朋友說要寄給我一本旅行的記事本，我沒多想就答應了。一直以為會用電子郵件的方式寄給我，畢竟這個年代"mail"幾乎直接和"email"劃上等號。等了兩三天沒收到，還寫信問朋友寄出了沒？他說：記事本還在路上呢！用電子郵件多沒意思。又過了幾天，我終於收到這本環遊世界的記事本。
這是一個加拿大老師設計給學生們認識世界的計畫。每個學生在記事本的第一頁寫上簡單的自我介紹，然後寄給離自己最遠的親戚朋友。從這裡開始，開啟了記事本的旅程。收到記事本的人，同樣地在記事本上介紹自己－興趣、工作、住的城市或任何想說的想傳達的，再寄給遠方的親友。而今年五月擁有記事本的人，則將寄回加拿大給小主人，結束了約一年的旅程。
三月中我收到了這本記事本。小主人是個小男生，但很可惜我不懂法文，無法得知他寫些什麼。這本記事本去了日本、新加坡、香港，然後來到我的手中。除了一定要介紹的台灣外，我還寫了一些在米國的經驗。馬克也寫了一篇，不過內容感覺很像是求職面試的自我介紹，也把他碩士論文的機械設計圖畫上去了（看來要從碩士論文以及求職面談的壓力中回復到正常人生活，還要一段時間）。接著記事本就要啟程去下一站：澳洲。
這是一個相當有趣的試驗。在記事本裡，人們表達對於居住城市或是原生城市的喜愛，雖然只是城市眾多浮生面相的其中一面，但這或許是書上、網路上沒有描述的，也或許是即使親自拜訪但身為遊客仍無法體驗。同時，記事本也間接記錄著各地人們之間的關聯。
記事本有沒有機會環遊世界各角落？最後去的幾個國家？有沒有順利地回到小主人手中？我永遠不會知道這些答案，但我相信記事本將會有個精彩的旅程與美麗的歸宿。
My friend asked if he could mail me a journal that was supposed to travel. I accepted the request without much thinking. I always thought I would see the journal in my email. After all nowadays "mail" is almost equivalent to "email". I asked my friend again after couple days waiting, if he ever mailed me. "The journal is still making its way to you," he said. Then I just realized that the journal is really traveling around the world.
This is a project initiated by a 5th- and 6th-grade Canadian teacher. Each of her student wrote a brief introduction on the first page of their own journals regarding themselves and the city where they live. Then they mailed to one of their relatives who lives far far far away from them. Starting from there, the journey of the journal began. People who receive the journal are invited to write something on the journal - whether it is about themselves, the city they live, and whatever they would like to share. Then they mail to someone who lives far from them as well. And whoever receives the journal in May is asked to mail back to Canada to the original owner and ends the journal's year-long journey.
I received this journal in the middle of March. The owner is a boy. Too bad that I don't understand french, so I can't read what he wrote. The journal went to Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, and then came to me. In addition to introduce Taiwan where my home country is, I also shared some thought about my life in the US. Mark also wrote an entry. He introduced himself in the fashion as having a job interview. He also drew the boy the mechanical design from his thesis. (Yes looks like some additional time is needed to recover from the pressure of thesis and job interviews.) The next stop for the journal: Australia.
This is a quiet interesting project. In this journal people express their love to the cities where they are from, or where they live. These descriptions may not be representative or objective. But you may not find those comments in books, on the Internet, or you may not be able to observe it even you travel in those cities. In the mean time, the journal also documented the relationships between people all around the world.
Does the journal have the chance to visit every corner of the world? How many countries does the journal visit? Does it eventually go back to the owner successfully? I would never know the answers, but I believe the journal will have a fantastic journey and a beautiful ending.
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