教育部「3Q VERY MUCH」生命教育系列

校園AQ (Adversity Quotient）「逆境智商達人」優勝作品

The True world

by Saga Ringmar , age 12,

Bilingual Department

When I look out the window I don't usually see the same thing twice. It is not only because the weather is changing, or the neighbors are switching the tiles on their roof. It is because we are continuously going on trips, and experiencing the world. My family and I enjoy adventure, every vacation we go on trips to places around the world. China, Italy, and France-- it's quite possible that we've been there. It is easy to say that you have traveled a lot, and easier still to say you have moved, but the actual process is way harder than it seems. That's why I love it.

My name is saga Ringmar, I am 12 years old. My dad is Swedish; my mom is American. I have lived in London, Thailand and now Taiwan. For 5 years I lived in London, experiencing the busy streets with the mixed ethnicities, and the small local schools that had a very simple schedule. Then, after those 5 years, we went to Thailand for a one-year trip, where we encountered the palm trees, food, beaches and a whole new world of people. After Thailand we moved back to London, but ever since then we didn't feel quite at home. After maybe another 4 years, we were tired beyond thought; the idea of moving to another exotic place haunted our dreams. We had to go. So in the year of 2006, we were off to Taiwan--which is where we are now, settling in amongst the beautiful mountains, and the Chinese language. And some how, although we are thousands of miles away from London, it feels like home has followed us, although it is hard--we are now just beginning to find our way around. We know how to order duck, ask directions in our 'brilliant' Chinese, and have even made a few friends.

    For some people the world seems a scary place, and it's best to just stay home. Some people, I can frankly say are just like Hobbits(only without the hairy feet).Some people travel everywhere, and move every year, their parents work all over the world so the kids are tossed around like toys. If you’re them, you see a lot, but you never get to have a real proper life. That's why I love mine, we move because we love new places, and as a family enjoys sharing the excitement. Not because we have to.

“Oh you are so beautiful! Where you come from?” A lady selling stinky Tofu asks us over the blazing pot, as we try and breathe without sniffing the stench. It is an easy question, ‘where do you come from?' It isn't so hard to answer, unless you’re us. What would you say if you were me? I can't answer “America”, because I've never lived there, I’ve lived in London but my parents aren't from there, even Sweden could be a possibility. And all this poor lady wants is a simple answer; she doesn't want my life biography. I usually say Sweden, or London-- maybe even America.

When you move around from place to place, you begin to realize the ways to cope with different problems in your everyday life either abroad or in a new country. For one thing, people in the country I go to may be kind of mean to me, and let me and my family travel with no help, like sinking in the ocean. Others may be thrilled we are there. In China, Beijing we were worshiped like gods, everyone wanted our picture and wanted to take photos with us. There were about 50 people crowding around us watching my sister eating a banana! I sadly have no way to shoo these people away, live with it--that's what I do. Here in Taiwan it's the language that is frustrating. Now I understand kind of a lot and can say enough to order a hamburger and some fries. But what did I do in the beginning? Well, the finger is a beautiful body part, I just point to what I want to get; however, if it isn't ordering and someone just wants to speak to me, I simply shrug my shoulders and say: “I don't know” in English, they usually get scared and then run away. One tactic my Grandma used to communicate was to use sign language, once when she was ordering fried chicken, she started clucking like a hen and pecking at me and my mom. After a long time of my grandma's endless clucking, the man at the fried Chicken counter finally understood. Hm...maybe I will stick to the pointing.

I hate Jet Lag, I like to sleep it has to be said. Ever since I had to stay up late at night studying for tests at night I have begun to grow a love for my bed. But Jet Lag can make you feel rotten, you want to enjoy the sights but instead you only collapse into a tired heap. I usually sleep three days in a row, and then when I finally wake up I've had enough sleep for the whole week, and am ready to start timing myself into the usual times. This leaves us happy and jolly to discover everything new around me, and trust me...it's worth it!

