Holiday in the Rain 雨中佳節
When it comes to timing, we haven't had much luck with holidays. Take this year's Mid-Autumn Festival; it fell on a Sunday, which means no extra day off from work. Then, just as we were dusting off our barbecue to celebrate, Typhoon Sinlaku snuck up and drenched us with rain. If Sinlaku had arrived a few days earlier or later, we could have at least had a typhoon holiday.
講到時機問題，我們每次假期的運氣都不太好。就以這次中秋節為例吧！中秋節落在星期天，表示沒辦法少上一天班。然後，就在我們正在清掃烤肉架準備慶祝時，辛樂克颱風來襲，降下傾盆大雨。如果辛樂克早幾天或晚幾天來，至少我們還能放個颱風假。
 Still, this year's Mid-Autumn Festival wasn't a complete write-off. I had a lot of fun just hanging out with my family. We watched Eric the Tiger (巧虎) over and over with our little daughter Ahleena. We also ate a ton of moon cakes and pomelos. We couldn't barbecue anything, but that was OK because we ordered pizza─two days in a row! We even invited people over. They came in spite of the storm just to hang out and be lazy with us.
不過今年的中秋節也不算完全掃興。我陪我家人渡過一段愉快的時間。我們陪著小女兒雅莉娜看了好多次「巧虎島」。我們也吃了一大堆月餅和柚子。我們沒辦法烤肉，但是沒關係，因為我們叫了披薩──連續兩天！我們甚至邀了人過來玩。儘管有暴風雨，他們還是過來陪我們一起懶懶散散地打發時間。
I think for my in-laws, this year's Mid-Autumn Festival was especially pleasing because Ahleena finally spoke a few words in Hoklo. It wasn't just that she was speaking their native tongue, but it was also what she said: "Great-Grandma, Grandma, and Grandpa."
我想對我的岳父母來說，今年中秋節特別令人高興，因為雅莉娜終於說了幾句河洛話。她說的不只是他們的母語，連講的內容也很令人振奮：「阿祖，阿嬤，阿公。」
"She's finally got the right language for the right people," my mother-in-law chuckled.
我岳母笑著說：「她終於學會對正確的人講正確的語言了。」
"What do you mean?" I asked her, and then I got it. She calls me "Ba-ba" and my wife, a Taiwanese woman, "Mommy."
我問她：「這是什麼意思呢？」然後我懂了。她一直都叫我「爸爸」，叫我的台灣太太"Mommy"！
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