The Little Old Man

Sunday, 10 June 2007 19:18:53 GMT
Encounter on a Foot Scooter
I was in Subway Station with my scooter slaloming (zig zag riding among the crowd).Suddenly I was stopped by a Nice Gentleman.
He pull off his business Card andg ave me.I read it it is From Guangzhou Evening Newspaper and ask me politely if he can make some photos of me,
taking me around station asking me to zoom for photos.Later we took subway together and made some photos with passengers.
About a month later I received a phone call from Reporter she asked me for a meeting.
The subject was how a foreigner lives among Guangzhou citizens and I ow this article to my scooter.
My scooter is not only a way to move fast, keep feet.
It is an ice breaker.Chinese people are usually shy and reserved.
But when they see me with my scooter they laugh, tease me sometimes
My scooter made me a lot of friends which I would not have met them if I was not on my scooter.
It is true that Guangzhou have bike Lanes everywhere, and the best part of it
one can ride bike along the Pearl River and with time pollution level is going down as most of the public transport run on natural gas.In rain season I like to ride from Zhongshan University all the way to Shamian Island and the beauty of the city and its old charm is right there to see and enjoy.
Here is the Article:
Published on 18 05 2007 Yang Cheng Newspaper in Guangzhou


http://www.ycwb.com/ycwb/2007-05/18/content_1483317.htm


Old Little Scooter Boy-- Travel around GuangzhouA foreign old man. A cute scooter. What will happen between them?In Gong Yuan Qian subway, a foreigner in blue T-shirt with a cute yellowscooter appears in the crowd. This cute man travel across Guangzhou usinghis small scooter. Interesting. So we interviewed him.In Guangzhou, maybe you've seen fashionable young people playing withscooter board;or you've seen small kids riding the baby-size scooter.Anyway, I have never seen other people using the same scooter like me. Withdouble stripe school bag, wearing grass cap, this Belgium man called QiaoOu, passed through the city street quickly....Joe is like an old little boy. He passed Ren Min Gong Yuan with his scooter.He can always attracts other people's attention with his yellow scooter. "Ni Hao!"Joe talked to a local Guangzhou man in his Cantonese. "Lai lai, chouZhi Yan" Joe distributed cigeratte in Chinese manner. "Is your cap AmericanCowboy?" Local man asked him. " No,I bought it in Tibet" Due to my specialscooter, everybody likes to talk to me, giving comments how this " Gui Lao"is so so lovely. Joe never minds this kinds of comment, he is proud of it"I like old people. Their expressions on their faces are nice."Joesaid,"They have their own stories which are written on their faces". Anyway,the scooter shortens the distance between him and young people. When Joepassed several fashionable boys with "corn bombing hair", all the boyslooked at the this old man surprisingly." How old do you think heis?"Reporter asked the boys. "40?50?" Boys tries to guess. They are cheatedby Joe's energy. Actually, Joe is going to be 60.Many Guangzhou street still keeps the old bicycle lane. Even if the narrowXiguan Street, his scooter can pass by easily. Scooter is faster thanwalking, but slower than driving." Joe likes to travel around the city andenjoy every single details in the big city. Only when you are passing by thesmall or big street everyday, you can feel the real side of the city and thelocal people life."I take my scooter which is 5kg weight, except when it is raining. I can useit almost everywhere. I can bring it to taxi or subway." Joe likes hisfoldable scooter. With scooter, you will never worry about traffic, and youcan do exerise as well. It is better to do sports 30 mins everyday thandoing a 4 hour sports once every week."I started to use scooter since 2003. I was learning Chinese in YunnanUniversity,an American friend sold his scooter to me. Cause he had to go toIraq for the war. He sold me very expensive. Cause the scooter was made ofhigh quality Aluminum. After that, scooter became part of my life. I becameslimmer as well. Though I am still fat based in Chinese standard. Aboard, Iam slim boy; But I am called "pang pang de qiao ou".Hehe.."I am Guangzhou Local"I show you the local restaurant 'shou si ji'". Joe brought us to a smallstreet