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Love conquers all, even language barrier, borders

January 13th, 2009
by VJ News

ST. LOUIS, Mich. – Nothing can keep apart two people in love.

Not even government red tape, more than 6,500 miles and not being able to have a spoken conversation.

David Eldridge, 61, is ready to get married. But his bride-to-be, 51-year-old LiYing Fan, still is in Beijing, teaching martial arts and waiting to complete the process of acquiring a visa to move to the United States.

Eldridge — a resident of St. Louis, Mich., and a Gratiot County commissioner — says he met his beloved on an Internet dating site in November 2007.

The two have communicated through an online text translator, but there was one problem when they began speaking on the phone: He speaks no Chinese, and she speaks no English.

Doesn’t matter, Eldridge says.

“Voice can be a relationship killer but hers was sweet and pleasant,” he told the Morning Sun of Mount Pleasant for a story published Monday.

The couple finally met when Fan visited the United States last year as part of a cultural exchange. Her sister, who lives in Milwaukee, traveled to Pasadena, Calif., to meet her. Eldridge went, too.

When they met, Eldridge said, “everything I felt and thought was put into concrete. … It’s funny how you can communicate when you don’t speak the same language.”

Eldridge then began putting together the paperwork for a fiancee visa and learned on New Year’s Day that it was approved. Fan now must undergo a physical exam and interview at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing before she can come to the United States, possibly in April or May.

Eldridge has two daughters from a previous marriage and 10 grandchildren. Fan’s son died at a young age. Both have been married twice before.

They plan a small ceremony in Michigan, he says, partly to avoid the additional red tape that would come with a wedding in China.

[ AP/ Chicago Tribune ]

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 13th, 2009 at 3:14 am and is filed under Family Immigration. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.