(Dan Tri) - For more than two years as a bride in a foreign country, Bich Huyen has never felt lonely or lost because by her side is a thoughtful husband and a second family who always love her.
After graduating with a degree in Chinese language from the University of Foreign Languages, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, Phung Bich Huyen (born 1994, Hai Phong) received a full scholarship for a master's degree from the Chinese government and left for Hanoi. Chongqing city studied abroad in 2017.
During the new student meeting, Huyen met Song Young Sang (born 1993) - a Korean boy who came to study as an exchange student, who is now her husband.
Both of their first impressions and judgments about the other half were... wrong.
Young Sang has curly hair and tanned skin, so Huyen mistakenly thought he was from tropical countries like Laos or India. She later learned that he was passionate about surfing, which is why his skin was so dark. Seeing Young Sang introduce himself as a third-year student, Huyen was also sure that he was younger and even asked him to call her sister.
Meanwhile, looking at Huyen's small figure, Young Sang thought the Vietnamese girl was a first-year student, refusing to believe she was studying for a master's degree. In the end, the two had to show each other their passports to make sure the other person wasn't "cheating".
Young Sang loves sports, loves singing and is always full of energy. On the contrary, Huyen does not like sports, loves painting and dancing. Both of their personalities and interests are quite different, but they have one thing in common: they do not set any standards for their lover's taste.
Like two opposite magnets, Bich Huyen - Young Sang are getting closer and closer to each other, writing a romantic love story.
While studying abroad in China, Bich Huyen and Young Sang did not study in the same class. Living in the same dorm but on different floors, Huyen thought there wouldn't be many chances to meet each other, so at first she didn't pay too much attention to her Korean friend.
"But somehow, I often meet him on the way to school and in the shared kitchen on the 3rd floor," Huyen smiled and shared with the reporter. Dan Tri.
At that time, the girl had just arrived in Hai Phong and was not familiar with Chinese food. A group of Vietnamese international students often invited each other to cook rice. Every time they meet Young Sang, everyone invites him to eat with them. To "repay", he volunteered to clean up the dishes after meals and played the guitar and sang for the whole group.
Just like that, Huyen and Young Sang talked and shared more with each other and became increasingly close.
During their courtship, Huyen felt Young Sang's sincerity through very small actions. He always pulls her inside when crossing the street, is always the one who proactively plans appointments, always makes sure his girlfriend returns safely to the dorm every night and tries to learn about Vietnamese culture.
Although she was "shaken" by those efforts, Huyen still had many hesitations, so many times she avoided Young Sang's confession. She thought he was an exchange student, only studying for 6 months and then returning to Korea. If he fell in love, it probably wouldn't last long. She is afraid that if she gives too much love and breaks up, she will suffer a lot of pain.
Even though he was rejected many times, Young Sang still did not give up. He told Huyen that if he just gave himself a chance, he would prove how much he loved her. And then the Vietnamese girl agreed, but didn't say it directly, just wrote a word to her boyfriend.
Because he had just learned Chinese and did not understand much about Chinese culture, Young Sang had to ask a friend what Huyen meant. Right when the two were going out, the boy received a text message from his friend saying that this word includes "friend" and "heart", the meaning being: "In my heart there is you".
“At that moment, he understood that I had accepted the invitation and screamed loudly and hugged me. A passerby saw it and asked in surprise: "Did you win the lottery?". At that time, it had been 3 months since we had known each other," Huyen recalled.
Young Sang was supposed to only study one semester in Chongqing, but because he wanted to have more time with Huyen, he asked to study one more semester. After a year, the boy had to return to Korea to complete his final year of university, while Huyen stayed in China to complete two years of her master's degree.
Before starting a long-distance relationship, the couple brought each other home to meet their families.
When they first fell in love, Bich Huyen - Young Sang communicated 90% in English. Later, both tried to learn and speak each other's language.
