as Americans don't. At least, not all its features. So for the entire trip mom and I were walking on one leg, paying with cash and hailing cabs on the street. Sometimes I wondered if it would've just been better to spend an hour’s time one night and set up WeChat, but I highly doubt it would spread through the rest of the world like China, so perhaps an account now wouldn't be too meaningful. 

        Family time with mom consists of food and a long walk around the area, which happened right after food, and similarly, food followed the walk. Not the greatest idea from the standpoint of one’s digestive tract. However, some great memories were made with my little cousin who grew up quite a bit from the last time I saw her, but not enough to become a stranger. I'm glad about that. Hopefully, the next time we meet, we still won't be strangers, and maybe I'll have a bigger Chinese vocabulary.

【红霞译文】

        今天真的是我头一次感到此行出游即将终结，剩下的只有南京卅六钟头，外加北京廿四小时，然后穿越冰冻云层期间再与周围陌生人一道危襟正坐十四个钟点。邪门的是，结束之前妈妈居然放慢了节奏，专心致志与家人共度良宵。

        通常情况下，中国人家只有部分成员移居海外，结果便出现很多华裔子弟在美国出生长大，他们中不少同胞心系家人，每年都要回国探亲，但愿我也有同样经历，可事实并非如此。除北京之外，我从来没有到访过中国其它地方，因为妈妈的父母即我的外祖辈旅居海外，她已有十八年没回国，所以说长这么大，我还没跟妈妈家的亲戚朋友打过照面。

        妈妈的亲戚于我并不完全陌生，她的妹妹即我的小姨及其女儿几年前多次来美并住在我家，这已是多年以前的事情，不管怎么，亲情并非因短暂离别而发生戏剧性变化，至少我这么认为。

        “士别三日，当刮目相看”。我不该低估儿童成长，但从父母惯有的眼光来看，身体增长无需大惊小怪，不过如果与人时隔几年未曾相见，你会忘记发育期个头窜得日新月异，可惜咱中国人似乎缺乏的就是这点骤变，因此我家七岁小表妹最突出的成长莫过于心眼。面对一个年幼八岁而汉语词汇量却高出两倍之多的丫头片子真让你无地自容，殊不知我持有美国大学中文预科结业文凭。这下倒好，表妹几度神气活现拿我开涮，我只好认栽随她取乐，直到我发现她对溪流河沿浮桥有种莫名其妙的恐惧感方才出现转机，有人或许认为此招太损，但我不得不挤兑她走完一路上遇到的所有桥梁。

        由于生活脱节，妈妈对中国现代技术知之甚少。当今微信几近垄断一切，操控短信系统、语音聊天、电话交流、视频传递、相片成像、社交媒体、出租打的、无线支付（支付宝），目前我把这些发展称为成长，微信正式将电子短信、同步视频、即时电话、快照聊天、优步打的及苹果支付火并成一个应用程序，结果呢？几乎人人有微信，而在美国生活的我们则不尽然，起码没有这么多功能。这趟中国之旅我和妈妈独腿前行，用现金付账，靠上街拦车，有时禁不住扪心自问，假如晚上花上个把钟头设好微信是否会有改观，但我高度怀疑世界其它国家会像中国发展如此神速，所以说即使眼下有个账户也无济于事。

        与妈妈家人团圆少不了聚餐及饭后就近化食，吃饱了散步，散步完了接着再吃，这对人体消化道来说未必有益，不过与小表妹度过的美好时光却成了我记忆中最珍贵的部分，尽管自打上次见面之后她长大了许多，但彼此相得甚欢毫无陌生之意，令我倍感欣慰，希望下次相见的时候依旧谈笑自若，没准我将扩大不少汉语词汇量。

Today in History(历史上的今天):

2017: Lucerne—Salvation through Christ, CHE(瑞士卢塞恩─救赎之城)

2017: Lucerne—Romantic Pearl of Swiss, CHE(瑞士卢塞恩─浪漫明珠)

2017: Lucerne the Mournful Lion, Swiss(瑞士卢塞恩─垂死狮子像)

2017: Lucerne the Chapel Bridge, Swiss(瑞士卢塞恩─教堂廊桥)

2017: Lucerne—Variety of Standard, Swiss(瑞士卢塞恩─多元文化)

2017: Basel the Fable Basilisk, Swiss(瑞士巴塞尔—蛇王仙境)

2017: Basel—Home to Roche & Novartis, CHE(瑞士巴塞尔—罗氏与诺华药业总部)

2010: 天大地大(Heaven and Earth)

2009: 证书奖状奖杯(Awards)

Crosslink(相关博文):

2012: 兄弟姐妹(Siblings)

China(出游中国)