正文翻譯
原創(chuàng)翻譯：龍騰網(wǎng) http://www.ltaaa.com 翻譯：mini才怪 轉(zhuǎn)載請注明出處

This Beijing Life: Month 3

北京的生活:第3個月

It took me a month to really get things under control, but I’m finally starting to feel better about my workload. I hired an awesome virtual assistant to help me with a few things, I started finding time to get blog stuff done at my day job, I realized the world won’t explode if I take a few days to respond to an email, and I started saying “no” a lot more to potential blog partnerships I know will just become a giant time suck.

我花了一個月的時間才真正把事情理順，我終于可以適應(yīng)自己的工作量了。我找了一個很棒的虛擬助理來幫助我做一些事情，以便在我的日常工作中抽些時間來完成博客的事情，我意識到如果我花幾天時間回復(fù)一封郵件也沒什么大不了，世界不會因此而爆炸，我開始對潛在的博客伙伴說“不”，因為我知道這將極大的消耗我的精力。

This month I also went back to Ningbo for my Master’s graduation! I’m officially a master which is an amazing feeling, and I had such a great time seeing all my old friends again.

這個月我也回寧波參加了我的碩士生畢業(yè)典禮！我正式成為一名碩士，這是一種很棒的感覺，而且我很高興再次見到我所有的老朋友。

While I didn’t go on any weekend trips for Thanksgiving this year, I did have a pretty fun two-day affair with my office and foreign co-workers. After work Thursday night, my co-workers and I headed across the street to a $30 unlimited buffet. These things are usually pretty overpriced in my opinion, but we did fill up on enough sashimi, sake and wine to make the price worth it. Since we were one of the last groups to arrive, they just put a few bottles of wine on our table for us to enjoy (probably so we wouldn’t drunkenly knock any of the glasses over trying to get refills.)

雖然今年感恩節(jié)我沒有參加任何周末旅行活動，但我和我們辦事處的外國同事度過了非常有趣的兩天時間。星期四晚上下班后，我和同事們?nèi)ソ謱γ娉粤?0美元的無限量自助餐。在我看來，這些東西的價格通常都相當(dāng)高，我們吃了足夠的生魚片、也喝了很多的清酒和葡萄酒，使得這個價格物有所值。因為我們是最后到達(dá)的一批客人，他們就在我們的桌子上放了幾瓶酒讓我們享用(這樣我們就不會醉醺醺地去倒酒而撞到了杯子)

After a lovely dinner, we all headed back to my co-worker’s apartment to drink more. While it was fun, the next morning was horrible. I actually think I was still drunk when I arrived at work the next morning, and I even took a quick nap behind my office door. Thankfully everyone was busy cooking for our office lunch so no one seemed to notice.

吃過一頓不錯的晚餐后，我們回到同事的公寓里喝了更多的酒。雖然很有趣，但第二天早上卻糟糕透頂。事實上，我覺得第二天早上上班的時候我還醉著，我甚至在辦事處門后小睡了一會兒。謝天謝地，每個人都忙著準(zhǔn)備午餐，所以似乎沒有人注意到我。

Around lunch time I started to feel a bit better, and was able to participate in our giant company potluck. I had no idea how many employees we actually have in our Beijing office because we’re all spread out! I would say we had at least 50 people at the lunch, including a few visiting colleagues from Shanghai. While we didn’t have any turkey or stuffing, I did grab a huge plate of homemade mac and cheese as well as a tiny slice of pumpkin pie!

大約到了吃午飯的時候，我開始感覺好一點了，能夠參加我們辦事處的聚餐了。我不知道我們北京辦事處實際上有多少員工，因為我們都分散在各處！我敢說，我們至少有50人參加了中午的聚餐，其中包括一些來訪的上海同事。雖然我們沒有火雞或填料，我還是吃了一大盤自制的奶酪通心粉，還有一小塊南瓜派！

Wow I sound like a five-year-old, but honestly this was a highlight of my month. Honestly, making friends as an adult is hard, especially if you don’t have time for hobbies.

