家外之家 2021
Two and a half years before, I wasn’t expecting to come to China and live all the experiences that I am living now. Exactly two years ago, I was in a 30-hour flight coming to China, not even knowing what challenges I was going to face. It all started when graduating from high school. I was looking for a good university to study when I found about the Chinese government scholarships. I applied and as soon as I got accepted, I had to travel to China to study a one-year Chinese language course in Xiamen’s Huaqiao University.?兩年半之前，我并沒(méi)有想到會(huì)來(lái)中國(guó)，過(guò)上現(xiàn)在的生活。兩年前，我坐了 30 個(gè)小時(shí)的飛機(jī)來(lái)到中國(guó)，我甚至不知道將會(huì)面臨什么樣的挑戰(zhàn)。我的中國(guó)故事從高中畢業(yè)時(shí)開(kāi)始，當(dāng)時(shí)我得知中國(guó)政府提供留學(xué)獎(jiǎng)學(xué)金，所以我想找一所好的中國(guó)大學(xué)學(xué)習(xí)。于是我申請(qǐng)華僑大學(xué)的留學(xué)生，一被錄取，我就前往中國(guó)，學(xué)習(xí)一年的中文課程。
家外之家 2021
My China story starts in 2007 in Hungary, where I was teaching international political economy at the Corvinus University of Budapest, and researching public economic policy issues in a think-tank. I was in a relationship for 4 years, I owned a small flat and a car, and lived in a nice environment with my beloved in the green Buda side of the capital city. So I had an ongoing academic career, close to finishing my PhD at the International Relations program, and had what we can call a normal life.我的中國(guó)故事還要從 2007 年的匈牙利講起，當(dāng)時(shí)我在布達(dá)佩斯的科維努斯大學(xué)教授國(guó)際政治經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)，還在一個(gè)智庫(kù)研究公共經(jīng)濟(jì)政策問(wèn)題。當(dāng)時(shí)我正在談一段維持四年的感情，擁有一套小公寓和一輛小車(chē)，和我的女友住在樹(shù)木繁茂的布達(dá)城區(qū)。我正在進(jìn)行學(xué)術(shù)研究，即將取得國(guó)際關(guān)系博士學(xué)位，過(guò)著正常的生活。
家外之家 2021
My story in China started when I got a job offer for a company in Guangzhou. I never thought of China as a place where I would like to live, I only considered it as a place to travel sometime in my life. Surprisingly, China has turned out to be the country that has brought me the most exciting adventures and experiences in my life so far.我收到廣州一家公司offer的時(shí)候，我的中國(guó)之旅也隨之開(kāi)始。我從未想過(guò)，今后我會(huì)住在中國(guó)，我只把它看作是生命中的旅居之地。但令我驚喜的是，中國(guó)帶給我的是最激動(dòng)人心的冒險(xiǎn)經(jīng)歷。
家外之家 2021
My first time in China was 18 years ago. I visited Xiamen as a tourist with my mum, my aunt and her daughters. Not many tourists came here at the time, and everything was rather cheap. We had booked 3 rooms in Mandarin Hotel but they gave us an upgrade to stay at whole Vila. Yes, we got a 5 stars vila all to ourselves! That was so beautiful, like a wonderland. An unforgettable first impression.我第一次來(lái)中國(guó)是在 18 年前。我和媽媽、姨媽和她的女兒來(lái)廈門(mén)旅游。當(dāng)時(shí)來(lái)這里的游客不多，而且東西都相當(dāng)便宜。我們?cè)趷側(cè)A酒店訂了 3 個(gè)房間，但他們給我們升級(jí)到別墅房。沒(méi)錯(cuò)，我們住進(jìn)了一套五星級(jí)別墅！那里美得就像一個(gè)仙境。廈門(mén)給我留下了難忘的第一印象。
家外之家 2021
The first time I step foot on Chinese soil was in 1997 when I went to Beijing for a work trip regarding the design of a hotel there. Coming here for the first time helped to dispel a lot of the misconceptions in my head and the rumors that I heard about living here. I heard that China was so crowded absolutely everywhere, that people misbehaved, that there were no proper toilets!? Well, of course, it was all wrong.我第一次踏上中國(guó)的土地是在 1997 年，我當(dāng)時(shí)去北京出差，為一家酒店進(jìn)行設(shè)計(jì)。第一次來(lái)到這里，打消了我腦海中存在的許多誤解，那些關(guān)于在中國(guó)生活的傳言也不攻自破了。我聽(tīng)說(shuō)中國(guó)哪里都很擁擠，人們行為粗魯，也沒(méi)有體面的廁所！當(dāng)然，這是完全錯(cuò)誤的。
