Wierdest day of trip

Today is supposed to be the day I arrive at Würzburg. It is supposed to be the day I start my elective. Today is supposed to be 1st of June.
But today is the 31th of May, a day that I had perceived to be nonexistent until I'm on the train going to Würzburg.
The guy who checked my ticket pointed out that I had written a wrong date. I'm supposed to write 31/5 instead of 1/6. I argued with him for a while until I realised I was wrong. This means that I'm going to arrive Germany a day ahead of schedule, and nobody is going to pick me up at the train station today. They will only pick me up tomorrow.
I'm left with a sudden 'extra' day, with nowhere to go, no place to stay, and no plans at all.
I studied my lonely planet right on the train and decided to go to Frankfurt.

Okie. So far so good. Although I messed up my calender, I arrived at Frankfurt, and got a dorm bed in the hostle right across the train station. This is a hell lot of luck in this World Cup season, when everything is so fully booked.

The number 2 weird thing. I bumped into a University student protest on the plaza right in front of the train station. They are a group of uni students protesting against tuition fee payment changed. All Uni students in Germany is currently having free uni education. They don't have to pay a penny. Now the Government is trying to impose a loan system, meaning that students have to pay their own tuition fee. However, no detailed structure of the loan system is established (e.g. the interest rate of the loan is suggested to be 7.5%!!) and it sounded all like students from poor families are going to be in huge debts when they finish uni while those in rich families are going to be debt free (Well, isn't it the same in HK?). Anyway I was simply having so much free time I joined them. I talked to some of the students on the way, and experienced their way of protesting. For some reason they liked marching on the big car roads IN BETWEEN RUNNING CARS. It all looked a bit dangerous to me, but they do succeed in transmitting their message to the public; well, at least to the drivers that passed by.
I tried to discuss with them the grant-loan system in Hong Kong, and some of them seems to agree with our system. Anyways, good luck to them.

The number 3 thing. This is not weird, it is a very very nice thing. I went to a Chinese restaurant to have dinner tonight -- and I bumped into a restaurant ran by Hong Kong people!! I had a full dish of Yeung Zhou Chau Fan and Lai Tong (the regular soup), and read the European version of ShingTao Daily!! This is simply luxury when you have had bread bread bread and bread as your sole food (well, nearly. Coz this is cheap) for 10 days consecutively...

Anyways I'am going to Würzburg tomorrow at noon time. I've forgotten all my Surgery... good luck to me!!

8th day of trip

Trip ending. Elective approaching. I've forgotten everything in Surgery. Poor me!!
Had my best day of trip in Innsbruke. I've had my first Kebab (forgive my ignorance, I did have it 22 y/o in Austria), and have so much fun with the restaurant owner, who let me into the kitchen. He speaks German only, I speak English only, but we had so much fun!!
During my stay in the Youth hostel that night, I've met:
A Japanese guy who is hitch-hiking his way thru Europe, South america, Africa and North America, a journey lasting 1.5-2 years. (Hitch-hiking means you try to signal some driver on the highway and ask for a lift.)
An Australian girl who is doing a 7 months solo journey in Europe. I can smell the strong and decisiveness in her speech. She is a fresh graduate from film directing, and has such strong opinions on life and the society and stuff.
A girl from Brazil. We had another night's stay together in Salzburg. She may come to me again for a good night's sleep in my apartment during the World Cup in Germany. She is hoping for the Brazil vs Australia (if i remember correctly) on 18th of June in Munich.
A Hong Kong guy, who has graduated from HKU E&F for around 1 year, now employed as a management trainee in some big company. He took a 2 weeks off, which is maximum for him in this company, to tour around Europe and have a break.

And on my way to Innsbruke...
I met this Austrian guy in his early thirties. He is an international business degree holder, worked in a Regional company for 3 consecutive years without a break, and felt himself "shrunk" (that's my word, but he takes it). This is his first holiday, and he went on a hike on the Southern part of France, following a route documented a century ago (I regretted not to copy down the name and author of that book... I really wanted to read it). So he had this 14 day hike in the largely underdeveloped region of France. We talked a lot more on the train ride, this guy was simply amazing.

Still more people I've met back in Switzerland. Not all of them are inspiring, though. And I found Hong Kongers amongst the most boring and uninteresting group of tourists, assuming there exists different kinds of tourists. Mainlanders not in a touring group tend to be fast tourers, they aim to visit all the main tourist attractions in all major cities within the shortest time. Are them aiming to know the place or to tell their friends that they have arrived in some famous city? Ai.....

