我的同事：反骨不羈的艾蓮娜 Free-Spirited Rebels (中/Eng)

第一次製作有聲文章，不方便看字的人(例如老花眼)可以試試看

我的同事艾蓮娜，一頭凌亂隨意的金髮，擦著淡藍色的眼影，散發著一股慵懶的自信美，是我對她的第一印象，她說著略帶口音的英文，一開始我以為她是魁北克（法語區）的加拿大人，後來才知道她在烏克蘭出生，在俄羅斯長大。

My colleague, Elena, with her casually tousled blond hair, a hint of light blue eyeshadow, exuding a lazy confidence, that was my first impression of her. She spoke English with a slight accent, and initially, I thought she was Canadian from Quebec (French-speaking area). Later, I found out she was born in Ukraine and grew up in Russia.

艾蓮娜是個熱心助人有富有同情心的人，當初烏俄戰爭開打時，她收了一家子的烏克蘭人，無償讓他們住在她的公寓裡幾個月，還收留一個烏克蘭女生住在她們的basement一年多。看到這裡，如果你以為艾蓮娜是那種慈眉善目無害的女人，那可差的遠了。

Elena is a caring and compassionate person. When the Ukraine-Russia war broke out, she took in a Ukrainian family, letting them stay in her apartment for several months, and even housed a Ukrainian girl in their basement for over a year. If you think Elena is just a harmless, kind-hearted woman after hearing this, you couldn’t be more wrong.

艾蓮娜從頭到腳散發著一股反骨和不羈的氣場，說話時她會直視著妳，眼神完全不會閃躲，意見不合時，她也一點也不怯弱的表明自己的立場，有時候別人誤會或是沒理解她的意思，她也會很直接的說 “No, that's not what I'm saying. You've got it all wrong." 就是要把事情說得很「清楚」，在我這個被磨練成「說話婉轉、點到為止、保留對方顏面」的INFP-T的人眼中，艾蓮娜有如神一般的存在，就算是主管也敬她三分。

Elena radiates defiance and wildness from head to toe. When she speaks, she looks you straight in the eye, without any hint of evasion. When opinions clash, she boldly asserts her position without any sign of timidity. If others misunderstand her, she’ll straightforwardly say, “No, that's not what I'm saying. You've got it all wrong,” just to make things “clear.” To me, an INFP-T person trained to speak gently, Elena seems like a deity, worthy of respect even from supervisors.

艾蓮娜的不羈不只是心靈上，實際上也是像隻自由的野馬，她有時候會脫掉鞋子，赤腳走在辦公室的地毯上，自在的像小蓮走在阿爾卑斯山上的草地上，其他的同事早已見怪不怪，當時剛加入公司不久的我詫異的問：艾蓮娜，妳為什麼赤著腳？ 她則神態自若的看著我：Why not?

Occasionally, she’ll kick off her shoes and stroll barefoot on the office carpet, embodying the carefree spirit of Heidi from the anime “Heidi, Girl of the Alps,” roaming the Alpine meadows. While other colleagues are already used to it, I, newly joining the company, asked in surprise, “Elena, why are you barefoot?” She calmly replied, “Why not?”

這些不拘泥還體現在許多事情上，她會省去砧板，直接在桌子上切香腸，有時候甚至盤也不裝，放在桌子上就著吃，我看著那張不知道被多少手摸過的餐桌，再看她完全不當回事的樣子，要是你跟她說：艾蓮娜，那桌子很髒很多細菌的欸，她肯定會說：It's fine. Just a little bacteria will not kill you.

Her nonconformity extends to many things; she skips the cutting board and slices sausages directly on the table, sometimes not bothering with a plate, just eating off the table. Watching her completely unfazed by the table, touched by countless hands, if you were to say, “Elena, that table is dirty and full of bacteria,” she would surely respond, “It’s fine. Just a little bacteria will not kill you.”

但她可是很重視身體健康的，她曾經很沈迷健身，手臂和爬滿刺青的腿部都有明顯訓練過的痕跡。最近她還愛上cold dip，清晨六七點，冬天的加拿大都還看不見太陽的影子，她就跑到湖裡「浸泡」3分鐘，湖水的溫度有多低，光是用想的都讓我起雞皮疙瘩。

Yet, she values health. She was once deeply into fitness, evident from the trained marks on her arms and legs covered in tattoos. Recently, she’s taken a liking to cold dips. Early morning, around six or seven, when the Canadian winter still hides the sun’s presence, she plunges into the lake for three minutes. The thought alone gives me goosebumps, considering how cold the lake water must be.

