2021, just over 20 years old, Ukrainian female college student Kalina, married a rural guy in Shanxi Xu Wen . Mother-in-law Natasha also came to China for some reason. She broke her previous prejudice and fear of a foreign land step by step and adapted to life in China.
Helplessness of leaving home
When it comes to Ukraine, what everyone is most familiar with is the Russian-Ukrainian war that broke out in early 2022.
That war won the attention of the people of the world with an expected momentum in the aftermath of the end of the Winter Olympics .
However, the attention of the general public did not provide substantial help to the civilians who were truly victims in the war.
. As early as before the war broke out, Natasha's hometown was already damaged by artillery fire.
The material wealth accumulated by civilians over decades, even from generation to generation, turned into ruins. They turned from civilians into refugees and were forced to go into exile.
Most refugees chose to flee to Eastern Europe and wanted to seek survival among developed countries. A small number of refugees also left their hometowns with the help of relatives and friends.
The name Natasha is very familiar to the Chinese. It carries the romance and enthusiasm of the former Soviet Union, but this name is very common in Ukraine, and Xu Wen's mother-in-law is called this name.
is also named Natasha. This Chinese mother-in-law is not as dazzling as the legendary woman on the screen. She is nearly middle-aged and is an ordinary woman everywhere in Ukraine.
She could have spent the rest of her life in her hometown Kharkov , but there was a war there, her beautiful and neat house was destroyed, and her half of her life's belongings were destroyed. She tried her best to lie down in the roar of the plane to protect herself.
Xu Wen and Natasha
Her fellow villagers were forced to leave their hometowns and lined up in long queues in the cold of high latitudes of the northern hemisphere to squeeze into the train heading abroad.
There is no food or clothing on the train and no toilet. Everyone in is unable to protect themselves. The pets brought by cannot escape the disaster. Not to mention starving to death or freezing to death, many of them were still trampled to death by shoulder-to-shoulder crowds.
The confession between relatives and friends and Natasha after the disaster made her feel scared.
This is an extremely difficult pain, , and Natasha is very lucky that her daughter Kalina married a very responsible husband, Xu Wen from rural Shanxi, China.
December 25, 2021, on Christmas Day in the West, Xu Wen brought Natasha and Kalina and her daughter, traveled from the messy Kharkov for nearly 9 days and finally arrived at the Ukrainian-central border safely.
They stayed here for three months, then took the bus delivered by the Slovakian Embassy, arrived at the hotel arranged by the embassy on March 8, 2022, and successfully boarded the plane to China three days later.
Compared with his daughter and son-in-law who have been back and forth between China and Ukraine, Natasha has been very anxious about during this trip abroad of "left her hometown".
Fortunately, her daughter Kalina has been around to comfort her and taught her a lot about the cultural differences between the two countries, China's epidemic prevention policies, precautions, etc. If not, Xu Wen's reassurance will be given.
And Xu Wen is in a foreign country where war is chaotic, and he is not very at ease.
In Ukraine at that time, everything could happen, and any accident was no longer an accident, such as a train delay.
Usually train delays, we won’t think about whether the train was bombed or whether the railway is intact, but this is exactly what Xu Wen is worried about.
He is not alone. His wife is only in her early 20s and is still a college student. His mother-in-law has never left her hometown. He is their only support at the moment. He must take them out of the place of right and wrong safely.
so he was panicked.
He kept calling the staff of the Chinese Embassy in Ukraine to confirm the road conditions.
Chinese Embassy in Ukraine
The Embassy never tires of comforting him, giving him the most accurate information and the most secure guarantee, and helping him borrow a car from the Slovak Embassy.
Natasha was very convinced of her son-in-law's execution and thanked Xu Wen seriously.
But Xu Wen knew that what they should thank was his motherland - China. That was his reassurance and his most solid backing.
Natasha's inherent impression of China was broken in this escape-like journey.
She knew that it was a country that never abandoned her compatriots and was extremely united.
New World, New Life
March 11, the moment she got off the plane, Natasha breathed a sigh of relief, and the down-to-earth taste made her feel relieved.
Although her daughter and son-in-law have given her a lot of science to popularize China's national conditions, she was still shocked by the modern city in front of her.