哇，我聽起來像一個五歲的孩子，但老實說，這是我這個月的亮點。成年后交朋友很難，特別是當(dāng)你沒有時間發(fā)展業(yè)余愛好的時候。

A few weeks ago it snowed in Beijing, so I decided to go for a walk around Peking University (the Harvard of China) because I live nearby and I was too excited about the snow to stay inside. While I was wandering, I was able to make two separate friends who are both students there. One of them even likes to go salsa dancing, so I think I’ll recruit him to go with me and split the $10 USD cab ride home.

幾個星期前，北京下雪了，所以我決定去北京大學(xué)(中國的哈佛)散散步，因為我就住在附近，我太興奮了，不想呆在家里面。當(dāng)我散步的時候，我交到了兩個不同的朋友，他們都是那里的學(xué)生。其中一個人甚至喜歡跳薩爾薩舞，所以我想我會邀請他和我一起去跳舞，然后平攤10美元的出租車費回家。

Last week one of my co-workers who lives in my building moved across town to Sanlitun, the business/bar/shopping area. It’s almost a solid hour by subway to get to his place, so I honestly thought him moving would be the worst thing for my social life. However, now that he’s there I’ve really started getting out a lot more. He and his new roommates threw a housewarming party, where I met tons of other expats who are living in Beijing long-term. This is great for me, because honestly I’m tired of making all new friends all the time. I added a few new people on WeChat, so hopefully I’ll have more people to hang out with in the next few months.

上周，我住在同一棟樓里的一位同事搬到了三里屯，那是一個商業(yè)區(qū)/酒吧區(qū)/購物區(qū)。坐地鐵去他家?guī)缀跻粋€小時，所以他搬家對我的社交來說真是太糟糕了。然而，現(xiàn)在他在那里，我真的只能開始多出去走走。他和他的新室友舉辦了一個喬遷派對，我在那里遇到了很多長期居住在北京的外國人。這對我來說很好，因為說實話，我厭倦了總是交新朋友。我在微信上添加了一些新朋友，希望在接下來的幾個月里能有更多的朋友和我一起玩。

It took me pretty much the whole month of November to figure out how to manage my work-life balance to make sure I don’t have any of those anxiety attacks ever again. I started requesting days off when I needed them (no more getting pressured into working 6-day weeks) and I started giving myself permission to have a life outside of work and my blog. It was a hard month getting my crap together, but honestly I’m so much happier and more fulfilled now!

我花了差不多整個11月的時間來找出如何平衡工作和生活的方法，以確保我再也不會有那些焦慮癥了。我開始在需要的時候請假(不再強(qiáng)迫自己每周工作6天)，我開始允許自己在工作和博客之外有自己的生活。這是艱難的一個月，但老實說，我現(xiàn)在更快樂，而且更充實了！

I’ve realized that while I like this job compared to other jobs I’ve had in the past, I’m really just not suited for a full-time office position and that’s okay. I just need to make sure I put my happiness and health as the first priority, and work on paying off these student loans so I can do what I really want to do.

我意識到，雖然與過去的其他工作相比，我喜歡這份工作，但我真的不適合做全職辦公室工作。這沒關(guān)系，我只需要確保我把我的幸福和健康放在第一位，努力償還我的學(xué)生貸款，這樣我就可以做我真正想做的事情。

Here’s some other fun stuff that happened this month

這個月還發(fā)生了一些有趣的事情：

I judged a debate tournament for work, which was actually pretty fun! It was about whether or not animal testing should be banned, a topic which I know waaaay too much about now.

我為一個辯論比賽做裁判，這真的很有趣！這是關(guān)于是否應(yīng)該禁止動物實驗的話題，這是一個我非常了解的話題。

I got new pages in my passport! I completely ran out of pages thanks to my yearly 2+ China visas along with all those SE Asia visas. The process was surprisingly painless, and only took me an hour. The US is discontinuing the additional pages at the end of this month, so if you want to grab a few more pages (24-48 to be exact) be sure to get them before then! Just keep in mind that you can only do this abroad at an embassy or consulate.