near Xi Hu Road, like a local Guangzhou people. He told therestaurant worker in Chinese:" You gave me too much chicken bone. You do notlike me!"After interview, he took his scooter and disappeared in a small backstreetin Da Nan Lu....Joe is from Belgium. He has been to 58 countries,and can speak over 10 kindsof languages. His Chinese level is pretty good:"I can recognize over 3000Chinese characters.'"For learning a language, envoirment is something very important. Culturaltranslation is even more important. For example, when Chinese people tell"it is difficult ", they mean I will not do it. For foreigners, theirunderstanding is that we should try to solve the problem together. " Joesaid, " So my name is Joe, that is Qiao Ou. I wanna be cultural bridge.UNQUOTE(Let me explain to my non Chinese readers:Joe in Dictionary is Qiao (spelled like Italian Ciao) its written with similarideogramme of Bridge in Chinese writing, Ou -is spelled like Oh in English) meansSeagull, this bird is in Chinese mytholgy is beleived to be a brave bird facing thestorms and winds to travel from one country to another .This name was given to me by my good friend for ever WU from Hangzhou Universityaccording to her this name represents what I am.I want to thank her for naming me with such a nice way.)QUOTE30 years ago, Joe came to Guangzhou the first time. " I took the smallRussian plane which can only sits 40 to 50 people." Guangzhou was notdeveloped yet, anyway, he liked the working culture here. " Chinese peopleis very clever. I liked their art products . They are really nice." Afterthat, even though Joe traveled around different countries due to his work,he decide to move to Guangzhou and settled down here.In order to know the local Guangzhou, Joe chose to live in the old city ofGuangzhou. In a small street of Danan Road, Joe brings us to his old house."That is a company house. All my neighbours are old people. It is reallyinteresting."Recently, Joe moved to a place outside Guangzhou City, cause the old housecould not be rented to him any more. He chose a place with mountains,rivers, which looks like France. Even though it is a little bit far fromcity center, Joe just brings his scooter and travel around Guangzhou city. "I do not like comfort. Comfortable life makes people lazy and fat." Joelaughed. Actually, he has another hobby, that is to sit in subway, closinghis eyes, and enjoy listening to the city sound.CHINESE VERSION (simplified)“滑板车老顽童”游历广州文/记者 林清清 实习生李若冰图/记者 郑迅 实习生尹洁一个外国老头,一辆滑板车,与一座城市,会发生怎栿的故事?地铁公园前站,拥挤的人潮中,一个穿着蓝衬衫的外国老头,骑着黄色的滑板车,“撞”进摄影记者的镜头。这个可爱的老头用滑板车在广州的大街小巷行走?有意思。于是,便有了这个采访。滑板车“老顽童”在广州,也许你见过街头青年玩滑板,也见过更小的小孩子玩一种在滑板上加上方向杆的滑板车,“但那些是babysize,我从来都没有遇见过其他人用和我一栿的滑板车。”背着双肩背包,带顶草帽,这个中文名字叫做乔欧的比利时老头,踩在滑板车上,快速滑过城市的街道……乔像个顽童似的,在市政府门前的人民公园里快速滑行,他和他那辆黄色的滑板车,总是能引起人们的兴趣。“你好!”看到冲他微笑的阿伯,乔停下来用半生不熟的粤语与他们搭讪。“来来,抽支烟。”乔很“中国”地让烟。“你帽子是美国牛仔的吧?”本地阿伯指着他的帽子问。“不,这是我在西藏买的。”“因为这奇特的滑板车,他们会很有兴趣和我交谈,评论这个‘鬼佬’是多么可爱。”对于这个评价,乔一点也不介意,反而有点洋洋自得。“我喜欢老年人,你看他们的表情,很美。”乔感叹道,“他们都有自己的故事,就写在他们脸上。”不过,滑板车无疑拉近了他与年轻人的距离。当乔呼啸着经过几位顶着爆炸头的“街头潮男”,“潮男”们惊讶地望着这个看起来不年轻的老头。“你觉得他有多大?”记者问。“4、50岁?”“潮男”们试探地说。他们被乔的活泼懵住了!乔欧其实已经快60岁了!“很多广州街道仍然保留着古老的自行车道,就算是在西关狭窄的小道上,滑板车也能轻巧地滑过。滑板车比步行快,但比开车慢。”乔喜欢这栿子游历这个城市的每一个细节。而每天在大街小巷里穿行,才能够看到这个城市里人们最真实的一面。“除了天雨路滑,我每天都会带着这个只有5kg的滑板车。我几乎会在任何地方使用它。它可以跟着我进地铁和计程车。”乔喜欢自己轻巧的折叠式滑板车,滑板车不用担心堿车,又可以锻炼身体!每天花30分钟做运动,好过每个星期只做一次4小时的运动。“2003年我才开始学玩滑板车。当时我在云南大学学习中文,一位美国朋友将他的滑板车卖给了我。因为他要按照政府规定去伊朗服兵役。他卖的价栿很高,因为滑板车是高质的铝及钢珠制成的。自此之后,滑板车就成为了我的生命中的一部分。我变得苗条了很多,尽管参照中国栿准,我仍然很胖。在国外,我是苗条的男生;但在这里,我被叫做‘胖胖的乔鸥’。呵呵!”我是广州“地胆”“我带你去吃当地人的‘手撕鸡’!”乔神秘兮兮地拉着记者七拐八拐,转进西湖路边上的一条小巷子,俨然以“地胆”自居。他还调皮地用中文对店家说:“你给我太多鸡骨头了,你不喜欢我!”采访结束,比利时老头一转身,潇洒地滑着滑板车,又迅速消失于大南路的一条巷子里……乔欧是比利时人,到过58个国家和地区,会说10多种语言。他的中文水平比记者想象中好很多:“我能认3000个汉字!”“学习语言,环境很重要。但我认为,文化的翻译更重要。比如,当中国人说‘这件事情很困难’的时候,他们的意思是,我将不会做这件事情。而外国人对这句话的理解是:让我们一起来努力解决它。”乔欧说,“所以我的名字Joe,叫做乔欧。我要做文化翻译的桥。”30年前,乔第一次来广州,“那时还是坐着4、50个人的俄罗斯小飞机来的。”那时的广州并不发达,可是乔很喜欢这里的工作文化,“中国人太聪明了!那些手工艺品,又漂亮又便宜。”所以,尽管之后乔因为工作关系在不同的国家游历,2003年,他决定回到广州,住下来,在这个奇妙的城市。为了了解最地道的广州,乔选择住在最有广州特色的老城区。在大南路的一条巷子里,乔骑着滑板车,熟练地带我们来到他的旧居,门口挂满了大大小小的木制信箱。“那是一个单位的宿舍,邻居们都是老人家,很有意思。”最近,乔搬到广州南郊的一个小区,因为那所老房子不能再租给他了。他选择了一个环境很像法国的地方,有山,有河,精致优雅。尽管离市区有点远,乔依然每天都带着他的滑板车,坐地铁,在新老城区之间穿行。“我就是不喜欢方便,方便的生活令人懒惰,今天好,明天不好。”乔笑着说。其实他还有个有意思的小爱好,他喜欢在地铁里,闭上眼睛,听周围的声音,“这栿能听到这个城市真正的声音。”
Posted Sunday, 10 June 2007 19:18:53 GMTComments: 0 Viewed 1 times.
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