People in Taiwan tend to 'think about their future’, their parents have their whole lives planned out for them and nothing can go wrong. My only goal in life is to enjoy life while I can, and go to the 10 most exciting places on earth. I love seeing others life styles, from the blazing hot, humid apartments to the small snow-covered cottages. Live styles are what make up the world-and if we really want to experience the true difference in culture we should see for ourselves. I mean it's easy to say:’ I saw this picture of how life is in Zimbabwe'' if you really want to know what it's like. Go There.

Do I ever miss London? Of course! Not the actual city, but our community and the people and friends we made. When I went back there this summer I was so surprised to see that so many people still cared, and still missed us everyday. It's natural to feel homesick, or to long for a place to call your own. It takes a long time to start to get use to the things around you--and even harder to say goodbye to them. We did get seriously sick of London, for the entire last year the highlight of the day was watching my sister play with sticks. For some, a continuous agenda is their life style; but not for the Ringmars, we are always where it happens.

Looking back I now realize that moving to Taiwan is one of the greatest things I've ever done. It is the beginning of the obstacles of life. It is as if I had been reborn, reborn into the real world of sorrow, anger and hope. I have learned how to be strong and keep going. I have begun to notice the things around me. Yes, I am away from the country I have known for so many years, but somehow home is with me all the time. I am Saga Ringmar, off for adventure and there is still more to come.

真實世界 

林莎嘉 ( Saga Ringmar )， 12歲

翻譯:黃玟瑞老師

    每當我看向窗外，我通常無法看到同樣的景象。不是窗外的天氣變了，也不是鄰居換了不同顏色的屋瓦，而是因為我們不斷的旅行、不斷的體驗新的世界。我和我的家庭都喜歡冒險，每次假期我們總會踏上旅途去欣賞、遊歷世界各個不同的角落。中國、義大利、法國都是我們足跡所經之處。常常旅行說起來很很容易，搬過家說起來更容易，但實際上所要花費的精神遠比它看起來的困難多了。但這也就是為什麼我如此喜愛體驗新的世界。

    我是莎嘉．靈格瑪( Saga Ringmar )，我今年12歲。我的父親是瑞典人，母親是美國人。我住過倫敦、泰國…等地，現在則在台灣落腳。那五年在倫敦，我體驗到了繁忙的街道、融合的種族，還有我那小小的、課表簡單的地區小學。住在倫敦的那五年之後，我們接著去了泰國一年，在那裡我們見識到了棕櫚樹、泰國的食物、海灘，還有一群像是來自不同世界的人們。泰國行之後，我們搬回了倫敦，但自此，倫敦已經不再有家的感覺了。四年又過去了，我們已經厭倦了這種感覺，「想要搬到一個富有異國情調的地方」的想法一直在我們的夢裡揮之不去。是時候了！因此在2006年，我們到了台灣 -- 在一個擁有美麗的群山和語言的地方，安頓了下來。不知為什麼，雖然這裡離倫敦有千里之遙，但我們又找回了家的感覺，過程中雖然有許多困難與挑戰--我們現在才剛剛開始搞清楚週遭的環境呢！我們已經知道怎麼訂烤鴨了，也會用我們「超強」的中文問路，更棒的是我們還交到了一些朋友。

    對某些人來說未知是個恐怖的世界，最安全的事就是待在家裡哪都不去。老實說有些人就像是「哈比人--只是少了毛茸茸的腳。有些人到處旅行、每年都搬到一個新的地方，他們的父母必須到世界各地工作，所以孩子們只好像被打包的玩具一樣被帶來帶去。如果你是他們，你會看到很多不同的事物，但你沒辦法擁有真正的生活。然而這就是為什麼我如此喜歡我的人生。我們搬家是因為我們喜歡如此的生活，而不是因為我們沒有選擇，身為家庭的一員，我們總是願意和彼此分享這份展開新生活的興奮之情。

