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When I was 22, I decided I wanted to go backpacking in Asia.
I had a special interest in China.
China.
The Big Great Wall. Beijing and the Forbidden City. The Terracota Army. Panda Bears. The Stone Forest.
So much to see. I convinced one of my best friends to come along and off we went to Sao Paulo to get our three month visa.
Yeah, three whole months. Time would be just enough for us to see the most important sights.
We bought “Riding the Iron Rooster”, by Paul Theroux, and the “bible”: the lonely planet guide to China,and dreamed about our train-adventure in this amazing country on the other side of the globe.
In the Chinese Embassy, we came to the counter with that huge smile that only the expectation before a big quest can bring.
“Aha. Tlee months…..mmmmmm…why tlee months? What you do in China???”, said the sour embassy employee.
“We think China is an amazing country. Do you think we need more than three months?”
“ONE month. One month. STAMP. STAMP”
“But….”
“NOOOOO. NOOOOOOTING TO DO IN CHINA. ONE MONTH IS ‘NOUGH”, screamed the little woman from the tip of her toes, waving our stamped passports back at us.
“But…..”
SLAM. The counter was closed, the sour screaming woman was gone. Bye bye three-month visa.
We rode the bus back to Curitiba trying not to bring our spirits down, and then it hit us: we could always spend a month in China and then get to Hong Kong and get a new visa! Yessssss!
And the trip was a success. Unforgetable, even though sometimes we felt like crying when we were standing in the middle of the countryside’s train station trying to explain to the conductors where we wanted to go, in Portuguese.
Well, Chinese was not an option and English felt as foreign as our Portuguese, so….what the heck.
At least we could laugh our hearts out speaking Portuguese miming like mongos to make ourselves understood!
;-)
Since then, China has always had a special place in my heart.
So special that even my kids now study at a Chinese International School in Stockholm.
And when I was in Karlskrona, a month ago, my secret place was awaken by Yang and Jack, who asked me if I could consider shooting their couple shots while I was there to shoot my Karlskrona families.
Yang and Jack are both from China. They had bravely traveled around the Globe to study in Sweden. And when they got here, they felt that they were ready to get married. That was two years ago. And they got married far away from their families.
Now, they felt like they wanted to have some pictures to remember that special day, so they dressed up in their wedding clothes and came to meet me.
Lucky me!
Yang and Jack, thanks for thinking of me for your special wedding pictures. I know how much they mean to you and your family back in China.
A big warm hug to you both and thanks for choosing me!
;-)
by Ju
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