AUSTRALIA – Living on a farm where her husband had 300 cows, only a few kilometers to see a roof, drinking rain water, using electricity from the solar energy, Thanh Thao tried to leave home.
On the evening of October 27, to celebrate his 24th birthday, Do Thanh Thao invited her husband to drive 200 km back to Melbourne. They plan to eat at a restaurant after 6 months staying on the farm with cows, sheep, horses, camels and an old dog adopted at the rescue station. But going 10 km, then 20 km, they still could not find any restaurants open due to the pandemic. The couple almost forgot that out there, the whole world is “frozen” because of Covid-19.
Mark Jackman, 36 years old, had to take his wife back to the farm on the hill. They both eat barbecue. The husband held three small cakes with the palm of his hand lit a candle while singing: “Happy birthday to three-year-old Thao”. Laughter bursts, shattering the tranquility of the night of southern Australia.
This is the simplest birthday and also the first time a Hanoi girl welcomes her new age without her parents, sisters and younger sister.
Before coming here, Mark and Thao were both lecturers at an English center in Hanoi. Once, Mark fell off his car so he didn’t go to class. The whole school did not ask, only Thao texted him. Actually, the girl is “frustrated” because he teaches the same class, but he unexpectedly quit, leaving her alone to manage 20 mischievous students. After that, one person paid more attention to the other. Conversations and meetings thicken, foster love in their hearts.
But Thanh Thao’s parents don’t think so. Her father has planned that after the newly completed house will build a separate area for her daughter to open an English center. The foreign boy suddenly appeared, intending to “carry his daughter back to a foreign land”, so Thao fiercely protested. More importantly, they worried that Mark might have a family back home, blaming him “living in the capital, not needing, but having to marry a Western husband”.
But contact with Mark, they like him and realize the love of two serious children. Young couples get married by their parents after the kangaroo boy “submits” the certificate of celibacy to the future mother-in-law.
After their wedding last September, the two decided to move into Quy Nhon to start a business. But now, Mark Jackman’s parents are old. The farm in his home country sooner or later Mark also needed to take over. Therefore, both decided to return to their husband’s hometown.
Having visited her husband’s family farm once, Thanh Thao feels the air is so fresh that breathing “oxygen goes through the brain” as well. But when she came to live, she absorbed all the suffering of being a farmer.
From the highway to the family farm is a winding hilly road, with only two roofs, each 1 km apart. They live by storing rainwater, using electricity from solar batteries. At night, they were surrounded only in solid black, the sound of wind rolling with cows and goats. Next summer, snakes, centipedes appear everywhere. Once, Thao screamed when he saw a small snake coming to the door, tilting his head to look at her.
Her husband’s family raised 300 cows. Every five days, the couple has to drive nearly 100 children from hill to hill to water the grass to regrow. Two suitcases containing only clothes for teaching, going out, high heels brought from Vietnam, the girl cornered in a corner of the closet.
Every morning, Thao tied his long hair up high, wore a T-shirt, boots, gloves, and a wide-brimmed hat and her husband drove up the hill. The Hanoi girl never knew that the farmer now has to learn how to hold hoes to dig soil, grow vegetables and feed cows with milk. On rainy days, the trees fell, the couple took a saw to cut and repair the fence. Once, Thao had to carry a calf home from the grass hill because it was abandoned by her mother. Every day, the couple took turns mixing milk poured into the fertilizer bottle like children.
One way, Mark drove his wife up the hill and crawled back. Facing her eyes were two sprawled cows. One died for unknown reasons, one was stuck in a fence. Holding them in her arms, Thao was shocked. “At that time, my eyes went wild with things I have never seen and done. I miss Hanoi so crowded, I miss meals with my family, I miss the milk tea shop, and I crave to ride a motorbike in the middle of a tight road.” stiff and smog, “Thao said.
Mrs. Kim Dung, 49 years old, often called to ask questions of her daughter in the early days of Thao following her husband. Hearing my voice, seeing my son talking to me, I just sat around in one place, she knew I was sad. “Away from her parents, living in a different place than before, how could not be sad. But calling home, she never lamented a word. She only said homesick, miss Hanoi”, the mother said. .
Unable to adapt to a new life, daring to share because of fear of sadness of her parents, Thao is heavily stressed. She often gets angry with her husband. Mark understands his wife is going through difficult days because of her so she should always be patient. But once, both of them entered the supermarket, for a very small reason, the two quarreled. Mark apologized, but when he got home, his wife was still annoyed.
When her husband came to his father’s house to bring food, Thao left the house, not holding the phone. It was a stormy rainy day in her memory that night. The wind whistled in each gust. The road is dark because there is no electricity. Mark rushed to find his wife when he found her soaking wet on the side of the road. The husband ran to his wife to take the car. But at home, Thao became more and more rebellious.
“She was screaming she didn’t want to stay here anymore and demanded to go back to Vietnam,” said Mark. He held his shoulders tightly to calm his wife: “I want to stay here or go home, you decide. I won’t stop you, but don’t hurt yourself”. After that, Mark quietly cooked dinner, telling his wife to go to bed early to keep his mind clear.
Her husband’s behavior suddenly made Thao apologize. At night, she calmed down. “I realized that this is not my husband’s family anymore, but my family. Can’t keep letting homesickness stress me and behave children. If this is my home, I will live with a different mindset, “she awoke.
The next morning, Thao got up early, carried a hoe to the garden to grow vegetable beds, and planted more fruit trees. She learned to drive a car and took a license to not depend on her husband. Occasionally, Thao drove up the street by himself for relief. One day, all of them went to the farm to raise cows, went back to gardening, took care of the animals, the couple fell asleep, there was no time to get bored and think.
Thao often takes advantage of his free time to take a picture of a newborn cow, the scene of giving the baby goat a bottle of milk or a flowering peach tree to send to her parents. “Before, he did not raise any animals, but now he loves and cherishes the things around him so much”, Ms. Dung said.
Once, a young couple went to the Rescue Station to adopt a dog. Passing through the barns, all the animals ran out and wagged their tails, but there was a large, white dog that just sat neatly, sniffed his hand calmly and watched … Because big, many years old, no one chose. Thao and her husband decided to pick up. The dog is obedient, obedient and likes to enter people’s hearts. Thao is also less lonely when she has a dog as a friend. She and her husband call it a child.
She also treasures the life she has more when she sees animals, including pets, struggle to survive. Suddenly, Thao felt regretful for missing many of the beauty of nature when 23 years ago, he was only used to busy streets.
The hard work, good rhythm with the new life of a foreign daughter-in-law made Thanh Thao’s parents-in-law less preoccupied. “We just need our children to be happy, whatever we do, wherever we are. Seeing how quickly we adapt to life here, I am very happy,” said Mr. David, 70, Thao’s father-in-law.
Also as happy as doubled with Mark because his young wife grows up every day and is calmer in everything.
The couple plans to live a long time on the farm, setting small goals to gradually improve themselves. Their dream is to open a restaurant to satisfy their passion for food and taste.
This morning, Do Thanh Thao will start 24 years old in a place nearly 8,000 km away from home. Here, opening her eyes, she will be able to inhale cool air in her chest and watch the green hills, successive up to the horizon.