2016-03-24
【Aiden in English】 In general, the word “indigenous” is used to describe a subject that is native to a specific location. Going back in time, the root derived from the Latin indigent, meaning “a native”. Add the English part of –ous to its end, and there you have the word. Hopping back to the present, New York is a melting pot of cultures on earth and has some indigenous characteristics that, well, the small county of Montgomery of PA can’t compete with. The first thing you notice coming out of Pennsylvania Station in New York City is the mix of flavored smells. By that, I mean not necessarily good. The fragrance on 33rd Street really smelled nice. Small stands selling kabobs and fried rice and roasted nuts and sweets provided an overpowering scent of a buffet, and it made my stomach rumble. No, not like hungry, but like, throwing up. It also seemed to cut through the clogged plunger allergies shoved up my nose a few days ago. They seem to have always kicked in around mid-day, and it shouldn’t have been mid-day if Mom didn’t miss the turn onto the Garden State Parkway from I-95 NJ Turnpike. I guess she didn’t see the giant sign with exit number eleven.
I wish I made my teachers proud today since my trip had an objective. The objective of today is to get visas for us to go to Denmark and Russia. So, off it was to the streets of the Empire City in the world.
The visa for Denmark came first, and to clarify, Mom and I don’t require visas to visit the hometown of Hans Christian Andersen as US citizens. My grandma, on the other hand, had a Chinese passport, and she is required to get her Schengen visa. I thought the Travisa Visa Service would be a lot more…official to get visas, but a small room around 30 ft in the area would do for applications, fingerprinting biometrics, or any others too.
An hour later, we walked out of the building cringing at the failure of the visa. This meant Mom had to come back. The reason is that Grandma has to apply for a United Kingdom visa first even though the British Isles come after the Baltic region including Denmark on our itinerary, not to be confusing or anything. However, the Danish looks up to Great Britain no matter whether Grandma has a green card. Obviously, everything is okay if Grandma comes back straight from Denmark to the US. In other words, the Danish wants to make sure that Grandma wouldn’t stay in Denmark if the next country or the English Empire has an issue with Grandma’s entry. I think this entire thing is so dumb that it isn’t like we are staying in Denmark for half a year. It’s really only for three days. Does the seventy-two-hour stay in a country require a visa of sixty Euros upfront and about a sixty-five-dollar hidden tariff for a government-issued pass? Similar to the other country, Russia, where it is only two days, in which the sole place in Russia where we were going to need the visa is the capital of Moscow. Nevertheless, we have to pay $160 for each person regardless of the outsourcing of visa services. And apparently, the 2nd largest Russian city, St. Petersburg, doesn’t require a visa for all cruise tourists. Well, hopefully, the Russian visa would be a much easier task than the Danish incident.
Never mind about Murphy's Law, as it seems as though Mom has failed to make an appointment online. Now, later on, she told me how Verizon didn’t seem to be sending back the confirmation emails from the Russian website for the appointment, while her Yahoo email was completely fine. Screw you Verizon! I guess what the opponent internet and data companies say about you is true after all. Well, that mistake really made me mad, as this trip of 181 miles to New York City from the Great Philadelphia Area was wasted. As the truth of the error sank in, Mom got terribly heated up at the guy at the door of the Russian Consulate. As I saw the expression on her face, a strange sense of déjà vu kicked in, but I couldn’t remember from where. Maybe it had something to do with a test score……? No idea.
The day wasn’t put all to waste. On the way home, we dined out in Penang Malaysian & Thai Cuisine and picked up our favorite groceries and fine Chinese bakeries from Kam Man Food, such as slices of bread stuffed with Red-Bean Paste or Taro, Deep-fried Dough Sticks, Fried Glutinous Rice Balls with Sesame, etc. Lucky for Mom, she’ll get to come back to Russian Consulate at rush hour tomorrow morning on Good Friday again. Hopefully, she won’t miss the turn onto the Garden State Parkway to catch up with the NJ Transit in the Metropark Station.
