韦立
一个体型丰满、顶着一头五颜六色的小辫子,脸上永远洋溢着笑容的外国人,遇见老师们,一会儿说“Hello!”,一会儿又用泛着“洋味儿”的安吉话说“你好”。碰到老师们做教师操,她会停下来和老师们一起做操;遇到学校的学生,孩子们都会不由自主地靠近她、拥抱她,大声地呼喊着她的名字“Kelly! Kelly! Kelly!”她,就是浙江安吉天略外国语学校的女外教——凯丽。
来自喀麦隆的凯丽,是一个特别具有亲和力和感染力的外教,她激情飞扬的笑容总让人如沐春风,胆小内向的孩子在她的热情鼓勵下也都能开心地学说英语。当凯丽还在喀麦隆时,她就常常为书中描写的非凡中国人、中国文化、令人惊叹的中国美景深深着迷。2008年,当她的朋友们都计划着去美国、加拿大或欧洲旅行、工作时,凯丽偶然得到了一个在中国教英语的机会,她毅然孤身一人来到了中国,并且一待就是十年,她把自己的十年青春留在了中国,并慢慢地融入这个文明古国的文化,她深爱着这个美丽的国家。
2011年夏天,凯丽来到了安吉天略外国语学校,7年间累计授课2000多课时。凯丽为更好地适应当地的工作和生活,一直努力认真地学习中文,她传授学生“从听到说”的“婴儿学语理论”,自己也实践着。她自学汉语,会用简单的中文词汇与同事、家长们交流,甚至还会说上几句安吉当地话。她还考了中国的驾驶执照,学会了使用滴滴打车和支付宝、淘宝。凯丽又是个烹饪高手,上安吉菜市场买菜,与店主交流多了,大家都喜欢上了这位外国顾客,每次都亲切地同她打招呼。
凯丽说她有一个梦想,希望自己以后有能力办一所属于自己的培训学校,让更多喀麦隆孩子来中国,感受中国的文化和生活。2015年暑假,凯丽回国探亲期间,积极地向自己曾经就读的小学建议:把汉语作为学校的一门学科,并捐出了自己在中国购买的汉语学习卡、拼音卡,还请了一名在喀麦隆工作的中国人在母校教授喀麦隆孩子们基本的汉语词汇。凯丽鼓励亲戚和朋友来中国,她希望他们把中国当成第二故乡。
住在浙江莫干山的村民经常可以看到,在后坞村内的小溪里、河道边、山塘水库旁或是林间山道上,有一位高鼻梁、蓝眼睛的女士手拿毛竹做成的钳子弯腰捡拾垃圾,并不时地用汉语跟路边的保洁员打招呼。这就是志愿者多莉(Tori),后坞村的“洋河长”。
说起多莉,很多人可能不认识,但她在“洋家乐”的圈子里却是个名人,43岁的她是地地道道的英国人,却会说一口流利的汉语,已经在莫干山下住了7年,算是后坞村资深的“洋居民”。
多莉18岁时就对中国很感兴趣。趁着工作的机会,她成为了某体育品牌在中国的代理,平时在上海工作。因为喜欢户外运动,多莉去过很多地方,但她最喜欢的还是莫干山。
就在多莉住进莫干山不久,随着当地的农家乐大规模兴起,游客也越来越多。特别是一些户外组织、企业公司,经常会来这里搞活动。
虽然每天都有农村保洁员不辞辛劳地清扫,但多莉还是发现,莫干山上的塑料袋、塑料瓶等垃圾慢慢多了起来,这让她有一种家园遭到损害的感觉。
从2010年起,每次到莫干山小住,多莉都会拎着垃圾袋四处转悠,哪里的小溪流里有塑料袋,哪条小山路上有泡沫饭盒,她都会捡起来。慢慢地,多莉发现垃圾变少了,更令她惊喜的是,原来她并不是一个人“孤军奋战”。在义务捡垃圾过程中,她总能和一些红马甲的志愿者不期而遇,德清县志愿服务联合会会长方明就是在那个时候认识的。
于是,她成为了一名“洋志愿者”。游子引、爱心劝导、旅行莫干……只要是在莫干山的公益活动,都会出现她的身影。在多莉的带动下,如今德清县志愿服务联合会已经拥有数十位“洋志愿者”,多莉发明的捡垃圾的“神器”也大大提高了大家的工作效率——找一根竹竿,把垃圾袋串起来扛在肩上,这样一个人就能拿很多个垃圾袋。
“河长制”是中国生态文明建设的一个新实践。莫干山镇开始实行“河长制”时,多莉当起了村里的“洋河长”,她经常和当地河长一起巡河治水、清理垃圾。每次组织国际学校的户外教育活动,不管小溪里、河道旁、水库边还是山道上,都能看到多莉带着不同的人群,弯腰捡拾垃圾的场景。她把这里当成了自己的第二故乡,为保护“家乡”的绿水青山尽自己的一份绵薄之力。
