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編者按：本文作者Alan Paul是《吉他世界》(Guitar World)的高級編輯，同時也為美國籃球雜志《灌籃》(Slam)撰寫文章。
An Expat's Exotica
I always understood that living in Beijing seemed pretty wild to most people back in the U.S. On visits home I had to make a conscious decision whether to exaggerate or downplay the exoticism.
我知道，絕大多數美國人覺得住在北京好像很刺激?；氐矫绹螅业糜幸庾R地做個決定，對在北京生活的這段日子，是說得夸張一點好呢，還是平淡一點好。
The truth is that in a big, rapidly developing Chinese city like Beijing or Shanghai it is possible to live a fairly cushy, Western-style life if you so choose. I was intrigued by expats living further off the beaten path.
真相是，在北京或上海這種快速發展的大城市里，只要你愿意，可以過上西方的那種舒適生活。然而，有些來中國的老外不落俗套的生活方式讓我很感興趣。
During my travels, I looked for little pockets of foreigners settling in China's remote corners. In Wuhan, the capital of the central province of Hubei, I met Janie Corum and her husband Ralph, who have lived there for about six years. Ms. Corum estimates there are about 400 Americans and 4,000 resident foreigners in the city of 8.3 million, a ratio she finds attractive.
在中國各地旅行時，我喜歡去這個國家偏遠角落的一些老外小圈子探尋一下。在湖北的省會城市武漢，我遇到詹妮•克倫姆(Janie Corum)和她的丈夫拉爾夫(Ralph)，兩人已經在那里生活了六年左右。詹妮估計，在武漢這個人口830萬的城市里，約有400個美國人和4,000個常駐外國人，這么小的占比對她來說很有吸引力。
'I wanted to be some place where there is a smaller foreign community because we really wanted to understand the local culture and have Chinese friends,' says Ms. Corum, 58. 'In Beijing or Shanghai it would be too easy to be with expats all the time.'
“我希望住在一個外國人群體較小的地方，因為我們真的想了解當地的文化，和中國人交朋友?！?8歲的詹妮說，“而在北京和上海，很容易整天跟來中國的外國人混在一起。”
They had long wanted to live overseas and finally moved to Taiwan and began studying Chinese nine years ago, with a plan to eventually move to mainland China.
克倫姆夫婦一直都想在美國之外的地方生活，九年前終于遷往臺灣，在那里開始學習中文，并計劃最終搬到中國大陸居住。
