曾盛
我是七年前離開中國到海外謀生的，七年不算很長的時間，但這段日子活得挺累挺累的。
大概是因為靠海之故吧，我們鄉下素來離家到海外謀生的人很多，所以我加入了這一行列也並不奇怪。我們家本來就不算很富裕，但為了讓我能順利地出國謀生，家人特地向有錢的人家借了錢並托人為我辦理出國護照和簽證。我先是到了日本。在日期間，我在大阪的一家中華酒樓打雜。工作很辛苦，但除了生活上必要的開支之外，我很少花錢。兩年後，我儲存了一點兒錢，於是返回中國的鄉下，反正在日本的生活也不太好熬。回到家後我著手做點小買賣。但誰料運氣太差，我不但在生意上沒有多大的聲色，甚至還把從日本帶回來的錢花得精光。沒法，我又得設法離家謀生。這次我赴英國。
初抵英國時我進了倫敦近郊的一間中式餐館打雜。工資很低，聽人說現在餐館打雜的工資遠遠不及往年。工資不多還不算，現在的房租卻比前貴得多，所以我總覺得手頭很緊很緊。怎麽辦呢？我決定申報難民身份。較早前，要想在英國申報難民身份並不太難。有了難民身份後，申求公屋就很容易。就這樣我順利地住進了公屋；公屋雖說不上什麽高級住宅，但比起租用私人的房子來，房租倒是便宜了不少。再說，住公屋，業主也不會像私有產業的房東那樣，常常到來檢查，每次都對室內室外的一切指手畫腳，嘮嘮叨叨的數落一番。正因為沒人檢查，住公屋方便朋友熟人來訪或留下過夜。朋友來多了，後來有些人幹脆搬進來長住，成了我的‘客戶’。事實上，象我這樣的情況並不罕見，反正大多數人在初抵步時都租不起私人的房子。不久，我把妻子從中國擔保過來，才讓搭住的朋友們搬出去。
在英國的這幾年，工作時有時無：有時在餐館打雜，有時做臨時裝修工；而每逢無活可幹或生病不能幹活時，我便領取救濟金。近幾年來，由於登陸英國申報難民身份的人越來越多，找尋工作比以前更為困難；即使能找到工作，工資也很低。不過，總而言之，在英國，盡管生活未必很穩定，但主要你能吃苦，溫飽還是不成問題的。對我來說，最大的困難還是語言。在日本時我學會了一些日文，出街入市還算應付得來；況且日文中摻有不少漢字，有時候雖不會說也能猜出其中意思。在英國，不懂英語問題就大了。前些時我生病，要定時到醫院去檢體，由於不會講英語，遇到的麻煩非常多。我的妻子過來之後，同樣遇到這類麻煩，因為女人要到醫院的機會好象更多一些。我與妻子商量好，日後有了孩子，一定要讓他們好好學習，掌握語言和科技知識，這樣在英國才有出路。
Adapting to a New Environment
Zeng Sheng
I left
China
seven years ago to go abroad. Those seven years were perhaps not too long a period, but however, they were to some extent a hard time for me.
Maybe because my home village was a seaside village, so that it was somewhat easier for people to leave for faraway places. At any rate it explains my departure seven years ago. Our family was not in any sense rich then, but in order for me to be able to leave, we borrowed money from a relatively wealthier family to arrange the necessary travel papers. First I went to
Japan
, where I worked for a Chinese restaurant in
Osaka
. The work in the restaurant was heavy for me, but I seldom spent money except for the necessities. That way I was able to save up some money after two years there. Since life in
Japan
was not actually very comfortable for me, I returned to
China
where I started up a small business. However, I had much luck for this venture, for which I poured in most of the money I had brought home from
Japan
. Frustrated, I left
China
again, this time for the
UK
.
When I first came to the
UK
I worked in a Chinese restaurant in a
London
suburb. The wage I received was low, as I had been told that long ago the wages for the same job had been a lot higher. With an already low wage, I had to pay a high rent for somewhere to stay, though. For this reason I was always broke. How should I face this? There was nothing I could do except apply for refugee status so that support could be secured. In fact it was too difficult to get this done then, after all. And as soon as you are a refugee or asylum-seeker you can apply for council housing. This was how I got my council flat. Council accommodation is not the best, but by comparison the rents are lower, and there is no landlord to trouble you with this and that all the time. And since there is no landlord to check on you, your friends can visit you anytime and may even stay with you. Eventually some of them may even become your tenants. This is nothing new anyway, most people would do this when they first came. Later, I applied for my wife to come over from
China
to stay with me. So my friends had to find somewhere else to move out.
I have been here for several years now. Sometimes I work and sometimes I don’t. If I find work it would be in catering or in property maintenance. If I can’t find work I get Jobseeker’s Allowance. In recent years because there have been too many people claiming asylum, finding work has become more difficult. Even if you can find work, the wages are very low. However, in the
UK
, as long as you don’t mind, feeding your mouth shouldn’t be a huge problem, even though life is not always very comfortable. For me though the biggest problem seems to be the language barrier. When I was in
Japan
I was able to learn a few sentences, so that I was more or less able to cope with things like shopping and so on. In any case some of the Japanese characters are also Chinese ones, so that I was able to guess the meaning of them without being able to read. In the
UK
though, things are different. Earlier I had been unwell I had to visit hospital quite often, and that caused me lots of problems as I could not speak English. Now my wife faces the same problem since coming over there, as women tend to need more health check-ups in the health clinics. For this we hope that one day, when we have children, we will get them the best education possible, so that they will be able to settle in the country a lead a better life.
