Most of the blog posts around this time of the year are about Christmas so I decided it would be nice to write about something else (honestly, I had a Christmas article already prepared…). This blog post is something I promised you already for almost a year but I had pushed it aside as I never felt like writing about it. So here we go now, the story of how my wife and I met and how we fell in love.
It all started in January 2009. Back then I just started my university life in Helsinki and new things could be found behind every corner. It was then near the end of January when my Finnish course started, to be precise, I believe it was the 20th of January. I had to sign up for this course as I registered at the University as a foreigner, not a Finnish citizen, though I have both nationalities and the course was compulsory for foreigners. In this language course were of course people from all kind of countries, especially China. Little did I know back then that my future wife would be sitting just in front of me.
In the beginning we did not speak to each other, we noticed each other but that was pretty much it. It took even the whole next Finnish language course that we talked to each other for the very first time in May 2009. It was not even any small talk, she wanted to ask me about what places to visit in Germany as she planned a short trip there with her friends there. You see, there was zero going on between us. It was the very last day of class when she asked me about Germany and a three-month holiday was ahead of me. Before this question I already noticed her a bit more than back then in January but I just did not dare to talk to her, later I found out that she felt the same way. So during my long summer holiday I often had this Chinese girl on my mind whose real name I didn’t know then, just the English name she gave at the class introduction. During that time I did not know whether we would meet in the next Finnish course again as she had apparently started a year before me and thus was done with the compulsory amount of language classes.
Three months later there she was again in the next language class and sitting few rows away. However again we did not talk at all during the entire time except saying “Hello” when waiting in the hallway before class started. It would not change at all until the fourth! Finnish language course in the winter of 2009 that we would slowly start to have little chats before class and she was sitting now in the same row with me. We talked for example about with whom we would do the class assignment with (we did not do the assignment together as some certain people got in our way!), and about that she wasn’t sure whether to take the final class exam or not as she had too many exams plus her job. Occasionally she also gave me some chocolate before class but as the bum I was during that time I had never anything to share with her.
Then there it was, the last day of the language course in December of 2009. I still did not know her proper name and I was thinking of how to ask her about it when she suddenly asked me and another girl next to her about our full names for Facebook! I gladly wrote down my name and after school and sports were done on that day I was sitting in front of my laptop for hours waiting for THE friend request. The request came and from that point on we started to write to each other more and more each day on Facebook until she gave me her MSN Messenger address so we could chat better and on a whole new level.
Meanwhile I was in Germany for my Christmas holiday but still I chatted with her on a daily basis for over 12 hours each. It was somewhat like a Christmas love story but of course that is probably how many feel chatting with a person who they are interested in during Christmas time…We covered all kinds of stupid chat topics and in the end of the holidays, just before classes would start again we had decided to watch “Avatar” together in Cinema. It wasn’t really a date at all even though we both had hoped for it but we just were too shy to make any real moves. Then in the beginning of February 2010 she set me a deadline because I said for a long time that I had something important to tell her but didn’t dare to. Of course anyone without even a brain knows what it was but still we were both not ready for it. So on that deadline, February the 3rd 2010, I confessed my love to her and we started our story together.
The rest of the story is full of some little drama and happy things until we reach this day: We are married and have a little son together. It all started to develop five years ago, just before Christmas, around this time of the year and this is why I chose this day to share my story of how I met my wife. As you can see, good things might take their time as it took us even nearly an entire year to talk to each other though we saw each other several times a week in the language course! So don’t always expect things to work out immediately, take your time. It is not all depending on how much you try, luck is also very important in these things.
I wish you all a merry Christmas and enjoy these days as I am definitely planning to do as well as soon as all Christmas presents are bought.
Be sure to follow me also on Facebook and on Twitter as I will post there occasionally pictures which do not find their way into my blog posts.
https://www.facebook.com/CrazyChineseFamily
https://twitter.com/CraChineseFam
Crazy Chinese Family 
waaa so cute ❤ I can only imagine how it was for you to approach each other – like those Japanese student dramas that always take a lot of time and effort to actually start dating even though they both know each other's feelings 😀
Ah thank you. I wasn’t sure about writing this as your story for example was so much more interesting, at least for me 🙂
Awwwwww… Lovely post to read! Love your little tip at the end about patience & your story proves, that it results in a happy ending 🙂
We always love hearing how people met!
Happy Christmas to you too and we have had fun this year getting to now you and your family. We look forward for more next year 🙂
Thank you:)
I am looking forward to more blog posts by you as well as I get many new ideas for places to visit!
So, the secret of how you met is finally revealed!! That is so cool and cute that you had an eye on her for awhile. I just love how she would share chocolate with you and how you sat and waited to accept her friend request. 🙂
This is indeed a true love story. Thank you for sharing this with us, Crazy. Chatting with one another for 12 hours, that is a lot of time. That is dedication right there. I am sure the two of you will have many adventures together now that you have Nathan in tow. Why cut the long hair? It wasn’t actually bad looking. In fact, it looks as nice as your wife’s 😀
A real love story… during Christmas! So sweet!
Thank you 🙂
It was a very exciting time back then however I prefer it right now much more
You look so young in that picture with the goat, how old were you?? 😀
I loved the story and I cannot imagine how you could be so shy, I thought you were more of an extrovert! haha.