司徒夫(Christophe Peres)于1966年出生于法国南部的 Hautes Pyrenees。他可以很流利地听说法语、英语、汉语和日语。
司徒夫是中国人民的好朋友,他因对中国孤儿所做的贡献而被很多人认识。三联出版社曾于2002年出版了他的游记《裸奔》,该书详细记述了他用时6个月、行程12000公里的自行车旅行,从新疆喀什出发,经过拉萨、昆明、广州和上海,最终抵达北京。而这次艰苦旅行主要目的是为患有心脏病的中国孤儿募捐。
在2005年2月,司徒夫和妻子 Pauline Lee 在自驾旅行时来到莫干山。他们开着车,爬上一条铺满尘土的狭窄山道,来到一个小山谷,四周被心旷神怡的茶园所环抱。他们兴奋极了,这就是他们一直想找的地方。
从2005年开始,司徒夫定位、设计和建设了“莫干山里法国山居(Le Passage Mohkan Shan)”,藉着他的妻子 Pauline Lee 和三个儿子的帮助及灵感。
司徒夫在国内外建立和推广莫干山为高端旅游目的地扮演着重要角色。他亲自邀约大量国内外知名媒体进行推介,吸引本地和国外客商到莫干山投资,还帮助莫干山政府部门重新规划建设了庾村老街,发展旅游产业。司徒夫本人于2012年率先在庾村老街开了第一家冰激凌面包店和咖啡店。
司徒夫投入大量的精力和财力研究、查找并购买了关于莫干山历史和文化遗产的史料。他现在拥有大量记录着莫干山历史的珍贵旧书、地图、绘画、报纸。作为对莫干山的个人贡献,他彻底改造了在庾村最具标志性的建筑即莫干山车站,开设展示莫干山交通发展史的展览。莫干山车站及其展览开放后,成了当地最受欢迎的旅游景点。
自2014年以来,他还帮助当地修复了莫干山的标志性建筑(3000平方米)——老电影院。这座老电影院已经被遗弃了20多年,他把這个独特的大型场地改造成了一家酒吧餐厅,里面配有一个室内游泳池,现在用以接待游客和举办大型活动。自2017年4月起,每个周末都有音乐乐队现场演奏,现在已改名为莫干山池吧(Moganshan PoolBar),以吸引游客和当地居民。
最近,司徒夫又给莫干山引进了 North Face 户外品牌,计划每年在山上举行一次户外比赛,预计第一年将会带来5000名参与者。North Face TNF100 是中国第十大体育赛事,此举将吸引更多游客来莫干山旅游观光。
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浙江湖州市外侨办、市友协举办的“感受湖州魅力·讲述湖州故事”之“老外在湖州”征文活动暨湖州“友好使者”颁奖仪式不久前隆重举行,来自20多个国家的近百名中外嘉宾参加了此次盛会。6位在湖州长期居住的国际友人被授予了2017年度的“友好使者”称号。颁奖仪式结束后,中外嘉宾还进行了书法、瑜伽、舞蹈、歌唱等文艺互动表演。
(本文照片由湖州市外侨办提供)
Huzhou, a central city in northern Zhejiang, held an award-issuing ceremony at the yearend of 2017 to honor winners of an essay competition held for foreigners working and living in Huzhou and to commend Goodwill Ambassadors. Over 100 guests attended the ceremony and six international friends were named Goodwill Ambassadors for 2017. The ceremony was wrapped up with a show of calligraphy, yoga, dancing and singing.