我的護(hù)照上有了新的頁數(shù)！拜我每年至少獲得2個以上中國簽證和東南亞簽證所賜，我的護(hù)照的頁數(shù)已經(jīng)完全用完了。增加頁數(shù)的過程出奇地輕松，只花了我一個小時。美國將在本月底停止增加額外的頁數(shù)，所以如果你想增加額外的頁數(shù)(確切地說，是第24-48頁)，一定要在那之前得到它們！記住，你只能在國外的大使館或領(lǐng)事館這樣做。

My sink exploded. Literally the handle of my sink blew off and sprayed water EVERYWHERE. It was actually a disaster and happened at 6:50 AM right as I was heading to the debate tournament. Thankfully the kind man who works downstairs took care of everything while I ran off to the tournament, and he was able to get the water shut off and get a cleaner in to mop up all of the water I couldn’t get with multiple towels. Also, it only took them a few days to send someone to fix my sink. I kind of like my new sink and it didn’t completely ruin my “wooden” floors so in all honesty it’s kind of funny in retrospect.

我的洗手池漏水了。事實上，是我的洗手池閥門壞了，水噴得到處都是。這簡直是一場災(zāi)難。這場災(zāi)難大約發(fā)生在上午6:50，當(dāng)時我正準(zhǔn)備去參加辯論賽。謝天謝地，我去參加比賽的時候，樓下的那個好心人把所有的事情都搞定了，他把水關(guān)掉了，還找了個清潔工把我用很多條毛巾都沒弄干凈的水擦干凈。而且，他們只花了幾天時間就派人來修理我的洗手池。我喜歡我的新洗手池，這場災(zāi)難也沒有完全毀了我的“木制”地板，所以老實說，這是一個有趣的回憶。

I’m going home for Christmas! Finally after a year and a half I’ll finally be heading home to Seattle for two weeks. This trip is too short and it’s been far too long, but I’m still really excited. Firstly, it’ll be great to finally see my family and whatever friends are home (and my cat.) I also can’t wait to A) stuff my face with any non-Chinese food B) Load up a suitcase with food and toiletries from the US and C) finally take a vacation from working 2 jobs!!

我要回家過圣誕節(jié)了！一年半之后，我終于可以回西雅圖的家呆上兩周了。這次旅行時間太短了，距離也太遠(yuǎn)，但我仍然很興奮。首先，最終見到我的家人和朋友(還有我的貓)是一件很棒的事情，我也迫不及待地想要a)用任何非中國的食物塞滿我的嘴；b)用來自美國的食物和化妝品裝滿一個手提箱；c)終于可以從兩份工作中解脫出來了！

This Beijing Life: Month Four

北京的生活:第4個月

Like I said, I spent the first half of the month in Beijing. I mainly spent my time working, but I also tried to be social and even put together a little hutong bar crawl that didn’t quite go as planned. Just before Christmas I flew home to Seattle and spent the holidays with family.

就像我說的，這個月的上半個月我都在北京度過。我的大部分時間都花在了工作上，但我也嘗試著社交，甚至還組織了一次胡同酒吧之旅，不過沒有完全按照計劃進(jìn)行。就在圣誕節(jié)前，我飛回西雅圖，與家人一起度過了假期。

This was the first time in 3 years I’ve made it home for Christmas. Last year I celebrated with Shuffle Crew after our Christmas performance show, and the year before that I ate a jalapeno cheeseburger that hospitalized me with food poisoning. So it’s safe to say I was happy to be home for the first Christmas in forever!

這是三年來我第一次回家過圣誕節(jié)。去年，在我們的圣誕節(jié)表演結(jié)束后，我和ShuffleCrew一起慶祝，前年我吃了一個墨西哥胡椒芝士漢堡，導(dǎo)致我食物中毒住進(jìn)了醫(yī)院。所以可以肯定地說，我很高興能夠回家過這輩子第一個圣誕節(jié)！

It was also just nice to be home for a little while. A year and a half is a really long time to go without seeing your family or visiting your home country. Hopefully I can get home again next Christmas, or at least go home in February for the Chinese New Year!

