个人简介
Name : Katherine or Katya
姓名：凯瑟琳
Country of Origin : USA
国籍：美国
Occupation : Educator
职业：教师
Years in China : 11
在华居住时间：11 年
How did your journey in China begin?
你的中国之旅是怎样开始的？
That is not as easy a question as it seems.
这个问题很难回答。
— 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.
* 小时候是不是每次去一个新的大城市，都会说总有一天我会住在那里？
——如今看来，“大”是相对的，只是我们认为它很大，但大多数城市的人口都比现在的厦门少。尽管如此，我总是被这些城市所吸引。
* Was it my first time in Chinatown in New York City? Where I bought a black qipao and a Canto-pop album by Leslie Cheung (张国荣)?
— I had no clue at the time, wearing it for choir & band performances, as well as in my senior pictures, that I’d end up here. And the album? Didn’t know what language it was until years later, but I still hear songs from it in restaurants from time to time.
* 是我第一次去纽约唐人街的时候吗？黑色的旗袍和张国荣的粤语专辑是在哪里买的？
——我穿着这件旗袍参加合唱团和乐队，还穿着它拍毕业照。当时我怎么都不会想到，我会来到中国。多年后我才知道这张专辑唱的是粤语，现在餐馆里依然能听到专辑里的歌曲。
My senior picture (18 years old), with trombone & qipao
* Was it when I first studied Mandarin?
— That was at the University of Hull in the UK during my undergraduate degree. They offered Passport Languages, where you had a once-a-week evening class. Only 4 of the 20+ people who started the class finished the year: Me, a French-Born Chinese guy, and 2 British sisters (who spoke Cantonese as a heritage language, and wanted to learn Mandarin, plus reading & writing). I still try to find that teacher online to thank her and tell her where I ended up.
* 是我第一次学普通话的时候吗？
——那时。我正在英国赫尔大学读本科。学校有开“语言通关”课，一周一次，都在晚间上课。刚开始有 20 多人上这门课，最后只有 4 人坚持到期末：我，一个在法国出生的中国人，还有两个英国姐妹（她们会说粤语，想学习普通话，以及阅读和写作）。我仍在尝试从网上搜寻当年的老师，感谢她，告诉她我来中国了。
* Was it when I knew for certain I would be coming to China and started preparing?
— First, investigating the cities I could find schools in and settling on Xiamen. How? Through unscientific polling of every Chinese acquaintance I had in the USA. Every time Xiamen was mentioned, I’d hear: Oh, what a lovely city.” Second, practicing Mandarin again with a language partner, after 8 years of doing nothing but write 谢谢 from time to time.
* 是在我确定我会来中国并开始准备的时候吗？
——首先，我筛选出了有大学的城市，最终确定厦门。我是怎么做的？我收集了认识的每一位美国华人的意见。每次提到厦门，我都会听到：“哇，多么有活力的城市啊。”其次，我要和语伴再次练习普通话，因为这 8 年来我啥也没做，只是时不时练习写汉字“谢谢”。
* Was it the first day I stepped foot in China?
— That was Shanghai, August 1, 2010. I went to the Shanghai Museum that afternoon, loved it, although was convinced the nice young man following me around to “practice English” was actually doing a tea scam. He wasn’t, he truly just wanted to practice and discovered people were less likely to run away in museums. The second day, I spent at the World Expo, almost fainting in the queue, helping many students with their summer English homework, and gaining one brilliant pen pal.
* 是我踏上中国大地的第一天吗？
——2010 年 8 月 1 日，那时我在上海。那天下午我去了上海博物馆，我很喜欢这个博物馆。我遇到了一个年轻人，一直跟着我，说是要“练习英语”，但我觉得他是茶馆派来的“茶托儿”。实际上他并不是“茶托儿”，他真的只是想练习英语，他还发现人们在博物馆里跑不了（所以我不得不跟他对话）。第二天，我在世博会，排队的时候差点晕过去，我还帮很多学生完成暑期英语作业，结识了一位才华横溢的笔友。
Me in 2010 outside of the China Pavilion (which I didn’t get to enter until 2018)
* Was it when I arrived in Xiamen, my home ever since?
— August 5, 2010. It was originally a temporary commitment, in case I hadn’t liked China. Here I am writing this, more than a decade later, from the same city. Clearly, I liked it.
* 是在我到达厦门并且把厦门当成家的时候吗？
— 2010 年 8 月 5 日，我本来只是临时租住在厦门，因为我担心不喜欢中国。十多年后，我在同一个城市写下这篇文章。显然，我爱中国。
* Was it when I made the decision to extend the temporary stay to a long-term one?
— If you’d asked me in the first year or two, I’d have said I’d move on in 2-3 years. But here I am…
* 是我决定将长期居住在厦门的时候吗？
—如果你在头两年问我会不会长期居住在厦门，我会说未来两三年会的。但十多年过去了，我还住在这里……
So, maybe the answer is in the numbers?
— 2 jobs – or –2 local cats rescued – or – 2 surgeries – or – 2 passports
— 5 years of calligraphy lessons
— 8 apartments
— 16 email newsletters (in those early years)
— 23 provincial and provincial administrative regions visited
— 37 entry stamps
— 42, the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything (if only we knew the question)
— Dozens of tourist sites hiked/photographed/toured
— 100s of cities visited
— 300-something photos of pandas taken
或许答案就藏在数字里？
——换了 2 份工作，救了 2 只当地的猫，做了 2 次手术，持有 2 本护照
——上了 5年书法课
——住了 8 间公寓
——写了 16 份电子邮件通讯（头几年）
——走访 23 个省、省级行政区
——盖了 37 个入境印章
——42，这是生命、宇宙和一切终极问题的答案（懂的都懂）
——游览拍摄了数十个旅游景点
——访问了 100 多座城市
——拍摄了 300 多张熊猫照片
So, I don’t really know when or how it began, exactly, or when it will end. But it has been a wonderful journey, and very different than where I grew up. As I tell my students (and the occasional inquisitive taxi driver): Iowa (my home state) is roughly the same size as Fujian. But the entire state has a population less than Xiamen (although when I moved here years ago, the populations were about the same). Which of my numbers will keep going up?
所以，我真的不知道我的中国之旅何时开始，如何开始，到底何时结束。但我清楚的是，这是一段美妙的旅程，与我的家乡大不相同。我告诉我的学生（也偶尔会告诉好奇的出租车司机）：爱荷华州（我的家乡）与福建一般大。但是全州的人口比厦门还少（即使我搬来这里好几年了，那儿的人口还是一样多）。未来，在我的中国故事中，哪些数字还会继续增加呢？
作者：凯瑟琳 翻译：潘泽彬
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")
《家外之家》是一本外国人在中国的独特故事集，由外国人撰写，厦门精艺达翻译服务有限公司（以下简称“精艺达”）、巴别塔（深圳）翻译有限公司、墨责（北京）科技传播有限公司（以下简称“墨责”）面向全国共同征集汇编。
How can I enter?
如何加入我们？
If you would like to contribute your story
Feel free to contact us：
如果你也想分享你的故事
欢迎联系我们：
Email : luz@mts-tech.com.
邮箱：luz@mts-tech.com。
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2021-08-20
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