"Underground"｜If the old doesn't go, the new won't come

The way up

To get home, you have to climb all the way down.

The first time I went to Montmartre was during the summer vacation of my junior year. It was my first solo trip to Europe. I wanted to test my French proficiency, so I decided to go there before the final exam. I bought the air tickets, booked accommodation, and also signed up for a summer course. There are cultural experiences and wine tastings, all in French.

That was not the first time I crossed a border by myself. When I was twelve, I went to New Zealand alone and stayed there for a year. After that, I went to Japan and Vietnam alone, all before I turned eighteen.

I have no favorable impression of New Zealand, the country where "The Lord of the Rings" was filmed, and I wouldn't want to go there again. Is it my "labor camp"?

They said that no one could touch me. I stuck the 3-second tape on the helmet of the annoying teacher. They said, how can a girl be so rebellious?

In fact, you are afraid that I will be beaten to death by my father, right?

So, I took a plane to New Zealand alone, and was picked up by a Maori family. At first, I thought they were Filipino immigrants. The imaginary host family was a blond, blue-eyed Caucasian. That family had no father and only had three children. I have a sister who is about the same age as me and two Asian male students who are re-entering college. They are Chinese and Korean. I have never spoken to these two people. At that time, we were taught that we were alienated from "Chinese people" and did not like them. Korean.

Chinese students occasionally cook some "hometown dishes". I don't know where they are from, so I can only say this. Home's mother always reminded me to talk to him more, and maybe he would give me some "Chinese food" to eat, but my staple food since I was a child was bread and flour products, and I was not interested in his food. Instead, the Korean student cooked it. The noodles caught my attention, and I later found out it was "Shin Ramen".

My daily lunch box consisted of very unpalatable sandwiches and filled with coloring and tasteless soda. Even at the age of twelve, I knew it was because the host family was saving money. I guessed that the reason why I was ten centimeters shorter than my sister, who was born prematurely, was because of my developmental stage. When I was twelve years old, my diet was so bad that the only thing I could eat for lunch was an apple or a banana. I wish they had put a French baguette in there so I could nibble on it slowly.

But I still survived. I often help other Asian classmates run errands to earn money, and then use it to buy some delicious food... I was born in a well-off family in Taipei, but I can endure poverty very much. This is also my experience. I also learned horse riding and skiing in New Zealand, but I can't stop doing it in the countryside.

When I returned to Montmartre, I knew that I had to walk up the road before descending back home. I couldn't stay on the top of the mountain and look at the view of Paris. An old British lady said: I first came here when I was your age. You must come here again fifty years later!

I responded to her and said: I like it here. I won’t wait for fifty years. I will come back after graduation and go to the Sorbonne.

one euro umbrella

In the past few days, the temperature in my city has exceeded 35 degrees. The moment I walked out of the house, the pores all over my body were soaked at the same time. I was worried about the spots on my face that would never disappear. I hate all eternal things. If The body will be destroyed one day, why don't the spots disappear with metabolism? ——This is a trait inherited from my father, particularly fragile and sensitive skin.

At around noon, I went out holding a small parasol. My fingernail scratched the umbrella before I opened it.

It's not correct to say it's a small parasol. I bought a one-euro umbrella at a holiday market in the 11th arrondissement of Paris five years ago. It has small pink and white flowers. It's a very old-school umbrella. The umbrella surface is very thin and not UV-resistant. It seems very fragile and vulnerable.

I bought that umbrella one afternoon in March in Paris. I happened to go to the market to see if there was anything worth buying. On one side were small items worth one euro - cups, razors, flashlights, etc. On the other side, there were second-hand clothes that looked like they were worn by other people. I bought a pair of earrings from an African-American girl in the "designer district". They were ground from purple stones. She swore to me and explained that purple represents Wisdom and nobility, sixty euros of earrings bought these two qualities.

Later, I casually walked to the produce, fresh fish/meat, and pickled products section... Suddenly a strong wind blew, which lasted for about a minute. The awnings of several vendors were turned over, and I was even knocked out of nowhere. The water hit the bridge of my nose, and the water droplets flowed down. I smelled it, and it seemed to be the water from the fishmonger. Soon, the sky suddenly turned dark and it started to rain.

Thinking that the one-euro products in front included small folding umbrellas, I jogged to the stall and picked up an umbrella at random. I thought that this umbrella could only accompany me through that spring in Paris, but unexpectedly it survived for five springs and into the summer. Those umbrellas with sixteen frames that were said to be able to withstand strong typhoons were retired early.

The one-euro umbrella held up through a strong platform but was destroyed by my nails. But this is still the most worthwhile euro in my life, after five typhoon seasons.

The umbrella is under logistics and distribution.

July 19, 2022

20220719 is today’s day, like a password.

Two weeks ago on Tuesday  @Jennifer talked a lot and got me to join Underground. Several creators who mainly wrote literature agreed to let me join. I was as happy as receiving a notice to join a fraternity, so I began to think about what I should write to fit in with them.

After that, I wrote the poem in one day and tried to give myself a little literary flair.

I happened to see Jennifer and @Shawn’s posts last night, and I decided that my first article would be mainly prose, but I wasn’t sure what I was writing. This morning I was sorting out my novella dystopian novel "Piju" for possible use in another project of "Underground", and I found that the name of the file says "Piju - 20170719", which was completed five years ago today.

I am not writing this story to satirize current affairs or to be dissatisfied with life. It was a very smooth year for me. Then the anti-extradition movement happened, and I think the story is a bit coincidental. At the end of the same year, the COVID-19 epidemic came again, and there was a war and national bankruptcy... I hope that everything in my imagination will not come true, or I will write another article "Datong World" ” story, sincere.

Written on: 2022/07/19

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