The first time Young Sang returned to Hai Phong was during Lunar New Year. Because he was so stressed, right after landing at the airport, he ran straight to the bathroom to change into a suit, tie, change shoes, and brush his hair before confidently going out.
“When he arrived at my house, he sat straight and serious, his hands neatly placed as if going to a job interview. At mealtime, he definitely did not change into comfortable clothes but wore long pants and a "packed" shirt, which made my parents laugh out loud," Huyen said.
However, after her daughter went to China to study abroad and suddenly had a Korean boyfriend, Huyen's parents were quite shocked and not very supportive. They worry about their children getting married far away and having to become brides in a foreign country.
As for Young Sang's family, they also had certain concerns when they learned that their son had a crush on a Vietnamese girl. One of them is the language barrier that makes it impossible for the two sides to communicate without Young Sang in the middle of translating.
Overcoming the "barrier" of both families, during their long-distance relationship, Huyen and Young Sang always tried to save money to see each other and visit their parents 2-3 times a year. When it was time to say goodbye, the two encouraged each other to try harder.
After graduating from university, Young Sang began studying for the exam to become an air force officer. The entrance exam is difficult, the odds are high, and after passing the exam, you have to undergo special training for 3 months. During these 3 months, he and his girlfriend can only exchange information via handwritten letter or email (email), and can only call on weekends. Not only that, the correspondence the two exchanged was also strictly controlled.
That time helped the couple realize that their love was strong enough to overcome everything, and that long-distance love was not too big of a challenge.
Bich Huyen and Young Sang plan that after Huyen graduates, they will both hold hands and go home together. Unfortunately, when the Covid-19 epidemic broke out, military workers in Korea were banned from leaving the country. Therefore, the couple had to go through another year of long-distance love, only able to look at each other through the phone screen, trying to encourage the other to maintain optimistic thinking.
At the end of 2021, the couple decided to go through marriage registration procedures. Before that, Young Sang's parents called to ask Huyen's parents for permission to take her to Korea. The wedding in Korea was held in advance, but due to the pandemic being too stressful, Huyen's parents could not get a visa so they could not attend.
“Indeed, on the wedding day, my mother-in-law still had Covid-19 so she could not be present at the wedding hall. The sacred candle lighting ceremony, which was performed together by the mother of the bride and groom, is now replaced by the father-in-law and eldest uncle. My mother-in-law and my mother watched the wedding via phone and couldn't hold back their tears," Huyen emotionally recalled.
In mid-2022, when the epidemic subsided, Young Sang's family along with relatives and friends went to Vietnam to participate in the young couple's second wedding. Not only are there full traditional rituals according to Vietnamese customs, the wedding also has a "bloody" cultural exchange between the two in-laws.
Huyen and Young Sang are happy to finally have a complete wedding.
After the happy day, both families went together Travel Sa Pa, Lao Cai. Just returning to Korea, Huyen's parents-in-law contracted Covid-19. Even now, the two still laugh and joke: "No matter where you run, you can't escape the virus."
When following her husband to Korea to live, Huyen hesitated a lot. She understood that that decision meant she had to start from scratch. Whether she spoke Chinese, English or Vietnamese, to live in Korea, she was forced to learn a completely new language.
Huyen's parents are the ones who worry the most. Even though they had met and interacted many times with Young Sang and knew that their son-in-law and his family were all very gentle and good-natured, they still couldn't help but worry that their daughter would be despised or bullied because she was alone. in a foreign land.
Luckily, Huyen had many opportunities to go to Korea to visit Young Sang's family, so she was not too surprised and integrated quite quickly. The couple lived separately. On the first day of visiting home, her parents and her brother-in-law held a welcome party, decorating the bedroom with balloons and flowers, which made Huyen very emotional. She could clearly feel the love that the whole family had for her.
Bich Huyen revealed that after the wedding, her and her husband's life went smoothly, usually going to the supermarket to buy food to cook, ordering food to be delivered or going out to eat 2-3 times a week.