家外之家 2021
After my college graduation, I met up with my high school friend, Renelyn, who was at that time working as a foreign teacher in Xiamen city. After hearing her wonderful experience here in Xiamen, I asked her the procedure on how to apply to work as ESL teacher. At that time, the qualifications required for ESL teachers weren’t that stringent, basically, the requirements were to hold a Bachelor’s degree and a TESL? certificate. I was lucky enough to pass all interviews and landed my first job as a foreign teacher in Xiamen Educational College which eventually merged with 2 other colleges and renamed into Xiamen City Vocational College.大學(xué)畢業(yè)后，我偶遇了高中同學(xué) Renelyn，她當(dāng)時(shí)在廈門(mén)做外教。她給我講了在廈門(mén)的精彩故事，然后我問(wèn)她如何申請(qǐng)成為 ESL（以英語(yǔ)為第二語(yǔ)言） 教師。當(dāng)時(shí)，對(duì) ESL 教師的資格要求并不嚴(yán)格，基本要求是持有學(xué)士學(xué)位和 TESL（英語(yǔ)作為第二外語(yǔ)教學(xué)） 證書(shū)。我很幸運(yùn)地通過(guò)了所有的面試，在廈門(mén)教育學(xué)院找到了我的第一份工作——外教，該學(xué)院最終與其他兩所學(xué)院合并，更名為廈門(mén)城市職業(yè)學(xué)院。
家外之家 2021
My husband and I lived in Xiamen for almost ten years, but apart from colleagues or friends in groups involved in saving animals, we didn’t meet that many other foreigners. The reason is simple, we didn’t have time.?我和丈夫在廈門(mén)生活了近十年，但除了一起拯救動(dòng)物的同事和朋友外，我們并沒(méi)有認(rèn)識(shí)很多外國(guó)人 。原因很簡(jiǎn)單，我們沒(méi)時(shí)間。
家外之家 2021
On Monday October 11th at 2 pm Beijing time, we held the third round giveaway for 1 bottles of wine sponsored by Babel Tower. In the end, we had one lucky prize-winners who are Kristina from Russia. The following is her winning story, you can open the link to read her great story.北京時(shí)間 10 月 11 日星期一下午兩點(diǎn)我們進(jìn)行了第三輪抽獎(jiǎng)，獲獎(jiǎng)?wù)呤莵?lái)自俄羅斯的秀穎，以下是她的獲獎(jiǎng)故事，打開(kāi)鏈接閱讀她的精彩故事吧！
家外之家 2021
When I tell many people that I live in China, they ask me questions about crowds, traffic, and other problems that they’ve heard exist in China. I’ve been living internationally for 18 years and this is the start of my fourth year in China. To answer these questions, I always show pictures of where I live – in a beautiful beach side community with no traffic and no crowds. Actually, I used to believe those stereotypes about China, too. At one point, I said ‘Never China’ when thinking of where to go next. I’m so glad I decided to change my mind and give China a chance.如果告訴別人我住在中國(guó)，他們會(huì)問(wèn)我中國(guó)的人口、交通等問(wèn)題。我已經(jīng)在世界各地生活了 18 年，今年是我在中國(guó)生活的第四年。我回答這些問(wèn)題的方式就是向他們展示我家小區(qū)的照片——一個(gè)美麗的海濱小區(qū)，那里沒(méi)有擁堵的交通，沒(méi)有龐大的人口。事實(shí)上，我也曾認(rèn)為那些對(duì)中國(guó)的刻板印象是真的。我在考慮下一站去哪里的時(shí)候，一度說(shuō)“絕對(duì)不去中國(guó)”。我很慶幸自己改變了想法，給中國(guó)一個(gè)機(jī)會(huì)。
家外之家 2021
My journey began in 2011 when I started studying at the Confucius Institute of Ecuador. I fell in love with the language right away and committed to studying Mandarin Chinese until I could speak the language perfectly. This started a journey that will last forever.2011 年，我開(kāi)始在厄瓜多爾孔子學(xué)院學(xué)習(xí)，我的中國(guó)之旅也由此開(kāi)始。我一下子就愛(ài)上了漢語(yǔ)并開(kāi)始學(xué)習(xí)，立志精通這門(mén)語(yǔ)言。從此，我開(kāi)啟了一段永恒的旅程。
