因缘际会｜我亲爱的外教
我的外教名叫VIVIAN，八零后，来自美国西雅图。
说到西雅图，首先想到的是“暮光”中，帅帅的吸血鬼爱德华最爱的雨城。而这里，也是赫赫有名的波音、微软公司总部所在地。星巴克开设的第一家店，也选址在此。来自于如此显赫家乡的VIVIAN，实在是充满了个人魅力。
最开始，VIVIAN是我家小朋友的老师。我没有见过一个老师的课，能够上得如她那样生动有趣。她有着老师的张力，控制着整个课堂的走向及教授知识的要点。但整堂课中，看到的是一个和小孩子一样的大孩子，活泼、顽皮，大声嬉笑，融入整个课堂中。我想说，她非常享受教学这个事情本身。
我的小朋友是个课堂上坐不住的孩子，他说“VIVIAN老师的课太有趣了！”这可不容易。
而我对她的喜爱，是源于两个完全不同的教育及生长环境长大的人，对同一事情提出看法时思想的碰撞。她对中国的认知，超出了我对一个外国人的想象。
我们最初聊的一个人物是薄熙来，当时案件正在审理过程当中，我惊讶于她知道整个案件的过程并予以了关注。此后，发生了朝鲜的刺杀金正恩事件，如果说薄熙来事件是发生在中国，我还可以和她打个平手的话，金正恩的事，她知道得比我多太多了。我们又聊曼德拉，在毛泽东时代与中国的渊源。另外，美国的南北战争，苏联解体，南韩与北韩的诞生，她悉数道来。有时，我们也会八卦克林顿与莱温斯基、肯尼迪与梦露的绯闻，说克林顿“既然走到这一步，为什么不干脆选个漂亮的……”。还有宗教，犹太教、基督教、伊斯兰教有哪些不同，摩门教的一夫多妻制。回到中国，我们聊八国联军，中国抗美援朝，毛岸英战死朝鲜，八年抗战，蒋介石远走台湾等等。她非常感兴趣的是成吉思汗一统蒙古，忽必烈征战欧洲的历史，觉得他们是真爷们。说到东北的时候，她知道那里有很多俄罗斯美女，有着丰富的石油及农作物资源。汗颜的是，作为一个中国人，觉得自己对中国的了解还不如她知道得多。
她能画出中国的地图，每个地方的人文及特点如数家珍。当然，更多的时候是画出美国，告诉我东海岸和西海岸的特点，华盛顿DC和华盛顿的不同，还有加里福尼亚的阳光，三藩的金矿，西雅图的刺身……世界小姐大多来源于委内瑞拉……她读的大学在一个森林内，冬天的时候，能看到豹子从校园中一穿而过……她在十二、三岁的时候，班上的女生都有了男朋友，最后只剩下她落单的时候，果断染成了红色短发，总算搭上了一个男孩子。说到她现在还记得这个男孩名字的时候，哈哈大笑起来。
我们谈电影，她推荐我看“摩登家庭”、“恋爱假期”、“米其林情缘”、“爱的万物论”等等，还有前段时间热映的“星球超越”，每一部电影我们都可以热议很久。我问她知道中国的明星吗？她说我知道成龙、章子怡、邓丽君、张学友，不过这些中国明星也大多只流行在唐人街。
她告诉我，去到少林寺的时候，因为对于“中国功夫”的向往，颇有些虔诚之心在那里看他们习武。结果当这些少林弟子看到她和她又高又酷的老公的时候，围在她们身边不断地摆着V字手势拍照片……他们从北京自驾来海南经过广西的时候，晚上在车里睡了一觉，醒来的时候车旁边围了一堆人往车里看，大家都掩着嘴笑“老外，是老外耶！”吓得她赶快把衣服顶在头上……
海南，她最喜欢的是万宁的日月湾，还是一个酷酷的冲浪选手。她热爱三亚，常和老公自驾去藤海渔村，享受海边的篝火。她教我烹饪过意大利面，告诉我怎么辨别面有没有煮熟，就是挑出其中一根面，拍一声甩在墙上，掉下来就熟了，粘在上面就再煮会……
我曾问她“你以自己是美国人为荣吗？”她说“当然，不过在钓鱼岛事件时，我可不敢说自己是美国人。”
我又问她“这么多人都梦想去美国，为什么会选择离开呢？“她回答：“美国的教育非常棒，但美国经济开始走向下滑，更重要的是，如果我在美国，很可能是朝九晚五的生活，我并不喜欢这样的人生。”
我问她“为什么选择来到中国呢？”她回答：“中国是一个有着悠久历史、地大物博的国家，到现在我都还有很多地方没有去，比如新疆的天池、甘肃的丝绸之路。还有嘛，中国人现在非常热衷学习英文，你说我是不是该来这里呢？”说完，我们同时哈哈大笑起来。
VIVIAN来中国，最先去的北京，教授大学生，也在新东方、英孚等教育机构任职。她喜欢海南的气候落户于此。在说得一口中文的同时也擅长西班牙语。在海口除了教书还任职一个瑜伽中心教练。丰富的履历造就了她的眼界、睿智、勇敢，她打算未来定居在乌拉圭——一个有着优美自然风光和安定社会环境的国家。透过自信独立的VIVIAN，也得以看到美国教育及人文的不同，我想她可以代表美国这一代的年青人，他们追求人权、享受自由、积极生活。衷心祝福这个可爱又美丽的姑娘，拥有如她所愿的、平安快乐的一生！
2015-1-30
后记：
写这篇小文是在两年半之前，于今年，VIVIAN已经实现了她的梦想，抵达乌拉圭！
一路辗转：伊洛瓦底江
乔治.奥威尔以前住过的旧房
缅甸
新西南
秘鲁利马
伊基托斯
亚马逊雨林
阿根廷
乌兰圭
她在乌拉圭的新家窗外一瞥非常漂亮，希望她能尽快安居乐业，安定下来！
我和VIVIAN差不多同一时间来到海口，又差不多同一时间离开，因缘际合中相会，共同走过了三年。
如果说有的美因时光而流逝，而有的美却因时光而雕刻的话，有着富足精神王国的她，势必是一位永远的美人。
这张蝴蝶的照片，VIVIAN拍摄于亚马逊雨林。怀念和她一起面对面上课的时光，她给了我一把钥匙，打开了通向世界的大门。
附文章英文版，向老师致敬：
My foreigner teacher named Vivian, the post-80s generation, from Seattle of the US.
