My Han Teacher 6 / 我的漢人老師 6

Popcorn

Our teacher tells us, to thank us for giving her barbecued crabs on the day of field trip, she will make some popcorn for us. Why popcorn? because we had no ideas what popcorn was when the teacher was trying to teach an unit in our Nature & Science class. To get popcorn, our teacher had to go to the city, which means 2 hours of bus trip. After getting the popcorn, she borrowed a big pan and a small gas stove from the janitor. We are all so excited. It feels like the teacher is going to do some magic.

We gather around the pan and stove. The teacher shows us the small bag of popcorn, "See? the grains are dry. Only the dry ones will do."

We have corns, but never eat them dry. Don't know how the dry corns become popcorns.

The teacher pours in some oil to the pan, and sends the grains sliding down the pan. She stirs them a little, then puts the lid on.
"Now, let's wait for the fireworks," she said.
Fireworks? we look at one another, what does that mean?

We wait, and wait. It's so quiet and still. Only our eyes move around, from the pot, to the teacher, to each other. The teacher's eyes are moving around, too, moving from face to face. Just when our eyes are about to fight in the air, 'POP' the first firework brings our eyes to the pan. Then, pop pop! pop! pop pop pop! It IS fireworks! The lid also goes Dong Dong Dong like a drummer. Our eyes get big, our mouths get big, big 'ah' coming out of our big mouths.

Pop pop pop, Dong dong, Ah....
pop pop pop, Dong dong, Ah...
Pop Dong, ah, pop dong...
Ah...pop....pop.....pop....pop...dong

We are making a popcorn percussion!

Not long, the pop gets quieter and lighter, then it comes to a complete silence. We look at each other, Now what? 
With a 'swash,' the teacher quickly takes off the lid. What a magic! the dry grains are gone! Only the white, plump, fluffy corn flowers! and they smell like flowers, too!
The teacher snatches some salt and sprinkle it to the flowers, then without her telling us what to do, we all rush to get our lunch bowls and get into a line for the popcorns. All the popcorn is soon gone. It is so good that even the ones dropped on the ground are picked up and popped into our mouths.

I don't know how to describe the taste of it. It's like spongy cotton balls rolling in the mouth.
"Is it good?" the teacher asks.
We all nod and smile, only Dan rolls his eyes and says, "No, it's not right with salt. You should put sugar to make it better." The second he said it, we all roll our eyes and say, "Yes, yes, with sugar is better."
"No, no, salt is better, never have it with sugar," the teacher says.
"Then, you should try it with sugar, and you'll see," Dan is not giving up.
“Ok, let's make another pan and see if it's better with sugar," the teacher says.
"Yeah!" we cheer, and Dan springs from his seat and says, "I'm going home to bring some sugar." He dashes out of the classroom as soon as he said it.

The teacher doesn't know this is our trick to get more popcorn, and Dan knows the trick better than anyone else.
Now the popcorn percussion is ready to play again. Pop- pop- dong- dong- Ah....Yeah!

爆米花

老師說，為了謝謝我們的遠足給她的烤螃蟹，她要做爆米花給我們吃，因為上自然課時，講到爆米花我們都不知道那是甚麼東西。老師特別到花蓮市的商店去買的喔。她跟工友伯伯借了一個大炒鍋，還有一個小瓦斯爐。大家都好興奮，好像老師要變魔術一樣。

我們圍在爐子旁，老師拿起一包爆米花說：看啊，這就是乾的玉米粒。“

我們也種玉米，怎麼也想不透，這些乾乾的玉米粒怎麼會爆開。

老師在炒鍋裡倒入一些油，然後玉米粒嘩啦嘩啦像溜滑梯一樣滾入鍋內。老師把玉米粒和油拌一拌，然後蓋上鍋蓋。

“現在就等它放鞭炮！“ 老師說。

放鞭炮？大家你看我，我看你， 都不知道老師說的是甚麼意思。

大家等著。好安靜。只有眼睛不安靜，一直動來動去。一下盯著鍋子，一下看著老師，一下看著對面的人，老師的眼睛也不安靜，一直看著我們，就在大家的眼睛要開始打架的時候，“啵！“ 第一響鞭炮聲把大家的眼睛帶回鍋子上，然後，啵啵！啵！啵啵啵！果真開始放鞭炮了，鍋蓋也被彈起的米花打得叮咚響像個鼓手一樣。大家的眼睛都睜的大大的，嘴巴也張的大大的！