If time allows, there is still lots more to write. But time is money in this costly little internet cafe, so I'd rather stop writing. Ciao!

4th day of trip

I'm now in Interlaken, Switzerland. This is a place where you can simply rise your head and gain a good view of the Jungfrau and the rest of the Alps. Stunned by the regularity and the stability of the German-speaking population. You can always predict what will happen at what time of which day... there are not many surprises. However, this sense of regularity gives you tramendous sense of security, that a solo traveller like me is in desperate need of. [I wish to press enter at this place but I can't... anyway.] Going to have a boat ride at Thunsee this morning followed by city tour at Bern, the capital city of Switzerland. Thunsee is a lake near Interlaken, it's main water source from the ice-caps of the Alps. Bern is an old town with lots of fountains which each of them has their own historical meaning. I'm looking forward to today's tour. [Enter]. Anyways... I must admit solo travelling is sometimes boring and a bit lonely. A person nearby you helps you to explore the place more thoroughly. However, you get a lot of freedom doing solos. Again, the good and the bad sides... you can't be picky here.[Enter]. I miss Hong Kong and all of you. Hugs to everyone!!

行程

以下是我暑假的行程。如果你發現自己可能於他國和我相遇，歡迎你留言告訴我，找個地方見見面。如有東西想我代買，也可以告訴我。想要POSTCARD的話，把你的郵寄地址電郵(man_sum@yahoo.com)給我吧，記得要寫英文。

20-25/5 Switzerland
20/5
AM: Flight landing at Zurich
PM: Train Zurich - Lucern
Sleep: Lucern

21/5
AM: Lucern
PM: Interlaken
Sleep: Interlaken

22/5
AM&PM:Golden pass, Chateau de Chillon, lake Geneva area, Lausanne
Sleep: Interlaken

23/5
AM&PM:Bern
Sleep: Interlaken

24/5
AM: Lake Thun
PM: Travel uphill to Gimmelwald
Sleep: Gimmelwald

25/5
AM&PM: Jungfrau region, elevator and hike
Sleep: Gimmelwald

26-30/5 Austria
26/5
AM: Train from Gimmelwald to Innsbruck
PM: Innsbruck
Sleep: Innsbruck

27/5
AM&PM: Hall
Evening: Travel to Salzburg
Sleep: Salzburg

28/5 (Sun)
AM: Church
PM: Opera, City tour
Sleep: Salzburg

29/5
AM: Travel to Vienna
PM: Kunsthistorisches Museum
Sleep: Vienna

30/5
AM&PM: City tour
Sleep: Vienna

1-30/6 Germany
1/6
AM&PM: Train Vienna - Wurzburg
Sleep: Wurzburg

1-30/6 weekdays
AM&PM: Elective: general surgery at University of Wurzburg
Sleep: Wurzburg

1-30/6 weekends
Route undecided, may cover Romantic road, Rhine river to Koln, Munich, exact details to be confirmed upon arrival to Wurzburg.

1/7
Flight to Hong Kong

茫然

「就咁過左四份之一個人生了。若果冇咁長命的話，可能是三份一，或者二份一個人生添。」
近個多月來，男朋友不止一次跟我談這個。

是的。自從他畢業以來，就像一葉小舟在汪洋中飄蕩，沒有方向，沒有可依靠的地方，更不知道自己在這樣做什麼。每天都是這樣茫茫然不知所以，就像《春田花花同學會》裏鄭中基的一段說話：

