Entries from September 2007 ↓

Since I prefer to keep my blog in Chinese, and I can´t write in Chinese at the moment, this will be my last post about Salamanca in English. I will be back to Hong Kong on 8 October and will post in Chinese stories about the city and studying spanish. I have also made a few tours to the neighbouring cities and will write about them too. 

I must say, the city Salamanca itself is really beautiful. It has one of the oldest universities in Europe and the univesisty area has an ambience evocative of Oxford Univesity. The city also boasts many beautiful cathedrals and churches. At dusk, when the architectures of the city are lit by the soft light of sunset, it is magnificient. The city is also at its most beautiful when the many churches and cathedrals are lit by artificial lights at night.

And Salamanca has one of the best preserved and most beautiful plazas (squares) in Europe - its ¨Plaza Mayor¨. I recall that I had the most expensive cafe in my life when I ordered a cup of coffee in Plaza de San Marcos in Venice, Italy, costing me 10 euro (100 hk dollar). In plaza mayor, Salamanca, I paid only 2 euros for a cup of coffee, and you could enjoy nice atmosphere besides nice coffee, seeing the flow of people and life of the city.

It is said that Salamanca ranks second in the world in terms of the number of bars and restaruants in a city. There are many nice bars, cafes and restaurants here. It is a cultural city too. So you can find many arts exhibitions going on. Salamanca seems to have all for a traveller.

However, if you want to study spanish here, there are things you may need to consider. As mentioned in the last post, the people who come here to study spanish are very young. In the past week, a group of secondary students from England arrived in my school (Isla). They are only 16 or 17 years old.

Well, In Isla, there are students not that young (late 20s or above 30), but they are among the minority. Those who are in their 20s are mostly university students. So basically, most of the students in Isla are students themselves.

I will write more about the school (Isla) later, in Chinese, and compare it with the school I attended in Granada (Castila). I hope my observation and some thoughts of mine would be helpful for those considering to study Spanish in Spain.

Since I am now in Spain and the computer I use has no Chinese input system, I have to write in English.

Well, I´ve spent three days in Salamanca and two days in a language school (Isla) so far. My feeling is, the city and the school are not too bad, but trust me, Granada and the school I attended there (Castila) are still the best.

First of all, Salamanca is full of very young people, many of whom are secondary and university students from Europe and US who come to the city in groups just to study Spanish. The school I attended is a reflection of the city, with the majority of its students, at the moment, being secondary and university students coming from United States, Germany and Norway. The school atmosphere is very much dominated by these student groups who speak in their native languages after class most of the time.

I will write more later about the teaching of the school, and the city itself. But for the moment, a piece of advice for you: if you are not too young, i.e. like me (well, up to you to imagine what is ¨not too young¨), better not come to Salamanca to study Spanish. You will feel that you do not belong here. But if you think you are young (at least at heart), here is the city for you!

Am now in Salamanca, Spain. Will update my blog and write more about my travel and study in coming days.Hasta luego.

有網友問﹐有沒有去過危地馬拉(Guatemala)學西班牙文﹐那裡的費用好像很便宜。她說對了﹐去危地馬拉學西班牙文﹐的確很便宜﹐兩三年前我的一個朋友就是因為這個原因﹐打算前往當地學兩個月西班牙文﹐結果他只在當地待了兩個星期﹐就落荒而逃。事後他說﹐太便宜的東西不要信。

無論是當地的語言學校還是那裡的人﹐都令他很失望﹐學校當然是沒有班級教學的﹐因為沒有足夠的學生人數﹐都是一對一教學﹐教材是殘舊的影印資料﹐老師的質素亦差﹔住的寄宿家庭﹐其實不是一個家庭﹐而是一間大屋﹐住了幾戶人家﹐其中一戶才是寄宿家庭﹐他放在浴室忘記拿回房間的東西﹐例如廁紙﹐牙膏﹐都會不翼而飛。他說他的寄宿家庭完全沒有半點友善可言。

他去的時候正值新年﹐每日爆竹響個不停﹐是幾天幾夜連續不斷那種﹐除了耳根沒得清靜﹐還有走在街上被燒傷的危險(這點我多少能體會﹐因為大陸的農曆新年就是這樣的) 。我問朋友﹐怎麼那裡的人沒錢買廁紙﹐卻有錢買爆竹﹐他亦說不出個所以然。

在中南美洲學西班牙文﹐我推薦過墨西哥和厄瓜多爾(Ecuador)﹐其實還有一個國家我要推薦的﹐是哪個國家﹖下回分解好了。

The Lemon Tree
By Sandy Tolan

看完《檸檬樹》這本書﹐深有體會。原來﹐平日從電視看到的有關巴勒斯坦和以色列的新聞﹐背後有這樣多的故事﹐我們看到的新聞﹐重複地傳遞著相同的訊息﹐叫我們簡單地相信﹐事情就是這樣的﹕加沙和西岸常有衝突﹐以色列境內有汽車炸彈襲擊﹐巴勒斯坦內部有哈馬斯和法特組織的派別之爭﹐以色列鐵腕對待巴勒斯坦難民營的“恐怖份子”……