This is completely different from Natasha’s inherent impression of China. The Chinese she remembers has been stuck in the 1970s and 1980s, old, backward, and even sloppy.
But hearing is worse than seeing at first sight.
Before coming to China, Natasha was worried about the toilet problem.
Natasha is in isolation
She thinks that China's bathrooms are still in the "dry toilet" stage, and as we all know, Westerners are used to using toilets, and "squatting in the toilet" is very difficult for them.
Now Natasha doesn’t have to worry at all, the infrastructure of the metropolis is still very complete.
So what about rural China?
Xu Wen comes from rural areas of Shanxi, which makes Natasha sweat again.
However, Xu Wen is not the kind of farmer who "faces his apprentice and his back to the sky". He just lives in the countryside. He lives in a three-story self-built house, which can be said to be a single-family villa.
He has his own vineyard with an area of 40,000 mu, and he can be considered a farmer.
Wife Kalina didn't expect her husband to have such a manor.
This manor is bright and spacious. Although the decoration cannot be called magnificent, it will definitely not let Natasha and her daughter suffer grievances.
Natasha has a new understanding of the countryside in China. The farmers here do not stay in the backward past, but keep up with the times and will grow many cash crops.
The era is developing. The changes that have taken place in China in just a few decades have amazed many people who "watch the sky from a well". Only by truly walking on this land can those absurd inherent impressions be broken.
Natasha lived in her son-in-law's house like this. She was used to seeing the vast plains of Ukraine and the rolling green mountains near Xu Wen's farm "manor" feasted her eyes.
When you are idle, Natasha will sit on the terrace on the third floor, blowing the cool evening breeze, and looking at the mountains in the afterglow of the sunset.
When she is busy, she will take the initiative to take care of housework. Just like many elders who cannot rest, she is keen on cleaning up the house.
Xu Wen and Kalina don’t have that much free time. Natasha originally cleaned up smoothly, but electrical appliances such as washing machines often cause trouble to her.
The electrical appliances are all in Chinese. At this time, Kalina, who decided to settle in China, became a temporary translator.
Daughter Kalina was originally studying in Kharkov and unexpectedly met Xu Wen, who worked in Ukraine in 2020. The two soon sparked love.
After the two decided to live, Kalina decided to settle in China with her husband, so she worked hard to learn Chinese and soon achieved good results in the Chinese level exam.
However, she was not very satisfied with this score and was preparing to take the exam again while in college. Unfortunately, things went against her wishes. The war ruthlessly disrupted her plan, and she had to leave her hometown with her husband in advance.
Fortunately, she and her mother Natasha both know how to follow the local customs. Although she has some concerns, she still lives well in a foreign country.
Natasha usually uses a translator to communicate with people, and there is no major problem.
What she usually expects most is to go out to purchase, but unfortunately, in 2022, the epidemic prevention was still very cautious and strict. She and her daughter Kalina lived in Xu Wen's manor for a long time, and during that time they were almost isolated from the world.
And the usual supplies are sent by Xu Wen's younger brother.
Natasha was amazed at the way of delivering supplies. She didn't expect that Chinese people had already started using drones.
This drone not only helps deliver things, but also helps water, fertilize, and sprinkle medicine to remove insects in the manor's grapes.
High technology is no longer high-level, but has gradually entered people's lives and production, improving people's quality of life and production efficiency. What surprised Natasha even more was the ubiquitous network and convenient and fast electronic payments.
When I went shopping in the mall for the first time, Natasha pushed the purchased goods and stared at other customers using mobile payments for a long time.
Son-in-law Xu Wen and daughter Kalina teach her step by step with her mobile phone.
China's WeChat payment and Alipay payment are still more advanced for her. She brushed the payment code as she said in a vague way, but after brushing, she still couldn't figure out the situation.
"Do you need other operations?" She turned her head and asked her daughter.
"No need, we can leave." The daughter smiled and comforted her, then happily walked into another shop with her things, and took her mother to let the wind off.
The reason for the epidemic has been that they haven’t gone out shopping for a long time.
This time when they went shopping, they did a lot of homework on the local epidemic prevention measures. They wore masks very seriously and correctly when going out. They would not uncover the masks and drink water or eat when walking on the road.
The drink they want to buy most is coffee, but the cups in Chinese coffee shops are too big for them.