   一位賣臭豆腐的阿姨在我們嘗試著在那油膩的油煙與臭味中呼吸時問我：「哇！你們長得好漂亮喔，你們來自於哪裡啊？」這是一個很簡單的問題，你來自於哪裡？這絕不是一個難以回答的問題 -- 除非你是我們。如果你是我，你應該如何回答？我不能說我是美國人，因為我根本沒有住在美國過。我住過倫敦，但我的爸媽根本也不是英國人，甚至瑞典都可以是可能的回答之一。而這無辜的阿姨只是想要聽到一個很簡單的答案，而不是我的人生自傳。我，通常會說我來自瑞典，或倫敦，有時也會說我來自美國。

    隨著我們到處搬遷，我們開始了解該如何和不同的人相處。有時候新到一個地方，人們會對我們有點壞。有時我們在旅程中遇到困難卻沒有人願意幫助我們，那種感覺就好像是沉到海裡一樣無助。有的時候有些人看到我們就會像是看到外星人般的興奮。有一次在亞洲某個國家，我和妹妹就曾經被五十多個人包圍，他們都很興奮的看著我妹妹在吃香蕉，還要求合照，我根本沒辦法把他們趕開，只好接受現狀，我就是如此應對。在台灣，我碰到最讓人挫敗的就是就是語言，但現在我已經能夠流利的向店員點餐。一開始我是怎麼做的呢？我覺得手指是身體中最實用的部分了，我只要用我的魔法手指一指就好了；而要是我不需要點餐而人們只是想要和我說說話，我只要聳聳肩說：「I don’t know.」，通常大家就會嚇跑了。我的奶奶曾經跟我說比手勢也是溝通的一種方式，一次奶奶想要點炸雞吃，我們都不知道該如何點餐，奶奶就開始在櫃檯前學起母雞咯咯叫，還一邊學母雞啄著我和我媽。經過了大概一世紀那麼久吧，店員竟然懂了! 嗯，想想，我還是用指的好了！

    我也很討厭時差，我喜歡睡覺，尤其有時差時，我好像愛上了我的床一樣。通常我會一次大睡三天，等到我好不容易清醒了，我就已經準備好展開新生活，準備好去發現我身邊所有的新事物了，相信我，真的很值得。

    台灣的人常常”思考他們的未來 ”，父母親總是為他們的孩子規畫好他們的人生，一點差錯都不會有的人生。而我唯一的人生目標就只是當我能享受人生時就盡情享受人生，以及到世界上十個最令人興奮的地方旅行。我喜歡不同的生活型態，不管是悶熱潮濕的公寓房子，還是被白雪覆蓋的小屋。不同的生活型態成就了如今這個世界。如果我們真的想要體驗各種文化的不同之處，就應該親自去感受。我是說，要說我看過辛巴威的照片很容易，但想要真正體驗辛巴威的生活，就得真的去到辛巴威。

    我想念倫敦嗎？當然！不是真的想念那個城市，而是想念那裡的社區、人們和朋友。我今年夏天回到倫敦時，驚喜的發現很多人都還很在乎、想念我們。有思鄉之情，或是渴望擁有一個歸屬是很正常的。要適應一個新的環境很難，但要和它們說再見，更難！然而，在倫敦住到後來我們已經十分厭煩，在那最後一年中，我一天中最興奮的事居然只是看著妹妹們在雪中玩樹枝！對有些人來說，處理不完的待辦事項就是他們的生活方式，但絕不是「靈格瑪家」的生活方式。對我們來說生活就是享受當下！

    回首過去我才明白，搬到台灣是我做過最棒的事之一。這是我人生許多障礙、挑戰的開始，就如同我重生了一般，重生到了一個真實的世界裡，一個充滿了悲傷、憤怒，但也充滿了希望的真實世界裡。我學會了如何堅強，如何堅持下去。我開始發現、探索、體驗發生在我身邊的一切。是的，我離開了一個我如此熟悉的城市，但其實，「家」就是有「我」的地方。我是莎嘉．靈格瑪( Saga Ringmar )，我已經準備好迎向冒險和未知的未來。

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