作者：Maria Malakhova
翻譯：潘澤彬
校對：Luz、Zuzana、Joanne
My name is Maria Malakhova, I am from Siberia, Russia. I have been in Xiamen for almost 8 years.
我叫 Maria Malakhova，我來自俄羅斯西伯利亞，在廈門已經(jīng)待了將近 8 年。
It was random how I learned about Xiamen. About 10 years ago my mom met a lady on a plane, they had a chat and it happened so that her daughter was studying in Xiamen University at the time. 2 years later I myself was on a plane headed to Xiamen to study Chinese in Xiamen University.
一次偶然的機會，我知道了廈門這座城市。那是大約 10?年前，我媽媽在飛機上遇到一位女士，聊天時得知她女兒當時在廈門大學讀書。兩年后，我自己也搭上了飛往廈門的航班，在廈門大學學習中文。
Xiamen is very different from my hometown. In my hometown half of the year is winter, In Xiamen half of the year is summer.
廈門氣候與我家鄉(xiāng)截然不同。我家一年中有半年是冬天，而廈門則有半年是夏天。
When I first arrived I felt like I’d melt. Now, after almost 8 years, I can wear jeans and a long sleeve when it’s +30, haha.
初到廈門的時候，我感覺自己快化了。如今已經(jīng)待了 8 年，30 多度的天氣我仍穿牛仔褲和長袖，哈哈哈。
In the very beginning it felt like another planet. I remember the shock that I was given chopsticks to eat soup. Soup! With chopsticks! 瘋狂了。Also, very quickly I realized that the Chinese food I tried at home was not Chinese at all. Supermarkets were full of strange stuff that I’d never seen before and I was on a constant hunt for salty bread and any kind of cheese. Speaking of Chinese cuisine, there is one thing I regret deeply. In the very first year somebody invited me to a small hotpot place. That was the first time I tried hotpot, probably was Sichuan style because it was CRAZY spicy – my tongue went numb instantly and I cried my eyes out. So, naturally, I swore off ever, ever, ever having it again. It wasn’t until 6 years later that I tried it again when a friend had a birthday party at Hai Di Lao, and I couldn’t believe I was missing out on that goodness for so long!
剛開始，我感覺自己住在另一顆星球。他們給我一雙筷子喝湯的時候，我著實震驚到了。用筷子！喝湯！而且我很快意識到，我在俄羅斯吃過的中餐一點也不“中國”。超市里有很多奇怪的東西，我從未見過，我一直在超市搜尋咸面包和各種奶酪。提到中國菜，有一件事我深感遺憾。來中國的第一年，有人邀請我吃一家小火鍋店。那是我第一次品嘗火鍋，可能是四川風味的，簡直是變態(tài)辣——舌頭很快麻了，涕泗橫流。所以，我發(fā)誓再也不吃火鍋了，一口也不吃。6 年后，一位朋友在海底撈舉辦生日聚會，我才再次嘗試了火鍋，我簡直不敢相信竟然與如此美味失散多年！
Learning Chinese was a pickle too. I’d feel like I’ve learned already some basics and can communicate the simplest things, but more often than not communication wouldn’t go smooth. Once my flip flop broke right on the street, luckily I quickly spotted a street vendor that was selling shoes. So I hopped over there, pointed to my flip flops and said I wanted to buy 拖鞋. Well, evidently I didn’t say 拖鞋, because the lady looked back at me puzzled asking “鴕謝? 沒有啦! ” My jaw dropped – there was a dozen of 拖鞋 right in front of me! I repeated “我要拓寫” She goes again “沒有” I looked at her in utter disbelief, having no clue what was happening, then at 拖鞋 right next to us, and used?my both hands to point at them while practically screaming out of desperation “有! 有妥歇! 拖鞋!” Suddenly, her eyes widen, she nods her?head, “啊啊啊, 拖鞋, 拖鞋 有”.
學習中文也是一個難題。我已經(jīng)學會了一些基本用語，可以進行最簡單的交流，但交流并不流暢。有一次，我的拖鞋在大街上穿壞了，好在我發(fā)現(xiàn)了一個小攤賣拖鞋。于是我來到攤前，指著我的人字拖，說我想買拖鞋。顯然我沒有講對，那位女士不解地看著我說：“鴕謝？沒有啦！”我的下巴都要驚掉了—一打拖鞋就在我面前！我重復了一遍：“我要‘拓寫’。”她又回道：“沒有。”我難以置信地看著她，完全不懂怎么回事，然后我雙手指著旁邊的拖鞋，近乎絕望地大叫：“有！有‘妥歇’！拖鞋！”突然，她瞪大雙眼，點點頭：“啊啊啊，拖鞋，拖鞋，有?！?/p>
I didn’t even notice how Xiamen became my home. One time I went to my hometown and surprisingly soon felt like I wanted to go “home”, to Xiamen. Everything that once was so strange and exotic became so familiar and even routine that nothing can surprise me anymore. So I like to remind myself “Hey, you live in China!” and then I go out pretending to be a tourist, taking photos of everything I see and trying new food.
廈門，不知不覺就成了我的家。有一次我回到了真正的家鄉(xiāng)，沒多久我竟然想著回“家”，也就是回廈門。曾經(jīng)那么陌生的異鄉(xiāng)，如今一切都變得那么熟悉，甚至變得習以為常，沒有什么能讓我驚掉下巴了。所以我會經(jīng)常提醒自己：“嘿，你生活在中國！”然后就假裝成一個游客，拍我所見的一切，嘗試各種美食。
I know so many people that came for one year or two, and stayed for 10 and more. Xiamen can be really captivating. I believe it has to do with the incredible local community and lush green nature. It’s a rather small island, so it may seem like you know almost everyone and everything, yet there is always something else to discover, amazing spots and people.
很多人原本只打算在廈門待一兩年，卻待了十年甚至更久。廈門真的令人神魂顛倒，因為這里有不可思議的當?shù)厣鐓^(qū)和郁郁蔥蔥的大自然。廈門雖然是一個相當小的島嶼，你可能會覺得自己無所不知，但總是有事物等你發(fā)現(xiàn)，總有美景等你探尋，總有了不起的人等你結識。
My life pretty much can be divided into two parts – Before and After Xiamen. The After Xiamen part is far more adventurous and fulfilling and I feel so blessed for this experience.
我的人生可以分為兩個階段——來廈門前和來廈門后。來廈門后的經(jīng)歷更富有挑戰(zhàn)性，也更有成就感，我非常幸運能擁有這樣的經(jīng)歷。
My?hometown is called Krasnoyarsk. It’s a city in Siberia that was built near the river and is surrounded by mountains and forests. There is an amazing national park on the city outskirts, with a beautiful forest and unusual rock formations that look magical in winter.?It’s a rather cold place, in winter the temperature can drop to -40 degree Celsius. Contrary to what many believe, there is summer, but it’s definitely short though, like 2 months of good weather. As a kid I loved winter, because there was always lots of snow and we could do a lot of fun stuff like sliding down the hill or digging a tunnel in the snowdrifts.
我的故鄉(xiāng)叫克拉斯諾亞爾斯克，位于西伯利亞，依山傍水，森林環(huán)繞。市郊坐落著一座美輪美奐的國家公園，森林茂盛峻美，巖層非同一般，冬天看起來非常奇特。這是一個嚴寒之地，冬天氣溫可達零下 40?攝氏度。許多人覺得我們這里沒有夏天，但實際上是有的，不過非常短暫，只有兩個月舒適的氣候。小時候我喜歡冬天，因為冬天會下大雪，我們可以盡情玩耍，比如從小山上滑下來，在雪堆里挖隧道。