在家待的一段時間也很開心。一年半的時間不見家人，也不回國，這確實是一段很長的時間。希望下個圣誕節(jié)我還能回家，或者至少在二月份回家過春節(jié)！

I think we all know the visa situation in China is a mess. So many people bend (or break) the rules, not because they want to, but because it’s such a bureaucratic hassle to get a work visa here.

我想我們都知道中國的簽證情況是一團(tuán)糟。這么多人屈服于(或者打破)規(guī)則，不是因為他們想這么做，而是因為在這里申請工作簽證太官僚主義化了。

Long story short, I had a residence permit from my MA program that expired at the end of December. I needed a new visa, but in order to qualify for a work visa in Beijing, you have to have two years of work experience in your field. Apparently teacher and college counselor are not similar enough for me to qualify as a foreign expert, so they have to make stuff up.

簡而言之，我的文學(xué)碩士課程的居留證在十二月底到期了。我需要一個新的簽證，但是想要在北京獲得工作簽證，你必須有兩年的工作經(jīng)驗。顯然，老師和大學(xué)導(dǎo)師完全不同，我還不夠資格成為一個外國專家，所以他們必須編造一些東西。

So since (for some unknown reason) I can’t get my work visa just yet, I had to get a business visa, which I’ll work on (technically illegal) until I get my work visa.

所以由于(未知的原因)，我現(xiàn)在還拿不到工作簽證，我只能去拿商務(wù)簽證。在拿到工作簽證之前，我會一直工作(嚴(yán)格來說這是非法的)。

I ate all the foods while I was home. Americanized Mexican food, authentic Mexican food, homemade Mexican food… I also had Ethiopian, Italian, and a mini Thanksgiving dinner! I even baked homemade apple and pumpkin pie while I was home…. I miss ovens.

我在家的時候吃光了所有的食物。美國化的墨西哥食物，正宗的墨西哥食物，自制的墨西哥食物...我還吃了埃塞俄比亞，意大利食物，還享用了一頓迷你感恩節(jié)晚餐！我甚至在家里烤了自制的蘋果和南瓜派。我很懷念烤箱。

It’s been years since I hung out with friends from high school. They live all over the country now (and I live in China) so it was really nice to catch up and see what’s really going on outside of social media. I was the most behind since no one can text me all the way over here, and my Facebook feed is flooded with travel blogging stuff and liberal/feminist articles.

我已經(jīng)很多年沒有和高中時代的朋友出去玩了。他們現(xiàn)在生活在全國各地(而我住在中國)，所以很高興能夠了解社交媒體之外的真實情況。我是最落后的，因為沒有人可以一直給我發(fā)短信，我的Facebook上充斥著旅游博客和自由/女權(quán)主義的文章。

We’re going to make a better effort to stay in touch now, and we even created a Whatsapp group chat yesterday!

現(xiàn)在我們將更加努力地保持聯(lián)系，昨天我們甚至創(chuàng)建了一個Whatsapp的聊天群！

Not everything this month was perfect. Here are some of the things that went wrong.

這個月并不是所有的事情都是完美的，以下是一些糟糕的地方。

I got sick and couldn’t afford a doctor

我生病了，請不起醫(yī)生。

I have health insurance in China that actually covers me everywhere but the USA. For some reason I didn’t think to get travel insurance before heading home, because I figured since I’m a citizen there’s somewhere I could go to get treated if something went wrong. Nope. Nope, nope, nope.

我在中國有醫(yī)療保險——除了在美國，在其他地方我都有醫(yī)療保險。出于某種原因，我沒有想到在回家之前去買旅游保險，因為我當(dāng)時想，既然我是美國公民，如果出了什么問題，我可以去某個地方接受治療。但是我錯了。

Now that everyone in the USA needs to have health insurance, all the cheap walk-in clinics have been closed. I also tried to get birth control pills from Planned Parenthood based on a sliding income scale, and that’s gone now too! $50 a pack is a bit too steep for me, so I’ll just have to figure that out in China, I guess.

