Relocation to Wuhan

By Luc Pauwels [Belgium] Translation by Huang Yongming

Relocation to Wuhan

By Luc Pauwels [Belgium] Translation by Huang Yongming

Finally I had left Xi’an behind me and it all felt good after months of uncertainty and distress. By the end of June 2006, my wife and I had settled into a small but cozy apartment on Hong Kong road in Hankou. We felt happy, being around each other, day in and day out.

During the first few days I kept myself busy with grocery shopping, experimenting with Chinese and Western dishes, cleaning, reading, and making new friends. The new environment was hot and humid,and every day delicious foods and the pleasant buzz of activity welcomed me. Discovering Wuhan felt like an extended holiday, hopping on and off buses, walking through old lanes,parks and markets, and sipping coffee in a 20 square meter coffee bar along Xibei Lake.

On the internet I had read some articles on relocation and the stress it could involve, like emotional reactivity, irritability,and sometimes even anxiety and confusion. In 1999, six weeks into my relocation from Belgium to China, I experienced a sudden sadness while reading a pleasant novel at my flat—a sign of anxiety and confusion. This time,however, I was not really sure if I was feeling stress symptoms or perhaps I was instead coping well with the relocation stress.

I had decided, on my arrival in Wuhan, to discover the city,establish new friendships, relaunch my career, and nurture my family.

Discovering Wuhan was pure pleasure, and my personal top three ‘Must-Visit-Places’ at that time were the Yangtze River Ferry Crossing, Jiefang (Liberation)Park, and the many lanes in the Old Hankou neighborhoods.The Yangtze River Crossing,with great views of the Wuhan Yangtze Great Bridge, enchanted me most around sunset, while a visit to Liberation Park in the early mornings was a marvel where I could observe thousands of people doing Tai Chi, Yoga,meditation, and other traditional exercises.

Walking around the traditional lanes of Old Hankou was my favorite pastime during moments of ref l ection and distress. For the first time since my graduation I hadn’t received a salary on myaccount, nor did I have to walk to the office on a Monday morning,leaving me with plenty of time to wander around the many‘lilongs’ of Old Hankou.

解放公園Jiefang Park

離開西安之后，經過數月的猶豫和痛苦的思考，2006年6月底，我和妻子在漢口的香港路附近安頓下來，住進一間小而舒適的公寓房里。

剛搬來的那幾天，我常常忙于大包小包地購物，品嘗新奇的中西餐點，打掃房間，閱讀書刊，結交新朋友。陌生的環境，炎熱潮濕的氣候，美味的食物和街巷飄浮的嗡嗡噪音，都讓人感到新鮮和愉悅。來到武漢就像度一個長假，我們從繁忙的公共汽車上跳上跳下，穿小巷，游公園，逛市場，經常到西北湖的一家20平方米的小店品啜咖啡。

我讀過一些異地遷居的文章，人們遷居到陌生環境時，有可能因為壓力伴隨相當大的情緒反應，變得迷茫、焦慮甚至易怒。1999年，我從比利時來到中國的時候，最初的六周時間，我困在一間公寓房內，靠一本輕松小說解悶，書讀到末尾，我卻悲從中來，就是這種焦慮感的體現。而這一次搬到武漢，我似乎并未感受到多么不安，也許我已經能夠從容地適應新環境。

亦即在我抵達武漢的時候，我就決心熟悉這座城市，結識新朋友，重新拓展我的事業，并過好我的小家。

熟悉武漢是一樁樂事。我以為，武漢有三大美景：長江碼頭，解放公園，老漢口的許多小巷。

自畢業以來，我頭一次沒有在我的賬戶上打進任何薪水，也沒有在周一早上去上班，我于是有充足的時間游逛，在老漢口的許多傳統里弄獵奇。那里街連街，巷連巷，多是19世紀末和20世紀初建造的老房子。

我喜歡在老漢口穿行。一條里弄有一條人行道，兩旁是傳統的磚房。著名的三德里，建于1901年，中心地帶有一個小廣場通向四面八方，我特別喜歡在那一帶跑步，有一種奇妙的感覺。

周末，我喜歡與朋友們一起逛KTV，去老漢口吃夜宵。

我的第一首中文歌，就是在武漢學會的。《月亮代表我的心》，“你問我愛你有多深，我愛你有幾份”，歌詞深深代表著我對親友們的情意。

我結識了一些中國朋友。黎黃陂路有一家私人診所，主人是位姓魏的中醫名醫。我逛街的時候看到他的海報，于是打開診所的店門，走進去。我用漢語問候他，還告訴他，我打算辦一家語言培訓中心。“太好了。”他用英語回答。魏醫生開朗大方，在我看來，他是一個值得信賴的正直的人。

魏醫生有兩個孩子，女兒漂亮，學習成績很好，兒子卻很頑皮，成績較差。說起功課，“頭痛啊!”他笑著說。

Lilongs (里 弄) or lane houses refer to a group of houses connected by a lane or that are part of a series of interconnected lanes. They were mainly constructed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.The Sandeli Community, a square complex built in 1901, which consists of four lanes of two story terrace-houses running in each of the cardinal directions that join together at a round square, was my favorite one in Old Hankou.

