Interview in Eslite magazine
A few weeks ago, my neighbour (she is also my friend) sent me a WeChat message. “Do you want to be interviewed for the Eslite magazine? We are looking for an international family for our next issue”. Eslite is a Taiwanese bookstore (it’s called 诚品 in Chinese) and they opened a fancy mall in Suzhou a few months ago. My neighbour is a graphic designer and she works in their marketing department.
“Ok”, I said. “Why not?”. Then she sent me the questions we would be asked so we could prepare our answers in advance. I also got a word of caution: “Don’t reply saying something that love conquers all or the interviewer will kill you”. I got a bit scared the interviewer (another girl from her office) would not be satisfied with our answers, so I made a mental note of talking as much as possible so she had material to pick.
On the day of the interview, we went to the Eslite mall. The interviewer was not as scary as I had thought, it’s just that she had interviewed other international couples and they had replied mostly with monosyllables, so she was a bit tired of wasting time. The interview was more like a conversation, it lasted for around an hour and I talked most of the time, much more than C.!
Then, after a few days, a photographer came to our apartment to take the picture that would appear in the magazine. It took another hour, he took dozens of pictures and in the end only one was used!
The photo that was finally used for the magazine.
Nico appeared in some pics, but she didn’t make it to the final selection!
Do you want to read the interview? It was finally published last week and you can grab a copy in the Suzhou Eslite mall. The longer version is also available online here. It’s only in Chinese! If you can’t read Chinese you are not really missing much, as many of the topics appear on my blog: how we met, how it was when I met his parents or the fact that he wanted to buy a leather sofa for our apartment (over my dead body!). There are also other things I might write about in future posts, like China’s alcohol culture and how people here make everything a competition.
The magazine.
After reading it, C.’s mum started asking when we are going to get married and start thinking about the “big issues in life”. Aaaargh!
Congratulations on the feature in the magazine! It sounds like a very well-rounded article on international and mixed relationships. I am sure you left a good impression with the magazine talking for one hour :D
Those are lovely shots of you and it is nice of the magazine to give you the photos that didn’t make the final cut :)
Thanks Mabel! I had to nag them for several days until they sent the pictures, haha :P
Congratulations on being interviewed Marta – I think it’s lovely you talked a lot and gave the interviewer more to use. Shame Nico wasn’t in the photo as she looks very lovely lying there on the mat.
I know! The photographer said it was difficult taking good pictures with animals.
Poor nico :(
Seems that the interview went very well as you had a conversation for an hour. The photo part is always the most annoying time sinkhole I know when it comes to these things. Already
Hahaha, are you remembering your wedding pics? :P
OH no ,please don’t remind me on those!
Congratulations! I am sure it was a very cool experience to be interviewed and photographed for a magazine and by the sounds of it, you had a lot to share and talk about.
Love the pictures they took. And I know which super hero C likes as well – cool batman socks! ;)
I was very shy during the photo session, didn’t know where to look or what face to put haha. In the end, the chosen pic was one where we were talking, so it was more natural.
PS. Those socks are from Primark haha, got them when I went to the UK and he loves them.
OMG you asked for it! If you mention 结不结婚无所谓了，而且婚姻也不是必要的, of course his mom will panic and start raising the red flag! Can you imagine if her friends also read that interview and start telling her things like.. you know…
Was the actual interview conducted in Chinese?
I know, I know, I wasn’t thinking who was going to read it, it just felt like a conversation and I am unable to lie hahaha.
Yes, it was conducted in Chinese. I chat nonstop in Chinese, even though I make mistakes. In Spanish I am very shy. And in English I’m somewhere in the middle I guess, haha.
You are famous! Alas for poor Nico, though, left on the cutting room floor. Maybe they didn’t want to offend all the cat people.
They did mention her in the interview, as part of the family, hehe. But she is not very photogenic…
She looked photogenic to me!
Congrats on being interviewed for the magazine.Lovely photos.
Now that I’m not in my usual environment, sometimes I have to think before I can find the English phrase or word. Do you have the same problem with the Spanish language?
Haha, yes, sometimes I want to say a word but I only remember it in English or Chinese, haha. However I read a lot in Spanish to compensate that I am not there!
I like the picture they chose. You’re an attractive couple, and the picture looks very natural. Since you were so talkative the reporter must’ve been very happy. Good job Marta.
Thanks, Nicki. They took many pictures so at least a couple of them were good, haha.
How fun. It sure does make you feel special, I would imagine. Just wait until someone off the street recognizes you from the magazine and comes to talk to you! :D
Hahaha, I don’t think anyone will recognize me. Maybe I should go to that mall and hold the open magazine next to my face!
You never know! I bet it happens, at least once :)
You guys look amazing in the magazine!
Thanks, Jocelyn!
Awwww! Too cute. You guys don’t need a Chinese wedding photo sesson, you need only grant four or five more interviews and you’ll have all the cute couple photos you need.
Well I am not sure I know anyone else working in magazines haha. But hey we could do as that Chinese kid who married a French girl recently. Did you see them on the news? They appeared twice, first when they got the wedding certificate and then when they had the wedding. C. told me the guy was tagging all the existing media in China in his weibo posts so they would publish their story xD
photogenic much? Like fine wine, you seem to look better with age :)
Oh!!! Marta, you both look wonderful. Such a lovely picture.