八月回国


今年八月带大令(据说宋美龄受美文化影响深,总是称蒋介石为大令。这词儿用到我那位倒也贴切,因为她老是对我发号施令)和儿子回国一趟。大令和儿子从未到过中国,所以他们需要签证。几个星期前我便到芝加哥领事馆去帮他们申请签证,顺便也给我换一个新护照。

我最后一次到领事馆应当是四年前吧。那时签证的地方小,感觉顶多也就两间屋子那么大,也没有多少人。这回一去,好家伙,地儿大了,人也多了。记得至少有五个窗口,并且总有二三十人在排队。看来现在到我国的人明显增多了,无论是访问、旅游、读书、还是工作。这真是件好事情。签证官员看起来都很年轻,大部分都会说广东话。这也难怪,因为海外的侨民还是说广东话的多。给我办护照的那个小伙子看起来不一定会说粤语,满口的北方口音。如果照片不合格,可以在领事馆内照,收费十刀。

领事馆签证处的地址变了。不知什么时候变的,反正现在是在1 East Erie, Chicago。他们的效率和态度都很不错,看起来是文件齐了就批,很少问问题。大令和儿子的签证当天就到手。护照的时间长,要一个月。

领事馆把大令的名字拼错了。我询问了一下,答复是:不用担心,真正的信息都在计算机里,以护照的名字为准。看来领事馆犯打印错误是常事。比如西班牙领事馆把我的签证效期搞错。又如美国大使馆在我第一次申请赴美签证时把我的学校名字打错。我想这很可能是他们每天的工作量大的缘故。

排队时随便翻了翻领事馆的新民晚报,读了一位上海老先生的短文,挺有意思。他写到要教他在美国的小孙女中文。于是在孙女夏天到上海时,他和她来一个语言学习大赛。他们互学对方的语言,假期后比一比谁掌握的词汇多。说不准我今年夏天可以用这一招:让我儿子和他的堂哥、堂姐来一个语言比赛。顺便说一句,现在我们说比一比、别苗头时会用PK,我不知道PK源自何处。不知道读者知不知道。


10 responses to “八月回国”

  1. Fyi: PK = Penalty Kick. For sure you know it is a soccer rule. Why it became PK, I guess PK sounds more like a Chinese swear when people say it ~_~
    Hope you and yours have a wonderful time in China.

  2. I see, that makes a lot of sense.

    Thanks Victoria!

  3. 你好!我打字中文。我收听普通话经由http://www.chinesepod.com/

    “Hello. I study Chinese language. I listen to Mandarin via chinesepod.com.”

    Chinese is very difficult. I am a few lessons in to Pimsleur Mandarin and also chinesepod.com. The latter has 汉字 which are very interesting because of the visual structure. I have learned to “see” only very very few characters, but my neighborhood is full of 字 so it is fun to walk around and try to spot things. As in Chicago, I am surrounded by Cantonese, and so far I am “tone deaf” so the characters are even more important right now. 🙂

    I just figured out Chinese input on the Macintosh. I looked up words for the above with http://www.xuezhongwen.net/chindict/chindict.php?page=worddictbasic but right now, I will try to use my own vocabulary:

    我欢迎你来中国。

    Okay, this is a fun exercise. 谢谢你的indulgence!

    -danny

  4. Yay! You rock Danny!

    Please feel free to try me when you have Chinese-learning questions. It may take a while for me to get back to you, as Kudra has learned, but I will always respond, eventually.

  5. 你們要回國多長時間,要去哪些地兒? 你兒子能不能拿到中國公民? 我不太清楚中國是否允許雙國籍 (dual nationality).

    不管你們回去幾個星期或整個暑假,我相信你兒子會學到相當多的漢語,連也會把你們季莊土話都學會了!

  6. 这次回去3个星期。我们飞到北京,从上海飞回来。

    去的地方会是北京,上海,和苏杭,如有时间的话。我本人当然想去厦门,但这次时间肯定不够。

    我父母和我的侄子、侄女会在北京接我们。我们会在北京待几天:故宫、天坛、长城之类。我父母退休前都是老师,基本上从没休假过,也没到过什么地方,所以想让他们和我们在一起,旅游放松一下。我想这也是他们交流感情、加深认识的好机会。

    当然会在家里住几天。季庄村、周营镇、还有薛城区都要看一看。给儿子讲一讲过去的事情。

    从上海飞回美国时我也打算带上父母,到苏杭、南京看一看。我想父母小时候肯定听说过大上海、十里洋场、上有天堂、下有苏杭之类,而这是他们的国家,他们却没有去过。他们这一代人经历过那么多的酸甜苦辣,也该享一享福了。所以我对这次中国行很有期待。

    现在的中国法律不允许双重国籍,但我希望国家会改变这个情况。他现在有美籍和瑞典籍。

    会有土语的耳濡目染的影响。希望他的汉语水平能有提高。

  7. wow, I’m going to Chicago for study soon. maybe I gotta visit 1 East Erie too.

    the phrase of pk never meant Penalty Kick, which is out-of-date. originally, pk means punch&kick; afterward, when online game appears, it means player killer, which indicate a rival or competition between players. that’s why you ofter see it in shows like ‘super girls’:)

  8. You are right. Punch and kick made more sense here. Thanks for sharing!

    And good luck in coming to Chicago!

  9. 无意间翻到这个。 PK哪里是什么足球语言啊, player killing, 日本的game里用的。

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