■我在异乡的日子
Time I Spent in a Different Country
◎Ornella/奥内拉
Moving to England
My family and I used to live in Belgium and, to me, life was great. Most of my extended family live there, so there was never a loss of aunts to 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 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 wore off when the reality of things began to sink in.
New Beginnings
We moved over Christmas and I had to start a new school and learn a new language. I didn’t even have a uniform at first because in Belgium the 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 get into the swing of things. And for the first six months I had extra lessons in order to
美丽语录
移居英国
以前我和我的家人都住在比利时，对我来说，比利时的生活非常美好。我的亲戚大多数都住在那里，所以我有很多宠爱我的姑姑婶婶和跟我玩耍的兄弟姐妹。我的父亲是一名记者，但是那时候在比利时没什么记者的工作。我8岁的时候，父亲宣布他在伦敦找到了一份长久的工作，所以我们都要搬去伦敦生活。当时我激动万分——我并没意识到我就要离开家人和朋友，把自己扔进一个完全不同的世界。在残酷的事实面前，我的兴奋感很快就消失了。
新的开始
我们是在圣诞节期间搬过去的，而且我必须去新的学校上学，必须学习一门新的语言。一开始我甚至连校服都没有，因为比利时的大多数学校都不穿校服。我不知道最新的时尚资讯，不了解什么东西在流行，什么东西早已过时。我花了很长一段时间去适应新的生活。一开始的6
learn English. This started with flashcards and progressed towards books. I’m a pretty quick learner, so I soon caught up. It was more of the social aspect and fitting in with the rest of my peers that took a bit more work.
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 clash. This made me shy and self-conscious—a perfect target for bullies. There was one girl who went out of her way to make my life miserable[49] and would often make racist remarks, amongst all the other insults she threw at me. Thankfully, some of my classmates began to 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”.
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 grasp the English language pretty well, even though I still have 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 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!
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 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
个月，我去上补习班学习英语。最初老师用的是抽认卡，后来才慢慢开始用课本。我学得很快，所以很快就赶上了其他同学。但是真正花费我不少心思的，是跟同学打交道等社交方面。
一开始的两年，不管我怎样努力去融入环境，我永远都是个局外人。有时候是因为我的英语说得不好，有时候是因为文化冲突。这让我变得害羞、紧张和尴尬——于是我变成了受欺负的完美目标。有一个女孩每天竭尽所能地跟我作对，除了用各种语言侮辱我之外，她还用种族歧视的语言辱骂我。幸好，有些同学开始为我撑腰，他们帮我解决了我作为“外国人”的许多问题，他们是我人生中的无价之宝。
在我小学毕业去上中学之前，很多人都无法相信我才搬到英国4年时间。虽然我有时候会犯些小错误，冒出法语或荷兰语，但是我的语言课成绩很好，英语也学得驾轻就熟。我觉得我很幸运，最终我还是融入了环境，学好了语言，而且也适应了英国的文化。在我回到比利时后，要烤豌豆吐司时，我的亲戚都会说我在用“英国人的方式”吃东西——我想可能是因为烤豌豆在比利时没那么受欢迎吧。
我对已经移居别国或有此计划的人的建议就是，要努力找到你能够融入的环境。“融入”并不是要你失去自我，去做一个完全不是你自己的人；但是，你的确必须接受新的文化和语言。英语看上去可能很复杂，异国的食物可能也跟你的饮食习惯不一样，人们做事情的方式可能也很奇怪。但是，一旦你学会了这些东西，就会长时间让你的生活变得简单。
between your old life and your new life.
Missing Home
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 attachments[50] to the place you’ve just left. I remember pleading[51] 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 counts for something?
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.
你需要在旧生活和新生活中间找到平衡。
思乡之情
虽然我融入了新的环境，但是我的思乡之情却在很久之后才慢慢消失。搬家的时候越小，你想家的感觉就越容易消失，因为你对离开的地方没有那么多的回忆和感情。我记得我还央求我的母亲带我回去，直到最近我才停止这种请求，因为我开始把比利时和英国都当成我的家。比利时永远都是我的家乡，但我是在英国长大的，怎么也算是我的第二故乡吧。
我的母亲最近搬回了比利时去做生意，我妹妹可能很快也会回去。对我妹妹来说，搬回比利时就像是搬到一个完全陌生的国度，因为她是在伦敦长大的，比利时的一切跟她所习惯的环境都不一样。我不确定我是否要搬回去，但是在做出决定之前，我会谨慎地考虑。搬回比利时就意味着离开我最好的朋友，再一次去找一个能够融入的新环境，而且若是我回去了，上哪里去找约克郡的布丁呢？不过，如果我真的搬回去，至少我会做好准备。搬过第一次，第二次肯定就会更有准备。