人生不設(shè)限·移民美國行不通

我父母都出生于原南斯拉夫的虔誠基督教家庭——那個地方現(xiàn)在叫塞爾維亞。因?yàn)檎h的鎮(zhèn)壓，他們年輕時就分別跟著家人移民到澳大利亞。他們的父母都隸屬使徒基督教派，信奉不帶武器的教條。政黨因信仰迫害他們，他們只能秘密聚會。而因?yàn)榫芙^加入政黨，他們的經(jīng)濟(jì)狀況非常窘迫(政黨把持了生活的各個方面)，所以爸爸小時候經(jīng)常挨餓。

My mum and dad were both born into strong Christian families in the part of Yugoslavia now known as Serbia. Their families immigrated separately to Australia while they were young because of Communist repression. Their parents were Apostolic Christians, and their faith included conscientious objection to bearing arms. The Communists discriminated against them and persecuted them for their beliefs. They had to hold services in secret. They suffered financially because they refused to join the Communist Party, which controlled every aspect of life. When my father was young, he often went hungry for that reason.

“二戰(zhàn)”后，我父母的家族都加入當(dāng)時成千上萬塞爾維亞基督徒的海外移民行動，移民地點(diǎn)包括澳大利亞、美國和加拿大等。我父母的家庭決定移民到澳大利亞，好讓兒孫擁有信仰自由;家族其他成員則移民到美國和加拿大，因此我在這些國家也有許多親戚。

Both sets of my grandparents joined many thousands of Serbian Christians who immigrated to Australia and also to the United States and Canada after World War II. My parents' families moved to Australia, where they and their children could be free to practice their Christian beliefs. Other members of their families moved to the United States and Canada around the same time, so I have many relatives in those countries too.

我的父母在墨爾本的某個教會相遇。我媽媽，杜許卡，當(dāng)時是護(hù)校的二年級學(xué)生;我爸爸，鮑里斯，則從事管理與會計工作，在正職之外，他后來成為一位帶職牧師[3]。在我差不多7歲時，父母考量到裝設(shè)義肢和照顧行動不便的我的醫(yī)療需求，決定移民美國。

My parents met in a Melbourne church. My mum, Dushka, was in her second year of nursing school at the Royal Children's Hospital in Victoria. My dad, Boris, worked in office administration and cost accounting. He later became a lay pastor in addition to his job. When I was about seven years old, my parents began considering a move to the United States because they felt there might be better access to new prosthetics and medical care to help us deal with my disabilities.

我叔叔貝塔·胡哲在靠近洛杉磯的阿格拉丘經(jīng)營營造及物業(yè)管理公司，貝塔叔叔常跟我爸爸說，只要爸爸能取得工作簽證，他就可以給他一份工作。洛杉磯附近有一個很大的塞爾維亞裔基督徒社區(qū)，社區(qū)里有幾個教會，對我父母來說，這里的確很有吸引力。雖然爸爸知道申請工作簽證是個冗長的過程，但他還是決定申請，同時我們也舉家北遷到昆士蘭的布里斯班，因?yàn)槟抢锏臍夂驅(qū)ξ冶容^好——除了身體有一堆問題，我還有過敏的毛病。

My uncle Batta Vujicic had a construction and property management business in Agoura Hills just 35 miles outside Los Angeles. Batta always told my father he'd give him a job if he could obtain a work visa. There was a large community of Serbian Christians with several churches around Los Angeles, which also appealed to my parents. My father learned that obtaining a work visa was a long, drawn-out process. He decided to apply, but in the meantime my family moved a thousand miles north to Brisbane, Queensland, where the climate was better for me, as I had allergies along with my other challenges.

差不多在我10歲、小學(xué)四年級的時候，移民美國的時機(jī)成熟了，因?yàn)楦改刚J(rèn)為弟弟亞倫、妹妹蜜雪兒和我的年齡應(yīng)該可以融入美國的學(xué)校體系。我們在昆士蘭等待爸爸的三年工作簽證核發(fā)下來，等了18個月，我們終于起程了。

I was approaching ten years old and in my fourth year of elementary school when everything finally fell into place for a move to the United States. My parents felt that my younger siblings—my brother Aaron and sister Michelle—and I were at a good age for assimilating into the United States school system. We waited in Queensland for over eighteen months for Dad's three-year work visa to be arranged, finally moving in 1994.

