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打開重慶，像是打開一個有趣的盒子

◇ 文 |韓 希 圖 | 劉汪洋 受訪者提供

在重慶，那些來自世界各地的面孔，是一種真真切切的存在。膚色不一，語言各異，惟一的共同標識，也許就是被他們視為另一個故鄉(xiāng)的重慶的元素。他們以各式各樣的身份，努力融入這座城，融入這里的人，融入有重慶特質的東方文化。于重慶而言，越來越多世界面孔的出現(xiàn)，則是包容、開放、熱情的另一種詮釋——重慶，離世界很近。本刊從現(xiàn)在起，開設“洋面孔”新欄目，聚焦重慶的世界面孔，講述他們的重慶故事。

In Chongqing, those faces from all over the world are authentic beings around us. Differed in colors and languages, the sole shared hashtag on them may be the elements of Chongqing that is viewed as their second hometown. Working in various fields,they take efforts to live into this city, get along with locals and assimilate into oriental culture of Chongqing traits. For the city,increasing global faces is another interpretation of its tolerance,openness and warmth; Chongqing is so close to the world.

From this time on, we open a new column called Faces of Expats,to focus on people in Chongqing from alien countries, and to listen to their stories in here.

“這段時間的天氣太奇怪了，前兩天熱，這周末又下雨，涼快了。往年這個時候就已經(jīng)很熱了?！钡谝淮魏蛠碜远砹_斯的美女Valentine見面，她以天氣作為開場白。

2008年，Valentine從俄羅斯小鎮(zhèn)沃洛涅日來到重慶學習中文，她對這里的第一印象是“熱”。在重慶生活了9年，她不止一次說，“我的朋友們都在這里，我在這里工作?！狈路疬@座城市就在離她老家不遠的地方，一切熟悉而自然。

“你們知道今天是一個節(jié)日嗎？”原來，她說的是“5?20”，“一個讓人們買買買的日子?！背梭@訝于一個外國人對重慶生活的了解，作為本地人，第一次真實感受到了重慶的“開放性”。

“The weather is so capricious these days. Two days ago, it was hot, while in the weekend it becomes rainy and cooler. It was extremely hot at this point of the season in previous years.” The pretty Russian lady Valentine prefaced our first talk about the weather.

In 2008, from a small Russian town called Voronezh, Valentine came to Chongqing to learn Chinese,and her fi rst impression of the weather then was hotness.Having been living in Chongqing for nine years, she has said many times “I have many friends here and I enjoy working here.” It seems that her hometown is not far from Chongqing and everything here is familiar to her.

“Do you know today is a festival, a day for endless shopping?” She said, it turned out to be the “5·20”, May 20th, which shares a similar pronunciation with “I love you” in Chinese. As a native, besides being amazed by a foreigner’s familiarity with the life in Chongqing, I feel,for the fi rst time, the genuine “openness” of Chongqing.

千里之行始于足下Every journey begins with the fi rst step

Valentine來自俄羅斯，本科學英語和德語，在重慶學了三年中文，還在重慶大學孔子學院學習過，她最喜歡老子的“千里之行始于足下”，這句話讓她想到自己9年前的出發(fā)。

2008年，Valentine20歲，是個“學霸”，本科畢業(yè)就在大學里教書了。得知有一個到中國重慶學習中文的交流項目，她毫不猶豫報了名。“我Google了一下重慶的照片，很棒，就愉快地決定來這里了?！迸R行，她只花了三十分鐘打包行李，便風風火火上路。

她的第一站是重慶師范大學，剛到不久就胖了10斤，因為不會用中文點菜，不認識本地食物，她只能選擇每餐吃面包加肉末、雞蛋。一兩個星期后，她迅速掌握了最基本的中文，能夠自信地開口問路了，“我們幾個外國來的學生，剛開始說得最順溜的中文是‘不辣’，去任何地方點餐都先說‘不辣、不辣’。”她覺得，重慶的辣有種“破壞性”，每次吃完火鍋，第二天總會“付出代價”。

除了語言、辣椒、天氣，Valentine還花了一點時間適應居住環(huán)境。9年過去，她和她的朋友們早已感受到城市建設的巨大變化。她可以熟練地坐公交車、輕軌、打車出行，甚至能分辨用優(yōu)步和坐出租車在相同距離情況下哪一種更便宜。淘寶、手機支付更是不在話下。

Valentine, a Russian majoring in English and German, has learned Chinese in Chongqing for three years and has ever studied in Confucius Institute at Chongqing University. Valentine’s favorite saying is “Every journeybegins with the first step” by Lao Tzu, which reminds her of her own departure from Russia nine years ago.