Viann：唔...咁太奇怪啦。你冇哂記憶力，咁你既日常生活點過架呢？
鄭中基：都係一樣架啦：起身，著衫，返工…
Viann：點返呀？
鄭中基：搭地鐵囉都係
Viann：咁你點知道向邊個站落車呢？
鄭中基：唔知架…我都係搭到咁上下，見到人地落，我就落架ja…哈哈…
Viann：跟著又去邊呢？
鄭中基：唔…唔知架…咁…d公司通常都向d商業大廈架啦，我咪求其入部(車立)，都有人o禁制架啦…哈…
Viann：你…上到公司做咩呀？
鄭中基：唔知架…都係求其搵間入，咁入到去，冇人出聲咯，咁咪搵個位，坐低做野囉。
Viann：d野你識做咩？
鄭中基：唔洗識個噃，問下人就得啦…哈不過原來個個都唔識架…哈哈哈…都係求其打幾個電話，講一埋野，咁樣又食Lunch咯。
Viann：Lunch你又記得？
鄭中基：唔洗記得個喎！肚餓係唔洗記得架嘛。
中醫：D—大—便—點—呀—？
鄭中基：哈係噃，大便都係唔洗記得個噃！……之後咪又跟住d人返工囉。
Viann：唔...咁放左工呢？
鄭中基：飲下野啦…跟住都係返屋企。
Viann：咁你點記得你屋企向邊呀？
鄭中基：唔記得架……都係果d咩軒咩華庭咁啦……我o禁d密碼嘟嘟嘟嘟嘟…求其入到咪得囉。
Viann：哇，你間屋係咪人地架？
鄭中基：咩人唔人地呀…個個都係按左比銀行架啫…入到去隻狗唔咬，咪自己屋企囉……哈哈…咁之後沖個涼，食野，食完野睇陣電視，咪上床訓囉。

說茫然，其實我和他不相伯仲。那種不只是對前路的茫然，是對生命的茫，對生活的茫，裏面潛在著一種對現時生活的不滿，有一種改變現狀的渴求。

現狀，是好工不易找，是要還grant loan，是要供養父母，是要儲錢結婚，說白了，是要滿足Maslow triangle最底層最根本的需要，是要吃喝拉撒睡。

我記起《春田花花同學會》中，麥兜和呀May一段關於「本質」的對話：

May：唔係呀，我係講緊d生活意義呀，本質呀果d野呀。
麥兜：呀...本質d野...
　　　有次我媽媽帶我去食家鄉雞噃。d雞一打開，你知我啦，手套都唔帶 就去o那雞喎，咁我媽媽就話我啦，你個死仔，手套都唔帶就去o那雞？一陣間o那o那下雞，就話依度痕、果度痕，又用隻o那雞手依度抓、果度抓，抓完抓夠 啦，又走去o那雞。好啦，食食下雞，又話急小便，隻手o那完雞又去o那個本質，o那完個本質又o那雞，第二日，就死死樣咁同我講，「媽媽，我個本質起粒粒 呀！」，咁梗係起粒粒啦，你個死仔，o那完雞唔洗手就去o那本質，同你查藥膏又流哂馬尿噃，「呀...我個本質好那呀！」死唔抵可憐呀你個本質！
May：我唸你講緊果個呢，唔係本質噃。
麥兜：吓？唔係本質咩？我係得呢個 ja噃。

＊　＊　＊

他自己去看了Match Point。之後，堅持要和我去戲院再看一次。
運氣無疑是這片子的主題，但是，他更要我感受主角的痛苦。
影片講述一個貧苦青年，儲心積慮要結交有錢人，成為乘龍快婿後更平步青雲，背後放棄了他深愛的網球以至他本來的真面目，更親手殺掉自己的情婦，亦是自己最愛的人，背上一生的自責。

他說：「我很像主角。」
我回應：「這很悲哀。」

＊　＊　＊

我們都想擺脫悲哀的人生，但是，我們壓根兒不知道自己想要什麼。

他說：「實在好諷刺，對左自己廿五年啦，完全唔知自己想要d咩，好似唔識自己咁。自己對左自己廿五年，最唔認識自己既人就係自己。」

我回應：「自己？乜用黎識架咩？」

他茫然。就這樣，我們都過了四份之一的人生。

籌款

經過地鐵站，看見一群婆婆在為老人中心賣獎劵籌款。
每次看見這些，我都會掏荷包捐款；我並不是特別有公益心， 也不特別期望抽中獎品，只是每次看見他們，心中總有一種歉疚感。
先不要問，為什麼老人中心要動用六七十歲的老人家整天在日頭下曬著籌款，以維持中心的服務；單單這種老人家的魄力，就教我自愧不如。
這班長者有勇氣站出來面對社會的冷酷無情，依然愛心和活力滿溢；我自問沒有這種勇氣，站在街頭整天被人不斷拒絕。
是這歉疚感驅使我去掏荷包，把紙幣拿出來，把父母的錢重新分配到較用得其所的地方。

坦白講，身為一個受納稅人恩惠的醫學生，竟然說這種懦弱的話，實在冇x用。