很高興今晚接受澳洲駐台辦事處代表頒獎 – 傑出青年獎。16年前我在政大最後一年到澳洲Monash大學當了一年的交換學生，那個經驗讓我學習到很多。今晚，我把那一年的背包客旅行經驗、一位影響我很深的老師、以及我對澳洲文化的觀察和當時遇到921大地震的應變..等等綜合起來，分享一段受獎感言，迴響不錯，也與各位分享。
Good day, mate!
Thank you for the kind introduction and I am extremely honored and humbled to receive the award. In fact, I am overwhelmed as many of you attending today are far more qualified than I am.
I first arrived in Melbourne Australia at age of 20 studying at Monash University as an exchange student. It turned out to be one of the most defining year of my life. It was the first time I left home and lived on a foreign land. Growing up in night market in southern Taiwan, survival instinct is never an issue to me. Once I arrived on campus, I quickly found the way to blend in. I roomed with international students, cooked together in communal. kitchen and watched the then famous Australian TV show Neighbors. Getting used to Vegemite, meat pie, barbie.. expressions like fair dinkum, footy, open the boot and etc. became daily dose of amusement…
Classes initially were difficult to me, not so much with the content but the accent of professors. I often had to take tape recorder with me to class and listened to it afterwards over and over. But I had fun. As an English literature major, I took courses related to Australian literature, politics, pop culture and journalism. However, one of my favorite courses offered to exchange was Experience Australia, with which we were told to take 3 trips across Australia throughout the semester and wrote papers about it. The 3 field trips I took were: great ocean road, Tasmania and Canberra. I learned most from visiting these places and speaking to people than I did in classroom.
Life in Australia was an eye-widening experience to me as well. In between semesters, I had worked in school library and saved up some money. I decided to go travel. I bought what they call a boomerang ticket going from Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney, cruising through Brisbane, Gold Coast, scuba diving in Great Barrier Reef, driving jeep on Frasier Island, exploring tropical jungles in Canes. In those two months of travel, I met the people I would not have had a chance to meet if I had not embarked on this journey.
In Sydney where I spent the millennium new year’s eve under Sydney Harbor Bridge. Celebrating with tens of thousand of people from around the world watching glorious, famed fireworks left an indelible memory. Years later whenever on the eve of New Years, whenever I am, I always think of the smile face formed by fireworks on Harbor Bridge.
In Alice Springs, I camped just a few kilometers away from Ayers Rock. As sun sat down, Ayers Rock basked in light pink and orange glow – it was almost divine. I looked up and saw the sky lit up with countless stars like diamonds blinking in the dark. I sat around camp fire with travel mates and aboriginals who performed didgeridoo. The humming sound of the instrument beckoned through greatness of dessert into mystery.
I returned on campus of Monash after my travel and resumed the semester only to find the day of shocking earthquake in Taiwan. On September 21st 2001 central Taiwan was struck. heavily by 6.5 magnitude earthquake. Hundreds of buildings went down, thousands of people went missing, hundreds buried in hubris and feared dead. I woke up to the day in shock. My hands were shivering as I could only watch live satellite videos from TV. I anxiously called home but could not locate my parents. My heart was sunken. As rescue situation worsened, being thousands of miles away from home, I could not do much but perhaps, I thought, I could turn crisis into opportunities for solidarity and mobilization. Along with others’ help, I immediately organized a fund-raising campaign on campus. Donations came pouring in, fellow students volunteered to help; professors donated their daily pay. I was showered by the warmth of Australians’ generosity and sympathy. Altogether, we raised over fifty-thousand Aus. dollars to send home. Thank you Australia.
In Australia, I also met a professor that has had influence on me. Her name is Professor Jeni Kroski who taught cultural studies. Coming to Australia as a refugee from Serbia, she gained her Ph D and worked her way up to become a professor. She resembled an image of bravery and grit. While I was busy with fundraising for earthquake relief in Taiwan, I missed several classes. She’d offered to help me make up the loss. We would ride trains together from Clayton station to downtown Flinder St. Station where she gets off. During the one-hour train ride, we would discuss what I had missed in class and she would tell her tales as a refugee immigrant. In professor Kroski’s story, I see resilience. I. felt Australia as a country offering opportunities for those come to contribute.
It was these small things I remembered about my stint in Australia. However inconsequential they are, happenings of the events shaped the worldview of an otherwise untamed, irreverent, wayward young person. It changed me in a profound way I never know. Thinking about those memories, I realize we will never be able to turn back the o’clock. You leave footprints on those paths you cross. However vague or obscure those prints were, they mark the ideals in you. The youth may not be as present but the inspiration and spirit are.
16 years later, as life would turn out, I became a legislator in Taiwan’s Parliament. As a legislator, I stand up for underprivileged. I campaigned for same sex marriage bill, digital economy bill, indigenous land right reform bill…. Again, I embark on a journey unknown to me. As the footprints in life would always connect down the road, I call up the adventurer in me, the idealism in me, the courage I found when backpacking through Australia…it was those defining moments in Australia that propelled me – fear not.
I thought back to the night I camped next to Ayers Rock looking at unfathomable sky filled with stars, wind blowing from deep desert, caressing the wandering soul, almost purifying, with the sound of didgeridoo humming in the ear, I hear deep inner voice calling — March on!
Thank you very much..