Talking about Seattle, the first thought is"Twilight", in the handsome vampire Edward’s favorite rainy city. And well-known for Boeing, and Microsoft headquarters. Starbucks opened the first store also located here. Vivian is from such an illustrious hometown, it is full of her charm.
Initially, Vivian was my child's teacher. I have never seen such an interesting class. She has excellent class management. But while in the class, I just see a big kid-child-like, lively, playful, laughing loudly, to the entire classroom. She enjoys teaching very much.
My son has trouble with focusing in school. Yet, he says, "Vivian’s class is very fun!" Doing this can’t be easy.
And I love her, due to we grew up in a completely different educational environment, I really like to discuss things with her, to know what she thinks about things. She knows about China, beyond my imagination for a foreigner.
I remember the first person we talked about was Xilai Bo, he was on trial at that time, I was surprised that she knew the about the case. Since then we have even talked about North Korea and assassinations. When discussing the Xilai Bo incident in China, I can match her knowledge. For theKim Jong-un thing she knows much more than me. We’ve also chatted about Mandela, and in the Mao era origins of China. In addition, we’ve even talked aboutthe American Civil War, the Soviet Union, South Korea and North Korea's birth,she knows about these things. Sometimes, we gossip about Clinton and Lewinsky,or Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe. We both agree "Clinton didn’t have goodtaste, why not just chose a more beautiful woman......." We’ve talked about religion (Judaism, Christianity and Islam which is different, Mormon polygamy). Back to China, we talked about the war to resist the US aggressionand aid Korea (the Korean World), and Anying Mao, who was killed in thebattlefield, the eight-year war in China, and Chiang Kai-shek’s fleeing toTaiwan and so on. She is very interested in the Genghis Khan and Kublai Khan’s dynasty, and their campaign in Europe. She thought they were really powerful.When we discuss the northeast of China, she knows there were many beauties from Russian in early times, they are rich in oil and agricultural resources. It’s ashame that, as a Chinese person, I figured that I wouldn’t know more about China than her.
She can also draw a map of China, including the humanities and the characteristics of each place. Of course, we more often discuss the US map. She’s told me about the difference between the East Coastand and the West Coast, Washington DC and Washington, the California sun, the gold of San Francisco, Seattle’s great sashimi... And that Miss World is from Venezuela....She went touniversity in a forest, in the winter time she even saw a cougar at the school....And that when she was a teenager, every girl had their boyfriends and she decided todye her hair red, and finally catch a boy. When she comes to the boy and said his name, she laughed loudly, like a young girl.
We talk about movies she recommend that I watch,"Modern Family", "The Holiday", "The Hundred-FootJourney", "The Theory of Everything" themovie "Interstellar". We talk about many popular movies. I asked her if she knows about Chinese stars? She said “I know Jackie Chan, Ziyi Zhang, Teresa, Jacky Cheung, but these Chinese pop stars are mostly popular in Chinatown.”
She told me that when she went to the Shaolin Temple,she was looking forward to seeing kung fu. But when the Shaolin disciples saw her and her tall and cool husband, they came around them and posed with “the V-sign” to take pictures... When they drove from Beijing to Hainan, they passed by Guangxi, they slept in the car for one night. A bunch of people were looking at the car when they woke up. They heard the Chinese people say “foreigners,foreigners”, and she quickly put clothes on their heads.
In Hainan, her favorite place is Wanning Sun Moon Bay,because there are cool surfers there. She loves Sanya, and with her husband they go to a fishing village often by car, enjoying a beach bonfire. She has taught me to cook pasta, told me how to tell if the pasta is cooked or not. If you throw it at the wall, if it sticks, it’s cooked enough.
I have asked her, "Are you proud to be an American?" She said, "During the Daioyudao incident, it’s hard to beproud to be an American.”
I asked, "So many people dream of going toAmerica, why did you choose to leave." she replied, "Americaneducation is great, but the US economy has began to decline, if I was in the US,I would likely be a normal office lady- I don’t want this kind of life."
I asked her why she chose to come to China. She said, “China is a country with along history and vast land. So far, I haven’t been to Tianshan Heavenly Lake of Xinjiang or Gansu’s Silk Road. And there is another important reason, now that Chinese people are very keen to learn English I thought I should come to China."Then, we both laughed at the same time.
When Vivian came to China, the first place was Beijing.She taught college students, and worked in New Oriental, EF, and other educational institutions. She likes Hainan’s climate so they settled here. She could speak Chinese and some Spanish. In addition to teaching in Haikou,she is also a yoga instructor. Rich experiences made her vision, wisdom,courage. She intends to settle Uruguay in the future — a country with beautiful natural scenery, and a rich social environment with national stability. When I see Vivian, who is confident and independent, she is also able to see different American education and humanities. I think, in this generation of young people,she can properly represent the US, their pursuit of human rights, and enjoyment of a free active life. I sincerely wish for this free and beautiful girl to achieve her wishes, and a safe and happy life!
