Hotel Trotter 旅店浪人

1996, Los Angeles

My Days in San Francisco - Prelude  

In Los Angeles, "Don, do you know H is in San Francisco Now?" W asked me. Much to my surprise, I did not hear from her almost 3 years then. "Really? Did not H go back to Chicago 2 and a half years ago? How is she doing there in San Francisco?" W continued, "Well she is doing quite well up there. Not only carrying out her dreams of being a good dancer and having a management job in a trading company.... Also, teaching at University of California, Berkeley at the same time." Almost too overwhelming, "Whoa!.." with my jaw dropped open by hearing her remarks of H's astonishing updates in San Francisco.

Up to then, San Francisco to me was just an international transit hub for Los Angeles connecting to Asia Pacific and some other foreign destinations. Even I had some relatives lived there and heard so much about Bay Area (from them at the yearly family gatherings) since I was a kid. I had never walked out of its terminals, never stopped over at this city, either.



1996年 洛杉磯

我的在舊金山的日子－前奏

在洛杉磯 “唐 你知道H現在是住在舊金山嗎？” W開口問我 大大地出乎我的意料之外 我幾乎快要3年沒聽見她的消息了 “真的嗎？ H不是在二年半前搬回到芝加哥嗎？ 她現在去舊金山做什麼？” W接著說 “她在那裡日子過得相當順利 目前正逐步實踐成為一位好舞蹈家的夢想和在一家貿易公司當經理.... 並且 同時還在柏克萊加州大學兼課教學生呢” 如此大的轉變幾乎把我淹沒了 “哇....” 從她的口中聽見H在舊金山令人驚訝的最新發展近況 我的下巴差一點都快掉下來了

直到當時 舊金山對我而言 只不過是我在洛杉磯和亞太或其它外國目的地的一個轉機點 雖然我從小時候就有一些親戚住在那裡 (也從年度的家族聚會)時常聽到關於舊金山灣區的點點滴滴 但 我從不曾踏出它的機場航站 也從未在這個城市過境停留過