Lin Jessie的部落格

Dear all,

I’ve written an email below in Chinese to try to persuade my friends to vote for Ma Ying-Jeou to save Taiwan’s future since tomorrow it’s the very important election day. I wish I had the extra money to buy a plane ticket to fly back and vote for him but the fact is that I just had instant noodles for dinner last night so this is the very little thing I think I might be able to do to help a bit except praying. My bad writing probably won’t be able to change their mind if they have different opinions but I hope my personal experience and sincerity can help a bit. 

Happy Easter! Chocolate eggs and chocolate bunnies everywhere. All the stores are closed. This is all I know about Easter. Now you know the reason why I am here writing to you again!

Well, the other day I just figured out that I always complained a lot in my email. Perhaps I should spend some time to tell you the good time I had here to have a balance.

Australia is very big. I remember when I told an American guy that I had never been to the U.S., he was very surprised and asked me why? I asked him to give me a good reason to go and he thought for a while then said, “Well, it is very BIG.” I laughed but when I was in Australia, I kind of realized what he meant. Taiwan is a very small island so there are a lot of buildings everywhere and all I saw was cars and buildings and people. It is really nice that I can see very far away. Does what I said make sense? I don’t know.

When I went to Melbourne for a week last month, on the way home from the city to the airport, I saw the most amazing scenery in my life. It’s a very small airport specially built for one particular cheap airline so there’s literally nothing around the airport. There are no trees, no buildings, just nothing. I don’t know how to explain this but when you can see very very far without seeing anything but the horizon, it’s just amazin. I saw the most beautiful clouds and the biggest rainbow in my life. It’s the first time I saw the rainbow starts from the horizon. No words can describe what I saw. Really, you have to be there to see how beautiful it is.

Also in Melbourne, I saw koalas in the forest and was very touched. Why? I don’t know. I saw them in the zoos a lot and seeing them in the nature just made me feel good. Of course, I fed kangaroos, touched wombat (a kind of Australian animal, a bit like a bear but it’s a marsupial), saw Tasmania devil (a very strange looking animal), platypus and sharks! Of course that’s in the aquarium.

I also enjoy watching hundreds of white parrots (forget the name, very beautiful but super noisy) flying together and also the ducks crossing the road. Or when I was at the beach or in the parks, I laughed so loud watching the seagulls fighting for food or playing with each other. Little things like this make my day.

It’s a good place for people who love nature and you can do a lot of outdoor activities. Last year, I spent a weekend at a surf camp and it was so cool even though I got sick afterwards. Sydney definitely has very nice beaches.

What else? I watched Carmen in the Opera House. To be honest, I think the DVD I watched singing by Placido Domingo is better but it is really cool to dress up and sit there watch live opera. Almost forgot that I took a helicopter ride to see the twelve Apostles (a collection of natural limestone) and it’s probably the most exciting thing I did in Australia so far.

The best thing in life is free! Australia offers a lot of free things for poor people like me to enjoy. There are free concerts, Mardi Gras (Gay parade), and other festivals and that’s why you saw me wearing Yukata (simple form of kimono) in the picture on facebook.

And of course those great teachers I had and nice people who gave me help when I most needed. OK, that’s what I can think of now. I just want to balance a bit for my negative reports in the past about Australia.

So hungry now. Should end it here. Thank you so much for reading my emails and the support you gave me when I was down. Happy Easter and tell everyone to vote for Ma Ying-jeou!

Cheers

Jessie

大家好，

明天就是投票日了，剛剛打電話回家，聽說現在大家都很緊張，選前的抹黑，各票人馬出來站台，口水戰，一如往昔。我去年在這兒經歷過澳洲的總統大選後，發現原來這些惡劣招術是有全球性的，哪兒大概都一樣吧！

要是本姑娘是好野人的話，我一定買張機票飛回去投票。但是呢，昨天晚上才又吃泡麵的我只能在這兒為台灣的前途祈禱。現在是復活節四天的假日很閒，所以呢我想一想，應該在最後關頭為馬英九拉拉票。我姊還警告我要在十二點前寄出，不然犯法，什麼跟什麼？快說吧！

應該每個人心中都有適當人選了吧，或許看這封信也不會改變你的想法，加上本人文筆又差。但是呢我覺得呢這是在遙遠的海外的我能為我的國家做的一點點小事吧！每個人都可以有不同的想法。不同意見的人也可以參考一下。

現在在這最後的關頭大家就是要增大眼睛，看清事實。什麼是事實？台灣的教育讓我最生氣的就是訓練出一群不會思考的學生，當他們長大後，許多人呢也還是停留在那個階段。人云亦云，讓媒體拉著走，跟自己有相同意見的人在一起，與我同路的是好人，與我有不同意見的統統是壞人或不是人。很少站在對方的立場，換個角度看事實，更不用說退一步站在圈子外看圈子內發生的事而加以反省。