Soon I began to engage actively in social exchanges by adding weekly KTV visits and late night snacks in the streets of old Hankou to my regular social life of dinners and drinks with friends. In Wuhan, I learned my first Chinese song, ‘Yueliang DaiBiao Wode Xin’ or ‘The Moon Represents My Heart,’ bringing it to a regular audience of friends and relatives at the KTV.

Ni wen wo aini you duo shen,You ask me how deep my love for you is,Wo aini you ji fen…How much I really love you …

New friends came, foreign ones as well as Chinese ones.Doctor Wei, a Chinese traditional medicine doctor with a private practice on Lihuangpi Road, was one such Chinese friend. It was during one of my walks through Old Hankou that I stopped in front of his cabinet after having observed the Chinese traditional medicine posters and skeletons inside his cabinet. I opened the door and walked in. We greeted each other in Chinese and started a simple but pleasant conversation. I then shared my new business idea, the opening of a language training center,with Dr. Wei. “Wonderful!”he responded in funny and melodious English. Dr. Wei was an enjoyable, trustworthy, and righteous man, in my eyes.

I quickly learned that Dr. Wei had two children, a daughter who was very beautiful and good at school, and a son who was lazy and poor at school.

“Headache!” he shouted followed by laughter.

Opening a language training center was not really my first choice. I could have opted for trading or selling Belgian chocolates, beer, and perhaps diamonds, all opportunities I had zero experience in. So training students was not such a bad choice, after all. For me, as an educator and multi-linguist,the decision to start a training business was making it possible to express myself again, to plan and implement, and to work towards objectives.

老漢口街景 Streetscape of Old Hankou

Relocation had shaken up my life somewhat, but it had also made me more adaptable, openminded, and independent. Living in another city was an eye-opener as I was able to observe things from an outsider’s perspective,re-framing the way I used to look at myself. Moving to Wuhan had definitely helped me to build up courage to be independent and to face uncertainty on my own.It all felt like building up a new identity, getting to know myself better and being able to become the person I truly wanted to be.

I was easily finding my way around the city of rivers and lakes, and soon my career would receive a boost with the opening of my language training center that I had named Global Learning for Life (GLL). On the family side, my wife and I were keeping ourselves busy discovering each other, including our differences and slight annoyances. There were bed-time differences, eating habit differences, differences in appreciating humor, and in social life.

I preferred, for example, going to sleep before 11 p.m. while my wife would stay up till midnight reading in bed. In social life my wife would meet friends,associates, entrepreneurs, and decision-makers on a daily basis,while I preferred staying home more than going out. And then small irritations began to appear when somebody would call my wife around 11 o’clock in the evening. “Please tell them to call back in the morning instead of at 11 o’clock at night!” I snapped.

“I don’t want to offend anyone”she whispered back.

Virginia Woolf once wrote that “Growing up is losing some illusions, in order to win others,”and that’s exactly how my relocation from Xi’an to Wuhan felt to me.?(Photos by Shi Hai)

武漢關大樓 The building of Wuhan Customs

開辦語言培訓中心并不是我的第一選擇。我可以選擇去做貿易，銷售比利時巧克力，歐洲啤酒或者鉆石，一切需要從零開始。而作為一名教育工作者，培訓可以鍛煉我的表達能力。

我的語言培訓中心順利開辦起來，名叫“全球學習生活”。在家庭生活方面，我和妻子相互包融，包括理解彼此差異，消除輕微的煩惱。我們有睡眠習慣、飲食、幽默感、社交生活等方面差異。

我喜歡在晚上11點之前睡覺，妻子喜歡在床上看書，通常看到半夜。她每天都會與朋友、同事或企業家見面，我更喜歡待在家里。當有人在晚上11點左右打來電話，找我妻子時，我說：“請轉告你的朋友最好推遲到明早打來，而不是鬧到晚上11點還在打電話。”

“我不想冒犯任何人。”她平靜地回答。

作家伍爾夫說：“成長的過程就是丟去一些幻想，才能有所得。”這也是我在武漢生活的感悟。居住在陌生城市讓我大開眼界，我能從局外人的角度觀察事物，重新審視自己。?

比利時人體驗武漢生活

文/路跑[比利時] 譯/黃永明

（攝影/石海）