Continued The People:

3.Paul, the most unforgettable name in my mind since 2006 summer, I’ve mentioned it many times in the previous entries. In the very first day, I got a wrong impression of him. I thought he’s some other ‘kitchen helper’ just like Hoifu and me. Why did I get this impression? Because he cleaned the unbelievably dirty kitchen with us and there’s no hint showing that he’s actually not just a ‘kitchen helper’, but a chef.

保罗，我们叫的“阿保”，一个看起来除了圆圆的肚子之外一点都不像大厨的人。第一天上班我就搞错，以为“哎呀，一个和我一样的小工”，结果一问才知道他是我们的大厨，我的老板。在他的关照之下，我在史凯威的日子过得非常的舒服。

**This summer, I got two wrong first-impressions: one was Paul, the other one was my second boss’s wife: Ah Ling. I thought Ah Ling was a new casher, and she’s slow and unclear about what she’s doing. I directly pointed this out to her and acted as a “senior”. I started to know what kind of mistake I’ve made after Renee told me Ah Ling was Albert’s (my second boss) wife. I really wanted to dig a hole there and squeezed myself in. Everyone laughed at me after knowing the whole thing. That’s really embarrassing. **

关于以貌取人造成的误会，我这个假期就遇上两个，一个是保罗，一个是我第二份工的老板娘阿玲。我以为她只是一个和我一样的收银员，再加上新来的有点迷迷糊糊、笨手笨脚，我就想当然的表现的“资深”一点。我记得当时的状况是我们在卖上网的密码，5块美金一个小时。当时很明显的已经没有空电脑了，我就告诉阿玲暂时不要再卖密码了，让想上网的人先过来排队。不晓得她是忘记了还是没听见，还一直在卖密码，那些拿到密码的人发现没有机子，就跑过来质问我，抱怨说为什么会这样。一个两个三个，就把我惹毛了，“给你说了不要卖了，你还在卖，现在这些人跑来我这儿抱怨，你说咋个办哇？你过来解决嘛！”阿玲当时就愣了，事后想起来我觉得她还真是有修养，没有马上丢给我一句“我是你老板娘，你敢跟我大声说话！不想干了就滚！”之类的。二老板Renee看不下去了，偷偷给我说：她是老板娘。我就呆了，挖个洞钻进去吧，或者干脆直接把我开除了吧，太尴尬了。事后所有人晓得了都笑我，够猛。

I think I asked Paul what’s his job in this kitchen then. He told me “I will run this kitchen.” Oh-oh, he’s my boss. In the first two weeks, I didn’t really have the chance to talk to him, as Hoifu and I are busy washing dishes. Whenever we got time, we must be arguing or quarreling.

Then I had a few troublesome days there as servers were unhappy with my speed of washing. “Where is the silverware? Can you wash those water glasses again? We need some steak knives!” All kinds of requests drove me crazy. But that’s my fault because I was slow and I made my own decision to take the dinner shift. I tried my best to be faster, and I think I gained some muscles on my arms during that period. During those not very happy days, Paul always came over and talked to me for a while, which easily made my day.

起初我和Hoifu一起工作的时候，我并没有什么机会和阿保说话。我们总是忙着洗碗，空的时候就忙着吵吵闹闹。然后我就自己一个人做晚上的工，因为我的速度慢，服务生一个二个都给脸色看。（速度慢又不是我偷懒，实在是因为手劲太小，一次拿不动太多盘子。）又不服输，觉得不能让你们这群牛高马大的老美看不起，就慢慢练习拿重一点的东西。想来那段日子手臂上长了不少肌肉。虽然不是很开心，但是阿保总是不忘过来关心我两句，我就可以心满意足的继续洗碗。

Then I started to find a second job. It’s not that easy for us, the first group of Asian people in Skagway. All the shopkeepers prefer white skin and yellow hair. We were always told to go back and wait for further notice. Idiots also know that that is a nice way of saying “No”. We only got positive response from a small grocery store, but the boss’s a typical business man. We were a bit afraid of him. Later I got an offer in another hotel, but I didn’t want to do housekeeping.

完全适应了第一份工以后我就开始找第二份工，对史凯威的第一群亚洲学生来说，找工作并不如想象中的容易。店主们都偏向请美国人或者欧洲人，我们最经常听到的就是“回去等消息”。猪都晓得他们不要我们。只有一个以色列人开的杂货店觉得我们可以，但是我们对他的印象又不好：太精明，有点危险的商人。后来一个叫Chris的美国人让我去他那里做客房清洁，我偏偏又害怕扫厕所。一直拖一直拖，我还是死守着我的第一份工。

As my boss, Paul had no responsibility for helping me looking for a second job. But he tried to help me asking around. Working in Port of Call was not expected, as its first impression was not good. (The grocery store I mentioned just now.) An accident and some coincidences put this job in front of me again. I was scared about working there as none of us felt safe after the accident, especially the twins. I finally made my decision after asking Paul’s opinion. He said the people there were OK and he knew I really wanted a second job. When I worked there for the first day, he came over to see whether I was doing OK.

作为我的老板，阿保完全不必要帮我找第二份工。但他一直很帮忙，帮我问他的一些朋友看有没有适合我的工作。因为第一印象不太好的原因，我一直都不觉得我会去那家杂货店外加网吧工作。一场车祸和一系列的巧合让我又有机会去那里工作。其实我心里头很怕，因为我们都对那个老板没什么好印象，再加上车祸的阴影，每个人都觉得不是很安全，双胞胎一直劝我要三思。我最后决定要去是因为Brian阿布一直保证说他们会像家人一样对待我，阿保也说要放心大胆的去就好。战战兢兢的去上班的第一天，老板都很好，算是打消了我心中的顾虑。

When the accident happened, none of us knew what to do. We were all thunder-stricken. We all tried very hard to control our tears, as we knew that Derlyn didn’t want to see us crying. She needed our support. But I really felt that I needed to relieve my feelings. I cried a little bit when Connie (one of our good friends, a nice American lady works in housekeeping.) told us “Kids, it’s OK if you want to cry.” Then I realized that I didn’t have the mood of going to work. Haojie accompanied with me to see Paul in men’s atco’s kitchen. I asked for a day off. He gave me a hug and told me that “I just want you to know that I care about all of you.” I couldn’t stop crying in front of them.

当车祸发生以后，我们几个完全处于吓傻了的状态，好几个星期以后想起来还是不能接受。因为怕美玲看到我们哭，大家都一直忍着不要哭出来，但是我觉得不发泄出来我就快支撑不住了。柯妮很体贴得抱抱我们每个人，告诉我们“想哭就哭出来吧”，我才小小的哭了一下。皓杰陪我去跟阿保请一天假，我看到他就止不住眼泪了，在他和皓杰面前哭也不会觉得难为情，我毕竟是最小的嘛。

To be continued