Chapter 12: The Deadly One-Day Trip
I suppose, at the start there would be a lot of people thinking: what kind of supernatural t.i.tle is this?
*Cough cough,* to explain this matter, I"ll have to start from a few days ago—
At this time, since it just so happens that the North* is holding a new generation design exhibition, all the teachers started to advocate that everyone must find time to go and see, etc. And so, a certain Xuan* felt her heart wavering, and after discussing with a few friends, she decided to go on a trip to the North.
[T/N: The northern part of Taiwan.]
[T/N: The author"s name is Hu Xuan.]
Because it just so happened that the next day was one of the last days before the museum"s exhibition ends, and a certain friend also wanted to see it, and adding along the fact that the British exhibition was going to close soon too, we discussed it and decided to see all these exhibitions together. The problem was, after excluding tomorrow, the two other places would definitely be packed full with people since it was during the holidays. After a couple more people discussed it with us, we picked Thursday to travel to the North.
But there was coincidentally cla.s.s on Thursday night too. Everyone mulled over it again, and we decided to take a ride up North early in the morning at six o"clock, and see all three exhibitions in one go, before rushing back for cla.s.s. (Actually the one who wanted to get to cla.s.s was a certain Xuan, dragging the others down with her, sorry about that…)
After we made our plans, on Wednesday night, due to going to bed too early, a certain Xuan couldn"t fall asleep, and kept rolling around in bed until five in the morning when she immediately jumped up, dashing wildly to the station. The few people majestically headed toward the North, rushing non-stop to see the exhibitions.
There were a few episodes that occurred in between that, but after we succeeded in viewing the exhibitions, it was almost four o"clock in the afternoon. We were quite happy that there would be enough time to get to cla.s.s. But terrible things always happen when people let their guard down—we got lost.
We were completely unable to find a single pa.s.senger near the train station; under the directions of a mysterious pa.s.serby, we stumbled around half of downtown until we arrived at the bus terminal, only to discover that it was actually right next to the train station. (dies) After we hopped on the train, it was already close to five o"clock. The journey was smooth, and when the train arrived at the Central*, it was almost seven.
[T/N: The central region of Taiwan.]
With my cla.s.smates leading the way, we successfully rushed toward the school, just in time to catch the second cla.s.s. With four cla.s.ses down, by ten o"clock at night, a certain Xuan probably also had one-third of her life removed, emerging into the ultimate collapsed state.
And out of all things, the most important part was: none of the teachers who had cla.s.s on that day actually took attendance!
I was totally shocked till I couldn’t take it anymore. If I had known this earlier, I would"ve followed my friends in skipping cla.s.s and rolling back home to sleep. I really am stupid to the end of the horizon.
After returning home, I was unable to fall asleep again, rolling around on the bed until it was two plus, nearly three, before falling asleep.
And so, this made me sorrowfully decide—
I will never go on another of these sort of one-day tours that can cause one to die!
But then again, the new generation design exhibition did have quite a lot of interesting things. A certain Xuan had a very deep impression of a lamp with three white birds. Standing it up will light it, and pressing it down will turn it off, and it can also be extended. If it becomes available for sale, I"ll probably go grab one home. (This person is a bird enthusiast)
Although that day really was exhausting, but the harvest was also plentiful. Thank you to all the students and organizers who worked so hard on this exhibition, and I look forward to an even more creative exhibition next year.
Those of you who are interested, let"s await next year"s new exhibition together (laugh)
Once again, I want to thank the designers, everyone worked hard.
★If any friends want to visit me, you can come on my personal web page, and the gateway to the cultural forum, or the community box: [40099 Taichung Post Office, Mailbox 2706, received by Hu Xuan] —will be waiting for you.
May 21, 2007