Transported by a Buddha, a Clock or a Cow Bell
田普松
在搬家公司给我们卸下差不多300个箱子的大约24小时之后，我的姨妈琼(Joan)走进我家，来看看我们收拾得怎么样了。她就住在街对面，昨天看着一帮人花一整天的时间在冰雪地里狼狈地来回穿梭，把一大卡车的东西都搬进了我们那处不算太宽敞的房子里，觉得很是有趣。“这些东西看上去都不错，”她说，“不过我想那些现在去中国的人别指望能再买到什么了，因为那里的东西都被你们搬光了。”Alan Paul安娜和埃里在玩雪的间隙还不忘和远道而来兵马俑左将军问声好(General Tsao)好吧，我们回国前的大采购可能是有点儿过头。不过令人高兴的是，几乎每样东西摆在家里都很适合。我和妻子白佩琪(Rebecca)都觉得看上去不错，只是房子稍显狭促。八岁的埃利(Eli)倒没那么高兴。在北京的最后几个月里，他一直在抱怨我们怎么买了那么多的中国货。他还提醒我们说，“要知道，我们是美国人。”那天，他开始数我们家有多少件中国货，不过在数到43件的时候放弃了。这还没算上矗立在我家大门前的兵马俑“左将军”(General Tsao)和后院被雪埋住的各式各样的佛头和雕像。不管埃利怎么想，在新泽西看着这些我们中国生活留下的痕迹，让我感到安慰。我的朋友埃里克罗森布拉姆(Eric Rosenblum)去年从北京回到了美国。在我们的东西运到的前几天，他写信给我说，“当所有东西最终从中国运到的时候，你或许会感受到深深的思念，随之而来的还有一种闭合的感觉。”他说的基本是对的。把两段生活结合起来，让这种交融成为生活的常态，这种感觉很不错。埃里克和他的妻子刘缇缇（音）重新在美国安顿下来的时间比我们要早，所以我想知道，他在浏览带回来的中国物品时，是否会像我一样感受到喜悦和一种归属感。他说没错。在中国，他们在靠近长城的一个美丽村庄里有一处度假屋。那里距北京市区大约有90英里。他们把房子里所有的东西都搬回了美国。“这些东西在我们初回美国时看上去非常奇怪，不过每次看到它们，我们都会有好心情，”他告诉我说。我又和几位最近回到美国定居的读者探讨了一番，想了解一下他们打开行李时的感觉。他们中大多数人的感觉和我的感觉颇为相似。“你的问题来得正是时候，我们的海运物品这周刚刚才到，”克里斯麦克伦南(Kris McLennan)说。他在瑞士生活了两年半后回到了大芝加哥地区。“我想要马上找到所有的相册，确保都收到了。牛铃让我想起了途中遇到很多头牛的那次远足。干酪罐则让我想到了我们喜欢上的乳酪。那些不经意间打进行李的购物袋，我也会保留一段时间。我舍不得摘下我在苏黎世买的一条围巾上的标签，因为上面写着‘瑞士制造’，它让我心情愉快。”“回国的时间越长，我越觉得在瑞士的时光好像只是一个梦。我需要身边的那些东西来提醒我那一切确实发生过，而且，单单看着它们就会把我带回过去的时光。我不会为我带回来的任何一件物品感到后悔--它们都会让我想起些什么，”麦克伦南说。戴夫巴萨罗缪(Dave Bartholomew)也曾旅居瑞士，回到加利福尼亚已经差不多一年半了。他说，他和家人刚刚开始感觉回到了正常生活。他说，有几件瑞士纪念品对他而言有着特殊的意义。“就在我们离开瑞士前，妻子给我买了一个瑞士火车站大钟的复制品。火车是苏黎世人生活的一个重要部分，也是个美妙的部分。在厨房里看到那个大钟会让我很自然地想起瑞士，这让我感到宽慰，也让我开心。还有一些非常特别的照片，其中一张是瑞士阿尔卑斯登山俱乐部的宿营小屋。在返回美国前不久，我们的瑞士朋友和邻居们带我们去远足，我们当晚就住在那间小屋里。”约翰森杰(John Senger)在俄罗斯库页岛(Sakhalin Island)生活了两年半后最近回到了休士顿。他一直在忙着收拾两周前刚运到的海运行李。他说，他和妻子费好大劲带回来的一些俄罗斯玩具娃娃和其他一些小玩意儿现在看来颇为可笑。不过有些东西在每次看到时，他都会觉得特别有意义。“比如，那套俄罗斯烈酒杯就能让我会心一笑，”他说。“这不是因为我特别想一口气喝掉一瓶伏特加，而是因为这套杯子带给我的回忆。在库页岛，我们的社交生活棒极了，有非常好的朋友。那些朋友，那段美好时光晚餐聚会烧烤和篝火旁的夜晚才是我最怀念的东西。”我完全同意这种看法。人永远是第一位的。正因为如此，我们在搬运工人刚刚离开后，就邀请了两家朋友来家里吃晚餐，共同庆祝我们重新回到美国。我们的首要任务是把床整理出来，这样我们就可以在家睡觉；然后是收拾餐桌，这样我们就可以聚在一起了。亲自下厨当然还不可能，所以我们叫了外卖－－从当地的中餐外卖店。第二天，我们先是继续在箱子中间穿梭，后来去了曼哈顿的中国城庆祝中国新年，然后又匆匆赶回来看我喜欢的匹兹堡钢人队(Pittsburgh Steelers)的超级碗(Super Bowl)橄榄球赛，这非常巧妙地结合了我的新欢和旧爱。同时，我们也在努力把我们的房子重新变成一个家，虽然进展缓慢，但却一天一个样。有一天，我们正在客厅收拾行李，10岁的雅各(Jacob)跑去后面的家庭活动室。那里前一天还堆满了箱子，但现在看上去像是个能居住的房间了，有椅子沙发地毯，还有一台能看的电视机。“这太奇怪了！”他大声叫嚷着。我赶紧过去问他怎么回事。他说，“一切正常啦，但看上去却是那么的不正常。”Alan Paul（编者按：本文作者Alan Paul是《吉他世界》(Guitar World)的高级编辑，同时也为美国篮球杂志《灌篮》(Slam)撰写文章。因妻子工作需要，他于2005年举家从美国新泽西州迁往中国。2008年底，外派工作结束，Alan Paul一家返回新泽西。他的电子邮件是expatlife@dowjones.com。）相关阅读搬家随想：分清主次 2009-02-13回家的感觉 2009-01-28Alan Paul：致中国读者的信 2009-01-12
My aunt Joan walked into our house the other day, about 24 hours after the movers had deposited nearly 300 boxes, to see how we were doing. She lives across the street and had been amused watching a crew of guys spend all day stumbling through ice and snow, emptying a huge tractor trailer into our not-exactly-huge house.'It all looks great,' she said. 'But I hope nobody is going to China hoping to buy anything because there can't be anything left.'Okay, so we might have gone a little overboard in our exit shopping. The good news is it all almost fits into our house and Rebecca and I think it looks good, if cramped. Eight-year-old Eli is less pleased. He spent his last months in Beijing complaining about how much Chinese stuff we were buying, reminding us that, 'we're Americans, you know.'The other day he started counting how many Sino items we had before giving up at 43. And that wasn't counting General Tsao, the terra cotta warrior standing guard outside our front door, or the assorted Buddha heads and statuary poking out of snow banks on our back deck. Regardless of what Eli thinks, seeing these remnants of our Chinese life in New Jersey