第壹章 : 臺北到柏克萊 民國五十四年九月四日我離開臺了灣, 坐上國泰航空公司班機飛往東京機場 ( 見第五十三的圖一和圖二 ), 在東京機場停留了幾個鐘頭 國泰提供我們一間旅館套房, 讓我們等待轉機時有地方休息 我在東京買了一臺佳能 (Canon) 照相機, 那臺相機後來被 Winston Chan 偷走, 他不知道那是壞的 Winston Chan 是柏克萊加利福尼亞州 ( 加州 ) 州立大學分校 ( 見第五十四的圖三和圖四 ) 化學系的學生, 從香港來的 他爬進我家的窗戶, 那是我在美國的第三個家, 位於加州柏克萊史都華街二一五八號 ( 見第五十四的圖五 ) 我的房東抓到他之後, 又把他放走, 因為他是中國人, 我的房東很信任中國人, 即使是闖入她家裏的中國人 Winston 對我房東說 : 他有東西留在我房間得馬上拿走, 房東隔天才告訴我 他還偷走我的一張空白支票, 並偽造我的簽名, 然後從柏克萊中央銀行領走兩百塊 我發現這件事, 我就去柏克萊地方法院告那間銀行, 告輸之後, 又上訴到奧克蘭的阿拉米達 (Alameda) 高等法院, 才要回我的兩百塊和訴訟費 我之所以會贏是因為被告沒出席, 這是我生平第一次, 也是唯一的一次的訴訟 Winston 曾因為打麻將輸給我大約兩百塊, 他知道我都把空白支票放哪裏, 也知道我怎樣簽名, 因為我輸的時候給他支票 我們在民國五十四年九月四日晚上離開東京機場, 搭乘泛美航空公司波音 707 班機飛越太平洋, 中間暫停在阿拉斯加州的安克拉治加油, 於當天美國時間星期六傍晚到達舊金山國際機場 我國立臺灣大學土木工程系的同學湯于光當時跟我坐同一班飛機 1
Chapter One: Taipei to Berkeley I left Taiwan ( 臺灣 ) on September 4, 1965. We went to Tokyo via Cathay Airways ( 國泰航空公司 ) (See Pictures 1 and 2 on Page 53). We stopped over in Tokyo for a few hours. Cathay gave us a hotel room to rest and wait for the connecting flight. I bought a Canon camera in Tokyo. That camera was broken. It was stolen by Winston Chan, a Cal (See Pictures 3 and 4 on Page 54) Chemistry undergraduate student from Hong Kong who climbed through my window at 2158 Stuart St., Berkeley, CA 94705 (See Picture 5 on Page 54), my third home in United States. My landlady caught him and let him go, because he is Chinese. She trusted Chinese, even the one who broke into her building. Winston told my landlady that he left something in my room and needed it right away. She told me the next day. He also stole a blank check from me. He forged my signature for $200 and cashed it in the Central Bank of Berkeley. Later I found out and sued the bank in Berkeley Municipal Court and lost. I appealed to the Alameda Superior Court in Oakland to get my $200 plus the court fee. I won the suit, since the defendant did not appear. This was the first and only litigation in my lifetime so far. Winston lost about $200 to me in a Mahjong ( 麻將 ) game. He knew where I put the blank checks and he also knew how I signed, because I gave him my check when I lost. We left Tokyo Airport (TKO) in the night of September 4, 1965, and flew over the Pacific Ocean via a Boeing 707 of Pan American World Airways. We stopped over Anchorage, AK, for refueling. The Boeing 707 finally arrived at San Francisco (S.F.) International Airport (SFO) in the evening of September 4, 1965, Saturday. Y.K. Tang ( 湯于光 ), my Civil Engineering (CE) classmate at National Taiwan University (NTU/ 國立臺灣大學 ) and I were on the same flight. 2
到達舊金山後, 湯于光的中學同學鮑家棟來機場接我們, 他因為沒有車, 就搭公車 (AC Transit/ 阿拉達米康特拉科斯塔交通巴士 ) 和灰狗巴士來機場 他本想叫我們從機場搭灰狗巴士到舊金山市區, 我們就可以搭公車到柏克萊 幸運地, 我們在機場遇到湯于光的老鄰居夫婦 因為溝通上的疏失, 他們錯過本來要去機場接的人, 所以就順便帶我們去舊金山的唐人街, 還請我們在傑克遜街上的金漢餐廳吃晚餐 這是我第一次看到有餐廳先送湯上來, 在臺灣湯通常是最後上 後來我們去他們開在唐人街的禮品店, 他們招待我們吃水蜜桃罐頭 最後再帶我們到鮑家棟的出租公寓住房 (Rooming house), 位於柏克萊的高地街 (Highland Place) 和赫斯特街 (Hearst Avenue) 交叉口 那對夫婦的丈夫 ( 他的名字我不記得了 ) 曾當過中華民國海軍軍官, 後來到蒙特雷海軍語言學校 (Monterrey Navy Language School) 學英文, 他想辦法拿到美國永久居留的簽證, 還娶了湯于光的鄰居 他們在舊金山的格蘭特街 (Grant Avenue) 買了一間禮品店, 夫妻倆就住在樓上 從海軍軍官改行作商人, 真是很大的改變 我來美國時, 帶了兩箱衣服和口袋的三百塊美鈔 當時我有加利福尼州州立大學 ( 加大 ) 柏克萊分校入學許可 (I20A), 還有一封機械工程系應用力學組 ( 見第五十四頁的圖六 ) 給我的信函, 提供我一九六五到一九六六學年度的助教獎學金二千七百五十美元 我到今天還想不通為什麼他們要我當助教, 而不是研究助理? 我幾乎沒開口講過英文, 更遑論教書, 真是嚇死我了 應用力學組有很多從臺灣來的研究生, 他們應該非常清楚臺灣來的英文口語都很糟 助教唯一比研究助理好的地方, 是助教不用交學費, 而研究助理要 我在九月底入住國際學舍 我在鮑家棟的出租公寓住房住了三個多禮拜, 他每天快中午的時候需要去實驗室, 所以就把我放在柏克萊加大學生活動中心 ( 見第五十四頁的圖七 ) 我待在樓上的電視休息室來調節時差 當時每天中餐都吃漢堡, 導致後來多年對漢堡產生厭惡, 不過那是當時我唯一敢嘗試的食物 現在我喜歡去法德洛克 (Fuddruckers) 吃多汁鮮嫩的漢堡, 真是一大諷刺! 我也喜歡蘋果派 我可以美國化到什麼程度呢? 正如美國人常說 : 你可以像蘋果派和漢堡一樣美國本土化, 因為蘋果派和漢堡是美國最普遍的食物 3