這幾年台灣的政治、經濟、外交、國民生活水準等等方面的惡化是有目共睹。一 有問題，大家就開始責怪別人。民進黨說是國民黨留下的爛攤子，國民黨說民進黨貪污不做事。但是真正要做的是什麼？是檢討發生這些事情的原因，而加以改進。就像一個人在同樣工作崗位作久了就會開始懶散一樣，我覺得呢，撇開別的不說，政黨輪替絕對是一個可以開拓新局面的打破僵局的好方法。

馬英九與謝長廷的憂缺點大家新聞應該看很多了，也不用我多說。只是我真的很訝異那個當年支持宋七力的人當了高雄市長不說，現在居然出來選總統，民進黨真的是沒人才了嗎？

我不算支持國民黨的人，但是民進黨的作為常常令我不敢苟同。尤其是說話的方式，挑釁民眾的方式，給整個社會一個壞榜樣。在台灣時，我常常覺得不可思議，我們的總統副總統怎麼能講出那麼不經大腦思考，不負責任的話。一個國家的領導者是代表了全國的人民，我常常都覺得很丟臉有這樣的總統副總統與執政黨，難怪整個社會向下沈淪，國際地位低落，這不是沒道理的。

我一直對語言相當有興趣，這學期也選了與語言相關的課程。第二堂上課就與老師起衝突。我們在討論STEREOTYPE就是刻板印象，一個台灣女孩子說大家都覺得台灣學生都很認真。老師接著就說，恩，一般人都覺得中國人很認真。我馬上抗議，說台灣人不是中國人。我們有不同文化，我們不是他們的一部份，不應該被一視同仁。結果馬上被老師制止，說他在上課中不想談政治。氣死我了。這個課程還叫文化與語言。下課後我還與德國同學討論我有沒有誤會他的意思，那位同學說他看到的與我想的是一樣。在澳洲大陸人的數量遠遠多過台灣人，而且大陸與澳洲有良好的關係，所以呢從一開始我翻譯課中的雪梨之類的台灣用法完全被扣分，因為老師是中國人，說大陸式用法悉尼等才是『官方標準』。XXX什麼時候大陸中文變成澳洲的官方語言了？昨天與一個看過好幾次面的韓國同學第一次聊天時，她問我是哪裡來的，我說台灣，她說，她沒想到我是中國人。當然我不是，我又說一遍，我是台灣來的，是台灣人！前兩天上課老師講到他的台灣同事說台灣人上醫院看完醫生後不說再見，問在座有沒有台灣人，我舉手。下課時隔壁的白目男生居然說你們泰國真的看完醫生都不說再見啊！我耐著性子說，我是台灣人，看完醫生跟去喪禮後我們都不說再見。上課時常常有些老師也一樣，把台灣人當成中國人，譬如說問同學從哪來的，韓國，中國，日本，還有嗎？我說台灣，他說喔，一樣都說中文嗎！一副台灣不過是中國的一部份，不用多說，氣死偶了，這些人是怎麼樣。

後來我寫信給老師抗議告訴台灣不是中國的一部份，台灣人不等於中國人。結果呢，鬧了ㄧ場小風波，弄得我很煩。因為講師說是誤會一場，他說以為我是中國人，所以他制止我不讓我在課堂上談政治。有興趣看我寫的信的人請看我的部落格的台灣人不等於中國人。超會離題的我拉票拉到這又要繞回來了，我們需要一個言而有信，不玩弄語言，有良好表達溝通能力又負責任的人來領導我們走向一個新局面。我個人經驗，至少在馬英九擔任台北市長期間，我看到的是許多很正面的形象，我個人覺得這真的是我們國家需要的。

在國外的台灣人或在國外呆過的人應該可以深深體會我的感受，加上現在中國的勢力日益壯大，西瓜偎大邊，就連中國對西藏示威的鎮壓，國際社會也睜一隻眼閉一隻眼，說說廢話而已，讓我這幾天又為此非常生氣。聽我姊說支持棒球的人很生氣馬英九說假如中國繼續如此，不排除退出奧運。能參加奧運是台灣的光榮，但是假如台灣也與其他縮頭縮尾的國家，任憑中國恣意妄為藐視人權，就算贏了奧運我也覺得這沒什麼可驕傲。

說的夠多了，分享一些想法，不認同也沒關係，大家都可以各自表態。最後要叮嚀大家，快拉票啊！聽說尤其是中南部的票是關鍵，大家一起為台灣的前途加油吧！對了，我姊說假如馬英九當選的話，她星期日在建國玉市擺的古董攤的所有商品統統打折，恩，大家一起祈禱，然後呢去她那兒買特價商品吧！