The following are brief stories of three Goodwill Ambassadors in Huzhou.
Kelly: Teacher
A dynamic and amiable woman from Cameroon teaching English at Anji Lianlue Foreign Language School, Kelly is widely loved by children at the school. She smiles a lot and wears rainbow-colored braids in an African style. Timid kids can open up themselves to her and speak English freely under her coaching.
Before she came to China, Kelly read about China and became fascinated with the oriental country. In 2008, she got an offer to teach English in China while her friends planned to travel or work in European and Northern American countries. She chose to come to China. She has been in China since then.
Kelly came to teach at the school in Anji in the summer of 2011. Since then she has taught over 2,000 hours. She has adapted well to her life and work in the rural county. She has acquired a working knowledge of Chinese and can manage to communicate in Chinese with her students, colleagues and childrens parents. She can even speak some words of the local dialect. With a drivers license, she moves around freely. And she shops at Taobao and uses Alipay on her mobile phone to make payments.
In the summer of 2015, she visited home in Cameroon and donated some teaching equipment to the primary school where she had studied as a kid and hired a Chinese to teach basic vocabulary to kids there. She hopes more Cameroon people will come to live and work in China and consider China as their home away from home.
Tori: River Governor
Tori, a 43-year-old English woman, has lived and worked at Houwu, a village at the foot of Mogan Mountain in Deqing County, for seven years. Many villagers consider Tori one of them.
In the eyes of local people, Tori keeps the mountain clean. She came to work as an agent in Shanghai for a foreign sportswear brand. She is busily engaged in outdoor sporting events and activities across the country. Mogan Mountain is her favorite destination. Shortly after she came to visit Mogan Mountain regularly, village tourism began booming and tourists flooded in. Although villagers tried hard to keep the mountain free of garbage, plastic bottles and packs kept increasing. She felt threatened by the garbage. In 2010, she began to pick up garbage while roaming in the mountain. Gradually she found garbage decreased. To her delight, she found many like-minded volunteers trying hard to clean up garbage. She joined a volunteer team in Deqing County. Nowadays, the team has dozens of foreign volunteers like Tori. Tori uses a long bamboo as a shoulder pole to carry multiple plastic garbage bags. The magic tool she “invented” has become popular.
In China, a nationwide project appoints government officials and volunteers alike to work as river governors to keep all the rivers clean. Tori is now a river governor of Houwu Village. She works with local fellow governors to keep her home away from home clean.
Christophe Peres: Entrepreneur
Christophe Peres and her wife Pauline Lee came to Mogan Mountain in February 2005. Looking out over a valley and tea plantations on the slopes, they fell in love with the view of the mountain. They decided to settle down here. With the help and inspiration from his wife and their three sons, Christophe designed and constructed Le Passage Mohkan Shan.
Since then, Christophe, fluent in Chinese, Japanese, English and French, has played a key role in promoting high-end rural tourism in Mogan Mountain at home and abroad. Christophe has literarily transformed Mogan Mountain as a tourist destination. He invited journalists from home and abroad to write about the mountain and attracted investments. It was with his assistance that an old village street in Yucun has been redeveloped as a tourist attraction. In 2012, he opened an ice cream shop and a café in the street. He did a project to refurbish the derelict bus terminal in Mogan Mountain and built it into an exhibition about how modern transport came to the region and evolved. It is now one of the most popular tourist attractions in the region.
In 2014, he helped restoring Mogan Mountain Movie House, a landmark of the region. The structure had been abandoned and stayed idle for over 20 years. Thanks to the restoration project, the space now houses a bar/restaurant and an indoor swimming pool. It is now called Moganshan Pool Bar. On weekends concerts are held to attract and entertain tourists and local visitors alike.
With the assistance of Christophe, North Face, an outdoor sportswear brand, has recently formulated plans to hold an annual outdoor sporting event in the region. It is estimated that about 5,000 people will come to compete at the event in the first year.