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Starting1)Afresh in Hong Kong
By Phyllis Wong
总幻想世界应该是这样的：无论你踏上哪片土地，你都能找到一种家的归属感；无论你遇上多陌生的人，都能在下一秒像亲人一样和他相处。人在本质上是平等的，不分性别、种族和国籍。
一个刚经历婚姻失败伤心欲绝的奥地利女人，不是在自己的故土，而是在异国异地——香港的赤柱找到了情感的归属。这种情感不是来自于男女之间的爱情，也不是来自于遇上的他国的人，而是源自那一排临海的屋子。而你呢？你也在异域找到了属于自己的归属感吗？
——Lavender
When she divorced in her early fifties, she did not believe she would ever get out of her failed marriage, which couldn’t have been more painful. However, she stepped out of the shadow before long and started her new life, not in her home country of Austria but in Hong Kong, a beautiful island-city in Asia, a place far from Europe.
Loretta Kopplinger, 55 years old, has settled in Hong Kong for four years since her divorce from her husband in Austria. “Then, I was so sad that I cried more than I should. But I know that a broken marriage can’t be fixed when the two partners have different2)perceptions to critical questions such as: How broken is the marriage? What is it that needs to be fixed? Who needs to change most or first?”
She was really sad when she3)broke up with her husband. So she thought she should have some cheering up.4)Consequently, she joined a tour group to visit Hong Kong on her own.
“It was my first time to Hong Kong. The tour guide took us to the5)Peak to have a birds-eye-view over the Hong Kong city and then we went to6)Stanley. When we got there, I found along the seashore was a row of eight old nice houses overlooking the water. I took to them7)at first sight.” Loretta said.
Stanley, a coastal village on the southern side of Hong Kong Island, is a must-go place for most visitors to Hong Kong. It used to be a small fishing village but in recent years, a series of restaurants and pubs have been established there. Some of them provide open-air tea houses for customers to enjoy the8)picturesque scenery of Stanley Bay, cultivating an atmosphere of European continent.
“When I was looking to the sea from the front of the houses, the sound of rushing water became an element of my every thought and every feeling. The rhythm of waves gave me such a sense of freedom and9)tranquility. I didn’t want to leave. I decided to stay there.”
Those eight houses were built by the Hong Kong British government in 1931 as a compensation made to eight peasant families, with their original houses10)expropriated by the government.
“I checked the houses door to door. Much to my surprise, I found one of the houses deserted. I really wanted to rent the house, but I was told that the house owner had already emigrated. What’s more, the chances that they would rent out the house were quite11)slim. But I decided to take chances. I went to the airline to put off my departure date.”
“During the extended stay of one month, I traveled from my hotel in12)Causeway Bay to Stanley every day. I was sitting in front of the house, hoping that one day the owner would appear. However, nothing happened.
“I never gave up. I still dreamed of living in the house. After going back to Austria and explaining what was going on in Hong Kong to my three grown-up children, I returned to Hong Kong and settled in Stanley. I rented an apartment near the house. For three years, I sat outside the house, every single day, waiting for the owner to show up.
“In the meantime, I met a French student studying in Hong Kong. He turned to the13)real estate agencies, asking them to help find out the house owner for me. A year ago, the house owner was reached and I finally succeeded in renting the house I14)yearned for so long.”
Her new life is much different from the one in Austria, but Loretta15)adapts and enjoys her new life. “Living in the other seven houses are16)aborigines. They dislike the tourists often walking around their houses and taking photos. Every holiday morning around 8 a.m., tourists17)set about getting to the houses to take photos group by group. My neighbors said that some tourists from mainland China complained of the aborigines preventing them from taking photos and scolded them with foul language. Therefore, they all shut the doors and put a sign on to the house, reading ‘No visits’. But I don’t mind that, I am retired, I like to open the door of my house wide and do some sewing. I enjoy myself. Some foreign tourists asked me, “Can I visit your house?” I said, “You are welcome.” Thereby I have made many friends. But some Chinese tourists like to18)peep into my house from outside. Since I want to learn some19)Cantonese, I invited them to come in, but they turned around and went away at once. ”
“The old lady living next door can just say “Hi” and “Bye”, but her loving care that she extends to me always20)reassures me. She often asks her family living in the city to help me apply for services of water supply, electricity and so on, and she takes me to the Immigration Department. She also teaches me how to sew and how to cook Chinese dishes. Although I have a common language with my ex-husband who had been living with me for 32 years, we never had good communi-cation. Say, I asked him, “Will you come home to have dinner? He returned “You want to manage me?” Finally, we quarreled.”
The relationship of a couple is not necessarily as passionate and intense, but borne out of mutual respect and caring actually has the best chance of going the distance.