Raymond Pao ( 鮑家棟 ), Y.K.'s high school classmate who had no car, went to SFO via AC Transit and Greyhound. He intended to take us back by Greyhound to San Franccisco (S.F.) downtown from SFO; we would come back to Berkeley via AC Transit. Luckily we met Y.K.'s old neighbor and her husband at SFO. They missed the person they were supposed to pick up at SFO. It was a miscommunication. They took three of us to S.F. Chinatown and treated us to dinner at Kim Han ( 金漢 ) Restaurant on Jackson St., S.F. That was the first time I was served with soup first. In Taiwan, the soup was the last dish to be served in a restaurant. Later, we went to their gift shop in Chinatown. They served us a can of peaches. Finally they took us back to Raymond's rooming house at Highland Place and Hearst Avenue, Berkeley. The husband (I don t recall his names) was a ROC (Republic of China/Taiwan) Navy Officer. He came to Monterey Navy Language School to learn English. He managed to get a permanent visa to stay in the U.S. and married to Y.K. s neighbor. They bought a gift shop on Grant Avenue, S.F., and lived upstairs. He was a Navy Officer and changed to a merchant. What a change in his career. I came to the U.S. with $300 in my pocket and two suitcases of clothes. I had an I- 20A to Cal Berkeley and a letter from the Division of Applied Mechanics (See Picture 6 on Page 54) of Mechanical Engineering Department offering me a Teaching Assistant (TA) position with stipend of $2,750 for the academic year 1965-1966. Today I still don t understand why the Division offered me a Teaching Assistantship and not a Research Assistantship (RA). I hardly spoke any English and had to teach. It scared me a heck of a lot. The division had a lot of graduate students from Taiwan. They should have known our spoken English was very poor. The only factor that is better for a TA than a RA: a TA received free resident tuition and a RA did not. I checked into International House (I-House) in the end of September. I stayed at Raymond's rooming house for over three weeks. He had to go to his Lab in the late morning. So he left me at the Cal Student Union (See Picture 7 on Page 54). I went to the upstairs TV room to ease my jet lag. I ate hamburgers for every lunch. I was sick of hamburgers for many years. It was the only food I dared to try. Now I loved the juicy rare hamburgers at Fuddruckers. What an irony it is! I also loved apple pie. How Americanized could I be? American always says, You are as American as apple pie and hamburger, since apple pie and hamburgers are the most popular food in the U.S. 4
我住入國際學舍 ( 見第五十四頁的圖八和第五十五頁的圖九 ) 後, 發現我的室友是從奧地利來的, 我們幾乎沒什麼碰面, 也不太講話, 因為他都是在白天睡覺, 而我則是規律的朝九晚五生活 我們實在無法溝通 國際學舍裏有從世界各地來的學生, 因此自助餐廳裏提供各國餐點, 有些國家的食物對我來說有些奇怪 為了避免挨餓, 我就吃一大堆麵包, 喝咖啡 茶和牛奶 有一次我看到脫脂酸牛奶 (Buttermilk), 想奶油 (butter) 加牛奶 (milk) 一定好喝, 就試了一杯, 結果我以為喝到壞掉的 試了三次之後, 我才了解脫脂酸牛奶就是這樣 ( 酸酸的 ) 剛開始在美國說英文, 我通常用正式的 你好嗎? (How are you? 或 How do you do?) 來問候人, 也用正式的 是的 (Yes) 而不用口語的 是啊 (Yea) 當別人問我 近來如何? (How are you doing? 或 How is going?) 我卻回答 : 我在做功課, 或是 我要去我辦公室 ( 英文的 近來如何 直譯成中文聽起來像 你在做什麼? 或是 你要去哪裏? ) 我在大學學的老舊英文一點都不管用, 對我來說, 這是第一次的文化衝擊 幾個禮拜或是幾個月之後, 我終於改成 是啊 (Yea), 代替了正式的 是的 (Yes) 5
After I checked into the I-House (International House) at Berkeley See Picture 8 on Page 54 and Picture 9 on Page 55), I found out my roommate was from Austria. We hardly met or spoke to each other, because he slept during daytime and I had a Nine to Five schedule. We just could not communicate at all. I-House had students from all over the world, therefore they served international foods. Some countries foods were too strange for me. To avoid being hungry, I ate a lot of bread and drank coffee, tea and milk. Once I saw buttermilk, and thought that milk with butter had to be good. I tried one glass and I thought I got a bad one. After three trials, I knew that was the way it should be, i.e. sour. I said, How are you? or How do you do? to greet people. I also said Yes not Yea. I replied: I am doing my homework or I am going to my office, when people greeted me: How are you doing? or How is it going? The old style of English I learned in college was not working at all. It was my first culture shock. After several weeks or months, I finally said Yea instead of Yes. 6