The Camel Class Reunion (駱駝同學會) Part I

#2013-0205A

This year (2013) the Camel Family Reunion took place at Sun Moon Lake from Sunday to Monday, February 3-4. It was an annual meeting especially organized for my former classmates who had studied at Green Garden from September 1970 to June 1975. [Green Garden = Provincial Chiayi Teachers Junior College.]

Graduates from that particular class (called Camel Class or Camel Family) had mostly worked as school teachers nearly three decades before retirement. Only some of them are still working as teachers or non-teachers. Among the non-teachers, so far as I know, are two medical doctors, two professional painters, two or three violinists/cellists, one or two free-lance writers, one lawyer, and one who is working abroad -- in Czech Republic -- as a diplomat from  Taiwan.

Not all the Camel Brothers came to this annual Reunion at Sun Moon Lake; however, there was an increase in the number of the participants, because all the Brothers who joined the Reunion came together with their spouses. And some even came with their children! (For example, the 2nd photo below shows two of my good friend A Cai's children, as well as my wife.)

Following are just a part of the pictures I took on Sunday, the first day of the Reunion. There are more photos (and an itinerary in the Chinese language) on the next page, #2013-0205B, just for your reference. If you are interested in the Camel Class Reunion held in 2012, please click and see #2012-0130B.

童言童語說相聲 (A Children's Talk Show)

#2013-0202

童言童語說相聲（第二場次）

時間：2013 年 2 月 2 日 (週六) 下午 2 時起

地點：台中市 廣三 SOGO 百貨公司 (門前廣場) 地址：台中市西區台中港路一段299號 

演出者／演出單位：（參閱照片 1-3）

節目內容：（請參閱下面的照片 ）

關於 "相聲／說唱藝術" 參考資料：You may learn more about 相聲 (xiangsheng) and 說唱藝術 (shuochang) by clicking the relevant entries in The Chinese Wikipedia. But the following quotations are directly from The English Wikipedia:
        Xiangsheng, sometimes translated as cross-talks, is a traditional Chinese comedic performance in the form of a dialogue between two performers, or, much less often, a solo monologue or, even less frequently, a multi-player talk show. The language, rich in puns and allusions, is delivered in a rapid, bantering style. Xiangsheng is one of China's foremost and most popular performing arts, and is typically performed in the Tianjin dialect (or in Standard Chinese with a strong Northern Chinese accent).
        Shuochang is a form of traditional Chinese storytelling (or, more properly, "story-singing"), with many regional subgenres; it is also often referred to as "narrative." Shuochang performances usually intermix speaking and singing, and are accompanied by percussion instruments and sometimes also plucked or bowed string instruments. Shuochang is most often performed by a solo male or female singer, although it may also be performed by two singers. The singers may provide their own accompaniment with hand-held percussion such as clappers (called ban; 板) or a small drum, or there may also be a small ensemble of one or two musicians.

上圖及下圖：致詞者為 台中市大勇國小

周玉娟 校長 ---- 我們感謝她蒞臨給予勉勵！

下圖：Ms. Kitty Wu 身兼數職，

還能 "適時" 上台擔任 "串場"，好棒！

上圖及下圖：我們的指導老師是 "天橋說唱藝術團" 團長

 張祖望老師，他突然上台敲鑼 露一手，鼓勵大家！

下圖為 "友情贊助" 的主持人 翁文進 先生。

以下六圖都是 "對口相聲"，每一 "對" 都演得很精采。

下二圖是 "雙簧" 表演。

下圖為當晚 "謝師宴" 餐敘前，獻花給 張祖望老師 以表謝意。

奶奶！背！

#2013-0201

「奶奶！背！. . . 啊！奶奶，背 . . . 背背呀！我要『背』. . . 嗚----嗚嗚！. . . .」

小蜜蜂玩累了，今天早上在山坡上的「遊樂區」玩了近兩個鐘頭［註：小蜜蜂的玩耍俗稱 tso khang-khuei 就是台語「做工」的意思］，加上來程路上「爬山」的時間，算是他「戶外運動」最紮實、也最久的一次。現在，他真的累了吧！要下山回家了，直吵著要奶奶背他，怎麼勸說，他都不肯再自己走路了。

可是，回家的路上，他的眼睛並沒閒著。拿「東張西望」這成語來形容，似乎不恰當，因為他並不是「慌慌張張」，而是「自自然然」。跟隨在他倆身邊的爺爺我，再次「發現」：我們的小蜜蜂是 100% 的「好奇寶寶」，雖然舒舒服服地「背」在奶奶「背」上，仍不忘沿途看風景，看左邊、看右邊，看上面、看下面 . . . . . 啊！菩提樹上，飛來跳去有好幾十隻小鳥，吱吱喳喳地叫著；路邊草叢裡，突然飛出來一隻淺灰色的蝴蝶，舞姿曼妙！

這大自然的聲音和光影，我敢說，我們的「小蜜蜂」都注意到了！