“My husband is quite easy to raise, so whatever I cook, he responds enthusiastically. His favorite dishes are pho and bun cha. In Korea, many free cultural courses are organized for brides from multicultural families. I also participated and learned how to make quite a few delicious dishes," she said.
Young Sang works in the military, goes to work from 9:17 a.m. to XNUMX:XNUMX p.m., so the couple still meets often. In the evening, the two often go to the supermarket together or walk around the park and skateboard. Weekend will be the time for movies, dates, and shopping.
Currently, Huyen and Young Sang still communicate mainly in English and Chinese. When staying with family members, both will talk in Korean. Therefore, the language barrier is no longer a concern.
“It's just that, because I currently use four languages at the same time, I sometimes encounter some problems when translating. Many times, I answered my husband's parents in Chinese, making the whole family laugh," Huyen said.
Young Sang also tried to learn Vietnamese, but due to his busy work schedule, his learning progress was slow. But every time he returns to Vietnam, he tries to learn more basic phrases and greetings to communicate with his parents and wife's family members. In particular, the boy's favorite Vietnamese song is Move forward.
After 3 years of working in the Korean Air Force, Young Sang decided to leave the army and open his own company. Currently, Huyen is a Chinese teacher and also helps translate for her husband's company.
After more than a year of studying the language, Huyen happily boasted that she passed the Korean nationality exam and is currently waiting for citizenship.
Huyen and her husband also moved from Daegu city to Suwon city to live near her husband's parents' house, it only takes 10 minutes to drive to visit them. Every weekend, the whole family gathers together to eat and drink.
Huyen always thinks that she is already lucky and happy to have a loving family, and now she also has a wonderful husband's family.
Her mother-in-law never asked Huyen to cook or force her daughter-in-law to do anything she didn't like. Whenever she has free time, her mother invites Huyen to go shopping, asking her if she likes to buy anything or eat anything so she can buy it for her. One time, she said idly that she liked to eat strawberries and raspberries, and the next day she saw a notification for fruit delivery to her door.
“My mother-in-law is very thoughtful. My mother often confided and shared with me. My mother also reminded me to diligently call my biological mother because she also has a daughter. If her daughter gets married far away, she will miss her very much," she said.
Huyen's father-in-law is one year older than her father, and is a gentle and delicate man. The eating preferences and tastes of Huyen and her father-in-law are also similar. Therefore, when he sees a delicious dish, he buys an extra portion for his daughter-in-law. Knowing that Huyen likes to draw, when traveling, her father-in-law also buys paint for her.
"I feel like my parents-in-law love me like a daughter, always taking care of me from the smallest things," Huyen said.
Members of Huyen's husband's family also include her husband's younger sister, born in 1995, who is a nurse at Seoul University Hospital, Korea. Because they are close in age, the two sisters talk easily and have the same hobby of... sitting and talking bad about Young Sang.
Bich Huyen has a perfect life in Korea, loved by her husband's family.
To Huyen, Young Sang is not perfect or "Descendants of the Sun standard" as the internet often says. He is just a normal man, likes to eat sweets, loves surfing and skateboarding, and has a quite childish personality. She explains that it may be because in Korea, the concept of 30 years old is still young, so Korean men may mature later than Vietnamese men.
But at work, Young Sang is determined and strives to achieve his goals. When her husband decided to give up his stable job, not too pressured and with many good benefits like an officer, Huyen was somewhat hesitant. However, in the end, she believes that in marriage, the most important thing is to always look in a positive direction, always support and respect the other person.
Huyen and Young Sang also often return to Vietnam, about twice a year, staying for a month each time. Whenever they feel stressed or tired, the young couple travels together, no matter how far or near. The two people's favorite places are Da Nang and Jeju Island (South Korea), where there are both mountains and sea, where they can relax and are also ideal places for Young Sang to surf.
Photo: NVCC
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