In 2008, Valentine was a 20-year-old lady, a“Straight A Student” (Xueba in Chinese), began to teach in a university after acquiring the bachelor degree. Upon hearing of the exchange program of learning Chinese in Chongqing, she signed up for it without hesitation. “I googled some pictures of Chongqing and found them amazing! So I decided to come here.” Before her departure, she had spent only half an hour packing and then started her journey in a hurry.

The first stop was Chongqing Normal University,where she gained fi ve kilograms shortly after her arrival.As she couldn’t order in Chinese and knew nothing about the local food, at the very beginning she had no choice but to eat bread with mince and eggs. But one or two weeks later, she quickly mastered some commonlyused Chinese and was con fi dent enough to ask the way.“The most fl uent Chinese we foreign students could say was ‘bu la’ (not spicy). Every time we ordered a meal,we would say ‘bu la’ at fi rst.” To her, the spicy food in Chongqing is “destructive” — once she eats hotpot, she will always “pay a price” the next day.

Apart form language, pepper and weather, it also took Valentine some time to adapt to the living environment. Valentine and her friends have witnessed the huge urban changes in Chongqing. Now, she can freely go out by bus, light rail or taxi. She can even tell the cheaper way to get to the same destination by using Uber or taking a taxi, let alone shopping on Taobao.com with mobile payment.

一個復雜的形容詞A complicated adjective

要融入異鄉(xiāng)，文化差異自不必說。對Valentine而言，最大的差異是思維方式?！斑@里的人很友好，可有時太委婉了，開場白挺長的，讓人摸不著頭腦?！比欢町惒⒉环恋K她在重慶找到歸屬感。她最好的兩個朋友都是重慶人，據(jù)說很正能量，遇到什么事情都能鼓足勁往好的方面想，總是告訴她“沒問題，別擔心，會好起來的”。

不過，當被問及“用一個英文單詞描述重慶”時，她的答案卻很有趣——paradoxical。她翻出手機詞典的解釋，可不甚滿意，因為字面的意思是“矛盾的、反常的、荒謬的”，作為一名英文老師，她確信這個詞應該是中性的。而她用這個詞形容重慶，也是以一種積極的方式。

為了更好地解釋這個詞，她舉了一個例子。“重慶有很多高樓，很多現(xiàn)代化的建筑、設施，有的地方看上去就像紐約、歐洲，很繁華很有時代感?？墒歉镜厝私佑|久了，會發(fā)現(xiàn)他們有很傳統(tǒng)、很保守的一面?！?/p>

“在輕軌上，我有時候會發(fā)現(xiàn)有人在摸我的頭發(fā)，很奇怪為什么會這樣。慢慢地，我意識到，這是他們用自己的方式在表達好奇，和對外國人的喜愛?！庇幸淮嗡团笥衙粤寺?，一個本地人開車路過看見她們無助的樣子，搖下車窗主動幫助她們?！霸谥貞c，感覺自己變成了明星?！盫alentine打趣。

“同一個事情，就好像一個盒子，你先看到了這一面，打開后又發(fā)現(xiàn)新的一面。”這大概就是這個復雜的形容詞的含義。

Cultural shock is inevitable for Valentine to integrate herself into the new environment. For her, the biggest difference lies in the way of thinking. “People here is very friendly, but sometimes they speak too tactfullywith a too-long preface, which confuses me a lot.” However, the difference does not prevent her from achieving a sense of belonging in Chongqing. Both of her two best friends are natives in Chongqing, fi lled with positive energy, they prefer to view things on the bright side and always comfort Valentine with “No problem! Don’t worry!Everything will be fi ne!”

