Chicago trip

TLing夫婦邀我們同往芝加哥的法鼓山道场聽聞佛法，台灣果徹法師主講＜佛說大乘稻稈經＞，我們只上星期六及星期日两天課。從Missouri州的St. Louis城市到Illinois州的芝加哥城市，由TLing的丈夫Mark駕了约五小時的車，來回都是從傍晚開車至將近十二點深夜抵達，只他一人駕車，真是辛苦他！我們在途中只停一次，他買了一杯咖啡上車提神，身為醫生在醫院工作的他說，白天和晚上已没有什麼分别。

Steve和我不是很精進到真的只為了聽聞佛法，那是我們都未去過芝加哥，好遊的我當然是高興有人邀往，我們聽說那裡的唐人街蠻大的，所以上綱查看是否有Malaysian的餐館？

我們上星期六的課完后，乘機就到Lake Shore Drive 走走，Michigan湖很大很大，湖邊停泊着很多很多私人帆船，芝加哥的人似乎都很富有，可以養船！過后，我們就到唐人街… 哈哈，我看到Penang 餐館了，我迫不及待的帶頭進去。坐下后看menu，我看到都是熟悉的Penang小食及麵類食，興奮到不知要order那個好… Steve一看到有roti canai，也很興奮。一個roti canai US$3.50（在檳城，不超過US$0.50）！是不是很貴？有得吃到，已不介意了… 做着roti canai的華人，不知是否來自Penang？走出餐館，已是夜幕低垂，很多商家已打烊，走進其中一間… 我看着店内的商品，耳聽到两位店員用廣東話在交談，“都不知她的腰怎麼這麼粗，什麼size才合她身，她的肚腩這麼大。” “係呀，這麼年輕肚腩就這麼大，都不知飲什麼。” 她們談后，其中一店員找了一件衣物，皮笑肉不笑的對着一位站在一排吊着各款中國旗袍服裝前面的非華裔女客人說，“Come with me（跟我來）。” 我看那女客人歡喜的跟着女店員，似乎要去試穿… 唐人街的小插曲，有時候，聽不懂别人缺德的話是好的。

這次很短的行程不僅有緣聽經法喜，還可滿足一点吃到Penang食物，希望再見芝加哥！

TLing and her husband, Mark, invited us to attend a lecture series on ‘The Shalistamba Sutra’, given by Venerable Guo Cheh from Taiwan at the Dharma Drum Mountain Buddhist Association in Chicago. However, we could only attend the sessions on Saturday and Sunday. The journey from St. Louis, Missouri to Chicago, Illinois was about five hours by car and Mark drove. We felt Mark was tough because he drove all the way on both the trip there and the return trip. Both trips started in the evening and we arrived close to midnight! We only stopped once on the way for gas and a cup of coffee to keep him awake while driving. Because he is a doctor, he says, day and night are no different to him.

Steve and I didn’t go just for the Dharma lecture; we also hadn’t been to Chicago before. Of course, as I like travel, I was glad to be invited to go. We knew that Chicago had a Chinatown, so we searched online to see whether there were any Malaysian restaurants?

Saturday evening, after the class, we went to Lake Shore Drive for a little sightseeing. Lake Michigan is huge; a lot of private boats park at the lake side. I suppose the people in Chicago are rich since so many of them have their own boat! After that, we went to Chinatown…. Haha, I saw a restaurant called Penang. I couldn’t wait and led them in. After we sat down and had a menu, I saw the Penang hawker foods that I knew and became too excited and couldn’t make up my mind which one to order…. Steve was excited too when he saw they had roti canai. A plain roti canai is US$3.50 (not over US$0.50 in Penang)! Is it expensive? We didn’t care anymore since we could find it here…. I wonder, is this Chinese guy making roti canai from Penang? It was almost dark when we left the restaurant; a lot of stores were already closed. We went in one of the stores, and while I was looking around I heard two salesgirls having a conversation in Cantonese. (I translated) “How come she’s got a large waist? I wonder what size will suit her. She has a big stomach.” “Yeah, she is young but has a big stomach, I wonder what she drinks.” After the conversation, one of them took a dress, ‘smiled’ and talked to a non-Chinese woman customer who was standing in front of a rack on which were hanging several patterns of cheongsam (a close-fitting Chinese woman's dress with high neck and slit skirt), “Come with me.” The woman looked happy; I think she is going to try it on…. A short episode in Chinatown; sometimes, it is good when you don’t understand the mean words spoken by other people.

This short trip was great. We had joyful dharma lectures and were satisfied with a little bit of Penang food. We hope to see Chicago again!