First Ever Ice Hockey Game

19th February, 2011 Saturday. There is a Winter Celebration event in Memorial Coliseum, hold by our company’s GPTW (Great Place To Work).
The event was made primarily for family fun. Hence, you can bring your family members along to attend this event. The event includes a lot of kids activities like Radio Disney, Wii stations, inflatables, carnival games, etc. For adults like us, we have Ice skating, food and beverages, as well as beer garden. At night, 5000 seats had been given out for the Ice Hockey game.

二月十九日，星期六。今天在波特蘭的運動館有個特別的冬季活動，是公司特別為所有員工而預備的。這也算是個屬於家庭歡樂的活動，所以員工們都可以攜帶家眷出席這次的活動。那裡的活動場地還蠻大的，還設有很多的活動讓員工和家人一起玩樂，比如各樣的小孩子玩意兒，迪士尼頻道，各樣的遊戲機，充氣玩具，遊戲攤檔等，真的可以讓那些小孩子玩得不亦樂乎。至於大人們嘛，就只有簡單的滑冰，無限的食物，飲料，當然還有美國人最喜愛的啤酒啦。而且，在晚上還有冰球的比賽，真是一場難得的盛會。

To avoid traffic, I and my colleagues from Taiwan, took the Trimet to the Portland downtown and took off at Rose Quarter, and then walk to the Memorial Coliseum, which is just next to the Rose Garden. This Rose Garden is the home arena for the Blazers, one of the professional basketball team played in NBA.

為了避免交通阻塞，我和來自台灣的同事一起搭了快鐵到波特蘭去，在到達目的地前，還經過了Rose Garden體育館，就是NBA著名籃球隊Blazers的主場。

The event started at 2pm, but we reached there already 2.30pm. Really people mountain people sea. The queue was soooo long. We waited like half an hour only can go in. Inside, you can find food and beverages all around. My colleague invited me for a beer. I was thinking, Bud Light beer, haven’t tried before, might just give it a shot. Who knows, when I asked for a beer, the counter lady asked me for identity verification. While I was wondering why she didn’t asked my colleague for that but me? My colleague’s wife told me that, she might be suspecting me under 21, which is illegal in US to give beers to those under 21. Really =.=lll

這場的盛會從下午兩點就開始了，但是當我們到達的時候已經是兩點半了。那時的人潮還真的蠻恐怖，只看到無盡的長龍從前門排到馬路上，我們也還要等上半個小時才能進到裡邊去。進到去也還是一片人海，大家都排著隊拿東西吃。我的同事突然間邀我一起啤一啤，想著沒試過這裡的Bud Light啤酒，就跟著他要了一杯。結果，很奇怪的，那櫃檯的服務員竟然跟我要身份證明，就正當我在奇怪為何要我的身份證明時，我同事的老婆就笑著跟我說，可能她怕你還未滿21歲，所以不能夠給你喝，因為在美國未滿21歲喝酒是犯法的。我當場“囧”了。。。真是，我的樣子哪有可能啊？。。。

Anyway, after grabbing some hotdogs, sandwiches, and beers of course, we went in to the ‘bowl’ for ice skating. This was the second time I tried ice skating. Not really that enjoyable like the first time though. 😛 The ice skating session was closed at 5pm. After that, we went for another round of hotdogs and sandwiches, then waiting in the bowl for my first ever Ice Hockey game in US, Portland Winterhawks vs Boston Bruins. ^^

在我們吃完一輪的熱狗，三文治，漢堡，還有啤酒等過後，我們就到溜冰場上去溜冰。這也是我第二次溜冰，沒有第一次的好玩，因為人太多，等了很久，而且鞋又不對號，溜到腳痛死了，也溜了沒多久就出來了。累了當然就去四周再吃過第二輪，也順便等著下一場的冰球比賽，是我第一次看現場的哦，蠻期待的。

Well, I don’t really know how the games work out. Until I watched this live match, then only I knew what a game is this. Really nice I should say to have this opportunity to watch the game live.

其實，我本來也是不懂得冰上曲棍球是怎麼玩的，直到我看了這場的比賽後我就了解了。原來這運動還蠻粗魯的，常常可以看到他們互相衝撞，甚至還要大打出手。第一次在現場觀看，感受現場氣氛，真的很不一樣。

Anyway, after the game, I reached home already 11.00pm. Just when I wanted to clean up and sleep, I found that my body started to have red rashes all around. >.< Oh no, seems like my body not yet ready to accept that beer. Look like I am going to be suffering for the next 1 or 2 days. 🙁

在比賽完後，我們就直接搭快鐵回家了，到達家裡已經是晚上十一點了。正當我要洗刷時，發現身上開始出現了許多瘙癢的紅斑。啊！又中招了，沒想到一杯的啤酒竟然也引起我的皮膚敏感，看來又要多痛苦幾天了。:(