Hah, I am not really an extrovert. I am the common Finnish person, doesn’t say a word till the first beer is served…
In that picture I was 23 🙂
Awww that’s so cute! 😀 Your wife is so beautiful! I guess you got the best Christmas gift ever 😀 haha.
I hope she was also happy about her Christmas gift 🙂
These days I have to come up with pricy gifts/ special gifts and that takes months of preperation :p
such a beautiful story!! Wish you two all the best 🙂 and a merry christmas 🙂
Thank you 🙂
Wish you also a merry Christmas!
What a great love story! Enjoyed it, thanks 🙂
Thank you 🙂
Love the story and I’m so glad you got around to sharing it. So sweet. Happy holidays to you and your family. All the best from Thailand 🙂
Thank you and all the best for you as well 🙂
Awwww, that’s a sweet story! It’s funny too because I met my husband in December 2009 and we started dating in February of 2010. Our timelines with our Chinese loves are close. Must have been something in the stars! =)
Hah, and we both are frustrated with our parent-in-law ( well you a certain bit more than me though..)
What a nice story! I’m glad you shared it with us. It’s always very interesting to hear how international couples meet. You said you have dual nationalities, may I ask which? I assume the first is Finnish. If not, that’s ok too ^^ Also, you looked good with the long hair and the goat!
Thanks 🙂
I got rid of the hairs as it was too much work and especially now working in a bank I think it is better to appear a bit more human.
I have Finnish and German nationality and these my son got from me as well 🙂
That’s great that you can have dual nationality. I wish more countries allowed it! I am sure the bank customers appreciate the formal look ^^
We hope that China gets around and would start allowing dual/ multiple nationalities as our son would have then three passports 🙂
I enjoyed the story of how you and your wife met. I like the pictures, too, especially the one at the top.
Happy New Year!
I wish you a happy new year as well 🙂
I missed this one before Christmas. I loved reading the story of how you and your wife met! It’s kind of the opposite of how me and my husband met, at least when you take into account the factor time.
Thank you 🙂
It has been nice to write it down as it also helped to remember a lot of our story which was not in active memory anymore.
So you mean your story developed quicker in compared to my story of needing a year to start even talking? 🙂
That’s great – that way you’ll always be able to remember it, if you forget any details you can look up your post :D.
It did, but then, my husband and I sat next to each other and worked in the same team at my former company. Not talking to each other wouldn’t have been an option, haha.
Hahahaha, so cute 🙂
Reminds me of how my husband and I met~
great story! Love it! However, sometimes you need to be quick and don’t wait too long or the moment and opportunity is gone! my fiance was supposed to be in California at our university for only 3 months… after we met and it was clear that we “belong together”, he stayed another 3 months 🙂 Taking our time was not an option then 😀
Loved your story 🙂
Thank you. With these kind of stories one can never know how people will take it 🙂
“[D]on’t always expect things to work out immediately, take your time. It is not all depending on how much you try, luck is also very important in these things.”
Yes very true. I’m glad it worked out for you two, a very sweet couple and a very sweet story of how you met.
Thank you so much 🙂
It has been some interesting time back then and I am just glad that it indeed worked out. I know perfectly well it could have taken an entire different path back then without so much luck 🙂
I agree, luck sometimes makes or breaks it!
Wow, that love story progressed at a slow pace, but good things can take time. I wonder what would happen if the utility of modern technology was absent.
I also wonder what would have happened without the possibilities of instant online interaction. Most likely we would have never started dating or even get married!
Oh! I just got to reading this and it’s a lovely story! Thanks for sharing. Also, 3rd Feb is my birthday so it’s another association that I can link to my birthdate…thanks for that! 😄
It is always interesting to find other things to associate with a birthday. Sadly for my own one I haven’t found anything yet :p
Haha! You never know! Now that you’ve said it, your next child may very well share your birthday..😄 It’s been known to happen…haha…😄
That is such a sweet story and remind me of how my husband and I met. It was’t at a language course, but at the pilot school, but as in your case, everything also first started happening at the end:)
Pilot school sounds so much more interesting though! Now that I think back I do not even remember much of the language courses anymore except the parts where I was interacting with my future wfe 🙂
Thank You.
I thought the one in the picture was your sister or something. Please don’t kill me! ;-; (I mean, the one where you said “please notice the long hair”.)
In other news, Christmas sure makes everything better. Magical~
Haha, yeah I surely had long hairs back then and nearly always wore them open. These days I have much much much shorter hairs and they also got much darker…
You should let it grow again, haha. xD
Oh no, too much work. It is so much more convenient to have them short again after so many years
True. Short hair is easier to manage. XD
Love always finds away..Great story of you two!
Reading through this whole story again makes me wonder how this all was possible. It all seems so surreal now in retrospect
I knew exactly how it felt..Thank you for the inspiration that your writing brings to me,suddenly I was reminded how unique my own love story as well, sometimes its actually beyond about the details of you’ve finally end up together but how through time you are committed to make it work together.
Like you, I’m into interracial marriage and I am so inspired to write about our story as well.
Thanks for the inspiration !
Great, I am looking forward to your story. I read few “how we met” stories in the past years and each is so unique and interesting 🙂