家外之家 2021
I’m writing this article while I have just started reading Peter Hessler’s Oracle Bones.??寫這篇文章時(shí),我剛剛開始讀彼得·海斯勒的《甲骨文》。
家外之家 2021
It all started when I was a student doing my masters in London. By accident, I got a part time job in the School of the Oriental and African studies so that sparked my curiosity in China. I thought that I should go and visit so as a student I decided to make a trip here. A bit later, when I was getting art residencies, an offer was made to me to come to Beijing to produce some art projects. I accepted this art residency position in 2009 in Beijing and my China journey officially began. Back then, Beijing was not the city that it is now. A couple years later, in 2011 to be exact, I was offered another residency in Xiamen and I can also say that this city was rather different back then. 故事要從我在倫敦讀碩士的時(shí)候講起。一個(gè)偶然的機(jī)會(huì),我在東方和非洲研究學(xué)院得到了一份兼職工作,這激起了我對(duì)中國(guó)的好奇心。我想我應(yīng)該去看看,所以當(dāng)時(shí)還是學(xué)生的我決定到中國(guó)旅行。我開始申請(qǐng)藝術(shù)家駐地項(xiàng)目,之后,便有人邀請(qǐng)我到北京開展一些藝術(shù)項(xiàng)目。2009 年我獲得了北京的藝術(shù)家駐地權(quán),我的中國(guó)之旅正式開始。那時(shí)候,北京還不是現(xiàn)在這副模樣。幾年后,確切地說(shuō),在2011年,我獲得了在廈門的藝術(shù)家駐地權(quán)。我也可以說(shuō),和當(dāng)時(shí)相比,如今的廈門是截然不同的。
家外之家 2021
One would suppose that journeys have a beginning, a definite point of no return from which life inflects and your soles step into unknown paths bestowed with new adventures. Any beginning is arbitrary, choices in a storytelling plot. I, for instance, choose to mark the start of my journey to China one random afternoon at the office where I was working when I got a mail saying that I had been awarded a scholarship to do a master in anthropology at Xiamen University. After that moment, a series of unsuspected events took place, events that I now call my life, my Chinese life, my journey.人們認(rèn)為,旅行就是一個(gè)起點(diǎn),沒有回頭路,從這里開始,生活發(fā)生改變,你即將踏上未知的旅程,開始全新的冒險(xiǎn)。故事情節(jié)總是由一次不經(jīng)意的選擇而展開。比如,某天下午我在辦公室收到一封郵件,說(shuō)我獲得了攻讀廈門大學(xué)人類學(xué)碩士的獎(jiǎng)學(xué)金,從那一刻起,意味著我的中國(guó)之旅拉開帷幕,意想不到的事情接二連三地發(fā)生,這些事情我現(xiàn)在稱之為生活,我的中國(guó)生活,我的旅程。
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(guó)生活是怎樣的,我一直充滿好奇。我的家人來(lái)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(guó),之后偶爾才回國(guó),所以我對(duì)中國(guó)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(shí)候,叔叔、阿姨和鄰居才會(huì)跟我講起中國(guó)。我在開普敦學(xué)習(xí),來(lái)中國(guó)之前,我曾在加拿大和西班牙度過了一段時(shí)間,在那里我主導(dǎo)各種研究項(xiàng)目。我以前的老板簽了一份合同,負(fù)責(zé)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)中國(guó)的一支創(chuàng)新團(tuán)隊(duì)。我在畢爾巴鄂的巴斯克大學(xué)擔(dān)任客座教授時(shí),他找我談話,給我一份在廈門的工作機(jī)會(huì)。所以我就來(lái)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(guó)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(gè)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(shí),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(guó)的“愛情故事”嗎?聽我給您道來(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,背景音樂是悠揚(yáng)的中國(guó)傳統(tǒng)音樂。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。