現(xiàn)在美國的每個人都需要醫(yī)療保險，所有便宜的免費診所都關(guān)門了。我也試過從國際計劃生育聯(lián)合會購買避孕藥，但是現(xiàn)在也沒有了！50美元一包對我來說太貴了，所以我想我只能在中國想想辦法了。

In order for me to be covered while I’m home, I’d have to apply for a year-long plan which is a complicated process, and not worth it if I’m only home for 2 weeks. That whole “you can be on your parents’ plan” thing? Yeah, but you have to pay for the privilege. Approximately $150 USD/month for me! Oh, and you have to sign up for the whole year upfront.

為了讓我在家的時候能夠得到保障，我必須申請一個為期一年的保險計劃，這是一個復(fù)雜的過程，如果我只在家待兩周，那么這個保險計劃是不值得的。你可以加入你父母的保險計劃嗎？是的，但是你必須為此付出代價。大約150美元/月！對了，你還得提前一年報名。

Even World Nomads, my go-to travel insurance, is TWICE THE PRICE if you’re heading to the US than it is anywhere else in the world. Thanks, America.

即使是世界游牧民，這是我的首選旅游保險，如果你在美國辦理，它的價格也是世界上其他任何地方的兩倍。謝謝你，美國。

The worst part of being home was getting really, really sick and not being able to see a doctor. For almost 3 days I could barely get out of bed due to extreme stomach pain. At first I thought it was from eating too much greasy, fried food and carbs, but it must’ve been something else. The pain stayed in my upper stomach and never actually continued down to my intestines. I still have no idea what was wrong with me, but thankfully I got better in a few days so I didn’t have to shell out $175 just to SEE a doctor.

呆在家里最糟糕的事情就是病得非常非常重，而且不能去看醫(yī)生。由于胃痛，我連續(xù)3天幾乎不能下床。起初我以為是因為吃了太多油膩、油炸食品和碳水化合物，但后來我肯定是別的原因。因為疼痛一直停留在我的上腹部，從來沒有真正擴(kuò)展到我的腸。我仍然不知道我到底是怎么了，但是謝天謝地幾天后我就好了，所以我不用花175美元去看醫(yī)生了。

I even tried buying travel health insurance when I got sick in the US, but most companies have a policy that you either have to A) buy insurance before you leave for your trip or B) you can’t use your insurance for medical problems within three days of buying it unless it’s an emergency. Probably to fend of cheapskate idiots like me.

當(dāng)我在美國生病的時候，我甚至嘗試過購買旅游健康保險，但是大多數(shù)公司都有這樣的政策:a)在出發(fā)前購買保險；b)除非是緊急情況，否則你不能在購買保險后的三天內(nèi)用它來解決醫(yī)療問題。這可能是為了對付像我這樣的小氣鬼。

Note to self: next time you go the US buy travel insurance.

提醒自己:下次去美國的時候買旅游保險。

Part of the deal with me going home for Christmas was that I had to still edit essays while I was home. However, we told all of the students they needed to have their essays pretty much done before Christmas. Of course, this did not happen. I spent at least an hour almost every night editing essays. I would be enjoying dinner with my family, or watching a movie only to get a text: “did you see those 5 essays I sent you an hour ago??” GIVE ME A BREAK.

我要回家過圣誕節(jié)的部分原因是，我在家的時候還得編輯文章。我們告訴所有的學(xué)生，他們需要在圣誕節(jié)前完成他們的論文。然而，這并沒有發(fā)生。我?guī)缀趺刻焱砩弦辽倩ㄒ粋€小時編輯論文。我可能正在享受與家人共進(jìn)晚餐，或者看一部電影卻收到一條短信:“你看到我一小時前發(fā)給你的那5篇文章了嗎?”哦，天啊，饒了我吧。

One day I actually edited 20 essays. I’m not kidding.