is reassuring to me.My friend Eric Rosenblum, who moved back to the U.S. from Beijing last year, wrote me days before the movers arrived to say that 'when all the stuff finally arrives from China, you'll probably have a deep wave of nostalgia along with a sense of closure.' And that was about right. It feels good to meld our two lives together and attempt to turn this fusion into our regular existence.Eric and his wife Titi Liu have a head start on us in terms of resettling so I wondered if he felt the same happiness and sense of place looking at his Chinese possessions that I did. He said yes. In China, they had a weekend home in a beautiful rustic village near the Great Wall, about 90 miles from Beijing, and they brought all of its contents back with them. 'As strange as that stuff looked back in the U.S. at first, it makes us feel good every time we look at it,' he told me.I checked in with a few currently repatriating readers with whom I have been corresponding to see how they are finding the unpacking experience. Most of their experiences seem to be pretty much in sync with my own.'Your question is timely as our sea shipment just arrived this week,' said Kris McLennan, back in greater Chicago after two and a half years in Switzerland. 'I wanted to find all the photo albums we made right away to be sure they made it. A cow bell reminded me of hiking past many cows. The fondue pot will also bring back memories of the cheeses we grew to appreciate. I'll also keep the folded up grocery store bags that were accidentally packed for a while. And I can't bear to tear the tag off a scarf I bought in Zurich because it says 'Made in Switzerland' and it makes me smile.'The longer we're back the more it feels like our time there was just a dream. I need those things around me to remind me it really did happen and just seeing them takes me back to where I bought them or used them. I don't regret anything that I brought back -- they all remind me of something,' Mrs. McLennan said.After almost a year and a half back in California, also from Switzerland, Dave Bartholomew says that he and his family are just beginning to settle back into a routine that feels normal. He says that a couple of Swiss momentos are particularly meaningful to him.'Just before we left my wife bought me an exact replica of the clocks in the Swiss train stations. Trains were a big part of life in Zurich, and a good part. Seeing that clock in our kitchen reminds me of Switzerland in a very basic way, so it brings me a lot of comfort and makes me smile. There are also a couple of very special photos, one of a Swiss Alpine Club climbing hut that we slept in on an overnight hike that our Swiss friends and neighbors took us on shortly before we returned to the US.'John Senger, who recently relocated to Houston after two and a half years in Sakhalin Island, Russia, has been unpacking the sea shipment he received two weeks ago. Some of the Russian dolls and other tchtochkes that he and his wife dragged back seem rather silly now, he said, but other things struck him as being profoundly meaningful the moment he saw them'One of the things that really brought a smile to my face was our set of Russian shot glasses,' he says. 