个人简介：

Name : Christopher Weeks

姓名：Christopher Weeks

Country of Origin : United Kingdom

国籍：英国

Occupation : Foreign Language Kindergarten Teacher

职业：幼儿园外文教师

Years in China : 8 (5.5 in mainland and 2.5 in Taiwan)

在华居住时间：八年（五年半在大陆，两年半在台湾）

How did your journey in China begin?

你的中国之旅是怎样开始的?

On January 1st 2013, I was sitting with a friend eating brunch in Manchester, nursing a particularly bad hangover, and reflecting on the previous year. I made a promise that in 2013, I would move to a different country for work.  On February 2nd, I landed in Madrid, Spain, which is a different story. On July 17th 2013, I landed in Fuzhou, Fujian ready to start “a year, maybe two in China” working as an English teacher at a training school. I moved across the strait to Taipei for a few years before returning back to Fuzhou, and eventually moving to Xiamen, a city I first visited in October 2013. 8 years later, I still have no plans to go back to the UK.

2013 年 1 月 1 日，在曼彻斯特一夜宿醉过后，我和一个朋友正坐着吃早午餐，并反思过去的一年。我曾下定决心要在 2013 年搬到另一个国家工作。于是 2 月 2 日，我降落在西班牙马德里，这又是另外的故事了。2013 年 7 月 17 日，我降落在福建福州，准备在一所培训学校当一年或者两年的英语老师。之后我又搬到海峡对岸的台北住了几年然后回到福州，最终于2013 年 10 月首次来到厦门。8 年过去了，我依旧没有回英国的打算。

What do you like most about your city and China as a whole?

你所在的城市，哪一点最吸引你？你最喜欢中国的什么呢？

The cafes. I have always enjoyed the cafes of the cities I have lived in (Fuzhou, Taipei, Xiamen). They have been home to my constant journey of learning and forgetting Mandarin, writing lesson plans and playing board games. I have seen the quality of the cafes in terms of taste and environment improve over the years and Xiamen has an abundance of nice places to relax and have a latte or single origin coffee.

咖啡馆。我总是很喜欢我居住城市（福州、厦门、台北）的咖啡馆。他们基本上可以算作我的家了，我在那里学习普通话，学了又忘，忘了又学，还在那里准备教案和玩桌游。这些年来，我看到咖啡馆的味道和环境质量都有所改善。厦门有许多放松的好去处，可以喝好喝的拿铁或是单品咖啡。

What fascinated you the most about living in China?

生活在中国，最吸引你的是什么?

Initially, the reason I came, was because I knew no one who had been here, and I wanted to work and travel somewhere a bit different. I originally dreamed of living in Shanghai, until I have grown older and weary of the “people mountain people sea,” three-hour queues to eat at Hai Di Lao and unable to find a seat easily in cafes. Xiamen for me is the perfect size and population. These days, I just love to wander and explore, as you never know what surprises hide around the corner or down an alley. I am fortunate to know people who guide me to places I would have never have discovered myself, and I hope one day to say I have visited every cafe on the island.

最初，我来这里的原因是因为我不认识来过这里的人，而我又想去一个与众不同的地方工作和旅行。我最初梦想住在上海，直到我上了年纪，开始厌倦“人山人海”，害怕在海底捞排三个小时的队吃饭，在咖啡馆里找不到座位。厦门的大小和人口对我来说就很完美。现在，我就喜欢到处闲逛和探索，因为你永远不知道拐角处或小巷里藏着什么惊喜。我很幸运认识了一些小伙伴，他们带我去了一些我自己永远都不会发现的地方。我希望有一天能说我去过岛上的每一家咖啡馆。

Could you list some of your favorite spots in your city?

你能列举一些你最喜欢的城市景点吗?

I love going up to the Sightseeing Tower, north of Bai Lu Zhou Park. and next to the Mountain to Sea Trail. Though the building is shut at night, if you are on the viewing platform in front of it at 10:30 p.m, you can see the “light off” show, as all the building lights gradually turn off around Xiamen, which is quite fun.

