text: import React from "react"
  import { Link } from "gatsby"
  
  import Layout from "../components/layout"
  import SEO from "../components/seo"
  
  const SecondPage = () => (
    <Layout>
      <SEO title="Family Story" />
      <h1>Family Story</h1>
      <h2>How we met</h2>
      <p>I met my wife back to 8th September 2002 on a train going from my hometown Hancheng to Beijing.  We sat face to face during the overnight train journey and both being students, we shared our experiences at high school and were excited about our university and had enjoyable chat. The following, morning, Juanling He got off at Shijiazhuang, where her university was.   However, we kept in touch and started developing our relationship.  Although we studied in different universities in different cities, we tried to meet during study breaks and when we had time available.</p>
      <h2>Marriage after universities</h2>
      <p>
      I graduated from University in 2005, and worked as a software developer in Beijing, but Juanling He studied traditional medicine which took her a further two-years to complete. However, upon finishing her studies in 2007, she joined me in Beijing where we lived together.  On the 2nd May 2008 we signed our marriage licence and planned our traditional wedding for 7th October 2009 at The Hancheng Hotel in my hometown, Hancheng.  All our families and friends attended and helped make it a truly key moment in our relationship and really memorable day for us. 
      </p>
      <h2>Our son</h2>
      <p>
      Another key moment for us was when our son, Tianyi Shangguan was born in The Military General Hospital of Beijing at 3 am 12th January 2011. This was when we moved from being a happily married couple, to becoming a family, with all the joys and responsibilities of parenthood.  Our son became a treasure to us, and a symbol of our life-long commitment to each other.
      </p>
      <h2>A decision</h2>
      <p>
      In 2014, we both agreed that it would be good to extend my skills overseas and New Zealand was our natural choice. We visited New Zealand in February 2015, and during the trip, we decided that I will need to study English in New Zealand and my wife would keep working in Beijing to support my studies. Despite being very expensive for us and the difficulty of living in two countries, we decided that it would be worth the sacrifice in the long run.  However, thanks to technology and the through the use WeChat, we were able to keep in touch keep in touch with my wife and have daily chats with our rapidly growing son.
      </p>
      <h2>Visiting each other</h2>
      <p>
      We were also able to visit each other regularly.  For example, in July 2016 my wife, son and my parents, visited New Zealand, which was a memorable holiday for us all.  Also, during my long study break in 2017, I was able to return to Beijing and stay with my family for three-months.  During 2018, my wife and son were able to visit New Zealand for 10 days and we all stayed with good Kiwi friends of ours, who live in Palmerston North. It was during the time, my wife and I decided that we definitely want to live in New Zealand, and I would do my best to seek residency.          
      </p>
      <h2>Life is not easy</h2>
      <p>
      I went to back to visit my wife and my son during Christmas holiday 2019. We drove from Beijing to our hometown to see my parents and my parents-in-law. The distance is about 900 km between the two palces. When I drove back to Beijing to catch the flight to NZ. There was a snowfall which covered ranges from my hometown to Beijing. The highway was shutdown and we had no choice but went to small country roads. It was too slippy and we had a car accident. Luckly, no body hurted. We stayed over night in a small town, ZhangZi. Next day we carried on and passed the mountain area and arrived Beijing at the night. I catched the flight on time next day. Through this situation, my wife and I felt that we really want to be together! No matter what, we will be together as a family!
      </p>
      <p>
      I hope we will get our resident visa in the beginning of 2020 and we will be together very soon!
      </p>
      <Link to="/">Go back to the homepage</Link>
    </Layout>
  )
  
  export default SecondPage
  