#003 comforting/ 療癒
Tasty and adorable street food, cartoon egg pancake, in Taiwan. Will it work if the Dutch ‘poffertjes’ are baked in this cute form in the Netherlands? /台灣街頭好吃又可愛的雞蛋糕，要是荷蘭的小鬆餅也做得這麼可愛的話，荷蘭人會買單嗎？
Welcome to the season, when you can experience four seasons of Taiwan in one day. It’s been sunny, mostly cloudy and rain occasionally. The lovely autumn is in the Netherlands. Watching the falling leaves can bring a comforting effect. It is particularly a nice season to zone out. Inevitably, things do not go our way at times. It is therefore important to stay chill and zone out from time to time. Relaxing and changing your perspective as well as how you react to the situations help. Some find taking a stroll or hitting the gym stress-relieve the stress, while some may wonder, ‘Why bother?’ Reading, listening to music, chilling at home or just having a couple of donuts will do.
歡迎來到一天之內可以體驗台灣四季的季節。 晴時多雲偶陣雨。荷蘭正值秋高氣爽的時節。秋天也特別適合放空，像是看著落葉紛飛，感覺很療癒。有時候，生活中難免發生不如意的事情，這時候保持淡定，放放空，發發呆。放鬆心情，改變心境也很有用。有人覺得出門散散步，運動也很舒壓，不過也有人覺得「何必那麼麻煩？」看書、聽音樂、窩在家裡耍廢，或是吃幾個甜甜圈也有一樣的效果。
During COVID pandemic, we all suddenly had to face such drastic changes during the pandemic, and felt quite stressed out. Many of us realised how rest plays an important role in life, when we were trapped at home. A lot of my friends, including myself, began owning a lot of indoor plants, suddenly took great interest in cooking and became a home chef, or started baking some bread. This all comes down to how stress relieving it is to take care and watch the indoor plants, to cook, and to kneed doughs. Between the breaks from staring at the screen all the time, these activities bring a ‘therapeutic’ effect on people.
疫情期間，面對劇變，大家心理壓力都蠻大的。不少人也開始意識到了休生養息的重要性。我不少朋友，包括我自己在內，開始家裡種起了室內盆栽，或是廚藝突然激進，或是烤起麵包來了，因為照顧室內盆栽，看著室內盆栽以及動手做菜、揉麵很紓壓。 在全天候盯著螢幕的空檔中，做這些事情很療癒。
The word, ‘liáoyù (療癒)’, first became popular in Japanese culture. Have you met someone who emits calmness and has a comforting quality? When you see them or are simply around them, you feel relaxed as if you are ‘healed’. People with this calming quality can be regarded as ‘liáoyù xì (療癒系)’. That warm and calm feeling can be how you feel upon seeing the adorable face of your pet after after a long day of work. All the stress just disappears.
「療癒」一詞先是從日本文化裡開始流行起來的。你有沒有碰過這樣的一個人？這個人散發出一種撫慰人心的那種氣質，看著他們或是只是在他們身邊，你的心情立刻就放鬆了，彷彿被治癒了。這樣的人屬於療癒系。這種心裡暖暖的感覺也可以是在疲憊的一天後，回到家裡一看到寵物可愛的臉什麼疲勞馬上煙消雲散。
A super ‘liáoyù’ gift from Michelle& Yaora, Marimo. / Michelle和Yaora送的療癒系禮物，馬日莫。
A while ago, I received a very ‘liáoyù (療癒)’ gift from my old students, Michelle and Yaora. It’s two adorable balls of algae, Marimo. This is one of the best gifts that I’ve received. I’ve heard that the best blessing that you can give someone is the kind of blessing that the other party doesn’t even know they need it. I would say that the best gift is the gift that the receiver does not even know they need it! Thank you both! This gift reminds me of a heart-warming memory, a trip to National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium in Kenting with my brother, his wife, my niece, and my mom before I started working in the Netherlands. Immerse yourself in the gigantic blue aquarium is quite ‘liáoyù (療癒)’.