啵啵啵！ 咚咚咚！ 啊！

啵啵啵！ 咚咚咚！ 啊！

啵！咚！阿！啵！咚！

啊！啵！啵！啵！咚！

好熱鬧的爆米花打擊樂啊。

不久，啵啵的聲音越來越輕，越來越少。然後就完全靜止。就在這時後，刷一聲，老師把蓋子打開，玉米粒不見了，只看到白花花的玉米花，大家一陣歡呼聲。哇！哇！哇！

老師抓起一撮鹽，像仙女一樣撒向鍋子，不等老師說，我們馬上衝去拿午餐的碗，然後排好隊，準備吃玉米花。一大鍋的玉米花馬上就分光光了。啊，真是太好吃了，連掉在地上的都捨不得，也撿起來吃。

好奇特的食物，像硬硬的海綿一樣在嘴裡彈來彈去。

老師問大家好不好吃，大家只顧著吃，猛點頭還有傻笑，突然進貴說：“鹹的不好吃，要放糖才對。“  大家聽了都跟著說，對嘛！要甜的才好吃。

老師說：不對不對，鹹的才好吃。從沒吃過甜的。

進貴說：那你更要試試看甜的啊，看是不是甜的比較好吃。

老師絕對沒想到，第一次吃玉米花的我們竟然對味道有意見。

我看她搖瑤頭說，好，再爆一鍋甜的給你們吃。

進貴說：“我回去拿糖。“ 一說完，馬上衝回家。

老師都不知道，這是我們的妙計，連傻呼呼的鄧進貴都知道，說不好吃，才能再多吃一點，耶！爆米花打擊樂再演奏一次！啵啵！ 咚咚！ 啊！耶！

My Han Teacher 5: A Field Trip/ 我的漢人老師 5: 遠足

A Field Trip

We have our field trip today, and the whole school is going, that means more than 100 people! For us, it is a big thing. The place for our field trip is the creek behind the village. Sometimes we go there, but never with the whole school. So, it's quite exciting for us. When we gather in the morning, the teacher looks at us with her signature "surprise" look.

"Do you bring anything for the field trip?" she asks.

"Yes, I brought this and... this." Kwang shows her a box of matches and a pocket knife.

"Why are you bringing these?" again, the teacher is surprised. "It's dangerous, playing with fire and knives, don't you know that? You don't bring snacks for field trips like chocolate or cookies...?"

Here she comes again! she really doesn't know anything! We don't have money for those things! and the river will give us things to eat.
"Don't you worry, teacher, later the matches and the knife will do the snack tricks. You just wait and see."
The teacher frowns. We know she doesn't believe us.

When we arrive, we see the principal and the janitor. The janitor got two big food containers on his motorbike, insides are the boiled eggs we normally have (a part of the nutrition plan provided by the government). The principal gives each of us two oranges (from his own garden), one bun, and some cookies. After that, we are dismissed.

Yeah, we can't wait to take off our clothes and jump into the river for a good swim or water fight. The peaceful water is quickly churned up with splashes, laughters, and noises. The girls are shy to take off their clothes. They just sat on the big rocks and chat. Some are catching crabs.

The teachers get together for their own barbecue. With a quick grip, Teacher Tien quickly catches two frogs from under a rock, and within a few seconds, the frogs are stretched for barbecue. He did it so fast like a show that all the other teachers clap and cheer. The smell of the barbecue makes us hungry too! Some boys from the senior class start to catch fish. They use their clothes as fish nets and hold hands to form a circle. The fish are now trapped in the circle. Then they narrow the circle to catch the fish. They give us some fish. We dig up taros and give them some, too. The knifes are used to cut the food, and the matches are now helping make the fire. When we start our own barbecue, our teacher comes over to check on us.
"No wonder you don't need to bring snacks." She smiles, her eyes twinkles with admiration.
We give her the biggest crab. She says this is the field trip with the most "wild fun" she has ever had. "wild fun? what is that?" we ask.
" It's the fun you can get from the wild. But you are sort of living in the wild, you probably won't feel the fun I'm having now."

"So what did you do on a field trip?" Kai asks.
"Mostly we just fill up our backpacks with junk food and lunch. Then we finish all the food in an amusement park. After we take all the rides, roller coaster, bumper cars...then we go home."

"Wow!" everybody cries out, "so cool!"

"Really? I love to go! But we don't have any amusement park here," Dan said, and everybody sighs.

