Common Talk Weeklyshuang yu zhou kan
issue date

Angela
October 22, 2003

Common Talk's first birthday is special for me on more than one level. It is also the anniversary of my own "birth" in China a year ago. Now I am an editor at the Xiamen Daily newspaper's Common Talk. I studied journalism at university in my home country, Australia. When I graduated I moved to Scotland where I worked as a journalist for the Scotsman newspaper in Edinburgh. I came to China about a year ago, to teach English and to experience another culture and way of life. I initially came to China just for six weeks but over 12 months later I am still here! After teaching in Jinan and Dandong I found beautiful Xiamen. I have lived in this city since February this year and love it for its clean beaches, perfect weather, friendly people and fantastic food! So much reminds me of Australia and so much is so different.

I began working for Common Talk shortly after arriving in Xiamen. At first I was correcting the weekly pages and writing occasional articles. The International Trade Fair in September was a highlight and a challenge for our team at the paper. We went from publishing two pages once a week which were aimed primarily at English language learners, to writing daily pages about international economics to be read by a foreign audience. This time was a test for us to see how we could work together as a team and I am proud to say I think we were successful.

Now, as the paper expands, I am looking forward to our paper being a bridge between China and the west in Xiamen. It is exciting to be working between two culture and languages. With help from you, the readers, I think CT has the potential to bring our community close together, making Xiamen an even more wonderful place to live.

Happy birthday, Common Talk and may we celebrate many more together!

双语周刊的第一个生日对我而言已经意义非凡，因为这也是我在中国整整一年的纪念日。现在我是厦门日报双语周刊的一名编辑。在我的国家——澳大利亚，我大学 念的就是新闻专业，毕业后，我到苏格兰当记者，效力于爱丁堡《苏格兰人》报。一年前，我来到中国教英语，并开始领略另一种文化与另一种生活方式。最初我来 华只想呆上六周，可是，一年过去了，我还在这儿。在济南和丹东教书后，我发现了美丽的厦门。于是从今年二月开始，我居住在这个城市，并且爱上了这个城市， 爱她那干净的海滩，宜人的气候，友好的居民，还有那令人赞不绝口的食物。如此之多让我想起澳大利亚，如此之多的不同。

刚到厦门不久，我就加入了双语周刊。起初，我只是负责校对版面，偶尔写些文章。而九月的国际投资贸易洽谈会对我们整个团队而言是一次极大的挑战。从原先的 基本只针对英语学习者的一周两个版，到后来每天一个版，为外国读者提供国际经济新闻报道，这对我们所有的人都是一场考验，考验我们能否形成一支富有战斗力 的团队协力奋斗。现在我可以自豪地说，我们做到了。我们又即将面临一场新的挑战，扩版——扩成八个版。能够游走于两种文化与两种语言之间，这是非常令人兴 奋的，在双语读者的帮助下，我认为双语周刊具有很大的潜能——让我们的社会变得更加紧密，让厦门变成更适合居住的绝妙之处。

生日快乐，双语周刊。