◇ 文 |韩 希 图 | 刘汪洋 受访者提供

打开重庆，像是打开一个有趣的盒子

◇ 文 |韩 希 图 | 刘汪洋 受访者提供

在重庆，那些来自世界各地的面孔，是一种真真切切的存在。肤色不一，语言各异，惟一的共同标识，也许就是被他们视为另一个故乡的重庆的元素。他们以各式各样的身份，努力融入这座城，融入这里的人，融入有重庆特质的东方文化。于重庆而言，越来越多世界面孔的出现，则是包容、开放、热情的另一种诠释——重庆，离世界很近。本刊从现在起，开设“洋面孔”新栏目，聚焦重庆的世界面孔，讲述他们的重庆故事。

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.

“这段时间的天气太奇怪了，前两天热，这周末又下雨，凉快了。往年这个时候就已经很热了。”第一次和来自俄罗斯的美女Valentine见面，她以天气作为开场白。

2008年，Valentine从俄罗斯小镇沃洛涅日来到重庆学习中文，她对这里的第一印象是“热”。在重庆生活了9年，她不止一次说，“我的朋友们都在这里，我在这里工作。”仿佛这座城市就在离她老家不远的地方，一切熟悉而自然。

“你们知道今天是一个节日吗？”原来，她说的是“5•20”，“一个让人们买买买的日子。”除了惊讶于一个外国人对重庆生活的了解，作为本地人，第一次真实感受到了重庆的“开放性”。

“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来自俄罗斯，本科学英语和德语，在重庆学了三年中文，还在重庆大学孔子学院学习过，她最喜欢老子的“千里之行始于足下”，这句话让她想到自己9年前的出发。

2008年，Valentine20岁，是个“学霸”，本科毕业就在大学里教书了。得知有一个到中国重庆学习中文的交流项目，她毫不犹豫报了名。“我Google了一下重庆的照片，很棒，就愉快地决定来这里了。”临行，她只花了三十分钟打包行李，便风风火火上路。

她的第一站是重庆师范大学，刚到不久就胖了10斤，因为不会用中文点菜，不认识本地食物，她只能选择每餐吃面包加肉末、鸡蛋。一两个星期后，她迅速掌握了最基本的中文，能够自信地开口问路了，“我们几个外国来的学生，刚开始说得最顺溜的中文是‘不辣’，去任何地方点餐都先说‘不辣、不辣’。”她觉得，重庆的辣有种“破坏性”，每次吃完火锅，第二天总会“付出代价”。

除了语言、辣椒、天气，Valentine还花了一点时间适应居住环境。9年过去，她和她的朋友们早已感受到城市建设的巨大变化。她可以熟练地坐公交车、轻轨、打车出行，甚至能分辨用优步和坐出租车在相同距离情况下哪一种更便宜。淘宝、手机支付更是不在话下。

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.

一个复杂的形容词A complicated adjective

要融入异乡，文化差异自不必说。对Valentine而言，最大的差异是思维方式。“这里的人很友好，可有时太委婉了，开场白挺长的，让人摸不着头脑。”然而差异并不妨碍她在重庆找到归属感。她最好的两个朋友都是重庆人，据说很正能量，遇到什么事情都能鼓足劲往好的方面想，总是告诉她“没问题，别担心，会好起来的”。

不过，当被问及“用一个英文单词描述重庆”时，她的答案却很有趣——paradoxical。她翻出手机词典的解释，可不甚满意，因为字面的意思是“矛盾的、反常的、荒谬的”，作为一名英文老师，她确信这个词应该是中性的。而她用这个词形容重庆，也是以一种积极的方式。

为了更好地解释这个词，她举了一个例子。“重庆有很多高楼，很多现代化的建筑、设施，有的地方看上去就像纽约、欧洲，很繁华很有时代感。可是跟本地人接触久了，会发现他们有很传统、很保守的一面。”

“在轻轨上，我有时候会发现有人在摸我的头发，很奇怪为什么会这样。慢慢地，我意识到，这是他们用自己的方式在表达好奇，和对外国人的喜爱。”有一次她和朋友迷了路，一个本地人开车路过看见她们无助的样子，摇下车窗主动帮助她们。“在重庆，感觉自己变成了明星。”Valentine打趣。

“同一个事情，就好像一个盒子，你先看到了这一面，打开后又发现新的一面。”这大概就是这个复杂的形容词的含义。

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.”Once, 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

“来到重庆，觉得圈子变大了，比如说我同学的朋友的朋友，和我的另一个朋友认识，他们之间隔着一条老长的关系链，这在我的家乡是不可想象的事情。”Valentine在重庆邮电大学当英语老师，住在南山上，每周她还会坐车到袁家岗学做意大利菜，她一边跟老师学舞蹈，一边教学生们跳舞。

在重庆的中文学习结束后，她从2013年开始教书，每周16个小时的课，她的学生很多都是准备留学的。最让她感动的是他们的好奇心。作为一个内陆城市，人们对一切新鲜事物充满了好奇和求知欲。“课堂上，我会带大家了解世界不同地方的文化，学生们总是抓住一切机会发问。课后，他们经常邀请我参加社团活动，讨论各种各样的话题。”作为一个教育工作者，Valentine需要在课堂上传递独立思考的观念，“看待一个事情的方式绝不止一种，他们应该学会多元的思考。”

“如果有一天我不得不离开重庆，我最难忘的就是我的学生们，我会在我去到的世界各个地方想到他们。”Valentine告诉我们，她妈妈的一个朋友曾经给了她一本很大很大的画册，上面有许多中国的城市，让她爱不释手。9年来，她去过很多重庆以外的城市，也有她喜欢的，然而她并不打算离开重庆，因为“朋友在这儿，工作在这儿”。

“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