【红霞译文】
单词“本土”通常用来描述土生土长的人或物，如若追本求源，其词根来自拉丁文“土著”，意思是“原住民”；英语加上词尾，即衍变成现在这个词形。时光旅行，我们从古代穿越回到现实，纽约堪称世界各族文化的大熔炉，到处洋溢着特有的乡土气息，区区宾州蒙哥马利小郡说什么也无法与之相媲美。
一走出纽约宾夕法尼亚车站，你立刻被千奇百怪的气味所吸引，我这么说并非意味着五味杂陈全都好闻，但33街确实令人百感交集，烤肉串、炒米饭、烘坚果、炸甜点的商铺地摊一展自助餐民风食俗，八珍野味能把我肚子里的馋虫勾出来。本人倒是一点不饿，但凡闻到这种组合，禁不住要呕吐起来，宛若几天前过敏药堵塞鼻孔通气管道的感觉那样。快到晌午，曼哈顿一向奇香异味，要不是妈妈来时在95号新泽西收费高速公路上错过转入花园州高速公路，哪至于耗到这个节骨眼上。我觉得她大眼漏神，居然对11号出口巨型告示视而不见。
但愿今天的纽约之行能让老师们引以为荣，因为我身兼重任，眼下当务之急正是申请丹麦及俄罗斯两国签证，千里之行始于足下，我们从帝国之都放眼世界。
先从丹麦签证入手，在此有必要讲明，作为美国公民，我和妈妈无需为拜访童话家安徒生的家乡而申请旅游许可；但持有中国护照的外婆出行前必须得到申根签证。我本以为专门办理丹麦签证的中介服务公司非常……气派，其实不足30平方英尺／10平米的小房间照样可以审理申请表、按指纹、摄头像等相关事宜。
过了一个钟头，我们怏怏离开办公大楼，显然妈妈还得再来一趟，原因是外婆必须在拿到英国签证之后才能申请丹麦签证，尽管我们首先出游包括丹麦在内的北欧波罗的海地区，然后再道访西欧英伦三岛，但是不管外婆有无美国绿卡，丹麦王国极其看重大不列颠首脑的意向。当然，如果外婆玩完丹麦之后直接返回美国，那么一点问题也没有。换句话说，丹麦想要确证外婆将去的下一个国度即英格兰同意入境，不至于到头来滞留本国，好一个弯弯绕。我认为这纯属无稽之谈，我们原本就没打算在那里呆上半年，前后不过三天，72小时歇脚工夫楞要支付�60欧元签证费外加差不多$67美元手续费岂不美事一桩？同样地，另一个国家俄罗斯花时更短，只有两天而已，每位必须缴纳$160块大洋人头税。即便如此，我们所到之处仅有首都莫斯科才需要签证，因为任何随游轮前往第二大城市圣彼得堡的游客均一律免签，多么希望俄罗斯签证别像丹麦签证节外生枝。
墨菲定律说得恰中要害，怕什么来什么。妈妈出师不利，事先网上预约失败，事后她才悟出缘由并告诉我说，估计她所使用的威瑞森电讯公司服务器疏怠传送俄罗斯网站发回的电子确认邮件，而其雅虎邮箱却来者不拒，可恶的威瑞森！这下恰好印证了其它网络与数据库竞争对手指责威瑞森的种种劣行全部属实。倒霉哟，如此失误着实把我折腾得天翻地覆，纽约─大费城地区之间来回行驶181英里／291公里白白浪费，在得知无法即时面交申请资料那一时刻，妈妈简直给气疯了，冲着俄罗斯领事馆的工作人员大发雷霆。眼见她满脸阴云密布，我心中顿时产生一种似曾相识的感觉，但又吃不准这种幻念记忆源自何处，也许考试分数……？天晓得。 说来今天并非完全作废。在回家的路上，我们去具有马来西亚─泰国风味的“马来槟城”吃顿晚饭，到“金门超市”购得最爱吃的日用料理，捎些可口的中式红豆沙面包芋头面包油条麻团等等。可怜的妈妈算是交上八辈子好运，明天耶稣受难日一大早还要再跑去纽约一趟，希望她振作精神，切莫忘记取道花园州高速公路前往都市公园站赶乘新泽西通勤火车。
Today in History(历史上的今天): 2014: March Madness @ Fifth Grade(小学五年级的疯狂三月) 
Rahway Station, NJ (新州罗威站 03-24-2016) 
New York Penn Station (纽约宾夕法尼亚车站)
Lexington Avenue @ 51st St Subway Station (新法镇大道与51街地铁站 03-24-2016)
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir @ Central Park Looking West (中央公园西侧—肯尼迪夫人水库)
Central Park West (西中央公园) 
Gatehouse @ Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir Central Park Looking South (中央公园东侧—中央公园水库门楼) 
Engineers' Gate @ Central Park (中央公园·工程师门) 