“Just after the divorce, I thought that the21)remainder of my life would be a cold and lonely journey, but later I found that it’s actually beautiful!”
五十出头的时候，她离了婚，没有什么比这更让人心碎的了，她不相信自己能从婚姻失败的阴影中挣脱出来。然而，她很快便恢复过来了，并重新开始了自己的生活。但新生活的起点，不是在她的故乡奥地利，而是在香港—千里之外，一个位于亚洲的美丽岛城。
来自奥地利的洛蕾塔·科普林格今年五十五岁，自从四年前与丈夫离婚后便移居香港了。“当时我非常伤心，哭了好久。但我知道，当两个人在重要的原则问题上出现意见分歧时，这段破碎的婚姻就无法补救了。这些问题包括：这段婚姻如何弄到破碎的地步？有什么是需要改进的？谁需要先做出改变，或者说谁要做出主要的改变？”
跟丈夫离婚后，伤心欲绝的洛蕾塔想要自我振作一下，于是她只身参加旅游团，来到香港旅游。
“那是我第一次来香港。导游带我们上山顶俯瞰整个香港市区。接着我们去了赤柱。当我到达那里后，我发现沿着海边，有一排八间向海的漂亮老屋。我第一眼便爱上了这些屋子。”洛蕾塔说道。
赤柱是位于香港岛南部的一个沿海小村庄，对许多到香港旅游的人来说，赤柱是不可错过的必游景点。赤柱原本是一个小渔村，但近几年来，这里建起了许多餐馆和酒吧，有的还提供露天茶座，让游客可以尽情欣赏风景如画的赤柱湾海景，整个环境充满欧陆风情。
“当我站在屋前远眺大海时，浪涛声融入我的思绪，我的情感。充满韵律和节奏感的海浪声给予我无限自由和平静的感觉。我不想离开了。我决定留在那里。”
海边那八间屋是1931年当时的港英政府修建的。由于政府征用了八户农民的房屋，所以在海边给他们重新搭建了房子作为补偿。
“我把这八间屋子逐一细细看了一遍，惊奇地发现其中一间是空置的。我很想租下那间屋子，却获知屋子的主人已经移民了。再说，他们愿意出租此屋的可能性微乎其微。但我不甘心，决定还是碰一碰运气。我立刻去航空公司，更改机票，推迟离港日期。”
“在我延长逗留的一个月里，我每天从铜锣湾的旅馆坐车去赤柱，坐在那八间屋前，希望等到屋子的主人回来。可是，我的愿望并没有实现。
“但我没有放弃，我依然梦想着能住在那间屋子里。我回奥地利向三个已长大成人的子女交代了一切后，便重回香港，在赤柱定居下来。我在那间屋附近租了一间公寓来住，但天天坐在那间屋前，等待屋子主人的出现。我足足坚持了三年。
“其间，我结识了一位在香港读书的法国学生。他委托附近的房地产公司替我寻找那位屋主。我终于在一年前联系上了屋子的主人，并且成功租下了那间渴求己久的屋子。”
洛蕾塔的新生活跟以前在奥地利的有很大不同，但她很快便适应下来，并感到非常满意。“住在其它七间屋的都是当地土生土长的居民。他们不喜欢常常有游客前来参观，并在他们屋子附近照相留念。每逢节假日早上八点钟左右，游客就开始成群结队地来到，在屋子周围拍照。据邻居说，有大陆游客抱怨原居民妨碍他们拍照，还会说一些不好听的话来责骂他们。所以他们干脆关起门来，在门上挂了块‘谢绝参观’的牌子。但我不介意，我已经退休了，我喜欢把大门敞开，干一些缝纫活。我乐在其中。有外国游客问我：‘可以参观你的屋子吗？’我回答说：‘非常欢迎！’因此我结交了许多朋友。但许多中国游客喜欢在我的屋外往里窥探。由于我想学广东话，我就很大方地把他们请进屋来，但他们反而立刻扭头就跑了。”
“住在隔壁的一位老婆婆只会用英语说‘Hi’和‘Bye’，但她对我的细心关照让我感到宽慰。她经常让她住在市区的家人帮我申请水电，还带我去移民局。她还教我缝纫，做中国菜。虽然我和前夫共同生活了32年，大家并无语言障碍，但我们的交流反而有问题。比如我问他：‘今晚回家吃饭吗？’他就回答‘难道你要管着我吗？’我们最终总是以吵架收场。”
其实，夫妻关系并不一定要激情，不一定要浓得化不开，反而相互尊重和关怀才能让两人白头到老。
“刚离婚的时候，我以为我的余生注定是凄冷孤独的，没想到黄昏其实最美！”
By Phyllis Wong
总幻想世界应该是这样的：无论你踏上哪片土地，你都能找到一种家的归属感；无论你遇上多陌生的人，都能在下一秒像亲人一样和他相处。人在本质上是平等的，不分性别、种族和国籍。
一个刚经历婚姻失败伤心欲绝的奥地利女人，不是在自己的故土，而是在异国异地——香港的赤柱找到了情感的归属。这种情感不是来自于男女之间的爱情，也不是来自于遇上的他国的人，而是源自那一排临海的屋子。而你呢？你也在异域找到了属于自己的归属感吗？
——Lavender
When she divorced in her early fifties, she did not believe she would ever get out of her failed marriage, which couldn’t have been more painful. However, she stepped out of the shadow before long and started her new life, not in her home country of Austria but in Hong Kong, a beautiful island-city in Asia, a place far from Europe.