有一天我真的編輯了20篇文章，我不是在開玩笑。

I have to say I felt a bit guilty while I was home for being gone so long. Everyone keeps asking me “When are you coming home?” and I honestly don’t have an answer for them. I feel really bad about not seeing my grandpa for so long, especially since my grandma passed away over two years ago. He’s 91 now, and I think he’s a bit upset over how little he sees me.

我不得不說，離家這么久，我感到有點內(nèi)疚。每個人都問我“你什么時候回家？”我真的不知道該怎么回答。這么長時間沒有見到爺爺，我感到很難過，特別是自從我奶奶兩年前去世以后。他現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)91歲了，我想他有點不高興，因為他很少見到我。

I know that if I was able to sustain myself online, or work a job remotely, I could go home much more often. My round-trip flight to the US was only $500! My problem is the lack of vacation days right now. I haven’t even technically used any of my 20 vacation days since I worked so much overtime this fall, but I still feel guilty taking time off. The work culture in China is even worse than the US!

我知道，如果我能夠在網(wǎng)上維持生計，或者遠(yuǎn)程進(jìn)行工作，我就能更經(jīng)常地回家。我去美國的往返機(jī)票只要500美元！然而我的問題是現(xiàn)在缺少假期。自從今年秋天我加了那么多班以來，我甚至沒有用過我的20天假期中的任何一天，但是我仍然為請假感到內(nèi)疚。中國的工作文化比美國還糟糕！

My childhood cat who I bought as a kitten in 4th grade passed away a few days before I was supposed to fly home. This is the second time I found out a pet had died before I even knew he was sick, but at least I didn’t find out over Facebook this time (you can thank my brother for that one).

我小時候養(yǎng)的那只貓是我四年級時買的，它在我準(zhǔn)備飛回家的前幾天去世了。這是我第二次發(fā)現(xiàn)一只寵物在我知道它生病之前就死了，但至少這次我沒有在Facebook上發(fā)現(xiàn)(我為此感謝我的哥哥)。

As much as I’m really sad he’s gone, I’m happy he at least lived this long. This cat had bladder stones when he was a kitten, and wasn’t supposed to live very long. Somehow he made it 15 years!

雖然我很難過他去世了，但我還是很高興他至少活了這么久。這只貓在它還是一只小貓的時候就得了膀胱結(jié)石，它本來不應(yīng)該活得很久的。但不知怎么的，它活了15年！

This Beijing Life: Month 5

北京的生活:第5個月

To be honest, it feels like nothing really happened this month! I should probably take notes throughout the month so I can remember what I actually did, because January was definitely one big blur.

老實說，這個月好像什么都沒發(fā)生！我可能應(yīng)該在這個月做些筆記，這樣我就能記住我到底做了什么，因為一月份絕對是一個模糊的月份。

I started the month out in Seattle, where I had a very uneventful New Year with my family. After the last two new years and how I celebrated Halloween and Thanksgiving, it was kind of nice to have a relaxing holiday for once.

我在西雅圖開始了這個月的旅行，在那里我和我的家人度過了一個平靜的新年。在過去的兩個新年，以及我如何慶祝萬圣節(jié)和感恩節(jié)之后，終于有了一次放松的假期，感覺還是不錯的。

After a final few days in Seattle, I hopped back on a plane to Beijing. I definitely wasn’t ready to head back, but when you have a real-person job abroad, you don’t exactly get a say over how many days you get off. This last month in Beijing was pretty great though. I went to salsa (FINALLY), searched for new apartments, and refused to work any overtime. Sounds like a good month, am I right?

在西雅圖度過最后幾天后，我跳上了飛往北京的飛機(jī)。我當(dāng)時絕對沒有準(zhǔn)備好回去，但是當(dāng)你在國外有一份真正的工作時，你不能確切地決定你能休多少天假。不過，上個月在北京的表現(xiàn)相當(dāng)不錯。我終于去跳了薩爾薩，找到了新的公寓，并拒絕加班。聽起來是個不錯的月份，對吧？

I spent the first week of the month at home in Seattle, and then headed back to Beijing for the remainder of the month!

