我和妻女们搬到了浙江

弗兰克 • 冯 • 登 • 霍夫

今年55岁的弗兰克·冯·登·霍夫，是一名来自德国的造纸工程师。三年前，因为工作需要，他和妻子安妮特、大女儿塞尔玛（19岁）和小女儿玛蒂塔（15岁）一起来到了浙江龙游。以下是弗蘭克讲述的他们家的故事。

我目前就职于德国古楼集团（Felix-Schoeller）。集团在世界各地都有造纸厂，通过这些造纸厂生产特殊纸张。

几年前，我们公司决定在中国寻找一家同样生产特殊纸张的合作伙伴。对于一个全球性的企业来说，在中国直接建立生产线是非常重要的，因为只有及时为这个巨大的市场生产产品，并与客户进行更直接的接触，了解他们的需求，才能让公司更好地发展起来。

在成功找到总部位于杭州的浙江万邦浆纸集团这一合作伙伴后，古楼集团与其成立了华邦古楼新材料有限公司，并请我前往中国全面服务这个合资企业。那时我是古楼集团在德国的一家工厂的厂长，所以我先征询了我家人的意见。

我的儿子当时在德国学习，所以他得待在那里，我的妻子和两个女儿则希望和我一起“飞过去看看”，参观参观这个古老的国家。在我们的旅途开始之前，妻子和小女儿表示她们就只是想“飞过去看看”，并不想长期留在中国。我和大女儿则相反，一开始就决定要在中国生活上几年。

在这次美丽的上海、杭州和龙游之旅的最后一天，小女儿对我的妻子说：“这里好像还不错。”妻子则表示，她好像在做梦一般，不想按时醒来，并且不断问自己：我们为什么不试一试呢？这对孩子们和整个家庭来说都是一个很好的机会。

就这样，我们四个都留了下来，现在已经在浙江（主要是杭州和龙游）生活了快三年。过去的近两年，因为新冠肺炎疫情的影响没有回过德国，也没有离开过中国。

如此，我的工作合约已经延长到2024年。

我们在中国、在浙江的这段时间发生了很多事情、很多故事，我想向你讲述其中一些。

我喜欢黑胶唱片，不过在杭州很难找到一家黑胶唱片店。幸运的是，我还是找到了。

这就是我的“黑胶好友”金方勇的店。过去两年半的时间里，我定期去拜访他和他的店。他不会说英语，我不会说中文，但这不妨碍我俩交流——我们找到了一种顺畅的交流方式（微信和翻译）。他知道我喜欢的音乐，每当有新的黑胶唱片到货的时候，他总是会给我发信息，我就会过去找他，在那里一待就是几个小时。我们什么也不说，只是静静地欣赏音乐。

当2020年第一季度疫情比较严峻的时候，我还是在防疫政策允许的情况下照常拜访金方勇。他总是非常欢迎我。有时候周围一些人看着我这个“老外”不知所措的时候，他总是解释说，“这是我的德国朋友，一切正常”。也有一些时候，有些顾客在店里会用英语跟我交谈，并为金方勇做翻译。但大多数时候，我们不会通过语言交流——有时候友谊不需要言语，只需要相同的爱好。我非常感谢金方勇这位黑胶唱片朋友，我们的友谊当然不止于此。

我的妻子成了杭州绿城育华学校的一名德语教师，在想去德国学习、年龄在10到12岁的学生班级教德语。她感到非常高兴，因为这些学生总是特别友好，通过接触各种各样的学科得到良好的教育——即便是在德国，也很难在同年龄段看到这样的情况。

有一天晚上，她回家后收到了一封学生们的来信。学生们在信中说，他们真的喜欢她的教学方式，她经常抽出时间来纠正他们的写作、私下里邀请他们到咖啡店或家里练习德语。那天晚上，她感到开心极了。

我的大女儿对历史一直非常感兴趣，因此，在完成国际文凭大学预科课程后，她开始在宁波诺丁汉大学学习国际关系专业。“这就是我将来想做的事，”她说，“我现在理解一个重要的问题，就是所有国家都有不同的历史和文化，你必须了解历史，这样你才能知道为什么” 。

小女儿玛蒂塔热衷于运动。足球、排球、越野跑、篮球和其他所有的运动……她几乎都会参与。在刚到中国的前几个星期里，她问我：“爸爸，我已经能用英语理解数学了，却不太懂用德语去理解数学了，而德语是我的母语。”两个月后，她来到我们的公寓，用英语谈论她的一天、她做了什么。我妻子则在一旁开玩笑说：“如果你愿意，你现在可以说德语了。”这意味着她现在英语说得很好。另外，她也在学习汉语。

在浙江工作近三年的时间里，我和同事们找到了一种有效的沟通方式，并且做得非常好。尊重他人的文化是非常重要的，所以我们能够把中国和德国最好的一些方面结合在一起。我并不是公司的领导，因为我一直把自己看作是整个团队的一员，和同事们建立了深厚友谊。

这段时间里，因为某些原因不少外国人离开了中国，只有一部分人返回。我希望这种情况在未来能再次改变。在我个人看来，每个国家都应该有外国人，这点是非常重要的，这样我们就可以更好地相互学习和理解。只要人民和人民、国家和国家之间不断沟通，就不会有什么坏事情发生。

在浙江，我的家人和我遇到了很多朋友，也找到了留下来的决心：即使你不会说中文，也有可能找到一种有效的沟通方式。

Living in China： Words Not the Only Way of Communication

By Frank von den Hoff

I work for the German company Felix-Schoeller which makes special paper all around the world in a number of paper mills.

