中加友谊，葫芦传情Gourd —Bond of Friendship Between China and Can

      2017年11月30日，新布伦瑞克省孔子学院庆祝成立十周年，曲阜师范大学副校长扈鲁先生率团参加并作了“葫芦文化与儒家文化”精彩的主题演讲。活动中，扈鲁先生把自己创作的三十幅富有美好寓意的葫芦画作赠予孔子学院。
     On November 30th, 2017, Hu Lu, Vice President of Qufu Normal University, headed a delegation to attend the 10th anniversary celebration of the Confucius Institute in New Brunswick where he gave a keynote speech entitled “Gourd Culture and Confucian Culture”, and donated 30 meaningful freehand gourd paintings created by himself to the Institute.

Mr. John McLaughlin引荐扈鲁结识艾茉莉

扈鲁先生和Kimberly合影

    会议间歇，经新布伦瑞克省教育厅副厅长Mr. John McLaughlin引荐，扈鲁先生结识了教育厅职员艾茉莉女士。艾茉莉的先生John自幼喜欢葫芦，对在葫芦上作画也颇有研究。艾茉莉还现场打开手机，详细介绍了她先生的葫芦画。
    During the break, Hu Lu was introduced to Ms. Kimberly in the Department of Education by the Deputy Director of the Department of Education of New Brunswick. Kimberly’s husband John has been fond of gourds since childhood, and he is quite good at painting on gourds. She introduced her husband’s gourd paintings in detail with the help of the pictures stored in her mobile phone.

    今年7月，我带领新布伦瑞克省校长团到访曲阜师大，并参观了葫芦文化博物馆。大家都被展馆里的大小不一、形式各样的葫芦所震撼，也深深地为葫芦背后的文化和故事所吸引。扈鲁先生特意嘱咐我：如果有可能，希望购买艾茉莉先生的作品。
    In July, I led a delegation of principals from New Brunswick to visit Qufu Normal University. We also visited the Gourd Culture Museum where we were surprised at the gourds of different sizes and forms and deeply attracted by the gourd culture and stories. Hu Lu came to me and asked whether I could help him to buy John’s works if possible.

    我回到加拿大，因为暑期没能找到这位叫john的法语老师。8月1日，我和教育部官员开会讨论教学大纲，进到会议室，我喜出望外，这位艾茉莉原来正是那个john的太太，我和她寒暄，在7月份见到了扈鲁先生，我给她看我们校长团参观的葫芦展馆录像。艾茉莉女士打开电脑，给我分享了她先生用葫芦制作并请朋友弹奏的葫芦琴。我趁机提出扈鲁先生希望购买她先生作品的愿望，艾茉莉微笑地说：“卖是不会的，我们可以送给扈鲁先生。”
    It was during the summer vacation when I came back to Canada, so I could not find John who is a French teacher. On August 1, I had a meeting with officials of the Ministry of Education to discuss the syllabus. When I entered the meeting room, I was overjoyed to know that Ms. Kimberly turned out to be John’s wife. I greeted her and we had a chat. I told her that I met Hu Lu in July and showed her the video about our visit to the Gourd Culture Museum. Kimberly turned on her computer and shared with me a picture of her friend playing the gourd lute made by John. I took the opportunity to tell her that Hu Lu wished to buy John’s works. Ms. Kimberly smiled, “No, it is not for sale, but we can give it to Mr. Hu Lu.”

滕菁院长与艾茉莉女士等讨论教学大纲

    今年8月初，在我回中国的前一晚，艾茉莉和先生John及儿子一起来到我家，小心翼翼地打开一个盒子，里面有两个精美的葫芦：花色这件是他先生John的作品，另一件绿色的是John父亲的作品。John的父亲是UNB大学的教授，一生中业余爱好就喜欢种葫芦，并在葫芦上作画，这时John风趣地插上一句“我原来一直想我爸爸就是葫芦的国王，没想到中国的扈鲁先生才是真正的葫芦王。”
    In this early August, Kimberly came to my home with John and their son the night before I went to China. She carefully opened a box containing two exquisite gourds: one is colored made by John and the other is green made by John’s father who was a professor at UNB University and fond of planting gourds and painting on them in his spare time. At that time, John said humorously, “I used to regard my father as the king of gourd, but now I think Hu Lu from China is the real king of gourd.”