"Don't be silly!" the teacher tries to cheer us up, " Your field trip is a real one. A knife, some matches, and you have all the fun in the field...Kids in the city will never understand this fun..."

"But...we like to have your field trips, too!"

"That's true, different kinds of fun," said the teacher, her voice trails off.

The teacher looks far into the surrounding mountains, then sees us gathering around the dying fire to dry our clothes. She mumbles, "if Han kids get lost in these mountains, they won't be able to survive. But you will and I admire that. These mountains are your amusement park."

We've never thought our mountains an amusement park, but it is like the teacher said, although we still envy the kids who go to amusement parks on field trips. 

Wouldn't it be nice if we can swap our trips? We'd love to go to their amusement parks and have their snack, and I believe they'd enjoy the "wild fun," just as much as our teacher did.

遠足 （校外教學）

今天我們全校要去遠足， 一百多人喔。遠足的地方就是村子後面的溪邊，雖然我們有時會到溪邊玩，可是從來沒有這麼多人一起去，所以還是有點興奮。早上集合的時候，老師問我們怎麼好像甚麼也沒有帶，謝光正說：“有阿，我帶了這個和這個。“ 原來是火柴和小刀。老師有點驚訝的說：“你們為甚麼要帶這些東西，佷危險耶，你們遠足不帶零食阿？像乖乖啊 ，巧克力阿？“

老師又來了，她真是甚麼也不懂，我們沒有錢買乖乖啊，而且要吃的東西河裡都有啊。俊凱告訴老師，不要擔心，等一下火柴和刀子會幫我們會變出東西吃。老師皺著眉頭，好像不太相信我們。

到了河邊，校長和工友伯伯已經在那邊等我們了，他的摩托車帶了兩個大餐筒，裡面應該有我們常吃的水煮蛋。 校長發給我們每人兩個柳丁（他自己種的喔），一個饅頭，和餅乾。然後我們就解散了。耶！我們一個個脫了衣服，跳進河裡游泳，打水戰。平靜的河水， 一下子濺起一叢叢的大水花，水聲、笑聲，好熱鬧。女生不敢脫衣服，他們坐在大石頭上聊天，有的捉螃蟹。

老師們開始烤肉，添福老師還在河邊石頭旁捉了幾隻青蛙，利落的刀法三兩下就把青蛙處理好了，其他老師們都拍手喊讚。烤肉的香味傳出來的時候，我們也餓了，大哥哥們開始趕魚，他們把衣服當魚網，幾個人一起圍圈圈把魚圈起來，然後圈圈越縮越小，魚就被抓住了，我們也分到幾條魚，然後還有人去挖芋頭，要烤芋頭，還有大姐姐給的螃蟹，我們開始升起火來的時候，老師走過來看，看我們有那麼多東西吃，她高興的說：“難怪你們不用帶零食。” 我們給老師一隻最大的螃蟹，她說這是她參加過最有“野趣”的遠足，我們問老師什麼是野趣，老師說：“就是野外的樂趣阿，不過你們本來住在大自然裡面了，應該不會像我這樣覺得有趣!”

俊凱問：“ 那你們遠足都做些甚麼？“

老師說：就是每個人把背包裝滿零食和午餐，到遊樂園把零食吃光、午餐吃光、坐雲霄飛車、碰碰車，把所有遊樂器材都玩過，然後回家。” “哇！” 大家一起驚呼，“好棒！”

進貴說：“有這樣的遠足阿？! 好想去喔！” “我們花蓮都沒有遊樂園， 只在電視上看過。” 大家一起嘆口氣。

“傻瓜，你們這樣才是遠足!一把刀，一盒火柴就玩得那麼高興。” 老師說。

“可是，我們也想要你們那樣的遠足!”

老師愣了一下，說：”說得也是！遊樂園跟這裡是不一樣的樂趣。“  

老師眼睛看向四面圍繞的高山，看到我們圍在餘火旁邊烘衣服，她有些喃喃自語：”如果漢人的孩子迷失在這山裡，大概活不了，可是你們卻一定有生存下來的本事，老師很佩服你們呢！這些山就是妳們的遊樂園啊。 “

我們從沒有把這些山當成遊樂園，但是老師這麼一講，好像很有道理，雖然還是很羨慕去遊樂園的遠足。希望有一天學校的遠足可以交換，漢人小朋友到我們的遊樂園體會一下“野趣“，我們去他們的遊樂園坐雲霄飛車，那就太棒了！