Loretta Kopplinger, 55 years old, has settled in Hong Kong for four years since her divorce from her husband in Austria. “Then, I was so sad that I cried more than I should. But I know that a broken marriage can’t be fixed when the two partners have different2)perceptions to critical questions such as: How broken is the marriage? What is it that needs to be fixed? Who needs to change most or first?”
She was really sad when she3)broke up with her husband. So she thought she should have some cheering up.4)Consequently, she joined a tour group to visit Hong Kong on her own.
“It was my first time to Hong Kong. The tour guide took us to the5)Peak to have a birds-eye-view over the Hong Kong city and then we went to6)Stanley. When we got there, I found along the seashore was a row of eight old nice houses overlooking the water. I took to them7)at first sight.” Loretta said.
Stanley, a coastal village on the southern side of Hong Kong Island, is a must-go place for most visitors to Hong Kong. It used to be a small fishing village but in recent years, a series of restaurants and pubs have been established there. Some of them provide open-air tea houses for customers to enjoy the8)picturesque scenery of Stanley Bay, cultivating an atmosphere of European continent.
“When I was looking to the sea from the front of the houses, the sound of rushing water became an element of my every thought and every feeling. The rhythm of waves gave me such a sense of freedom and9)tranquility. I didn’t want to leave. I decided to stay there.”
Those eight houses were built by the Hong Kong British government in 1931 as a compensation made to eight peasant families, with their original houses10)expropriated by the government.
“I checked the houses door to door. Much to my surprise, I found one of the houses deserted. I really wanted to rent the house, but I was told that the house owner had already emigrated. What’s more, the chances that they would rent out the house were quite11)slim. But I decided to take chances. I went to the airline to put off my departure date.”
“During the extended stay of one month, I traveled from my hotel in12)Causeway Bay to Stanley every day. I was sitting in front of the house, hoping that one day the owner would appear. However, nothing happened.
“I never gave up. I still dreamed of living in the house. After going back to Austria and explaining what was going on in Hong Kong to my three grown-up children, I returned to Hong Kong and settled in Stanley. I rented an apartment near the house. For three years, I sat outside the house, every single day, waiting for the owner to show up.
“In the meantime, I met a French student studying in Hong Kong. He turned to the13)real estate agencies, asking them to help find out the house owner for me. A year ago, the house owner was reached and I finally succeeded in renting the house I14)yearned for so long.”
Her new life is much different from the one in Austria, but Loretta15)adapts and enjoys her new life. “Living in the other seven houses are16)aborigines. They dislike the tourists often walking around their houses and taking photos. Every holiday morning around 8 a.m., tourists17)set about getting to the houses to take photos group by group. My neighbors said that some tourists from mainland China complained of the aborigines preventing them from taking photos and scolded them with foul language. Therefore, they all shut the doors and put a sign on to the house, reading ‘No visits’. But I don’t mind that, I am retired, I like to open the door of my house wide and do some sewing. I enjoy myself. Some foreign tourists asked me, “Can I visit your house?” I said, “You are welcome.” Thereby I have made many friends. But some Chinese tourists like to18)peep into my house from outside. Since I want to learn some19)Cantonese, I invited them to come in, but they turned around and went away at once. ”
“The old lady living next door can just say “Hi” and “Bye”, but her loving care that she extends to me always20)reassures me. She often asks her family living in the city to help me apply for services of water supply, electricity and so on, and she takes me to the Immigration Department. She also teaches me how to sew and how to cook Chinese dishes. Although I have a common language with my ex-husband who had been living with me for 32 years, we never had good communi-cation. Say, I asked him, “Will you come home to have dinner? He returned “You want to manage me?” Finally, we quarreled.”
The relationship of a couple is not necessarily as passionate and intense, but borne out of mutual respect and caring actually has the best chance of going the distance.