聽得多了﹐亦麻木了。

沒有看這本書﹐不會了解原來巴勒斯坦人在第二次大戰結束以來經歷了這麼大的苦難﹐由擁有一大片國土﹐到被人完全趕離家園﹐成為難民﹔由做自己的主人﹐到受盡屈辱﹐失去尊嚴﹐失去生計。這可不是牽涉幾百人的事﹐而是牽涉上百萬叫巴勒斯坦人的事。

這樣的事情﹐怎會發生的﹖怎麼可能發生的﹖

世界就是這樣的嗎? 你的民族沒有強大的勢力在背後支持﹐就註定要被人欺負和侮辱嗎﹖而世界亦將忘記你﹐完完全全的忘記﹗

一個層被壓迫的民族又怎會轉頭之間成為扮演迫害者角色的民族﹖

看完這本書﹐許多問題仍是揮之不去。

2004年11月巴勒斯坦解放組織主席阿拉法逝世﹐前此他在西岸Ramallah的總部被以色列軍隊圍攻了兩年多。今日﹐近三年後﹐才終於明白為什麼他的總部會在Ramallah﹐為什麼他會被圍攻﹐又為什麼以色列要在2002年建立起圍牆。

沒有書﹐沒有歷史的追溯﹐我們看世界﹐永遠是在看新聞。

我感到很無力﹐而這這無力感在我每日乘過海隧道巴士上班時都襲向我。在香港這個地方生活﹐我很想告訴你﹐我真的感到很無力。

我不是沒有抗爭過﹐為了巴士上大大聲的充滿廣告的Roadshow(幾年前開始有的特為巴士炮製的電視節目) ﹐我曾經不下十次打去巴士公司的熱線投訴﹐有次﹐那個職員說﹐你不知我們下層有靜音區的嗎﹐你可以坐下層。

這位職員可能不知道﹐兩層的隧道巴士﹐下層的座位如果是靠窗又不是反方向的﹐只有六個﹐六個中﹐有兩個是在最後一排﹐緊貼隆隆作響的機器﹐亦靜不了多少。另外兩個座位是和人面對面﹐膝蓋頂膝蓋的﹐真的算是舒服一點的座位就只得兩個﹐而這兩個座位絕對是在我上車時已經給佔了的。

我至少要坐四十五鐘的巴士﹐想坐得舒服點﹐自然是往上層。但那不斷叫你消費的廣告﹐和無聊的節目﹐就是沒法讓你靜。最要命的是﹐上層每個座位上都有喇叭﹐即使你是坐得離電視熒幕遠遠的﹐亦逃無可逃。

有次﹐我真的很氣﹐我對巴士公司投訴熱線的職員說﹐你不要問我巴士的編號﹐那不管用﹐你們要從整個系統去管理這個問題﹐我今次搭這個編號的車﹐你們會處理一下﹐下次﹐我搭另一個編號的﹐問題又來了﹐你們至少要控制聲浪﹐和不要用喇叭呀(我已經退了一步﹐沒有要求不要播Roadshow!) 。

最妙的是﹐有次接我投訴電話的那個職員說﹐小姐﹐我上班亦是搭巴士的﹐我可沒遇上你的問題。我說﹐小姐﹐你沒遇上這個問題不代表沒有問題﹐而這正說明你們要從整個系統上管理這個問題﹐不是有一個問題就處理一個﹐問題就這樣無了期拖下去。

當然﹐問題還是繼續存在﹐每次上車﹐Roadshow依然在大大聲廣播﹐奇就奇在旁邊乘客卻好像若無其事﹐完全不受干擾。難道他們無感覺的﹖或真的很享受那些廣告和節目﹖我曾對巴士職員說過﹐一日不處理這噪音問題﹐我就每日都打電話來投訴﹐但我累了﹐投降了﹐放棄了。

其實所謂投訴熱線﹐又有什麼用﹐接電話的都是些不管事的人﹐他們只會給我上述“妙不可言” 的答案﹐抗爭要講策略﹐非要寫信去管理層不可﹐或找區議員/立法局議員﹐但做這些事都需要時間﹐於是我選擇了屈就﹐我現在搭巴士只好屈在下層不舒服的座位。(但我還沒有完全放棄﹐我會勉勵自己有天從屈就走出來﹐再次走向「抗爭」的。)

所以﹐我敬佩在天星碼頭真正抗爭的年輕人﹐我敬佩所有為真理抗爭的人。那是需要多大的勇氣和人格的支持。