小女兒計劃去非洲遊學半年已經進行了一年多，從大二開學起(2008秋季)，就著手蒐集各方資料，與本校加大海外求學中心聯繫，上網查詢不同國家地區與學 校，安排可能的學習科目與研究計劃，打工存錢，...等等，我們二老在旁邊是一頭霧水，為啥好好的學校不唸，要跑到非洲地球的邊緣去？不怕被擄走？這會不會與野豹的天性有關？常常到處亂跑？

忙 啊！忙啊！進入大三了，一切似乎就要成真，填了不曉得多少表格、簽了名又簽名、參加一個個的講習、得到學校與系所同意、e-mails傳來傳去，...小姑娘忙的團團轉，我這隻老 豹也被捲進漩渦中，不停的檢查他各項文件、提醒他遞件截止日期、何時得打完各種預防針、聯絡醫生簽多種表格、拿預防瘧疾、霍亂、傷寒的藥、申請護照簽證、 定機票、跑郵局、...等等，還得時時檢查存款是不是「見底」了(感謝上天，幸虧她後來得到學校一筆獎助金，加上自己的存款，使野豹不必掏空銀行)。

到了 2009聖誕假期，考完大考，由學校搬回家。一切更是緊鑼密鼓，連姊姊也請假十天從西雅圖回來幫忙，列出清單，帶著妹妹去買一些必需品，家裡每間屋子都堆著她的東西，邁個步子都不易。元旦過後就要出發了，親朋好友們，還邀約不斷為她餞行，時間更是不夠用，到上飛機當天，我還趕去醫院為他拿另一份文件。元月四日，在我們祝福聲中，小女兒懷抱著凌雲壯志，濟世慈心，帶著大包小包貼身包、手機像機吹風機，展翅高飛了。


(通過安檢，要登機了，還照張相)

任何引人入勝的影劇小說，劇情一定不是沿著「從此就過著幸福快樂、無憂無慮的生活」而發展的。元月七日凌晨，睡夢中，一通來自西非的電話，傳來小女兒沮喪的聲音，她此刻正在醫院急診，因為長途飛行不適加上藥物過敏所致，在醫院等了大半天還沒見到醫生。我這邊也緊急連絡此地醫生，尋找可替代藥物，否則染上瘧疾更糟。真是感恩，醫生電話上開了藥，我隔天去醫院取藥後就郵寄學校(這可省了不少錢，因為該瘧疾藥在非洲很貴，在此地有健保，就便宜十倍。這也顯示出世上的貧富不均，低收入者怎麼可能負擔的起？因此人命就不保了)。

這次經歷，讓她體會到非洲與美國的大不同(她自己宣稱要走出 American Bubble)，也使她實地觀察了當地公共醫療系統，這正是她專業研習的項目(我想這是上天的安排)。這兩天，她已漸漸步入正軌，除參加學校給外籍學生辦的訓練會外，也開始選課上課，體驗非洲生活的不易(天熱、停電、斷水、蚊蟲多、沒空調、沒方便的網路可用...)。

此事過後，我們存著感恩的心，正想稍微喘口氣，想像她在迦納大學上課的情形。誰知，昨晚在女兒的blog上又看到另一樁讓人心驚的事件(她臨行前設了blog，將出發前後與當地生活，陸續介紹給親朋好友們)。這事件與地震有關，又恰好在海地大地震後不久，讓二老緊張了一下。

(瀟碧女士已將這起《夜半驚魂記》譯成中文，各位好友可到《展翅上騰》部落格閱讀。野豹僅節錄小女兒部分原文如下，略加註釋，其中一些用語是時下年輕人流行的話。)

An Overdramatic Event (January 18, 2010)

Today was the first day of class at the University of Ghana! ... I was looking forward to a much needed full night of sleep, only to be woken up in the early morning by blood curdling dog barks and howls. It was extremely eerie . I've never heard anything like it. It went on for about 5 minutes of about 8- 10 dogs and then abruptly became silent again. Chilling.

註：blood curdling (很恐怖的)；extremely eerie (極為怪異令人膽寒的)；Chilling (令人毛骨悚然)。

At 4:10 AM I heard distant, frantic pounding and someone commanding, "Wake up! Get out of your rooms!" I was drifting in and out of sleep and wasn't sure whether or not I was dreaming. I heard the knocks growing louder and at last, two loud, demanding knocks reached my door. I could hear doors opening with confused and sleepy voices next door.

