Episódio 13: Pandemic Weddings (Casamentos pandêmicos)

Duolingo English for Portuguese Speakers Podcast

Nazmul Ahmed e Sharmin Asha tinham tudo planejado pro casamento no dia 12 de abril de 2020, em Nova York.

E Nazmul sabia que ia ser um dia perfeito.

We started planning our wedding in the summer of 2019, and we were really excited.

We knew exactly what we wanted.

We found a location for the wedding.

We even chose the food and the photographer.

Mas em janeiro, Nazmul começou a se preocupar com a pandemia do novo coronavírus.

Ele tava mais por dentro do assunto do que a maioria das pessoas nos Estados Unidos porque trabalhava pra uma empresa de insumos médicos que fazia negócios com a China.

Em março, ficou claro que a pandemia tava se agravando.

In March, we only had a few things to do before the wedding, like trying on our outfits.

But then, Sharmin’s medical school graduation was cancelled, and that’s when we started to worry about our wedding.

A quarentena começou no mesmo dia que o vestido de noiva de Sharmin chegou pelo correio.

Os dois precisaram se isolar no apartamento em que moravam em Nova Jersey.

Foi aí que eles decidiram cancelar o casamento.

I thought we should cancel the wedding and Sharmin agreed.

But it was devastating.

Mas uns dias depois, enquanto jogava videogame pra se distrair durante a quarentena, Nazmul teve uma ideia.

During our quarantine, we started playing a popular video game called Animal Crossing.

In the game, you can build your own world and you can actually hang out with other real-life players.

Suddenly, I had an idea.

Sharmin and I couldn’t get married in the real world…but maybe we could get married in a video game.

Welcome! Esse é o quinto episódio da segunda temporada de “Histórias em Inglês com Duolingo”.

Eu sou Helena Fruet.

Nesse podcast, você vai poder praticar inglês no seu ritmo, ouvindo histórias reais e emocionantes.

Os personagens falam um inglês simples e fácil de entender — perfeito pra quem tá aprendendo.

Eu vou te acompanhar em cada episódio pra ter certeza que você tá entendendo tudo.

Siga nosso podcast no Spotify ou na sua plataforma preferida!

Nesse episódio, vamos ouvir a história de pessoas que encontraram um obstáculo enorme pra se casar: uma pandemia global!

Nazmul e Sharmin se conheceram pelo Instagram em 2016.

Nazmul viu Sharmin numa foto de um amigo da escola e ficou encantado.

Apesar de nunca terem se encontrado pessoalmente, ele mandou uma mensagem direta, ou, DM, a sigla pra “direct message”.

Before responding to my DM, Sharmin asked the friend we had in common about me.

Our friend said, “Oh, Nazmul? He’s nice.” Sharmin still didn’t respond for a while.

But when she did, we talked a lot.

And we finally met a few months later with some friends at a bar.

Sharmin and I realized that we only lived eight minutes away from each other in New York City! For our first formal date, we had brunch in a New York neighborhood called Astoria.

O brunch é uma refeição que combina café da manhã e almoço, geralmente servido aos finais de semana.

Dois anos depois desse primeiro encontro, Nazmul pediu Sharmin em casamento durante uma viagem de férias na Costa Rica.

Sharmin finished her exams for medical school, and we wanted to celebrate.

I suggested a trip to Costa Rica, but her parents didn’t feel comfortable with that.

We are both Bengali.

Our parents are from Bangladesh, and they were conservative about men and women traveling together before marriage.

So, I told them we were going to get engaged on the trip, that way, they would feel comfortable with it.

Sharmin knew I was going to ask her to marry me, but I still wanted to surprise her!

O plano de Nazmul pra surpreender Sharmin era fazê-la esperar… até o último dia de viagem!

We stayed at a hostel that had a beautiful butterfly garden.

I knew it was the perfect place to ask Sharmin to marry me.

Before the big moment, I walked around the garden and found a good place for photos.

I got down on my knees and asked her to marry me.

And she said, “Yes!” It was really cute.

Afterwards, I asked her, “You knew I was going to do that, right?” But she didn’t — she was very surprised!

Na cultura tradicional bengali, os casais não costumam esperar muito pra oficializar a união.

Mas Nazmul e Sharmin cresceram nos Estados Unidos, onde noivados mais longos são comuns.

Muita gente leva meses, às vezes até anos, pra se casar depois do noivado.

In the summer of 2019, we started planning our wedding.

We were very excited about it.

In the fall, Sharmin’s sister found a location for the wedding in Brooklyn.

It had a lot of beautiful green space.

We also found a chef to cook delicious Pakistani food for the wedding.

Sharmin até comprou um vestido de noiva tradicional indiano, cheio de lantejoulas e outros adornos que faziam a roupa pesar mais de 20 libras, ou 9 quilos! Eles tinham convidado 150 pessoas.

E como é comum nos Estados Unidos, eles pediram pra um amigo oficializar o casamento.

Our photographer was a good friend, and one of our best friends was going to officiate our wedding.