When asked to describe Chongqing with one word,Valentine gave an interesting answer -- paradoxical,literally meaning in her mobile dictionary “contradictory, abnormal or absurd”, but Valentine is not satis fi ed with the definition. As an English teacher, she is sure that paradoxical is a neutral word, she uses it to describe Chongqing in a positive way.

For a better explanation of the word, she further elaborates that “There are many skyscrapers, modern buildings and infrastructures in Chongqing, and some places are as prosperous and fashionable as New York and Europe. But after having been in contact with many natives for a long time, I fi nd that they are also very traditional and conservative in some respects.”

“When taking the light rail, sometimes, I found someone touching my hair. At first I thought it was weird, but gradually I realized that it’s their way of expressing curiosity about and fondness for foreigners.”O(jiān)nce, Valentine and her friend got lost, and a passingby native driver offered them help. “In Chongqing I feel that I am treated as a star.” Valentine quipped.

“Everything is like a box. At fi rst you only see one side of it, and then the other side when it’s open.” This is probably what the complicated word “paradoxical”means.

好奇心最是感人Curiosity touches her most

“來到重慶，覺得圈子變大了，比如說我同學的朋友的朋友，和我的另一個朋友認識，他們之間隔著一條老長的關系鏈，這在我的家鄉(xiāng)是不可想象的事情?！盫alentine在重慶郵電大學當英語老師，住在南山上，每周她還會坐車到袁家崗學做意大利菜，她一邊跟老師學舞蹈，一邊教學生們跳舞。

在重慶的中文學習結束后，她從2013年開始教書，每周16個小時的課，她的學生很多都是準備留學的。最讓她感動的是他們的好奇心。作為一個內陸城市，人們對一切新鮮事物充滿了好奇和求知欲?！罢n堂上，我會帶大家了解世界不同地方的文化，學生們總是抓住一切機會發(fā)問。課后，他們經(jīng)常邀請我參加社團活動，討論各種各樣的話題?！弊鳛橐粋€教育工作者，Valentine需要在課堂上傳遞獨立思考的觀念，“看待一個事情的方式絕不止一種，他們應該學會多元的思考。”

“如果有一天我不得不離開重慶，我最難忘的就是我的學生們，我會在我去到的世界各個地方想到他們。”Valentine告訴我們，她媽媽的一個朋友曾經(jīng)給了她一本很大很大的畫冊，上面有許多中國的城市，讓她愛不釋手。9年來，她去過很多重慶以外的城市，也有她喜歡的，然而她并不打算離開重慶，因為“朋友在這兒，工作在這兒”。

“In Chongqing, I feel that my social relationship has been expanded. For example, a friend of my classmate’s friends turns out to be the acquaintance of another friend of mine. There is a long relationship chain among them,which is beyond imagination in my hometown.” Valentine is a teacher of Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, living in the South Mountain. She takes bus to Yuanjiagang for the cooking class of Italian food. She also learns dancing while teaching it to her students.

After she had finished her Chinese study in Chongqing, she started her teaching career in 2013, 16 hours each week. Many of her students are preparing for studying abroad, and their curiosity touches her most. As natives of an inland city, citizens here always stay curious about everything new and hungry for knowledge.“In class, I expose students to different cultures around the world, and they seized each opportunity to ask questions. After class, they often invite me to participate in social activities and discuss various topics.” As an educator, Valentine needs to convey the concept of independent thinking, “People may put things in different ways,so the critical thinking ability should be instilled.”

“If I have to leave Chongqing one day, my students are the most unforgettable, and wherever I go, I will always miss them.” Valentine told us that a friend of her mom once gave her a huge collection of paintings of many Chinese cities, and she loved it very much. During the past nine years, apart from Chongqing, she has been to many other places in China, but she doesn’t intend to leave Chongqing, because “Chongqing is the place of beloved friends and job.”

Chongqing — an Interesting Box

Article | Han Xi Pictures | Liu Wangyang Interviewee