中文課（一）馬友友 Chinese Lesson 1 - Yo Yo Ma

我們很喜歡音樂家馬友友,曾經收藏過他所有的CDs。因為對他的音樂相當熟悉，所以也理所當然地認為大家都應該如此。

話說有一天在一家書店看到了馬友友新出的一張專輯，當時二話不說，馬上拿去前面結帳。幫我們結帳的是位二十出頭的年輕黑人，態度親切極了。他先“刷”一聲用電子掃描機掃過CD，接著用他黑白分明的大眼睛不經意掃描，突然驚訝地說

“哊！媽媽!”(Yo! Mama!)

“這是那一種音樂？我怎麼沒聽說過這個人？“

你們都吃什麼呀？What do you all eat?

我們搬來台灣後最常被問的問題是 – 你們都吃些什麼呀？台灣人對吃的注重由此可見。

到底什麼樣的人會問這種問題呢？除了少數我們周邊的親朋好友之外，大多數是毫不相干的陌生人。還記得最初幾次被問時我會措手不及，傻傻地愣在那裡，不知從何答起，“雄雄地”想起求學時期受到突檢的惶恐。最近一次是一位在鄰近家樂福服務的阿姨，一邊幫我們切滷味一邊問。她問的時候還有點不好意思，我倒是聽得哈哈大笑。

A Drop in the Bucket 一滴水的聯想

As Ping's cousin drove us home from a family dinner last night, the wind and rain lashed the everything in its path. Trees whipped from side to side, bits of broken branches flying off to who knows where. Water washed down streets and through  intersections, adding a slew of new tributaries to the Danshui River (淡水河).

When Mark got home, he checked the barometer. This is the lowest setting we've seen yet.

At 10:22 PM, the authorities made it official: schools and businesses will be closed. We're having a typhoon!

Not much later, Ping announced: "We have water in the utility room."

Outsourcing Our Kitchen 廚房外包

Beef Noodle Soup! (牛肉麵!)

"So, what do you cook?"

This is a question Ping gets asked all the time when the locals learn that we've moved to Beitou from the United States. As we've mentioned before, Taiwan is all about food, so people are very curious to find out what we like to eat--and, particularly, what kind of food we cook for ourselves.

Always Coming Home 回家

Imagine being awakened by a 6.6 earthquake and having to play Super Mario Cart between [stationary] Fiat-sized boulders on the road and negotiate detours around washed out bridges. Imagine standing on a windy hill at the edge of a massive thunderstorm with thunder rolling loudly all around. Imagine sampling "horse milk wine" in a yurt, and eating more mutton in two weeks than you'd eaten in the previous 20 years combined. Imagine that all of this happens in the space of a couple of weeks...

...because it did.

Repacking 重新打包

One of the things about being on the move is that you learn what you really need. When we moved to California from Oregon, we did some pretty serious downsizing, but we still had boxes and boxes.

We moved to Taiwan with two pallets and the luggage you see here. We actually could have left a few things behind, but some things we left behind really should have come along.

GuanYin Shan - A Little Help From Our Friends 觀音山

Across the Danshui River （淡水 河） from where Ping's parents live, there is a beautiful mountain named after the great goddess GuanYin （觀

音). We've often thought about what it must be like up on top of it and we knew there were trails going up there. When we decided to finally hike it, we learned again how people help each other around here. It seems like you're never really a total stranger.