不幸的是，在加州的生活不算順利，理由有幾個。離開澳大利亞時，我已經(jīng)開始上六年級，而在洛杉磯郊區(qū)的新學(xué)校學(xué)生很多，他們只能安排我進(jìn)入高級班，這個班級所上的課程跟正規(guī)班不同，而且很難。我一直是個好學(xué)生，但到了美國之后，我得費(fèi)好大的勁兒去適應(yīng)學(xué)習(xí)上的變化。因?yàn)閷W(xué)校課程不同，我在加州算是進(jìn)度落后的，所以追趕得非常辛苦。上了初中，不同的科目還要換不同教室上課，跟澳大利亞不一樣，這也增加了我適應(yīng)上的難度。

Unfortunately, the move to California did not work out for several reasons. When we left Australia, I had already started sixth grade. My new school in Agoura Hills was very crowded. They could only get me into advanced classes, which was difficult enough, but in addition the curriculums were very different. I'd always been a good student, but I struggled to adapt to the change. Due to different school calendars, I was literally behind before I even started my classes in California. I had a difficult time catching up. The junior high I attended also required students to change classrooms for each subject, which was unlike Australia and added to the challenges of my adjustment.

我們搬去跟貝塔叔叔、麗塔嬸嬸和他們的六個小孩一起住，盡管他們在阿格拉丘的房子很大，生活空間還是十分擁擠的。我們打算盡快有個自己的家，不過美國的房價比澳大利亞貴多了。爸爸在貝塔叔叔的公司工作，媽媽則沒有繼續(xù)當(dāng)護(hù)士，因?yàn)樗⑽慈〉眉又莸淖o(hù)士執(zhí)照，而她之所以沒去申請，是因?yàn)樗J(rèn)為應(yīng)該花更多時間幫助我們適應(yīng)新學(xué)校和新環(huán)境。

We'd moved in with my uncle Batta, his wife Rita, and their six children, which made for a pretty crowded house even though they had a large home in Agoura Hills. We had planned to move into our own home as soon as possible, but home prices were much higher than in Australia. My father worked for Batta's real estate management company. My mother did not continue her nursing career because her first priority was to get us settled into our new schools and environment, and so she had not applied to become licensed to practice nursing in California.

與貝塔叔叔一家人生活三個月之后，父母覺得移民美國不大行得通。我在學(xué)校過得很辛苦，要安排我的健康保險也有困難，而為了照顧我們，媽媽得當(dāng)個全職主婦，但加州的生活費(fèi)用很高，靠爸爸的一份薪水很難過日子。另外，我們也擔(dān)心可能無法取得美國的永久居留權(quán)。有個律師說，我的健康狀況可能會增加取得居留權(quán)的難度，因?yàn)閼岩晌覀兗也荒軕?yīng)付龐大的醫(yī)療支出和照護(hù)費(fèi)用。

After three months of living with Uncle Batta's family, my parents concluded that the move to the United States just wasn't working out. I was struggling in school, and my parents had difficulty arranging for my health insurance and overall handling the high cost of living in California. There were also concerns that we might never be able to secure permanent residency in the United States. A lawyer advised my family that my health challenges might make it more difficult to win approval because of possible doubts about my family's ability to keep up with medical costs and other expenses related to my disabilities.

在眾多考量之下，在美國僅僅生活了四個月后，父母就決定搬回布里斯班了，他們甚至在之前住的同一條巷子里找到房子，所以搬回來之后，我們幾個小孩可以回到原來的學(xué)校和朋友圈里。爸爸在“科技與未來教育學(xué)院”教資訊與管理，媽媽則將她的生命奉獻(xiàn)給了我們?nèi)置?，不過主要還是我。

With so many factors weighing on them, my parents decided to move back to Brisbane after only four months in the United States. They actually found a house in the same cul-de-sac where we'd lived before the move, so all of us kids could return to our same schools and friends. My dad went back to teaching computing and management in the College of Technical and Further Education. My mum devoted her life to my brother and sister and, mostly, me.