我前陣子收到以前的學生，Michelle和Yaora送我的一個禮物也超級療癒的，這個禮物是兩球可愛的海藻，叫做馬日莫。這是我收到過最棒的禮物之一。我曾經聽過最好的祝福，是那種對方其實不知道自己需要的這樣的祝福。我覺得，最棒的禮物莫過於對方其實不知道自己相當需要這樣的禮物！謝謝你們！這個禮物讓我想起了我正式到荷蘭工作前一段美好的回憶，我大弟帶著他太太、我姪女和我媽，我們五個人一起去了一趟墾丁海生館玩，置身於巨大無比的水藍色海生館中，很療癒。
My brother and my niece in National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium./大弟和我姪女在在墾丁海生館看著魚游來游去。
Fro some, cuteness also has a healing effect. The culture of cuteness, kawaii, in Japan can be also quite therapeutic. I visited the National Museum of Ethnology (Dutch: Rijksmuseum Volkenkunde) in Leiden once, and have learned the story behind the culture of cuteness. There was an exhibition about the anime culture in Japan. It explained how this culture rose, it was associated with the lost childhood of of the generation who grew up after the Second World War. To a certain extent, this pursuit of cuteness in life maybe one’s ways to compensate the loss of their childhood.
對一些人來說，可愛也能讓人感到被療癒了。日本的可愛（卡哇伊）文化確實具有療癒作用。我曾經去過一個在萊頓的國家民族學博物館的展覽，通過這個展覽，我重新認識了卡哇伊文化。這個展覽展示了日本的卡哇伊文化，並介紹了動漫形成背後的故事。二戰後沒有好好地度過無憂童年的那一代人對可愛的追尋，在某種程度上，是對失落的童年的補償。
There are some objects or foods, which can bring a comforting effect, which can get us through some tough time as well. The comfort food, which brings people great comfort, is usually high in carbs and fat. It creates such a comforting effect when you are exhausted from the daily mundane matters. Choices of the food which one regards as ‘comforting’ can be quite subjective. Ice cream, cake, or bubble tea etc will work for some; while some might go for the salty options, such as hotpot, pizza, fried chicken, fries and so on. Or it can be as simple as an ordinary home-made dish. The pleasure which the comfort food brings about can allow us to forget about our worries for the time being. As a saying goes in Dutch, ‘De liefde gaat door de maag (love goes through the stomach)’. A similar saying in Chinese as well as in English goes like this : ‘The way to a man's heart is through his stomach.’ The food can indeed make us feel healed or comforted.
療癒系小物或是食物這時候也能給心裡帶來一些慰藉。療癒系美食通常是高澱粉高油脂的時候，吃了以後會讓人的心靈從日常瑣事中得到撫慰。至於選擇什麼樣的療癒系美食就因人而異了，甜的像是冰淇淋，蛋糕、珍珠奶茶等，鹹的則有火鍋、披薩、炸雞、薯條等等，或者是一道再簡單不過的家常菜。荷蘭文裡有這樣一個說法，「愛會透過胃進入人的身體裡」，中文和英文裡面則有「要想抓住一個男人的心，先抓住他的胃」的諺語。食物確實能給人帶來的那種美好、撫慰人心的感覺。
A fluffy Japanese Spits named Hamu./ 毛茸茸的日本狐狸犬哈姆。
If things are not going your way, or you are having a bad day, why not go outside and take a walk? If an affection-seeking cat on the street approaches you, pat him/her. If an exciting dog runs out of nowhere toward you, pat him/her as well (starting from his/her chin, not from his/her head).
要是今天諸事不順，有點心煩，不妨到外面去走走，如果路上一直愛撒嬌的貓朝你走來，摸摸牠吧。要是有隻不知道從哪裡突然冒出來的一條興奮的狗，也摸摸牠吧（從下巴開始摸，別從頭頂上往下摸）。
National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium in Kenting is certainly worth visiting.有機會到台灣，肯定要去海生館參觀一下。 http://www.nmmba.gov.tw