這個月的第一個星期我在西雅圖的家里度過，然后剩下的時間我就回北京了！

Aside from all the highlights of being home that I mentioned last month, here are some great things that happened in Beijing.

除了我提到的上個月在家的所有亮點之外，還有一些在北京發(fā)生的很棒的事情。

For those of you who have been reading my story the last few months, you know my work-life balance has been horrible. I was working 6-day weeks and overtime at my job as a college counselor, due to the busy admissions season. On top of that, I was also trying to manage this blog, as well as the freelance writing I do for Go Overseas.

對于那些過去幾個月一直在讀我的故事的人來說，你們知道我的工作和生活的平衡很糟糕。由于招生季節(jié)很忙，我作為一名大學(xué)顧問，每周工作6天，還要加班。除此之外，我還試圖管理這個博客，以及為GoOverseas自由撰稿。

I also joined a women’s networking group in Beijing, where I attended the first bi-monthly dinner event. It was awesome to meet such a large group of strong, talented, and intelligent women from all over the world. At the dinner, a PhD student from Jamaica explained to us the situation of women in politics in her home country. It was such an interesting speech, and I couldn’t help but think the problems Jamaica faces ring true for women in government globally.

我還加入了北京的一個女性社交小組，第一次參加了兩月一次的晚宴。能遇到這么多來自世界各地的堅強(qiáng)、有才華、聰明的女性，真是太棒了。晚宴上，一位來自牙買加的博士生向我們介紹了她的祖國婦女參政的情況。這是一次非常有趣的演講，我不禁想到牙買加面臨的問題對于全球政府中的女性來說都是真實存在的。

While I was there, I met a girl who runs a group for female writers in Beijing, so I’ll definitely be meeting up with them soon too. They even want to feature me on their blog!

在那里的時候，我遇到了一個女孩，她在北京經(jīng)營著一個女性作家團(tuán)體，所以我肯定很快也會和她們見面。她們甚至想要在她們的博客上展示我！

I kind of forgot the Chinese New Year holiday was coming up because I was so distracted by Christmas. By the time I realized I needed to book a ticket, everything was ridiculously expensive! Of course, the New Year is the time that everyone in China travels, so I couldn’t find anything even remotely affordable.

我差點忘了中國的春節(jié)就要到了，因為我被圣誕節(jié)搞得心煩意亂。當(dāng)我意識到我需要訂票時，所有的東西都貴得離譜！當(dāng)然，新年是每個中國人旅行的日子，所以我找不到任何可以負(fù)擔(dān)得起的東西。

Since I work for an agency and not a school, I actually only get the seven government holidays off for the New Year, not the three weeks to a month school teachers get. I thought our limited breaks were kind of ridiculous since most of our students won’t be coming in anyway. Why not just give everyone some time off after the busy application season? It’s not like we’re doing anything!

因為我是在一個機(jī)構(gòu)工作，而不是在學(xué)校工作，所以實際上我只在新年有七個政府假期，而不是學(xué)校老師的3個星期到1個月的假期。我覺得我們有限的休息時間有點荒謬，因為反正我們的大多數(shù)學(xué)生也不會來。為什么不在繁忙的招生季節(jié)之后給每個人多一些時間呢？我們又沒有什么事可做！

The worst part is that when I say we get seven days off, I mean we get seven days off including weekends. That’s how holidays work in East Asia. You have to work on the weekends to make sure you literally only get seven days off, rather than the nine days you’d get in America if you took Monday-Friday off (plus two weekends on either side).

最糟糕的是，當(dāng)我說我們有七天的假期時，我的意思是我們有七天的假期，但不包括周末。東亞的假期就是這樣過的。你必須在周末工作，所以實際上只有七天的假期，而不是你在美國的九天的假期，如果你周一到周五休息(兩邊還有兩個周末)。

Since the tickets were so expensive, I had resigned myself to staying in Beijing, exploring the city and catching up on my blog. Then I discovered my boss had canceled students for a second week after the Chinese New Year! We still have to use our vacation days, but it’s less of a big deal if we leave. I’m not really sure what people are going to do in the office with no students but… that’s not my problem.

