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最近一段时间一直是在travel，先是回去了一趟中国，又是开会又是走亲访友，还从上海跑到北京，真是累啊。回美国没多久又去了瑞典开会，去的时候由于天气原因飞机晚点两个小时，勉强赶上一趟飞机，结果到了斯德哥尔摩机场发现行李还没到，四处找不到，只好file 了missing luggage report。那天天气阴冷，下雨，气温才十几度，真是从头凉到脚，没有外套，没有雨伞，我当时在机场外面等bus, 突然觉得特别想念美国的家，真恨不得立马买机票飞回去。好在行李在第二天送到旅馆，赶得上我作报告。回美国的时候又赶上飞机晚点，又是担惊受怕了一番，总之一言难尽~~~瑞典回来没多久又去了portland, maine，又是开会，还要和人交际，谈research啦，虽然有所收获，也是很累。

 

以前一直是非常喜欢travel，喜欢去机场，看飞机起飞降落，看机场形形色色的游客，觉得很有意思，即便是自己一个人去旅游也不介意。一直梦想要找一个可以每个星期都travel的工作，去世界不同的地方，感受不同的生活。可是经过这几次，突然发现也许自己并不适合这样的生活。开始不喜欢坐飞机；不喜欢过海关过移民；不喜欢每天必须要去餐馆吃饭；不喜欢很累了还要跟人去酒吧；开始觉得再好的旅馆也没有一点家的感觉；一个人旅游的时候会觉得自己不属于那个地方；不喜欢所谓的旅游胜地，因为这样的地方往往有太多太多的人，很浓很浓的商业气息，几乎感受不到local的生活; 不喜欢不管走到世界的什么地方，都可以看到遍地的麦当劳，starbucks…我也不知道为什么对travel 的感觉会变，也许是我没去对地方，也许是我没有钱去享受更高级的旅游，又或许是我老了吧。

 

随便贴点照片吧~~

今天早上逼着kazu给他妈妈打了个电话。自从去年结婚见过面到现在他从来没有打过电话回家，真是个好儿子！？ （我可是每个星期六早上准点打电话回家。）快挂的时候他妈妈叫我去说几句，虽然口语不行，我也只好硬着头皮去听，一边使劲回忆日语课上学的敬语，问候语，一古脑儿全用上了算了。

还好最后居然还能相互听懂。

 

他妈妈临挂电话的时候很是郑重其事的对我说，“谢谢你费心照顾kazu了”。我当时觉得很吃惊，因为从来没有想过我是在帮一个妈妈完成照顾儿子的责任，呵呵。也觉得很感动，受到他妈妈那样的尊重。真是觉得我们这样的婆媳关系很好，住得离开十万八千里，难得见面总是客客气气地。见了面说的话也只限于：“您好”，“请注意身体”，“最近忙吗？”“您的饭做得很好吃” 之类的客套话（复杂的有深度的我不会说）平时我们任何事情做任何决定他妈妈从来不过问，总是尊重我们的决定，真是很和善的一个人。

 

 

 

 

This is our first cross country together after Kazu got his private pilot license. Of course the destination would be Martha's Vineyard, one of our dream places.

 

We left a little after 2:30pm on Sunday. While kazu did his pilot job, checking the weather, making the flight plan, etc., I took care  of most of the ground work: doing research on local attractions, finding transportation that can take us to towns, preparing snacks... Everything went well with good preparation. The flight was a little bumpy because of the wind. But the sky was perfectly clear which gave us a very nice view of the landscape. Martha's vineyard is an island in the Atlantic ocean, so we basically flew all the way east until we hit the  water.  The coastline of the continent and the various islands in the ocean was so beautiful. And of course the blue water, breathtaking!! I really enjoyed the view from the sky, but felt a little scared when we were right above the ocean. It almost felt like we were ready to be sucked into the water by the tremedous power of the nature. We were just too small and too powerless.

 

We arrived at the Martha's Vineyard airport at around 3:45, right on schedule. It was a smooth landing, wind had calmed down, and there wasn't much traffic. Who else wants to travel to beach at this time of the year anyway. It was right time to take the 4:05 bus to go to the towns. The first town we went to was called Egartown, a very quiet and cute Eurpoean-style town, with a funny name~~ Hanging around on the street while waiting for the connecting bus, we can hardly see anybody on the street. Right around the corner was a church filled with people gathering  for a Sunday afternoon chorus.

 

After waiting for around 20 minutes, we got onto another bus to a town called the Oak Bluffs, supposedly the busiest town in tourist seasons. It was a twenty-minute ride, along the sea shore, very very nice. Since we had to get back to the airport before sunset, we decided to have an early dinner. But we were a little depressed to find that most of the shops and restaurants were closed, even those that are highest rated  according to the internet reviews. In fact, the whole town looked deserted. There were no ships at the docks and the streets were almost empty. We ended up with eating sandwiches at a pub-like American restaurant.