They, especially Natasha, who is new to the new arrival, are more accustomed to using small porcelain coffee cups and sitting in the cafe to taste slowly.
"The amount of this cup of coffee is too much, I'm afraid I can't finish it." Natasha "complained" to her daughter.
But the same thing is said, follow the local customs and the fast-paced life in China sometimes makes people feel uncomfortable.
But Natasha will still learn to slowly integrate into Chinese life.
Enter the countryside and follow the customs
There are many reasons why Natasha came to China. In addition to escaping war, also wanted to attend her daughter's wedding.
The custom of Chinese wedding surprised her, a foreigner. Her daughter, the wedding bride Kalina, seemed to have experienced a fantasy dream.
All the ceremonies were unprecedented, and the costumes were also novel and unique to her. There were no churches and bells, no priests’ oaths and blessings, but she could feel her husband Xu Wen’s importance to this wedding and her cherishment.
This wedding was very lively, and her relatives and friends all went to support them. As a foreigner who had never learned Chinese, Natasha used the translator prepared by Xu Wen for her and communicated with people around her without any barriers.
I am very glad that she was not isolated outside this festive wedding. She is a witness of the wedding and a part of the excitement.
Nowadays, the epidemic in China has improved greatly, and tourism and outdoor activities are being opened up in various places. Natasha has finally got a lot of opportunities to travel with her daughter.
Accompanied by his son-in-law Xu Wen, Natasha and Kalina visited many famous places and historical sites in China and felt the historical and cultural accumulation of this country for thousands of years.
At the same time, Natasha enjoys the convenience of modern society from the endless stream of streets and rows of tall buildings.
When you don’t go out, Xu Wen will also “Amport” the charming Chinese culture to your mother-in-law anytime and anywhere.
Some time ago, there was a very popular video "The God of Luo River" , which is a Dunhuang-style dance that Henan TV station invited senior dancers to shoot underwater.
The dancer swam in the water with gorgeous clothes and graceful dance postures. He spread his arms and turned around and turned into a flying goddess in the water, showing the Dunhuang posture thousands of years ago to be thrilling and stunning.
The cruising figure seemed to be a goddess flying in the sky in the clouds, and the erratic ribbon seemed to be a fairy who was automatically wearing silk without wind.
The audience was dazzled and appalled.
Natasha was deeply shocked by this dance.
In addition to looking with your eyes, Xu Wen will also bring Natasha and Kalina and her daughter to participate in traditional Chinese culture.
For example, prepare glutinous rice, bamboo leaves, for Dragon Boat Festival.
Natasha actually likes cooking very much, and the job of making rice dumplings made her eager to try it out.
Xu Wen is a very excellent disseminator of traditional culture. While demonstrating how to make rice dumplings, he also popularized the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival and the purpose of making rice dumplings for his wife and mother-in-law.
With a strong cultural heritage, zongzi is no longer just a delicious food, but a taste for ordinary life, a commemoration for noble spirit, and a praise for beautiful character.
After eating the rice dumplings, Natasha was also taken to watch Dragon Boat performance .
This is another cultural point worthy of popular science.
Natasha cannot understand Qu Yuan 's heavy cultural significance like a native Chinese, but the exquisitely shaped dragon boat and gongs and drums still drive her emotions.
Natasha once thanked Xu Wen and his motherland on the way to escape.
Xu Wen told her that after Kalina married him, she was already half a Chinese. Natasha was his mother-in-law and a relative, so his motherland would naturally not turn a blind eye to her difficulties.
Thinking of Ukraine in the war, and comparing to China who can go out at night, Natasha feels very emotional.
Now Natasha has lived in China for several months, and her mood seems to be transitioning from winter to summer like a seasonal rotation.
The anxious fear of the cold winter of last year, and to the comfort and satisfaction of the present, she lives comfortably and comfortably in China, and there will be constant surprises in her life. she has gradually adapted to this place and even fell in love with this place.
Maybe one day in the future, Natasha will still return to her hometown, but this fulfilling trip to China will become an indelible highlight in her memory.
References
Xinhua News Agency: ""The Motherland is always behind us" - Voice from the Chinese citizens who returned to China with safety evacuation from Ukraine"
