江子翠．新靜天空

第03幕
1999.06.29 Tue
偶然邂逅＜初識家人．Hood River＞

在舊金山停留了一晚，今天早上又是搭飛機前往奧勒岡州（Oregon）的首府波特蘭市（Portland），國內航段的部分我們搭乘的是聯合航空UA2258次，11點15分由舊金山起飛，航程大約是一個半小時。這是一班單走道的空中巴士，走道兩旁各三排座位：ABC　DEF，而我們團的位置全部都是B座。左右兩邊都是外國人，順便可以讓我們開始練習英文會話；我旁邊坐的是一個老太太，非常和藹可親，對於我的國家以及Homestay的內容非常有興趣，一路聊不完，也算是Homestay的序曲吧！當日大約下午三點多到達Hood River的Jackson Park，等了三個多小時（似乎是我們太早到了），將近6點，Homestay的家人陸陸續續的來到公園中，他們將舉行一個簡單的Party來歡迎我們。

不久，大家都知道自己被分配到哪一個接待家庭，於是我們跟自己的家人們享用晚餐；我住在Durkan家中，有許多好玩的事物。John，Marianne，Mike，Kelly是這次Homestay我的家人，他們對我非常好。

在Hood River，早上5點太陽就出來了，暑假時節就算整天天氣晴空萬里，有時候早晨仍然是相當寒冷，一整天氣候涼爽，只是早晚溫差比較大。由於高緯度的關係，到了下午5，6點，天色依然是藍天白雲，毫無消退的跡象；下午7，8點，藍天依舊跟早上一樣，有時候真的分不清到底是白晝還是晚上，吃早餐跟吃晚餐的感覺是一樣的。晚間9點，雲彩漸漸轉換成晚霞，天色漸暗，，大約9點半太陽才完全下山，進入黑夜。一天中至少超過16小時的日光時間，加上豐富的蔬果資源，算是一個白晝型的農業小鎮。

Something about my host family:

My host family is a kind and good family. They are so nice to me. Host dad (John) usually takes me to play and join parties, and he can play several musical instruments, like violin and guitar. Because he is a doctor that will spent much time on his job, he takes me to do many sports. We ever went to play Kayak and big wind.

Marianne is my host mom, and she is a nurse. She cooks delicious food for us, and she gives me lots help about my learning of language. Johnny is a special brother, and he likes many sports, too. He has a good friend, Roger, when I stayed there we played a lot and I had a nice time with them.

Mike and Kelly are like my younger brother and sister, and they are so cute. Mike is a good soccer player, and I still remember his games. He is very interested in my country, even my culture. He likes to try using chopsticks when we have meals; it is also interesting. I also want to know their culture. We often chat about the culture of each others. The last one is Kelly: she is a very, very, very cute girl. At home we are the best friends, when we go out that she is my best tourist guide. But she likes some strange things.

They are my host family, and I will understand them.

記於1999.6.29 Tue
At  Hood River