你不會相信的 Quite an advanture

星期天早晨出門前遇到另一個參賽者的家庭（媽媽是印度人，爸爸是美國人，兩個青少年小孩。媽媽是醫生，爸爸原先是大學教授，但放棄教職全心homeschool兩個小孩）。看看他們已經準備要出門了，就問他們是否要先去練習預備上課，媽媽回答我他們一家要先去教會。我聽了又感動又慚愧，他們才來短短地一、兩天，就已經找到教會了，並堅持主日一定要崇拜。感謝神讓我看到他們的見證。

主辦單位在比賽最後一天為參賽者準備了master class，Vivian一口氣見了三位老師。老師們都很好，尤其是日本老師Matsumoto。她說她很喜歡Vivian 彈的蕭邦第三號敍事曲（Chopin Ballade No 3)，並教她如何使用及感受全身的力量來彈奏強音。另外兩個俄國老師上了貝多芬奏鳴曲(Beethoven Sonata Op2 No3)，兩人的看法不同，當然說法也不同，由此可見評審們要達成共識有多困難。

下課後為了找聽説的中餐buffet照例又繞了將近一個小時，最後是靠著餐廳屋頂上一只大大的熊貓才找到的。菜色還好，而且只要$7.99。最精彩的是最後一段回機場的路。高速公路上看不到任何往機場的指標，等到好不容易看到一個在交流道口畫著飛機的路牌時，為時已晚。憑著自己來時的印象往機場方向開，轉了一個彎兒後上了一條限速50英里的公路，一路上沒什麼車，開了一段時間之後覺得有點怪怪的，根據自己在此地開車兩天的經驗，我們似乎是逆向行駛。果然，後來前面來了一輛車，裏頭的兩個人同時把手伸出窗外指向另一邊的綫道，我只好當機立斷馬上橫跨中央分隔草坪，轉到該走的路上去。。。

到了機場還車時，按著指示開進停車場，但看不到還車的地方，也沒有見到預期的服務人員，繞了半天後決定放棄。在停車場收錢處問了問才知道，必須找到地上寫著租車公司的格子，把車停在那兒。我停車後往機場内的櫃檯走去，那時我手上沒租車合約（丟了），也沒記下英里數，一問三不知。但她人真好，只問了我們有沒有把油加滿，大概猜了一個里程數就讓我們把車還了。

Check-in以後，一切就緒準備上飛機時，他們說飛機座位超賣所以要求自願者讓位，我去問了一下，他們說會僱taxi載我們去另一個機場（Lake Charles, LA)轉機，並讓我們搭上同一班從Houston回Portland的班機，一個位子他們補償$300，可以用來訂未來的機票。我想，反正我們到Houston後還得等好幾個小時，既然別人需要座位，那就讓他們坐吧，$300可以做為Vivian未來的比賽/夏令營的旅行基金，於是我自願了，Vivian和我（拿到位子的那一家人向我們謝了又謝）。。。

沒想到，taxi將近一個小時後才到，等我們開出機場後，這位司機先生們坦白地告訴我們，我們不可能趕得上Lake Charles的那班飛機，於是我們又折回Alexandria機場，那時已經6:20pm 了。我在途中打電話給Continental，他們說最後一班飛機是6:45pm，但是已經客滿了。到了機場後，看到還有幾個旅客等著要check-in，但按照那兒規定，機場櫃檯在飛機起飛前30分鐘就停止check-in了。一個服務員出來看到我後，馬上轉回辦公室。十分鐘之後，原先送我們上taxi的服務員出來了，二話不説就要我手上的登機卡，一邊用手機和別人通話，一邊試著在電腦上輸入。後來6：45pm，實在不行了，他走出櫃檯，要我們跟著他跑。他帶我們過了安檢，等我們到登機口時，我看到飛機已經離開登機口，似乎是已經準備走了但後來在跑道上又停下來，重新開門等我們上飛機。。。我想那兩三位上不了飛機的乘客一定很沮喪（我猜我們是坐了他們的位子），也對他們覺得很抱歉，但我真的很感謝神憐憫讓我們能上這班飛機，否則我們會在兩週内兩次因為飛機的緣故無法回家、上學、上班，而且這次是自找的。