艾蓮娜有三個孩子、兩隻狗、一隻貓和一隻蜥蜴。艾蓮娜說20出頭時，她老公就跟她求婚了，但她偏不要，直到有一天她突然覺得人生好無聊，工作和生活都沒有一點變化，於是她就密謀要來生小孩。當艾蓮娜跟她老公說她懷孕時，她老公一臉驚訝說:「妳不是都說很安全嗎」，艾蓮娜則故作驚訝的回應：「對呀我也以為」，殊不知這都在她的計畫中。

Elena has three children, two dogs, a cat, and a lizard. She said when she was in her twenties, her husband proposed, but she refused. It wasn’t until she felt bored with life one day, with no changes in work or daily routine, that she secretly plotted to have children. When Elena told her husband she was pregnant, he was surprised, saying, “But you said it was safe.” Elena, pretending to be surprised, replied, “Yeah, I thought so too,” all part of her plan.

生下第一胎的那年她23歲，6年後她又覺得生活無聊，於是又生了一個兒子，8年後又再生了一個女兒，她還建議我：要是妳也覺得無聊，就去生個孩子。

She gave birth to her first child at 23, then six years later, another son, and eight years after that, a daughter. She even suggested to me, “If you feel bored too, just have a child.”

anthony renovato on Unsplash

艾蓮娜一家住在Coquitlam的山坡上，時不時有麋鹿和熊在附近徘徊。有天早晨一對黑熊跑到他們的院子裡，兩小無嫌猜的堆疊在一起打鬧嬉戲，但定睛一看發現，原來牠們不小也不嫌猜，而是在做熊與熊的連結。艾蓮娜從窗外看到他們在交配，馬上叫上她18、12和6歲的孩子：Come look, kids! It's time to learn about sex!

Elena’s family lives on a hill, where deer and bears occasionally wander nearby. One morning, two black bears ran into their yard, playfully frolicking together. Upon closer inspection, it turned out they weren’t playing; they were mating. Elena, seeing them from the window, immediately called her 18, 12, and 6-year-old children, “Come look, kids! It’s time to learn about sex!”

她說她最討厭所謂的紳士風度，幫她開門拉椅子，還有她老公有時候對她關心的口吻，她可不是說說而已，她可是真的會因此而惱怒。她說她討厭那種像被孩子般「被照顧」的感覺，她想要被平等的對待。

She hates the so-called gentlemanly manners, like holding doors open or pulling out chairs for her, and sometimes the caring tone her husband uses towards her. She loathes being “cared for” like a child; she wants to be treated equally. And she’s not just saying it; she genuinely gets annoyed by it.

艾蓮娜不是養尊處優的貴婦，她就是喜歡那種變化和刺激感，她有時候會剪掉一頭金髮，換成俐落的粉色短髮，有時候又染成紫色的，長長短短都是看心情。

Elena isn’t a pampered lady; she just enjoys change and excitement. Sometimes she’ll chop off her blond hair and switch to neat pink short hair, or dye it purple. Long or short, it’s all about her mood.

艾蓮娜提醒我很久以前看過的一本書 — 我在印度，接近天堂也看見地獄的其中一章節：

我們無法斷定嘉瑞瑪的婚姻能否從此美滿，但重要的是，她堅信自己有能力讓婚姻美滿，這種信念來自接受人生有起有落，接受沒有完美的生活、人、關係或婚姻。在一個不穩定的世界穩定下來。嘉瑞瑪唯一的武裝，是知道自己擁有適應能力；而她的適應能力有一部分來自她不會想太多。

Elena reminded me of a chapter from Embrace the Chaos: How India Taught Me to Stop Overthinking and Start Living –

We cannot say for sure if Jarama’s marriage will be happy from now on, but what’s important is that she believes she has the ability to make it happy. This belief stems from accepting the ups and downs of life, accepting that life, people, relationships, or marriages are not perfect. In an unstable world, she found stability. Jarama’s only armor is knowing she has adaptability; and part of her adaptability comes from not overthinking.

艾蓮娜就像嘉瑞瑪。她不是個完美的人，她的自我和熱心讓人又愛又恨，但她無懼的個性深深的吸引著我，好像在說：人生太乖很無聊，犯點錯、做點改變、生個孩子、吃點細菌有什麼關係。

Elena is like Jarama. She’s not a perfect person; her self and enthusiasm evoke both love and hate. But her fearless personality deeply attracts me, as if saying, “Life is too boring if you’re too obedient; make mistakes, make changes, have children, eat some bacteria, what’s the big deal.”