我喜欢去白鹭洲公园北面的观光塔，它紧挨着厦门山海健康步道。虽然观光塔晚上不开门，但如果晚上 10:30 你在前面的观景台上，就能看到“熄灯”秀，因为厦门周边的大楼灯都逐渐熄灭了，非常有趣。

What is your unique China story?

关于你独特的中国故事是什么呢?

The reason I love living in China itself is it is rarely boring, and every day has the potential to be interesting, be it for better or worse. Instead of a particular story, here are a few unique moments.

我喜欢生活在中国原因是，它几乎不会让我觉得无聊，每天都可能变得有趣，或大或小。所以这里我就不讲一个具体的故事，而是分享几个特别的瞬间。

• Being hit on the head by a woman with an umbrella while dressed as a panda after a Halloween activity after we tried to join in square dancing.

• 在一次万圣节活动后，我们打扮成熊猫的样子试图加入广场舞，却被一个女人用伞打了头。

• Watching an ayi scream as a rat ran around my apartment kitchen, only for my American flat mate to stomp on it. RIP Ratty.

• 一位阿姨看到有只老鼠在我厨房跑来跑去后大声尖叫，然后是我的美国室友过来一脚把它踩在脚下。小老鼠走好。

• Signing my autograph and having my photo taken, because a drunk Chinese gentleman thought I was Lionel Messi.

• 一位喝多了的中国男士坚信我是里利昂内尔·梅西，跟我要了签名，还和我合影留念了。

• Going for a quiet drink and it turning into a nightclub outing, full of pillow fights and feathers covering the nightclub.

• 想出去随便喝一杯，没想到变成了夜店大作战，大家都在枕头大战，羽毛飞得满天都是。

• Watching a security guard spit in a man’s face on Shenzhen Metro, because the man spat on the floor in the metro station.

• 在深圳地铁上，看着一名保安朝一名男子脸上吐痰，因为这名男子在地铁站的地板上吐痰。

• Seeing a goat solve a math problem.

• 看到一只山羊解一道数学题。

• Watching my laptop cable melt and set on fire after plugging it in a hostel in Shanghai.

• 在上海一家旅店，当我把手提电脑的插头接上之后，电脑开始熔化起火。

• Having a bust made of my head in 20 minutes on the street in the pouring rain of Hangzhou.

• 在杭州的瓢泼大雨中，我在街上用 20 分钟做了一个半身雕像。

• Going to see the beautiful views from Huangshan, only to have fog and visibility of 5m.

• 去黄山看美景，却碰上大雾天，能见度只有 5 米。

• Meeting an ex African professional soccer player on the Great Wall of China.

• 在中国长城上遇见一位前非洲职业足球运动员。

• Being the first foreigner an elderly woman in her eighties had ever seen.

• 作为一个八十多岁的老年妇女见过的第一个外国人。

• Exploring Fuzhou post typhoon after the river banks burst.

• 台风吹垮了河堤，探索台风之后的福州。

• Seeing a mermaid rescue a man in a business suit to the tune of Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On.”

• 看到一条美人鱼用席琳·迪翁《我心永恒》的曲调拯救一个穿着西装的男人。

• A journey back from Shenzhen to Fuzhou, which involved eight people in a six-seater vehicle, dropped off at a service station, and running to get a bunk on a coach, and being trapped behind toilet fumes for eight hours.

• 一次从深圳回福州的旅程，我们八个人挤在一辆六座汽车里，然后在一个服务站下车。接着跑上一辆长途汽车，找到铺位，在臭气熏天的环境里呆了八个小时。

• Seeing my old teaching assistants start families and speaking in English with their children.

• 看到我曾经的助教组建家庭，并用英文和她的子女交流。

Some background on his home country：

介绍一下Christopher的故乡：

The first ever UK branch of KFC was opened in Preston in 1965. That predates McDonalds by about a decade.