到了Houston，上了回Portland的飛機，心上的石頭才落了地。找到自己的位子後，天啊，我旁邊坐的是貴乃花！（一個日本著名的相撲選手。其實這位先生只是有相撲選手的尺寸而已啦。）他佔據了我三分之一的位子。整個４小時的飛行路程，我都只能縮在一角，同時還得避免侵佔了我另一邊乘客的地盤。Vivian 一邊坐的是熊爸爸，一邊是熊媽媽，所以她也沒比我好到哪兒去。但是那熊爸爸還真好，看到她在做功課，還主動幫她開燈，調整方向。想想還好，有我和Vivian來和他們分享空間。如果相撲選手坐在熊爸爸和熊媽媽的中間，那可怎麼辦？

淩晨一點，終于平安地回到家了。感謝神的保守，讓我們得到這麼多的幫忙與學習，我看到了南方人的友善 - 親自送我們上飛機的服務員、一直陪著我們確定我們能上飛機後才離開的taxi司機先生、公路上給我們指示方向的人，虔誠愛主的家庭，在比賽過程中的學習，與參賽者家庭的溝通，如何與人分享我們有餘但他們需要的，等等。總而言之，不虛此行！

Just some highlights during the last day of the Louisiana trip.

Vivian took master classes with three jury members. They were all very nice, especially the Japanese judge, Matsumoto. She said many times that she really liked the way Vivian played the Chopin Ballade. She also taught Vivian how to feel the connection between finger tips and her back so she can utilize her full body strength better for ff. She also told Vivian to look at bigger picture instead too focusing on small details. The other two Russian/German teachers were also nice, but they had different opinions on the same Beethoven sonata. It is good that Vivian followed whatever they said to get the most out of the class.

On our way back to the Alexandria airport, I got lost again. They don’t have any airport sign on the high way, except for a small airplane picture showed up at a ramp. And of course, I missed it again. Anyway, the most scary thing was, I drove on the high way (not a free way but close) in the opposite direction at a 50 miles/hour speed for a couple of minutes, until both the driver and the passenger in a car coming towards us pointed to the parallel “road” next to the road I was on!! So I had to drive across the center grassy area to the lane I was supposed to be on. Both of us freaked out but could not stop laughing afterwards.

The next episode was, we almost missed our flight from Alexandria to Houston. The flight we were supposed to be on was oversold. So I took the option to take a taxi to another airport (Lake Charles, LA) and take a flight from there to Houston(because all the remaining flights by all the airlines were full). They promised that we will have plenty of time to catch our flight from Houston to Portland and offered us two coupons of $300 each, which are good for next booking with Continental. Everything sounded fine until the taxi showed up almost an hour late. We were very worried but that sounded like the only option at that time, so we got on the taxi anyway and drove out of Alexandria airport. On our way to Lake Charles, the driver told us that there was no way that we could catch the flight no matter how many people he killed along the way. At that point we decided to go back to Alexandria airport. Fortunately the Continental guy was very helpful and nice, he tried to issue us new boarding passes(without success), called the departing plane to stop, rushed us through the security and to the gate (at that time the plane has already left the gate and moved towards the run way), so we were able to leave. Whew~ that was a close one. Otherwise we would have to stayed overnight at Alexandria, and would have to miss another day of school and work. Ok, the reason there were still seats left for us was because some passengers were late (the ticket counter closed 30 minutes prior to departure time), and they were still at the ticket counter trying to get on to the plane while we were running like crazy in the airport. I really feel sorry for them.

On the flight from Houston to Portland, I sat next to a sumo wrestler. Well, he is not exactly a sumo wrestler, but he has the size of one. I was squeezed to one corner of my seat, and in the meantime trying not to invade into the space of the passenger on my other side. Vivian sat between a papa bear and mama bear, so she was not in any better situation. We got home at 1:00am.

That was a crazy and wild day, but both of us will remember it always. Visit there in another 2 years? Maybe, maybe not. We'll see.