'Not because I've been dying to start knocking back a bottle of vodka, but for the memories that come along with them. We had a great social life over there with absolutely wonderful friends, and they and the good times and dinners, parties, BBQs, and nights around the fire are what I really miss most about living there.'I agree completely with this concept. It's always first and foremost about the people and that's why we celebrated moving back into our house by inviting over two families of friends for dinner just hours after the movers departed. Our first priority was clearing off our beds so we could sleep at home, then liberating the dining room table so we could all gather together. Cooking was out of the question, so we ordered in -- from the local Chinese take out place.The next day we continued to make our way through the boxes before pausing to go celebrate Chinese New Year in Manhattan's Chinatown and then zip back for the Super Bowl, featuring my beloved Pittsburgh Steelers, which made for a pretty tidy combination of my old and new passions.Meanwhile, we are working to turn our house back into a home, making slow but steady progress. While we were unpacking in the living room the other day, 10-year-old Jacob made his way back to the family room in the rear of the house, which the day before had been covered in boxes, but was now starting to look like a room you could actually live in, with chairs, sofas, rugs and a working TV.'This is weird!' he yelled out. I went back and asked what he meant. 'It's normal,' he said. 'And that seems abnormal.'Alan Paul
My aunt Joan walked into our house the other day, about 24 hours after the movers had deposited nearly 300 boxes, to see how we were doing. She lives across the street and had been amused watching a crew of guys spend all day stumbling through ice and snow, emptying a huge tractor trailer into our not-exactly-huge house.'It all looks great,' she said. 'But I hope nobody is going to China hoping to buy anything because there can't be anything left.'Okay, so we might have gone a little overboard in our exit shopping. The good news is it all almost fits into our house and Rebecca and I think it looks good, if cramped. Eight-year-old Eli is less pleased. He spent his last months in Beijing complaining about how much Chinese stuff we were buying, reminding us that, 'we're Americans, you know.'The other day he started counting how many Sino items we had before giving up at 43. And that wasn't counting General Tsao, the terra cotta warrior standing guard outside our front door, or the assorted Buddha heads and statuary poking out of snow banks on our back deck. Regardless of what Eli thinks, seeing these remnants of our Chinese life in New Jersey is reassuring to me.My friend Eric Rosenblum, who moved back to the U.S. from Beijing last year, wrote me days before the movers arrived to say that 'when all the stuff finally arrives from China, you'll probably have a deep wave of nostalgia along with a sense of closure.' And that was about right. It feels good to meld our two lives together and attempt to turn this fusion into our regular existence.Eric and his wife Titi Liu have a head start on us in terms of resettling so I wondered if he felt the same happiness and sense of place looking at his Chinese possessions that I did. He said yes. In China, they had a weekend home in a beautiful rustic village near the Great Wall, about 90 miles from Beijing, and they brought all of its contents back with them. 'As strange as that stuff looked back in the U.S. at first, it makes us feel good every time we look at it,' he told me.I checked in with a few currently repatriating readers with whom I have been corresponding to see how they are finding the unpacking experience. Most of their experiences seem to be pretty much in sync with my own.'Your question is timely as our sea shipment just arrived this week,' said Kris McLennan, back in greater Chicago after two and a half years in Switzerland. 