Chapter 40 chapter 2

Five years ago, I was sent by the company to work in Toronto, Canada.My wife Xuezi and I were overjoyed when we heard the transfer order, and immediately rented a house in the North York area of ​​Toronto. The first reason we want to work overseas is that we don't want to spend our whole lives in small and crowded Japan.The other is to see foreign rare birds.I have been fond of wild birds since I was a child, and I can even say with pride that I have seen almost all the birds of Japan.Even with a rare species like the Yamabara rail, I have had the opportunity to observe it up close.Therefore, I have long made up my mind to take a good look at foreign birds, so as to refresh myself and increase my knowledge.Among them, Canada is the country of my dreams. It is a treasure house of nature, with countless rare birds and animals, as rich and colorful as a natural encyclopedia.

Having said that, when I first started working there, I simply didn't have the pleasure of bird watching.I can't speak English well, it's hard to communicate with my subordinates, and I keep making big and small mistakes.Negotiations with customers often go wrong. Often the customer on the other end of the phone is already angry, but I don’t realize it, and the reply is still ambiguous, which makes the other party even more annoyed, and finally leads to a deadlock in the negotiation, which makes me lose face.For a long time after that, I trembled whenever I heard the phone ring.All in all, the biggest problem I faced back then was the language barrier.

Although I made up my mind to study hard, it took me a full year to be comfortable talking to people, and two years to be comfortable at work.The other party told a joke, and I knew it was ridiculous.But there are still many things to worry about.For example, I still couldn't figure out what my secretary, Grace, was thinking all day long. She was always alone in a daze, and when she answered my questions, she was indifferent, as if she had no brain.She didn't make any big mistakes, though. "That's her own way of life, you can't disrupt it casually, otherwise it might cause some big trouble." A female colleague who is familiar with Grace told me so, and I had no choice but to let her go.

In addition to Grace, Mr. Taniaba who lives next door also made me scratch my head.He's hated East Asians ever since his son's small grocery store was overwhelmed by other Chinese businessmen.No matter how many times I explain to him that Japanese and Chinese are different, this stubborn old man just won't listen.He also knows the economic situation in Japan very well. Once my lawn grows a little out of bounds, he will come to my house and complain: "You have time to make money, don't you have time to take care of the lawn? This area is not only you Home, who else has a lawn as messy as a feral cat's back?"

Despite all the difficulties, we have gradually adapted to life overseas.The company here often takes vacations, and we travel all over Canada, looking for wild birds, and sometimes go to Europe to play. Five years later, the head office sent me a fax, asking me to prepare to return to China.Frustrated but helpless, we discussed finding a place to have a good time before returning to China. I have long admired Costa Rica, a small country known as the Kingdom of Nature, and proposed to travel there.There were toucans with beaks like bananas, and a hummingbird with narrow wings that flew so swiftly that I had to see them.

"How's the security situation there?" Xuezi asked.I patted my chest. "You don't have to worry about this, it seems very safe." "Well, let's go to Costa Rica then." In this way, we chose this small country in Central and South America for our last trip before returning to China.I happily made pre-departure preparations, went with Xuezi to get polio, tetanus and yellow fever vaccinations, and also drank infusions to prevent E. coli and malaria.Although there are many procedures, I just think of toucans and hummingbirds and I feel at peace. Yesterday, we took a five and a half hour flight from Toronto to San Jose and spent the night in a hotel.This morning, I went to the Tourist Service Center to get a map of the surrounding area, confirmed the location of the National Forest Park, and asked the hotel to help rent a car.Then he set off in high spirits.At that time, we never imagined that just an hour later, we would encounter robbers on the road, penniless, and be forced to take a broken bus.