家外之家 2021
Do you want to hear my love-story with China? Okay! I was 22 years-old when I got a letter from the Embassy of China in Antananarivo. Antananarivo is the capital city of Madagascar, the country where I was born and raised. A country that I’d never left, not even once. This is how the house where I used to live looks like. Too old and out of date, isn’t it?
你想知道我和中國(guó)的“愛(ài)情故事”嗎？聽(tīng)我給您道來(lái)。22 歲那年，我收到中國(guó)駐塔那那利佛大使館的來(lái)信。塔那那利佛是馬達(dá)加斯加的首都，我在那里出生長(zhǎng)大。我從未出國(guó)，一次也沒(méi)有。我兒時(shí)住的房子是這樣的，太破舊了，對(duì)吧？
家外之家 2021
I can still remember watching a TV program on China and Chinese culture about 20 years ago when I was still very small. In the background, I heard melodious strains of Chinese music and I can still remember how the program featured key places of Chinese cultural interest and famous Chinese icons like The Great Wall. As I was just nine years old, this program formed such a deep impression in my mind that the longing to visit China one day was a longing that was present in my subconscious mind from that day onwards. I still remember 3 years ago; my editor called me into his room and asked me whether I would like to undertake a visit to China. He also added that the visit would last 10 months. I couldn’t believe what I heard. I was overjoyed. I could only mutter ‘yes sir’ because I was still suffering from the shock of having my childhood dream of going to China coming true.
我還記得大約 20 年前，那時(shí)候我還很小，看過(guò)一個(gè)電視節(jié)目，是關(guān)于中國(guó)和中國(guó)文化的，背景音樂(lè)是悠揚(yáng)的中國(guó)傳統(tǒng)音樂(lè)。我仍然記得這個(gè)節(jié)目介紹了中國(guó)的文化名勝和標(biāo)志性建筑，如長(zhǎng)城。那時(shí)我才 9 歲，但這個(gè)節(jié)目已經(jīng)在我腦海中留下了深刻的印象。有朝一日我要去中國(guó)，這種渴望，自那天起便成為我潛意識(shí)的一部分。我還記得 3 年前，編輯把我叫到他的房間，問(wèn)我是否愿意去中國(guó)。他還補(bǔ)充說(shuō)，這次旅程將持續(xù) 10 個(gè)月。我簡(jiǎn)直不敢相信我的耳朵，欣喜若狂。因?yàn)閮簳r(shí)的夢(mèng)想終于要成真了，我激動(dòng)得話都說(shuō)不出來(lái)，只能咕噥一聲“是的，我愿意”。
家外之家 2021
My journey in China began back in 2018, when I saw a flyer at my university to study abroad for one semester. At that time, I recently won a prize to receive a free passport through a drawing so it just made sense to apply. When I applied I wasn’t thinking I’d actually get selected but come fall semester 2018 I was on the plane to Harbin, China with 11 other students from my school.
我的中國(guó)之旅始于 2018 年，當(dāng)時(shí)我在大學(xué)看到了一張傳單，內(nèi)容是出國(guó)留學(xué)一個(gè)學(xué)期的項(xiàng)目。那時(shí)，我抽獎(jiǎng)獲得了免費(fèi)護(hù)照，所以我才申請(qǐng)了這個(gè)項(xiàng)目。我申請(qǐng)的時(shí)候，萬(wàn)萬(wàn)沒(méi)想到真的會(huì)被選中。到了 2018 年秋季學(xué)期，我和同校的 11 名學(xué)生搭上了飛往中國(guó)哈爾濱的航班。
家外之家 2021
“Maybe you were a Chinese person in your past life.”
Over the 8 years that I have been living in China this is the, somewhat corny, jokingly way some of my Chinese friends replied to my enthusiastic accounts of my experiences here. And while I don’t believe in reincarnation, I do think that some of us are blessed with the chance to enjoy a second life, and sometimes if we are lucky, it might be as good a life as the one I enjoy in China.
“也許你前世是個(gè)中國(guó)人。”
我生活在中國(guó)的 8 年里，一些中國(guó)朋友對(duì)我的經(jīng)歷就是這樣描述的，有點(diǎn)老套，打趣的措辭。雖然我不相信輪回，但我確實(shí)認(rèn)為有些人有幸享受第二人生。有時(shí)候想想，如果我們足夠幸運(yùn)的話，就能來(lái)中國(guó)享受精彩的人生。
家外之家 2021
* Was it every time I visited a new big city as a child and declared I’d live there someday?
— In hindsight, “big” is a relative term, since we considered them big, but most of them had a population smaller than Xiamen does now. Still, I was always drawn to cities.
*?小時(shí)候是不是每次去一個(gè)新的大城市，都會(huì)說(shuō)總有一天我會(huì)住在那里？
——如今看來(lái)，“大”是相對(duì)的，只是我們認(rèn)為它很大，但大多數(shù)城市的人口都比現(xiàn)在的廈門少。盡管如此，我總是被這些城市所吸引。