A few years ago， the company decided to look for a Chinese partner for producing special paper in China. It is very important for a global player like Felix-Schoeller to have a production line based in China， so that their products could be manufactured in time for this huge market and a more direct contact could be established with the customers to understand what they really need.

After finding a partner （Welbon Pulp & Paper Group， headquartered in Hangzhou， Zhejiang province）， Felix-Schoeller set up a new joint venture and asked me to support it in China， which meant I would relocate for the new position. At this moment I was a mill manager at one of our factories in Germany. Therefore， I first asked my family about their feelings and opinions for doing this.

My son was studying in Germany at the time so he had to stay put. My wife and two daughters would travel with me to make a “fly and see” trip to China. Before we started our journey， Annette and Madita decided that they would like to tour around the ancient country but would not stay for the long term. Selma， my elder daughter， （and I myself of course） said on the other hand that she would like to stay in China for several years.

On the last day of this beautiful trip to Shanghai， Hangzhou and Longyou （a county in Zhejiang province）， Madita， my younger daughter， told her mother that “it’s not bad here at all”， and my wife seemed to be in a dream in which she didn’t want to wake up on time. She asked herself： why didn’t we try it？ After all， it’s a big chance for the children and the family.

Now here we are. The four of us have been living in Zhejiang for nearly three years. We haven’t traveled back to Germany or out of China in the past two years， mostly because of COVID-19. In fact， I have already extended my working contract to at least 2024.

There are a lot of things and stories which have happened during my time in Zhejiang and in China and I would like to tell you a few of them.

I like vinyl records and to be honest it was not easy to find such a store in Hangzhou. Fortunately， I eventually found one after some efforts.

It’s the shop of my “vinyl records” friend Jin Fangyong in Hangzhou. I have been visiting him and his shop for the past two and half year regularly. He speaks no English and I don’t speak Chinese， but we found a way to communicate with each other （WeChat and translation）. He knows the music I prefer and he always sends me messages when new vinyl records arrived. Then I would drop by his store and stay there for a few hours. Sometimes， we don’t speak， only listening to music.

When the pandemic situation in China in the first quarter of 2020 was a bit severe， I still paid visits to Jin and his store — in full compliance with the COVID-19 prevention and control rules and regulations of course， and I was always welcome. Sometimes other customers would look at me and appear confused， but he always explained that I was his German friend and everything was fine.

There are also moments when others in the store speak in English to me and translate for Jin， when we converse with each other. But most of the time we don’t communicate with words. Sometimes friendship don’t need words， only the same hobbies and interests. I would like My sincerest thanks to Jin Fangyong for being my “vinyl records” friend and even more.

My wife became a German language teacher in the Greentown Yuhua School in Hangzhou and has been teaching students aged from 10 to 12 who want to study in Germany. She feels happy about doing this because the students are always friendly and have been offered a range of subjects and extracurricular activities to get a good education. She has never seen this in Germany.

One day she came back home with a letter from the students. In the letter， her students told her that they really liked how she taught them， how she took the effort during her free time to correct their writings and invite them personally to have a coffee or our home so that they could practice speaking the German language with her. That evening she was full of happiness.

Selma， my elder daughter， has always been interested in history and she had a really good teacher in Mr Terry Stromberg. After she finished her IB （International Baccalaureate） courses， she is now pursuing the studies in international relations at the Nottingham University in Ningbo.

“This is what I want to do in the future，” she said. “Now I understand that all the countries have different histories and cultures. This is the reason why for some it is easier to get a friendship and for others it is not. You must know the history so you can imagine why.”

My younger daughter Madita is a sports enthusiast and she plays football， volleyball， basketball， and takes part in cross-country running and everything else.

In the first weeks when we first arrived in Zhejiang， she told me one day， “Dad， now I can understand mathematics in English that I didn’t understand in German previously， and this should be my home language.” Two months later， she arrived in our apartment and talked about her day， what she had done all in English. My wife told her jokingly， “You can now speak in the German language if you want to.” This means she is really good at English now; besides， she is also learning Chinese.

In the past three years during my work here in Zhejiang， together with my Chinese and German colleagues， we have found an effective means to communicate with one another. In the process， we all realize that it is crucial that we respect the other culture， and that’s why we can put the best of both worlds （Chinese and German） together. I have never considered myself as the “superior” of the company; rather， I have become a member of the team and made a lot of friends with my colleagues.

It is alleged that quite a few foreigners are leaving China for various reasons and only some are coming back. I hope that this situation changes in the future. In my personal opinion， it is very important for every country to have foreigners so that we can learn and understand each other better. As long as people and countries communicate nothing worse happens.

My family and I have found a lot of friends in China and we have also found that even if you don’t speak the language， it is still possible to find a way of communication.