A Mahjong Night of 6 Strangers 六个陌生人的麻将之夜 by YUAN

原文链接 https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/YDg4IUSxmef-NBuy6MLaiw

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The red lanterns on these foreign streets reminded me that Chinese New Year was coming to this foreign town too. The credits had to be given to the fortunate fact that Chinese culture is one of the many local cultures Malaysia embraces and boasts. Satiated by its renowned cuisines mixed with exotic flavors and immersed in its cultural extravaganza, I almost felt at home in this tropical country I'd fallen in love with. In fact, my love affair with Malaysia started way before I set my foot on this land thanks to one person, Nigel, my Malaysian brother from another mother back in New York.

挂在异域街边的红灯笼们一直在提醒着我，这儿也过农历新年。这不得不感谢马来西亚，中华文化只是这个国家自豪拥有的本地文化之一。满足于出了名的马来饮食，浸泡在其文化的盛宴之中，在这个我深爱的热带国家我似乎找到了家的感觉。事实上，我与马来西亚的爱恋早在我来到这儿之前就开始了。这一切都源于一个人，Nigel，我在纽约的亲如兄弟的哥们儿。

Zigzagging through quiet alleys in the old yet exotic town of Ipoh, I was targetting some leisure space to read, preferably with a refreshing cocktail in my hand. With that goal driving me and thanks to some local hipsters leading the way, I was fortunate enough to stumble upon a speakeasy bar hidden inside the dimly lit alleys. Upon entering Tiga, the speakeasy bar, I could tell from its retro wooden decor and light music that this hidden watering hole had been a soothing haven for many foreign touristy minds and local lost souls before.

穿梭在怡保老城弯曲而寂静的胡同中，我在猎寻着一个舒适的地方去读书，最好手里还能有一杯清爽的调酒。就这么被这个目标驱动着，当然也得感谢当地潮人，跟随着他们的步伐，我在胡同深处走进了一家隐藏酒吧。Tiga酒吧灯光昏暗，从他古朴的木质装修和轻柔的音乐我就知道，这个隐蔽的酒馆是很多游客和当地人来放松身心的港湾。

1 drink out, a stranger tapped on my shoulder.

一杯酒下肚，一位陌生人拍了拍我的肩膀。

"How do you like your drink ah?" a Chinese-looking gentleman asked me in English with the local accent, white collars of his shirt bringing out his warm eyes and neat haircut.

“你觉得酒怎么样啦~？”一位华人男士用马来英语问道。他的白衬衫衣领衬托出他温暖的眼光和整齐的发型。

"It's quite good!" I replied casually yet with reserved respect. "Are you the owner?"

“很好喝！”我自然的回答道，稍保留了一些敬意。“你是老板吗？”

"No. I'm just like you lah. Anyway, I got some friends over there. You wanna join us or not ah?"

“不是的啦，我和你一样啦。嗯，我那边有些朋友，要不要加入我们哩？”

At first, I was startled by such a blunt invitation, considering one fact that it was from a total stranger and the other fact that I knew no one within the 1000 km radius. Yet, knowing how inviting Malaysians are and following my nature of trusting strangers, I nipped the party-pooping thought in the bud.

被这么赤裸裸的邀请，我一开始有点愣住了，毕竟我在这个城市是一个完全的陌生人，方圆千里之内没有我认识的人。但，深知马来西亚人的热情，我就遵循着自己相信陌生人的本性，早早的把扫兴的念头抛向脑后。

It was a gang of friends, 3 guys and 2 girls, plus me. 5 local Malaysian Chinese and 1 Chinese from the motherland. The way David, the gentlemen who invited me to this part, conversed with them made me believe that this place was their regular hangout. Most of our conversations were about comparing young people's lives in both countries and complaining about small things of our motherlands while envying the other's. A typical international bar chat. Of course, they were surprised by how much I knew about Malaysia and amazed by my mastery of Manglish, an English accent spoken only by the locals. I told them all due credits should be given to a Malaysian friend back in New York. I didn't mention Nigel's name though. I had to admit two things: I was showboating a little to prove I was no regular dumb tourist and Nigel had taught me well in Malaysia 101.

一群朋友中有三个男生和两个女生，还有我。5个马来西亚本地华人和1个来自母亲大地的中国人。David，也就是那位邀请我的男士，和其他人交谈甚欢，这让我相信他们一定是这儿的常客。聊天中的大多数时候，我们会比较两个国家年轻人的生活，对自己国家的小事儿发发牢骚，顺便羡慕一下对方。一个很普通的国际青年间的酒吧对话。当然，他们也吃惊于我对马来西亚的了解，还有我以假乱真的马来英语口音。我告诉他们这一切都要归功于一位我在纽约认识的马来兄弟，我并没有提及Nigel的名字。我必须承认两件事：我有点在臭显摆自己不是那种走马观花的游客；还有Nigel在“初学马来”这门课上真的是一个优秀人民老师。

2 rounds of drinks helped warm our cheeks and our festive moods. One guy suggested that we go upstairs to play Mahjong together. "Ahhhh, that was where the wooden staircase led to--a secret Mahjong room," my inner voice said.

