Ukrainian girl finds husband of her dreams thanks to her passion for Vietnamese

For Phan Vu Son (32 years old) and Sofia Koshelna (30 years old), Ukraine is where they met and became a couple. However, Vietnamese was the real "matchmaker" that helped them have the opportunity to meet, understand and fall in love with each other.

Connected by Vietnamese

Phan Vu Son was born and raised in Ukraine but has always been a pure Vietnamese boy because his family still maintains the Vietnamese lifestyle. He studied diplomacy at Kiev State University, a long-standing university with many majors, including the Vietnamese Language Department. During a student exchange in 2014, Son met a Vietnamese Language student named Sofia Koshelna.

"I was immediately attracted to the beautiful Ukrainian girl who was passionate about Vietnamese. At that time, Sofia's class only had about 8 people and I became friends with this new group of friends," Son recalled the first moment he met the girl who would be his future wife.

The school has a department that teaches popular Asian languages ​​such as Chinese, Korean, Japanese... but Sofia chose to study Vietnamese, at first because she was interested in Southeast Asian countries. Then, the more she studied and came into contact with this rich, beautiful, multi-tonal, multi-nuanced language, the more passionate she became. The love for Vietnamese is the bond that connects two people from two cultures.

Every day, Son invited Sofia to go for a walk with the reason of wanting to help her learn Vietnamese better. While walking in the school yard, he "tutored" Sofia not only about the language but also told her interesting stories related to Vietnamese culture and described Vietnamese dishes. Gradually, without knowing when, the friendship turned into love.

In her final year of college, thanks to Son's help, Sofia had the opportunity to study in Vietnam. During this time, Son went to Germany to study for a master's degree for 2 years. They promised to get married after finishing their studies and live together, no matter which country they were in.

The long-distance relationship was not easy for them. Every holiday, both of them felt lonely without their family and lover in a strange country. Although they still texted and called each other regularly, they could not avoid conflicts at times, but they overcame them thanks to their determination to achieve their common goals.

"During our long-distance relationship, no matter how busy we were, we still had to keep in touch with each other regularly, asking about each other every day. Whenever our school schedules were relaxed, we often took advantage of our free time to visit each other. I remember the time Sofia went to Germany to visit me for a week the most. We had many beautiful memories when traveling and visiting and meeting friends. Every day that passed was very precious," Son shared.

After completing their master’s degrees, in July 2018, the young couple decided to return to Ukraine to get married, fulfilling their goal of living together under one roof. Sofia Koshelna changed her husband’s last name to Sofia Phan. As their lives entered a new phase, the young couple hesitated between staying in Ukraine, a place they were both familiar with, or returning to Vietnam to try their hand. In the end, they chose to return to Vietnam to face challenges and embrace new opportunities.

Working together to overcome difficulties

In September 2018, the couple returned to Vietnam with a little capital from their family. At first, they chose to work in the apartment rental sector. At this time, tourism in Nha Trang was developing strongly, thousands of tourists from all over the world flocked to the beautiful beach in the South Central Coast every day. Thanks to that, the couple soon had a stable source of income and decided to open a cafe.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought the tourism industry to a standstill, putting immense pressure on the couple who have just returned home to start a business. They have tried to overcome the difficulties by always trusting and supporting each other in new decisions about work, avoiding conflicts.

"Difficulties are natural and objective. Every family has ups and downs, good times and bad times. We often remind each other to have a common direction, never to stand still in adversity, and to constantly think to develop ourselves," Phan Vu Son sadly recalled that time.

In mid-2020, the couple agreed to leave Nha Trang and move to Hanoi with the little capital they had left. In Hanoi, they started an online business and imported and exported goods.

"When husband and wife are in agreement, they can drain the East Sea" is the most correct saying in this case. Thanks to their unity and dedication, Son and Sofia gradually achieved business success, their life became stable and the two began to think about having children. On April 28, 2021, their daughter was born.

Having a young child during the busy start-up period, the couple still knows how to spend time taking care of each other. Sofia often goes online to learn many delicious Vietnamese dishes to cook for her husband. Son also considers cooking for his wife and children a pleasure. They enjoy family happiness while reaching higher levels in their careers.

At the end of 2023, the couple decided to change jobs for the third time, moving to Ho Chi Minh City to start a business again, focusing on the field of education. With full love for their children, Son and Sofia founded a company specializing in Montessori educational toys. In addition, they also developed the Tiktok channel "Phan Family", where they share everyday moments of their small family. With gentle and lovely content, the channel attracts more than 900 thousand followers.

Without consensus and the principle of always holding hands to conquer the goal, the Vietnamese husband and Ukrainian wife couple will find it difficult to persevere on the path of starting a business when constantly changing locations and fields of operation. The intense love from the school days has been tested through the time of long-distance love and has become even stronger through the times of working together, struggling to find ways to build a career.

Earlier this year, when Sofia returned to Kiev (Ukraine) for 2 weeks to visit her family during the war, Son and his daughter called her every day, asking about her every little thing. He always treated his wife like that whether they were together or thousands of kilometers apart.

"I think the secret to a happy marriage is that both parties must set a common goal and work together to achieve it. Besides, you must also constantly learn and absorb new things to develop, and together with your partner, have greater achievements.",Son summarizes his experience after 10 years of happiness with his Ukrainian wife.