由于票價太貴，我決定留在北京，探索這座城市，在博客上寫寫文章。然后我發(fā)現(xiàn)我的老板取消了春節(jié)后的第二周的課程！雖然我們?nèi)匀恍枰梦覀兊募倨?，但是如果我們離開的話，也就沒什么大不了的了。我真的不知道人們在沒有學(xué)生的辦公室里會做什么，但是...那不是我要考慮的問題。

So when I found this out, I spent an entire day looking up the cheapest tickets possible. My only prerequisite was that I wanted to go somewhere outside China. I checked all the dates surrounding the New Year, and every country in Asia. I used Skyscanner, ITA Matrix, and Google Flights to try and find the best deals. It was crazy!

所以當(dāng)我發(fā)現(xiàn)這一點的時候，我花了一整天的時間去找最便宜的機(jī)票。我想去中國以外的地方看看。我查了新年前后的所有日期，還有亞洲的每個國家。我使用Skyscanner、ITAMatrix和GoogleFlights試圖找到最劃算的機(jī)票。太瘋狂了！

The cheapest tickets were to Moscow, and I was actually this close to booking the flight, but I was worried about the visa. I called the Russian embassy in China literally 200 times trying to get through and ask if I could apply for a visa in China without a Chinese residence permit because apparently, that’s an issue. They said that since I’m American, I would get the visa but it would be a $130 USD fee…. Yeah, nope.

最便宜的機(jī)票是去莫斯科的，事實上我就差一點就訂到機(jī)票了，但我還是擔(dān)心簽證問題。我給俄羅斯駐中國大使館打了不下200次電話，試圖打通電話，然后詢問我是否可以在沒有中國居留證的情況下申請簽證，因為顯然，這是一個很重要的問題。他們說因為我是美國人，我可以拿到簽證，但是需要130美元的手續(xù)費。是的，我沒有錢。

SO the next cheapest option was…. Manila! I just visited the Philippines last summer (still working on all those posts…) but a small typhoon and crazy monsoon rain messed with my itinerary. I wouldn’t have changed it for the world though because I ended up visiting Siargao, which was amazing! This time I’ll be visiting Bohol and Siquijor for the next two and a half weeks.

所以接下來最便宜的選擇是..馬尼拉！我去年夏天剛?cè)ミ^菲律賓(我還在寫關(guān)于那里的帖子...)，但是一個小臺風(fēng)和瘋狂的季風(fēng)雨打亂了我的行程。我無法改變它，所以我最終去了錫亞高島，這太棒了！我將在接下來的兩個半星期里去薄荷島和錫基霍爾。

Wow… that was long, but booking that trip basically made my month. And I only spent a little over $300 USD round trip!

哇...真是漫長的旅行，但是那次旅行基本上讓我撐過了一個月。因為我來回只花了300多美元！

The bank had to take the money from me, and then we called the police to report it once I figured out where it had come from. This is the best part so I don’t want to spoil it, but I ended up getting hauled off in a police car due to a visa registration issue. My HR manager had to rescue me from the police station and explain to them an elaborate set of lies before they let me go.

銀行把錢從我這里拿走，一旦我查出錢是從哪里來的，我們就報警。這是整個故事最精彩的部分，所以我不想在這里說太多，但我最后因為簽證登記問題被一輛警車帶走了。我的人力資源經(jīng)理不得不把我從警察局解救出來，并在他們放我走之前向他們解釋了一套精心設(shè)計的謊言。

Now everyone in my office jokes that I’m a fugitive, and every time I go to the bank or ATM they tell me not to get arrested.

現(xiàn)在我辦公室里的每個人都開玩笑說我是個逃犯，每次我去銀行或自動取款機(jī)，他們都告訴我不要被逮捕了。