Suddenly, Glenda, my roommate, jolted out of bed and shouted, "Oh my God. Joy. We have to go!" We looked outside and people were all heading out of their rooms in their PJ's in a hurry. No one knew why we were being herded outside. My first instinct was to stay INSIDE. We didn't know who wanted us out and why. The power outage made the situation 10 times spookier.

註：jolted out of bed (跳出床外) ；Joy (女兒的小名)；PJ's (睡衣的簡寫)；power outage (停電) ；10 times spookier (十倍的恐怖嚇人)。

Glenda: "Ok, you stay here. I'll find out what's going on out there."
"Heck no! I'm not staying here by myself!"
After a few seconds of debate we decided to head outside.

註：Heck no! (絕不！)。

Every scenario crossed my mind.
(A) What if it's a conspiracy? Get the foreigners out for an easy break-in to their rooms.  So I grabbed my bag and laptop. 
(B) What if it's a life threatening evacuation and we have to stay overnight somewhere?   So I grabbed my traveling toiletries and malaria pills.
(C) What if the international students were being held captive and this means war!  (ok, keep in mind...it was 4AM and I had no idea what was going on. It was just confusion and adrenaline working with me here.)   So I stuffed a loaf of bread and a bottle of water into my bag, grabbed my flashlight and phone and was ready to go.

(註：她的朋友們都佩服她在半睡又混亂的狀況下，能瞬間想出數種可能情況，還能摸黑找著東西抓著往外跑)。 註：traveling toiletries (旅行盥洗用具)；malaria pills (瘧疾藥)；adrenaline (腎上腺素)。

Everyone was in the parking lot and no one knew what was going on. It seemed WAY too sketch. Everyone just headed out without question.

"I think it's a fire!"
"ok...what jacka** left their candle burning?"
"I think it's an earthquake drill"
"I'm from California. I eat earthquakes for breakfast. Let's go back to bed."

(註：這些都是學生的揣測性對話)

I personally concluded that if we weren't gonna be finished off by a surprise attack, surely the psycho dogs were lurking in the dark, smacking their salivating lips, anxiously waiting to pounce on a herd of vulnerable foreigners.

註：psycho dogs (瘋狗)；lurking in the dark (黑暗中虎視眈眈的)；smacking their salivating lips (舔著他們流著口水的舌頭)；pounce on (跳到身上攻擊)。

Glenda told me later she had a whole escape route planned out: "If anything serious was gonna happen, I was gonna grab you and run off to the airport and catch the first flight back to America. I've got hella money now (be)cause I exchanged it at the bank today. I was thinking 'O No! what about Joy's knees! SHOOT,' I said, 'I'd just throw you on my back and get the hell outta this country!"

(註：女兒的膝蓋不太好，才認識不到十天的患難室友，在逃命時還要肩上扛著她一起跑，十分感動也感謝。)

... The other international hostel was evacuated and a few other places as well. 20 minutes later, the porters finally calmed everyone down and explained that he woke up hearing (on the radio) that a massive earthquake was going to occur in approximately two minutes. It had been well past the 2 minutes mark and clearly nothing had happened.

(註：迦納半年前發生過嚴重地震)；porters (宿舍門房)。

Apparently it was ALL over the news. The porter read from someone's phone in eerie silence that Accra (迦納首府) has been experiencing tremors and that they should be ready for a major earthquake. EEK! We waited another 10-20 minutes, half anticipating to feel the ground violently shake and the buildings to crumble to dust at any second.

(註：顯然，全國各種新聞都在報導此事；而一群外籍學生，夜暗中傻傻的等著大災難來臨)。EEK!(咬牙切齒的嘆息聲)。

The porters finally confirmed that radio stations had revoked the earthquake alert and it was our decision to go back inside or stay outside.

I for one, being deathly afraid of earthquakes, hesitantly went back to bed. Glenda crawled into bed with me (be)cause we were scared, haha, and we woke up this morning unscathed and ready for class.

You laugh now, but it was scary! (你現在笑我吧！但當時情形真的很恐怖！)

And here's what I received in my inbox today:http://www.africanews.com/site/Earthquake_scare_hits_Ghana_but_dispelled/


Oh, Africa!!


(女兒無奈的嘆息，我們也是嘆息連連，但也笑歪了)
(註：後來她收到電郵說：非洲新聞網報導，總統當天還出來澄清這起誤會，大家虛驚一場，其實地震幾天前發生在海的那一邊，而海地距離西非並不遠。)

Joy與沙塵豹合作    1-21-2010