我在異鄉的日子 Moving to England

My family and I used to live in Belgium and, to me, life was great. Most of my 1)extended family live there, so there was never a loss of aunts to 2)spoil me or cousins to play with. My Dad is a journalist, but there wasn’t much work for him in Belgium at that time. When I was eight, he announced he’d found a 3)permanent job in London and that we were going to move. I was excited—I didn’t realize that I was leaving family and friends behind and throwing myself into a different world. The excitement soon 4)wore off when the reality of things began to sink in.

我和家人以前住在比利時，那裏的生活對於我來說很不錯。家裏的大多數親戚都住在那裏，所以永遠都有姑嬸姨母來寵我，有表哥表妹和我玩。我的爸爸是一名記者，但那時候他在比利時的工作不多。我8歲時，他宣佈他在倫敦找到了一份長期工作，我們要搬家了。我當時很興奮——我沒有意識到自己要離開親友去到一個不同的世界。現實問題逐漸浮現後，興奮的感覺很快就消失殆盡了。

New Beginnings

新開始

We moved over Christmas and I had to start a new school and learn a new language. I didn’t even have a 5)uniform at first because in Belgium the 6)majority of schools don’t have one. I didn’t know what the latest fashions were, what was in and what was out. It took a while for me to 7)get into the swing of things. And for the first six months I had extra lessons in order to learn English. This started with 8)flashcards and 9)progressed towards books. I’m a pretty quick learner, so I soon caught up. It was more of the social 10)aspect and 11)fitting in with the rest of my 12)peers that took a bit more work.

我們在聖誕節搬過去。我要到新學校上課，還要學習一門新的語言。剛開始我甚至沒有校服，因爲在比利時，大多數學校都沒有校服。我不知道最新的潮流是什麼，什麼是新潮什麼是過時。我花了一段時間才慢慢適應。在頭六個月，學習英語，我要上額外的課程。開始時用抽認卡學習，慢慢過渡到書本。我學得很快，所以沒多久就跟上進度了。實際上，社交方面以及與同齡人打成一片等問題更花工夫。

For the first two years or so I was an outsider no matter how much I tried to fit in. Sometimes it was my English that failed me while other times it was the culture 13)clash. This made me shy and 14)self-conscious—a perfect target for 15)bullies. There was one girl who 16)went out of her way to make my life 17)miserable and would often make 18)racist 19)remarks, amongst all the other 20)insults she threw at me. Thankfully, some of my classmates began to 21)stick up for me, and these people became invaluable as they helped me iron out the things that made me stand out as a “foreigner.”

在最初的兩年多裏，不管如何努力融入，我始終是一個外人。阻礙我的有時候是我的英語，有時候則是文化衝突。這讓我變得害羞和忸怩——這就成了被欺負的最佳目標。有個女孩不厭其煩地跟我過不去。她經常說一些帶種族歧視的話，還對我多番羞辱。幸運的是，一些同學開始維護我。他們對我的意義是無法衡量的，因爲他們幫我消除了那些讓我成爲“外國人”的東西。

By the time I left primary school to go to secondary school, most people couldn’t believe I’d only moved to England four years before. I’m good at languages and have managed to 22)grasp the English language pretty well, even though I still have 23)slip-ups now, when I’ll come out with French or Dutch words. I think I was lucky that I was eventually able to fit in, grasp the language and 24)adapt to the culture. When I go to Belgium and ask for baked beans on toast, my relatives remark on my “English ways”—I guess baked beans isn’t too popular over there!

到了我離開小學升上中學時，大多數人不相信我在英國才呆了四年。語言是我的強項，我已經能很好地掌握英語這門語言——雖然我現在還會偶爾說錯，比如夾雜一些法語或荷蘭語。終於能夠融入環境、掌握語言並適應當地文化，我覺得自己很幸運。回到比利時的時候我要吃烘豆吐司，我的親戚們就會對我的“英國作風”議論紛紛——我想烘豆在那邊不太受歡迎吧！

My advice to anyone who has just moved countries, or is planning to, is to try and find somewhere where you fit in. “Fitting in” doesn’t mean losing yourself completely and trying to be something you’re not, but it does mean trying to adopt the new culture and language you find yourself surrounded by. English may seem 25)complicated, the food may seem strange compared to what you’re used to, and the way things are done may seem unusual, but learning these things makes life easier in the long run. A balance needs to be found between your old life and your new life.

對於那些剛搬到別國或計劃這樣做的人，我的建議是試着找一個自己能融入的環境。“融入周圍環境”不等於完全放棄自我、裝作另外一種人，“融入”其實就是嘗試接受你身邊那種全新的文化和語言。也許英語看上去很複雜；和你習慣的食物比起來，現在的食物也許有點怪；人們辦事的方式也許不太尋常——但長遠來說，學習這些東西能讓生活更輕鬆。你需要在新舊生活之間找到一種平衡。

Missing Home

思鄉之心

Homesickness, however, takes a while to wear off, if ever. The younger you are, the easier it should be because you have less memories and 26)attachments to the place you’ve just left. I remember 27)pleading with my Mum to go back home. I didn’t stop pleading until recently, when I started to regard both Belgium and England as my home. Belgium will always be my home, but I’ve grown up here, so surely that 28)counts for something?

然而，我的思鄉病花了一陣時間才消除——如果真能消除的話。年齡越小應該越好辦，因爲你對離開的那個地方的記憶和依戀少一些。我記得自己不斷懇求媽媽帶我回家。我直到最近纔不再這樣做了，因爲我開始認爲比利時和英國都是我的家。比利時永遠是我的家，但我在這裏長大，所以那始終有點分量吧？

My Mum’s recently moved back to Belgium to start up a business and my little sister may be joining her soon. For my sister it will be like moving to a completely new country, because she grew up in London and things will be very different from what she’s used to. I’m not sure if I’ll be moving back as well, but I’d have to seriously consider it before I made my decision. It would mean having to find somewhere to fit in again, leaving behind my best friends, and where would I get Yorkshire pudding from? If I do move though, at least I’ll be prepared. Once you’ve moved once, you’re definitely more prepared for the next time.

媽媽最近搬回比利時開始新業務，妹妹很快會跟她會合。對於妹妹來說，那就像搬到一個完全不同的國家，因爲她在倫敦長大，那邊跟她習慣的一切會有很大不同。我不確定自己是否也會搬回去，但在作決定之前，我會認真地考慮清楚。那將意味着要重新找到融入點，離開我的好朋友——還有，我要到哪裏去買約克夏布丁呢？但如果我真的要搬，起碼我會作好準備。一旦你已經搬過一次，下一次必定會準備得更好。