'I wanted to find all the photo albums we made right away to be sure they made it. A cow bell reminded me of hiking past many cows. The fondue pot will also bring back memories of the cheeses we grew to appreciate. I'll also keep the folded up grocery store bags that were accidentally packed for a while. And I can't bear to tear the tag off a scarf I bought in Zurich because it says 'Made in Switzerland' and it makes me smile.'The longer we're back the more it feels like our time there was just a dream. I need those things around me to remind me it really did happen and just seeing them takes me back to where I bought them or used them. I don't regret anything that I brought back -- they all remind me of something,' Mrs. McLennan said.After almost a year and a half back in California, also from Switzerland, Dave Bartholomew says that he and his family are just beginning to settle back into a routine that feels normal. He says that a couple of Swiss momentos are particularly meaningful to him.'Just before we left my wife bought me an exact replica of the clocks in the Swiss train stations. Trains were a big part of life in Zurich, and a good part. Seeing that clock in our kitchen reminds me of Switzerland in a very basic way, so it brings me a lot of comfort and makes me smile. There are also a couple of very special photos, one of a Swiss Alpine Club climbing hut that we slept in on an overnight hike that our Swiss friends and neighbors took us on shortly before we returned to the US.'John Senger, who recently relocated to Houston after two and a half years in Sakhalin Island, Russia, has been unpacking the sea shipment he received two weeks ago. Some of the Russian dolls and other tchtochkes that he and his wife dragged back seem rather silly now, he said, but other things struck him as being profoundly meaningful the moment he saw them'One of the things that really brought a smile to my face was our set of Russian shot glasses,' he says. 'Not because I've been dying to start knocking back a bottle of vodka, but for the memories that come along with them. We had a great social life over there with absolutely wonderful friends, and they and the good times and dinners, parties, BBQs, and nights around the fire are what I really miss most about living there.'I agree completely with this concept. It's always first and foremost about the people and that's why we celebrated moving back into our house by inviting over two families of friends for dinner just hours after the movers departed. Our first priority was clearing off our beds so we could sleep at home, then liberating the dining room table so we could all gather together. Cooking was out of the question, so we ordered in -- from the local Chinese take out place.The next day we continued to make our way through the boxes before pausing to go celebrate Chinese New Year in Manhattan's Chinatown and then zip back for the Super Bowl, featuring my beloved Pittsburgh Steelers, which made for a pretty tidy combination of my old and new passions.Meanwhile, we are working to turn our house back into a home, making slow but steady progress. While we were unpacking in the living room the other day, 10-year-old Jacob made his way back to the family room in the rear of the house, which the day before had been covered in boxes, but was now starting to look like a room you could actually live in, with chairs, sofas, rugs and a working TV.'This is weird!' he yelled out. I went back and asked what he meant. 'It's normal,' he said. 'And that seems abnormal.'Alan Paul
类似资料：