    当John的母亲听说John的葫芦要送去中国，专程从别的城市开车赶赴儿子家，送来了John父亲的作品。她说：“请把这个也带到中国吧，你父亲一辈子种葫芦、画葫芦，虽然他已经去世了，但一定很高兴他的作品送到了中国。”我听到这里眼睛湿润了，这是加拿大两代人对中国葫芦收藏家的热爱和尊重，是东西方文化交流的生动写照，是加拿大和孔子故里人文交流的成功案例。他们还写了热情洋溢的贺卡，贺卡上有著名美国作家库尔特·冯内古特的一行字：生活中的小事情可以成就大事件。
    When John’s mother heard that John’s gourd would be taken to China, she drove from another city to her son’s home and brought the work of John’s father. She said, “Please take it to China too. Your father has been growing gourds and painting gourds all his life. Although he has passed away, he must be glad that his work will be sent to China.” Tears welled up in my eyes because it exhibited the love and respect of the Canadian father and his son for the Chinese gourd collector. It is not only a vivid portrayal of cultural exchange between the east and the west but also a successful case of exchange between Canadians and people from Confucius’ hometown. They also wrote a card containing a line of Kurt Vonnegut who is a famous American writer: The little things in life are big things.

Kimberly一家到滕菁院长家送葫芦

Kimberly一家送扈鲁先生的葫芦

    第二天我来到了中国，一路上我把这个小盒子一直放到手提包里随身携带，时不时地打开看看别把葫芦损坏了。到了曲阜，在首届全球孔子学院山东文化旅游推广峰会上，我向来自五个国家的来宾们，讲述了这两个葫芦的故事，我为这份信使工作感到由衷地自豪。
    The next day when I went to China, I carried the box in my handbag. On my way I opened it from time to time to see whether the gourds were in good condition. When I arrived in Qufu, China, I attended the First Global Confucius Institute Shandong Cultural Tourism Summit where I told the guests from five countries the story of the two gourds. I took pride in what I had done.

滕菁院长在山东文化旅游推广峰会上见到扈鲁先生及其夫人并转送葫芦

    回到加拿大后，我把扈鲁先生特意精心创作的葫芦画作转交给艾茉莉，她很激动，连连称赞太美了，她的先生和婆婆一定会喜欢。望着艾茉莉远去的背景，我内心充满喜悦，我觉得此情此景那个美国作家的话应翻译为：小葫芦，大作为。
    When I returned to Canada, I handed on Hu Lu’s gourd paintings to Ms. Kimberly. She was so excited that she praised them repeatedly, saying that her husband and mother-in-law would like them. My heart was filled with joy as I watched her walk away.

滕菁院长向Kimberly转交扈鲁先生的葫芦画

John先生把扈鲁赠送的葫芦画装裱一新

    葫芦能言，它该能讲出这里面多少的真情？它是如何承载父子两代的心愿与期盼，漂洋过海来到中国；它又如何饱藏天下一家的真情与善意，翻山越岭去往加国？
    If a gourd could speak, it would be able to tell many stories about friendship, for example, the story of its going to China with the wishes and expectations of the Canadian father and son, of its coming to Canada with the true feelings and goodwill that all the people in the world will live like a family.

    葫芦不能言，所以我要把这个故事写下来，作为中加情谊长青的点滴见证。我想，孔子学院搭建了世界友谊的桥梁，而我，是多么荣幸可以身处其间，见证情谊绵延，并将它不断传递下去。
    A gourd cannot speak so I decided to write down this story which would act as a testimony to the everlasting friendship between China and Canada. I think that the Confucius Institute has built a bridge of friendship in the world and how honored I am to have the opportunity to witness the friendship and pass it on.