The food was mediocre, but with good size. I was a liitle disappointed about the food since I had done good research on the local restaurants and was really expecting a seafood feast. After dinner, we took a walk at the beach before we got onto the 6 o'clock bus back to the airport.

 

When we took off at around 6:45, the sunset had just started. On the way, we were flying right into the setting sun. The view was fantastic!! When we got to Northampton, it was all dark with a myriad of twinkling lights from the city and the after glow of the sunset slowly disappearing at the horizon. I had never seen such a beautiful scence!

 

I think overall Kazu did a great job on his first flight taking passengers.  I myself even  managed to spot the runways of a few small airports on the way. I was also able to get radio contact from the ATC. Does that mean I'm ready to start my own pilot training? no way! Kazu and his instructor have always been trying to talk me into take flight training. But I'm the kind of person who forgets to turn off the headlights of the car. And if I mess up anything in the cockpit, I'm a dead pig! Plus, if both of us take flight training, we are definitely going bankrupt!!

 

Oops, unable to upload photos~~~

昨天晚上邀请kazu的flight instructor Radeak来家里吃饭。Radeak 是波兰人，上次请过我们去他家吃了传统的波兰菜，也就是一种加了bacon，猪肉，蘑菇的德国酸菜，叫Bigos，还有炸猪排，感觉跟德国菜很接近，除了担心卡路里，味道还不错。席间聊起来，原来他也热衷各国美食，还推崇home-style cooking。我也趁机大大弘扬了一下我们中华美食，顺便把Amherst附近的中餐馆大贬一通，搞得他好奇心大起，强烈要求尝试”正宗“中国菜。

 

我也只好赶鸭子上架，于是订好昨天来我们家吃”正宗“ chinese home-style cooking。呵呵，然后我就伤脑筋了，虽然他说他什么都吃，辣也不怕，我总不能给他吃鸡爪，猪耳朵，猪大肠什么的吧。废了好多心思，既要做有代表性的，又要是老公和我都吃（我们不吃太辣），还要荤素浓淡平衡，最后淅里哗啦搞了下面这堆：素什锦（每次party必做，我自己爱吃，呵呵），凉拌黄瓜，妈妈店买的瓶装酱菜：竹笋和香菇面筋（下酒的），海鲜豆腐羹，无锡油面筋，火腿炖豆腐（其实应该做麻婆豆腐的，老公不喜欢花椒），梅菜扣肉（第一次做，实打实炖了两个小时，居然大获成功，也是最受欢迎的，kazu 和Radeak两个人全部搞定），最后还做了皇子菇炖海鲜（眉毛都鲜掉了），酒糟鱼片（这个只有我吃，:(-）。

 

 酒是日本清酒。甜点是菊花酥和水果沙拉加绿茶。烤菊花酥的同时顺便烤了点中式软面包，有包豆沙的有包奶油的，狂好吃，下次再也不用去妈妈店买快过期的中式面包了，hohoho～～。

 

Radeak还给kazu带了波兰啤酒，给我带了巧克力和波兰产的用蜂蜜酿制的酒，真是太感动了！

今天又和妈妈在msn上聊天，好开心啊。妈妈现在不光会用电脑，还会打字，用msn传收文件。刚刚还去报名参加了电脑班。呵呵，真是佩服老妈的干劲还有钻研精神，看来我也要更加努力了~~

 

从小到大就觉得我有世界上最伟大最聪明的妈妈。小的时候我穿的所有的衣服都是我妈妈亲手做的，用的是给别人做衣服剩下的边角布料。妈妈每次都能化腐朽为神奇，做出款式新颖漂亮的衣服，我那时候没少招同学们羡慕，总喜欢说：“这是我妈做的，街上没得卖~~”

 

记得小时候妈妈常常给人家做衣服做到深夜，我就在一边写作业陪着她。两个人一边聊天，吃着零食（印象中吃得最多的好像是橘子，当然只是我吃啦），听着收音机（现在还记得那台老式的收音机长什么样，呵呵），有时候还相互交流一下（妈妈会教我做衣服，我会给妈妈看我的作文）。。。现在回想起来那真是天堂般的幸福。

 

还记得我们俩还比过谁的大腿更细，谁的笔迹漂亮，还因此闹别扭。呵呵，现在想起来觉得真好玩。

 

还有妈妈教我唱的歌：让我们荡起双桨，妈妈的吻，泉水叮咚，阿庆嫂（京剧片断）.....

 

我跟妈妈与其说是母女，不如说是朋友，现在我长大了更是。每个星期六早上和妈妈煲电话粥是我一个星期最期待的事情。我们无话不谈，也没有代沟，妈妈从来不以长辈的身份教我怎么做，有的只是理解和关心。我想我这生最大的愿望就是和妈妈住在一起，陪着她一起慢慢变老。