St. Francis of Assisi Church (1892) in Gothic Revival @ 135-139 West 31st St (西31街135—139号方济各教堂·建于1892年，哥特复兴式) 
Nave @ St. Francis of Assisi Church (方济各教堂·中殿) 
Main Altar @ St. Francis of Assisi Church (方济各教堂·主圣坛) 
Murals @ St. Francis of Assisi Church (方济各教堂·壁画) 
Altar @ St. Francis of Assisi Church (方济各教堂·圣坛 03-24-2016) 
Organ @ St. Francis of Assisi Church (方济各教堂·管风琴) 
Transept @ St. Francis of Assisi Church (方济各教堂·耳堂) 
Church of the Heavenly Rest (1865) in Neo-Gothic Styles w/ Art Deco Details on 1085 5th Ave (第五大道1085号天安教堂·建于1865年，新哥特式与装饰艺术细节) 
Rose Window @ Church of the Heavenly Rest (天安教堂·玫瑰花窗) 
The Nave @ Church of the Heavenly Rest (天安教堂·中殿) 
The Narthex @ Church of the Heavenly Rest (天安教堂·前厅) 
Stained Glasses @ Church of the Heavenly Rest (天安教堂·花窗) 
The Brick Presbyterian Church (1768) on 62 E 92nd St (东92街62号·建于1768年的好人长老会教堂)
Roman Catholic All-Girl School @ Convent of the Sacred Heart (1881) on 1 E 91st St (东91街1号建于1881年的圣心修道院·现为天主教全女子学校) 
Consulate-General of Russia in New York City (1903) in the 5-Story Renaissance Style Limestone Townhouse on 9 E 91st St (东91街9号俄罗斯联邦驻纽约市总领事馆·建于1903年，五层高文艺复兴式石灰岩联排别墅)
Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum (“制桶商·聪颖”铁匠之子设计博物馆) 
Natl Academy Museum (国家科学院博物馆) 
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (美国收藏家美术馆) 
5th Ave Museum Mile (第五大道即艺术馆大道) 
Park Ave @ 91st Street (公园大道与91街 03-24-2016) 
Penang Malaysian & Thai Cuisine @ Edison, NJ (新州爱迪生城·马来槟城及泰国美食 03-24-2016) 
Popia or Steamed Malaysian Spring Rolls
(清蒸马来西亚春卷) 
Toti Canai or Indian-Style Pancake (印度煎饼) 
Penang Char Kway Teow w/ Mixtures (槟城炒粿条杂烩) 
Penang Homemade Soft Silky Tofu w/ Mixtures (槟城家常嫩豆腐杂烩) 
Sarang Burong or Fried Taro Filled w/ Mixtures (油炸芋头杂烩) 
Waterfowl Nest (水禽窝) 
Female Mallard (雌绿头鸭) 
Male Mallard (雄绿头鸭) 
Bufflehead (巨头鹊鸭) 
Cormorant (鸬鹚) 
Wattled Jacana (肉垂水雉) 
Wattled Jacana (肉垂水雉) Crosslinks(相关博文):
USA(出游美国)
7th Grade(初中二年级) |