“Just after the divorce, I thought that the21)remainder of my life would be a cold and lonely journey, but later I found that it’s actually beautiful!”
五十出头的时候，她离了婚，没有什么比这更让人心碎的了，她不相信自己能从婚姻失败的阴影中挣脱出来。然而，她很快便恢复过来了，并重新开始了自己的生活。但新生活的起点，不是在她的故乡奥地利，而是在香港—千里之外，一个位于亚洲的美丽岛城。
来自奥地利的洛蕾塔·科普林格今年五十五岁，自从四年前与丈夫离婚后便移居香港了。“当时我非常伤心，哭了好久。但我知道，当两个人在重要的原则问题上出现意见分歧时，这段破碎的婚姻就无法补救了。这些问题包括：这段婚姻如何弄到破碎的地步？有什么是需要改进的？谁需要先做出改变，或者说谁要做出主要的改变？”
跟丈夫离婚后，伤心欲绝的洛蕾塔想要自我振作一下，于是她只身参加旅游团，来到香港旅游。
“那是我第一次来香港。导游带我们上山顶俯瞰整个香港市区。接着我们去了赤柱。当我到达那里后，我发现沿着海边，有一排八间向海的漂亮老屋。我第一眼便爱上了这些屋子。”洛蕾塔说道。
赤柱是位于香港岛南部的一个沿海小村庄，对许多到香港旅游的人来说，赤柱是不可错过的必游景点。赤柱原本是一个小渔村，但近几年来，这里建起了许多餐馆和酒吧，有的还提供露天茶座，让游客可以尽情欣赏风景如画的赤柱湾海景，整个环境充满欧陆风情。
“当我站在屋前远眺大海时，浪涛声融入我的思绪，我的情感。充满韵律和节奏感的海浪声给予我无限自由和平静的感觉。我不想离开了。我决定留在那里。”
海边那八间屋是1931年当时的港英政府修建的。由于政府征用了八户农民的房屋，所以在海边给他们重新搭建了房子作为补偿。
“我把这八间屋子逐一细细看了一遍，惊奇地发现其中一间是空置的。我很想租下那间屋子，却获知屋子的主人已经移民了。再说，他们愿意出租此屋的可能性微乎其微。但我不甘心，决定还是碰一碰运气。我立刻去航空公司，更改机票，推迟离港日期。”
“在我延长逗留的一个月里，我每天从铜锣湾的旅馆坐车去赤柱，坐在那八间屋前，希望等到屋子的主人回来。可是，我的愿望并没有实现。
“但我没有放弃，我依然梦想着能住在那间屋子里。我回奥地利向三个已长大成人的子女交代了一切后，便重回香港，在赤柱定居下来。我在那间屋附近租了一间公寓来住，但天天坐在那间屋前，等待屋子主人的出现。我足足坚持了三年。
“其间，我结识了一位在香港读书的法国学生。他委托附近的房地产公司替我寻找那位屋主。我终于在一年前联系上了屋子的主人，并且成功租下了那间渴求己久的屋子。”
洛蕾塔的新生活跟以前在奥地利的有很大不同，但她很快便适应下来，并感到非常满意。“住在其它七间屋的都是当地土生土长的居民。他们不喜欢常常有游客前来参观，并在他们屋子附近照相留念。每逢节假日早上八点钟左右，游客就开始成群结队地来到，在屋子周围拍照。据邻居说，有大陆游客抱怨原居民妨碍他们拍照，还会说一些不好听的话来责骂他们。所以他们干脆关起门来，在门上挂了块‘谢绝参观’的牌子。但我不介意，我已经退休了，我喜欢把大门敞开，干一些缝纫活。我乐在其中。有外国游客问我：‘可以参观你的屋子吗？’我回答说：‘非常欢迎！’因此我结交了许多朋友。但许多中国游客喜欢在我的屋外往里窥探。由于我想学广东话，我就很大方地把他们请进屋来，但他们反而立刻扭头就跑了。”
“住在隔壁的一位老婆婆只会用英语说‘Hi’和‘Bye’，但她对我的细心关照让我感到宽慰。她经常让她住在市区的家人帮我申请水电，还带我去移民局。她还教我缝纫，做中国菜。虽然我和前夫共同生活了32年，大家并无语言障碍，但我们的交流反而有问题。比如我问他：‘今晚回家吃饭吗？’他就回答‘难道你要管着我吗？’我们最终总是以吵架收场。”
其实，夫妻关系并不一定要激情，不一定要浓得化不开，反而相互尊重和关怀才能让两人白头到老。
“刚离婚的时候，我以为我的余生注定是凄冷孤独的，没想到黄昏其实最美！”