家外之家 2021
I always had a curiosity about living in China since my family is originally from The Guangdong Province, although it was not a priority of mine. My family left China in the early 1900s and only visited periodically so what I knew about the country were really old-fashioned and idealized stories that uncles, aunties and neighbors shared with me during family reunions and mahjong evenings. I studied in Cape Town and before coming to China I spent some time in Canada and Spain where I lead different research projects. My previous boss took up a contract to head up an innovation team in China. He spoke to me previously and I was offered a position to come work here while I was working as a visiting professor at the University of the Basque Country, in Bilbao. I came to visit Xiamen when I was offered the job and was deeply impressed. The city seemed pretty relaxed and laid back and it beat my expectations about a busy Chinese city.在中國生活是怎樣的，我一直充滿好奇。我的家人來自廣東省，但這并不是最重要的。我的家人在上世紀(jì)90年代初離開中國，之后偶爾才回國，所以我對中國的了解還停留在過去，而且非常理想化，家庭團(tuán)聚和打麻將的時候，叔叔、阿姨和鄰居才會跟我講起中國。我在開普敦學(xué)習(xí)，來中國之前，我曾在加拿大和西班牙度過了一段時間，在那里我主導(dǎo)各種研究項目。我以前的老板簽了一份合同，負(fù)責(zé)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)中國的一支創(chuàng)新團(tuán)隊。我在畢爾巴鄂的巴斯克大學(xué)擔(dān)任客座教授時，他找我談話，給我一份在廈門的工作機(jī)會。所以我就來到了廈門，這里給我留下了深刻的印象。這座城市似乎非常愜意悠閑，與我想象中中國都市繁忙的景象完全不同。
家外之家 2021
San Pedro is a small town in The Philippines and the fun fact is: Xiamen is represented by egrets and in San Pedro, our mascot is a chicken. There’s a huge statue of a chicken with an egg under it. When I left San Pedro, I was like the chicken and now I’ve evolved to become an egret.圣佩特羅是菲律賓的一個小鎮(zhèn)。有趣的是，廈門以白鷺為代表，而在圣佩德羅，我們的吉祥物是一只雞。有一座巨大的雕像，是一只雞，下面有一顆雞蛋。我離開圣佩德羅時，我就像一只小雞，現(xiàn)在我已經(jīng)進(jìn)化成一只白鷺了。
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 Too old and out of date, isn’t it?
你想知道我和中國的“愛情故事”嗎？聽我給您道來。22 歲那年，我收到中國駐塔那那利佛大使館的來信。塔那那利佛是馬達(dá)加斯加的首都，我在那里出生長大。我從未出國，一次也沒有。我兒時住的房子是這樣的，太破舊了，對吧？
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，那時候我還很小，看過一個電視節(jié)目，是關(guān)于中國和中國文化的，背景音樂是悠揚(yáng)的中國傳統(tǒng)音樂。我仍然記得這個節(jié)目介紹了中國的文化名勝和標(biāo)志性建筑，如長城。那時我才 9 歲，但這個節(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，這種渴望，自那天起便成為我潛意識的一部分。我還記得 3 年前，編輯把我叫到他的房間，問我是否愿意去中國。他還補(bǔ)充說，這次旅程將持續(xù) 10 個月。我簡直不敢相信我的耳朵，欣喜若狂。因為兒時的夢想終于要成真了，我激動得話都說不出來，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.
我的中國之旅始于 2018 年，當(dāng)時我在大學(xué)看到了一張傳單，內(nèi)容是出國留學(xué)一個學(xué)期的項目。那時，我抽獎獲得了免費(fèi)護(hù)照，所以我才申請了這個項目。我申請的時候，萬萬沒想到真的會被選中。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.
“也許你前世是個中國人?！?
我生活在中國的 8 年里，一些中國朋友對我的經(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，但我確實認(rèn)為有些人有幸享受第二人生。有時候想想，如果我們足夠幸運(yùn)的話，就能來中國享受精彩的人生。
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.
*?小時候是不是每次去一個新的大城市，都會說總有一天我會住在那里？
——如今看來，“大”是相對的，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。
家外之家 2021
I believe everyone has their own view of what Los Angeles is known for… Hollywood, Celebrities, Theme Parks, Music, Concerts, Movies, Sports, Beaches, Traffic etc. But for me it’s Family.?我相信每個人對洛杉磯都有自己的印象……好萊塢、名人堂、主題公園、音樂、音樂會、電影、體育、海灘、交通等。但對我來說，這是我的家。
家外之家 2021
Home away from home?is a collection of the unique stories written by foreigners in China and compiled by Master Translations Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "MTS"), Babel Tower Translation Service Co., Ltd. and Moze (Beijing) Technology Communication Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Moze"), aiming to explore the unique stories of approximately 100 foreign friends who came to China from all over the world.《家外之家》是一本外國人在中國的獨(dú)特故事集，由外國人撰寫，廈門精藝達(dá)翻譯服務(wù)有限公司（以下簡稱“精藝達(dá)”）、巴別塔（深圳）翻譯有限公司、墨責(zé)（北京）科技傳播有限公司（以下簡稱“墨責(zé)”）面向全國共同征集匯編。
家外之家 2021
I came to China by surprise and without thinking too much, after more than five years in China, coming was without a doubt a good decision, and the good memories are much more than the bad ones.我來中國完全是一個意外，也沒有多想。我已經(jīng)在中國呆了五年多，這無疑是一個很棒的決定，美好的回憶遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)多于糟糕的回憶。