两圈儿酒后，我们的节日气氛和我们微红的脸蛋一样暖了起来。有人提议我们上楼去打麻将。“啊，原来如此。那个楼梯上面是个秘密麻将屋。”我内心独白道。

Nothing, I mean, nothing could top gambling in working up the festivity during Chinese New Year and Mahjong is the most popular of all gambling games across all China towns. However, over the years, I mainly busied myself with munching homemade delicacies and counting how many red packets I got. I never gave the good old game a serious try. Besides, its complicated changes of rules in different locales demoralized me even more. But, 3 drinks in my stomach, being in a different country, 5 strangers as my buddies, Chinese New Year. In a scene like this, man, I'd never wanted to try Mahjong so bad in my life.

在提高新年气氛上，没有，我强调，没有任何东西能够超越赌博，而麻将是所有中国城最为人津津乐道的游戏。然而，这么多年以来，我一直都是忙着往嘴里塞山珍海味，数数今年我拿了多少红包，从来没有好好学过麻将。而且，麻将在不同的地方规则都不一样，这更打击了我的学习积极性。但是，刚干了三杯美酒，身处异国他乡，五个陌生人做我的靠背，还是农历新年，怎么着，我也得来整两圈儿麻将。

So we 6 tipsy bodies wobbled up the stair, entered a dark room, and arranged ourselves around the table of beige Mahjong tiles. Normally, Mahjong is a game of 4 players, but in Malaysia, it's a game of 3. To make the maths even more friendly to us, among us 6, 3 were rookies like me and 3 female old-timers in the gambling world. So each student was paired with a master to learn the game.

就这样，六个微醺的身体晃晃悠悠的走上了楼梯，走进了一个黑暗的房间，在摆满米黄色麻将牌的桌旁随便的坐了下来。通常，麻将是个四人游戏。但是在大马，是三人一局。恰巧的是，我们六人中有三人是像我一样的新手，另外三位是搓麻高手，所以我们每个新手配备了一名麻将老师。

The rest of the night was linguistically chaotic, yet in the most culturally enlightening way.

那天晚上，麻将桌上，七嘴八舌，多种语言，群英荟萃。这一文化之夜，让我茅塞顿开。

Even though English was the common tongue among us, we all spoke different languages on the Mahjong table. My master, a short-haired girl with a slight tan, was well versed in Mandarin. She could've had fooled me to believe that she was from northern China since she spoke the "er" sound--only northerners add "er" at the end of some words-with panache. Later, I found out that she had received lots of mainland Chinese customers in Malaysia. The pair sat to our right-hand side were talking vehemently in English as they were "the banana people", local Chinese who didn't know how to speak their ancestral tongue. To our left-hand side, a more flamboyant dialect of Chinese, Cantonese, became their lingua franca in explaining the rules of the game.

虽然英语是我们所有人的通用语，我们在麻将桌上都操着不同的语言。我的师傅，短发，美黑的皮肤，说的是很标准的普通话。她的口音绝对把我唬住，以为她是国内的北方人，因为她的儿化音——只有中国北部方言才会在一些词后面加上儿化音——老地道了。后来我才知道她经常和大陆的客户打交道。坐在我右边的一对在用英语说得热火朝天，因为他们是“香蕉人”，这是指那些已经不会说他们祖先的语言的本地华人。而在我们左边能听到的是猴赛雷的广东话。

Just like that, 3 different languages spoken together, 2 countries, 3 or 4 drinks downed, 1 major and common holiday around the corner, we 6 happy gamblers spent such a culturally festive night together like old buddies from high school.

就像这样，三种不同的语言，两个国家，几杯美酒下肚，一个即将到来的重大节日，我们六个开心的赌徒就像高中的老玩伴一样，欢度了这一文化盛宴之夜。

We bade farewell to each other around 3 am. It wasn't until then did I realize that these 5 Malaysian locals who I thought were old friends just met each other that night as well.

大概凌晨三点左右，我们打烊收摊，准备告别。直到临别之际，我才发现这五个马来本地人也是刚刚认识，并不是像我之前以为的那样是一群老友。

And 2 months later, on Facebook, David, the guy who approached me at the bar, commented on one of my posts, "It WAS a small world. The guy who taught you Malaysia was Nigel? My high schoolmate Nigel???"

两个月后，在脸书上，那个在酒吧和我打招呼的David在我发的一张照片下面评论道：“世界真小哈。关于马来西亚，教你那家伙是Nigel？我的高中同学Nigel？？？”

003 睡前英文 | 六个陌生人的搓麻之夜 by YUAN #马来西亚