美國玉米田裡教中文 / Teaching Mandarin Chinese in American Corn Fields

上集 的奧林匹克國家公園介紹了一些基本資訊、第一晚露營住宿、以及鼎鼎大名的 Hoh 溫帶雨林後，這個下篇要來介紹「水水的」奧林匹克國家公園，看湖、看瀑布、以及看海景、還有湖景第一排的第二晚住宿。 景點二：Lake Crescent  結束了魔法森林的行程，我就往東開回今天要住宿的新月湖區（Lake Crescent）。 新月湖是一個由冰河侵蝕而形成的湖，彎彎的形狀就像一枚新月因而得名。 先到我的住宿賓館 check in 後，本來想要在賓館租借划輕槳的器具，但這天的湖邊剛好風大到不行、浪也很大，所以各種水上活動是被禁止的。雖然不能從事水上活動，這裡也是有些陸地活動可以做的。除了沙灘散散步外，湖邊也有一條小步道叫 「Moments in Time Trail」 ，大約是半英哩（0.8公里）的一個環狀步道。沿著湖走一小段路轉進樹林裡，高聳迷幻的魔法森林又出現了！這裡的苔癬不輸 Hoh 雨林那區呢。 山區的氣候變化蠻大的，隔天早上起床後，湖跟昨天比起來真是180度大轉變，非常平靜怡人，一早就很多人在划輕槳、開船、游泳。所以看來能不能玩水是要看運氣的。 第二晚住宿：湖景第一排 Lake Crescent Lodge Lake Crescent Lodge 是一間比較古老的木造賓館，但相當有古典韻味。要在國家公園這麼深山的地方蓋飯店實屬不易，就在我剛 check in 之後，整棟賓館就停電了，但服務人員都十分鎮定，聽說在這裡停電好像算是蠻常見的。我就先去湖邊走走，過了兩小時回來後電就恢復了，還好也就沒有再遇到停電。 賓館雖然只有兩層樓高，但沒有電梯。房間在二樓的我，暑假剛從台灣回來，還沒回印第安納住處就直接先在西岸玩，看著我的巨無霸行李箱，直覺是，真靠腰力。靠腰之後還是很值得的，因為我的房間窗戶就正對著那新月湖。躺在床上就能看著那湖景，傍著小山的新月湖實在是太迷人了。湖景第一排，想到湖邊散步，隨時都可以下樓。一早趁著遊客還沒抵達時，帶著我的咖啡坐在沙灘木椅上欣賞湖景，好平靜。這真是算錢花得數一數二值得的一間住宿啊！ 景點三：Marymere Falls   Marymere Falls 算是新月湖這一區的景點，從湖邊賓館開車去大概只要五分鐘。第三天早上在湖邊喝完咖啡後，我大概八點出發去爬 Marymere 瀑布。步道起點的停車場不算大，如果晚一點來的話可...

The sound of cicadas and lawn mowers signals that it’s officially summer time. I thought about last year when I visited my family in Taiwan during my summer vacation and that last day when I had to take three flights back to the United States.   While the plane was traveling across the Pacific Ocean, I looked outside of the small airplane window. The clouds below me looked like an ocean made of cotton candy. Just that same morning, my phone numbers started with 0933. The app that I used the most often was called "Line." The language that I heard and spoke was 中文, Mandarin, a bit of Taiwanese, and almost zero English. The people that I interacted with are the ones that I've known for more than a decade at least. The temperature was above 35'c, or 95'F, and the humidity was, well, sweaty and sticky. "Ding." The seat-belt sign was on and the flight attendant announced that the plane was about to land. That was my signal to prepare for a different life as I ...

It was a regular Thursday morning in February. What was not regular for me was that I took some days off from work and flew from Indiana to San Francisco. I was wide awake at 5 am because technically it would have been 8 am already in Indiana. I found on Google Map this Vietnamese-owned little breakfast store that opened early in Chinatown called “Latte Express” and walked my way there.  I stepped into the store and felt a bit overwhelmed by all the different food I could order from the wall. A woman came in right after me. She got her food and walked out of the store before I could even figure out what I wanted. Some older men walked in and ordered coffee. They said hi to each other and chit chat in a dialect that sounded like Cantonese. Another woman walked in and friendly said hi to whoever was in the room. The owner greeted her by name and asked if she wanted the cinnamon roll as usual.  I probably shouldn’t expect anyone to entertain a tourist/traveler like me since it wa...