Figure: B. Australian

B. Australian

That night there were no one else except he and I in the six bed mixed room. Smiling with bright teeth, this guy took the lead in starting a conversation.

Hey!

With the strange smile on his face, B kept saying he had a disorder that made him giggle in that way. And he said he’s less than a hundred and fifty centimeters tall. Sounds weird, isn’t it! He finally told me the whole was just a joke.

You are different.

B knows lots of Taiwanese in Australia. Most of them usually travel with a group of people. And in general, they are shy. They are careful about words. On the contrary, I am probably the first taiwanese traveling solo he had ever met. Every word jumps through my mouth easily. It seems I don’t even think of them.

Well, because you haven’t met my friends yet. That is a learning process.

I was one of them. It is not like talking in our mother tongue. Though English is the most popular second language for Taiwanese, it still takes time to learn how to express ourselves well.

On the other hand, I found something interesting about language exercises. People will show different parts of character when utilizing another language. My friends said I look like an American hipster when I’m speaking English. The other side of me is much shyer and milder within use of Mandarin. Then both of us couldn’t resist bursting into laughter after my words. 😀

B is a super witty guy. He just finished his trip across South America and flew to Europe. Before starting master studies in Spain, he plan to work in Amsterdam and keep step with traveling for further few months. Even though he don’t find a job yet, he said he can do everything, maybe bartender. You know he was working in business consultancy before.

Come and find me if you need. Stay as long as you want.

B is such a person living a life full of uncertainty. I know I need not worry about this guy. He gonna make friends everywhere and everyone would love to spend time with him. You never know what will happen if you get along with him. Crazy, amusing, marvelous. Beyond description.

B，澳洲人

「嘿！」躺在下鋪的澳洲男孩B，露出雙排牙齒的燦笑，主動向我打了聲招呼，當時全寢的人都不在，只有他與我，他先是嚷著顏面神經失調，又說身高未滿一米八，最後才承認之前全是騙人的，我們的對話就這樣順勢展開。

「你很不一樣。」他說，他在澳洲認識很多台灣人，通常是集體行動，再者，大多數華人性格害羞，說話前幾經思考，注意用字遣詞，但我不是，一個人旅行，想法自然隨話語彈出，我不像他所認識的典型台灣人。憑著當下的直覺，我反射性的回應，「那不是害羞，那是一個過程。」由於不熟捻第二外語，無法如使用母語一般，自在地表達自己，我也曾經是，然而，人在說不同語言的時候，也可能發掘自己另一番樣貌，朋友曾說過，我講英語時像個美國嬉皮，一旦轉換成華語，個性倒變得柔軟而害羞，語畢，我倆忍不住大笑。

B是一個有趣的人，恰結束瘋狂南美行的他，直接飛過來歐洲攻讀學位，趁課程開始前的幾個月，他計劃先在阿姆斯特丹工作，話雖如此，無論是住處或職務，他連個頭緒都沒有，不過，他說他什麼都可以做，我說，「如果有需要來雷恩，住我那多久都行。」在他身上，我看到旅行飽滿的養分，他不是追求刺激，而是本身就充滿吸引亂源的血液，像他這樣的人用不著擔心，各地都會有他的朋友，所有人都亟欲與他共嗜精彩的旅程，即使對話中穿插不等的揶揄或嘲弄，我們心底知道，如果有機會再見，肯定會一起放肆猖狂，至少現在的我們能。