古典優雅的Plaza Mayor
帶霧的清晨
博物館的光影
有關Salamanca
(近日緬甸軍政府暴力鎮壓國內的和平示威﹐那些鎮壓的畫面﹐看了很心痛。昂山素姬一直是我很敬佩的人物﹐我還有一位來自緬甸的朋友。特把年前寫的一篇塵封的文章刊此﹐以誌。)
第一次見到她﹐她說自己來自緬甸﹐但不是緬甸人﹐而是Karen﹐Karen﹖妳名字叫Karen﹖她說不是﹐名稱串法相同﹐卻另有意思﹐Karen是緬甸其中一個少數族裔的名稱。
她後來成為我在英國讀書時的好朋友﹐從她身上慢慢對緬甸的政局加深了了解。從新聞我們聽到最多有關緬甸的報導﹐是反對黨領袖昂山素姬被軟禁﹐及軍政府如何打壓反對派﹐但原來這只是問題的冰山一角﹐在緬甸,因軍政府的暴政堆積著如山似海的痛苦。
我的朋友斬釘截鐵地說她來自緬甸﹐但不是緬甸人﹐而是Karen人。 緬甸國內住著多個族裔的人﹐佔大多數 (近七成) ﹑勢力最強的是緬甸人﹐Karen是國內第三大族裔(佔人口7%)﹐據估有一千四百萬Karen人住在泰緬地區﹐但大部份仍居住在緬甸境內。1948年緬甸脫離英國統治獨立之後﹐由軍政府掌權﹐不僅壓迫本族(即緬甸族的反對派,其領袖以昂山素姬為代表)﹐其他族裔一樣受到鎮壓。
據估﹐1996年至今﹐至少有一百萬住在和泰國接壤的邊境地區的緬甸少數族裔人流離失所。這些人在國際社會被稱為國內流離人士 (Internally Displaced Persons)。他們只有兩個選擇﹐一是在緬甸政府設置的安置區住﹐要不就是逃到深山郊野去生活﹐幾乎一半人選擇逃去深山生活﹐因為在政府安置區生活﹐逃不了被軍隊士兵虐待﹐強迫做苦力勞動﹐如果是女的﹐則有被強姦的危險。
於是﹐部份人選擇逃到泰國﹐希望獲接納為難民﹐住在聯合國辦的難民營﹐但前往泰國邊境的路途艱辛不在話下﹐即使到了﹐是否讓你過境﹑過了境又會否被確認為難民﹐都是一重重要過的難關。泰國政府不希望接收眾多緬甸難民﹐逃難的人要能證實過境前的幾個小時或幾天受過槍擊才會獲接納為難民。於是有很多人寧願忍受安置區的折磨或深山生活的困頓﹐也不願逃難到泰國。
在深山郊野逃亡的Karen人﹐生活如何艱苦困頓可想而知。他們沒有醫療照 顧﹐沒有生計可謀﹐兒童沒有讀書機會﹐Karen政府嘗試以有限的資源資助老師去山區教導這些兒童讀書識字。
對的﹐Karen人有自己的政府﹐Karen人在未和政府打仗之前﹐還有自己的領土和自己的家園。我的朋友對我說﹐那段日子她好懷念﹐因為她有屬於自己的家﹐竹木搭的房子建在河邊﹐她和朋輩常在在河邊玩﹐她爬樹最快最拿手……有次我們走過一幅海報﹐她拉住我停駐在海報前﹐指著河邊的木橈房子說﹐以前住的地方就是這樣的。
在她未夠十歲的時候﹐她和其他Karen人就被緬甸軍政府趕離家園﹐去到泰緬邊境的難民營居住。她在難民營生活了十幾年﹐只和母親弟妹一起住﹐父親因為是Karen政府的領袖﹐由泰國政府支持的難民營﹐因為怕影響和緬甸政府的關係﹐不接受她父親入住﹐結果一家人一直分隔異地生活。
朋友後來取得獎學金離開難民營﹐去到曼谷讀書﹐然後輾轉來到英國﹐先在書店打工賺錢﹐再在英國讀大學。我認識她時﹐她離開難民營才不過三年﹐三年前才第一次見識到什麼是城市和豐裕的物質生活。三年間﹐她的轉變天翻地覆﹐但多大的轉變﹐多大的困難﹐她都應付過來了。她告訴我她不想待在英國﹐可以幫到Karen人﹐尤其山區流離失所的Karen人﹐是她的最大心願。她在英國專修教育與發展﹐就是希望有日在自己的土地上辦學﹐教育出一群群學生。
Karen政府有自己的軍隊﹐現在仍然佔據一地和緬甸軍政府作戰﹐朋友給我看過部隊操練的照片﹐及在深山生活的難民的照片﹐感覺立時那麼真那麼近。
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.