We were really excited.

Quando a pandemia chegou, eles tiveram que ligar pra cada um dos convidados e avisar que o casamento tinha sido cancelado.

Pouco tempo depois, Nazmul foi demitido do trabalho, ou laid off.

At the beginning of the pandemic, I was laid off from my job, and Sharmin’s internship at the hospital was cancelled.

With the quarantine, we were just at home, in our apartment, and we were feeling pretty low.

Preocupados com o futuro e frustrados por cancelar o casamento, o casal começou a jogar Animal Crossing pra se distrair.

In the game Animal Crossing, you can go to different islands and see waterfalls and beaches.

There isn’t really a goal in the game, except enjoying life.

Sharmin didn’t play video games often, but it was great for her, because it’s a very relaxing game.

We couldn’t leave our one-bedroom apartment, so it was fun to imagine going to those beautiful islands.

Esse jogo ficou superpopular durante a pandemia porque dá pra jogar com os amigos pela internet.

So we played Animal Crossing eight hours a day, and our friends played it too.

A week after we started playing, we were on Sharmin’s beach in the game, and we took really cute pictures.

I thought, “Wait, this looks really nice! Maybe I can plan a really fun beach wedding, like you see on TV or the movies.”

No dia seguinte, Nazmul começou a planejar a cerimônia no próprio jogo.

Ele queria que o casamento fosse surpresa.

First, I started to make a space on my island for the wedding, and that took an hour.

Then, I started creating our wedding logo with our initials, and that took another two hours! I wanted to make sure each pixel was perfect.

After several hours of planning, I thought, “OK, this looks like a real wedding location.”

Depois disso, Nazmul começou a falar com os convidados.

We already had a group chat with all of our friends, so I had to start a new one without Sharmin.

I told everyone to come to my island.

They quickly realized I was planning a surprise wedding, and they were so excited.

Nazmul sabia que podia passar todo o tempo do mundo planejando cada mínimo detalhe pra que tudo fosse perfeito, mas na verdade, ele só queria surpreender a Sharmin.

Everyone was ready to start the ceremony, so in the video game, I invited Sharmin to my island.

When she arrived, I put shiny objects in the sand, creating a path for her to follow to the big event.

I offered her a white dress to try on, and then we walked to the beach.

As we walked, our friends appeared in the game and started throwing sparklers and confetti.

Muitos casamentos nos Estados Unidos terminam com confete e velas de faíscas, ou sparklers.

Na vida real, no sofá deles, Nazmul aumentou o volume do seu fone pra que ela pudesse ouvir a ligação em grupo.

Todos os amigos gritaram de uma vez: “Viva os noivos!”

It was really, really surprising to me! It brought together a lot of important people in our lives, and we were just really happy.

Sim, essa é a Sharmin! O casamento no Animal Crossing não foi oficial.

Eles ainda estão esperando pra se casar.

Mas a cerimônia improvisada mostrou pra eles que, quando esse dia finalmente chegar, eles vão dar menos importância pros detalhes materiais e mais pras pessoas com quem eles querem celebrar.

We haven’t seen our families for a while.

So when it’s safe to have our wedding, we want to bring everyone we love together.

But it doesn’t have to be perfect.

After having this little Animal Crossing wedding, I’ve realized the perfect wedding is not important.

It’s more important to spend time with the people we love, whether it’s in a game or real life.

Nazmul e Sharmin ficaram sem ver os amigos e a família quando chegou a pandemia.

Mas Savannah Koop e Ryan Hamilton não conseguiram sequer ver um ao outro! Savannah é canadense, da cidade de Abbotsford, que fica na província da Colúmbia Britânica.

Ryan é dos Estados Unidos e vem de Bellingham, que fica no estado de Washington, do outro lado da fronteira com o Canadá.

Os dois se conheceram num aplicativo de namoro em julho de 2019.

For our first date, Ryan asked me to meet him at a coffee shop in Bellingham.

I was two hours late because there was traffic at the border, but he didn’t mind.

He just ordered two coffees and we left the shop.

We walked around the old neighborhood of Bellingham and along the beach, where a saxophonist was playing.

Then we drove up a mountain, where there was a beautiful view over the sea.

We talked and talked and talked.

It was perfect — except for his terrible jokes.

No começo, eles não se preocuparam muito com o fato de morarem em países diferentes.

Afinal, todo mundo por lá cruza a fronteira o tempo todo, por qualquer motivo, seja pra comprar comida ou pra ir pra um compromisso.

After that, we started seeing each other often.

We had so much in common.

We both enjoy hiking and skateboarding, and we’re both Christian and enjoy discussing Christian issues.

Seis meses depois de se conhecerem, eles começaram a falar em casamento.

We just wanted to be together.

It was so simple — in theory.

In December, we started looking for rings.

Ryan really wanted to buy me a diamond, but I told him I just wanted a simple gold ring.

And so on March 1, he asked me to marry him.

We were in a beautiful national park in Canada, next to a river, with tall trees all around us.

No começo de março, a pandemia começou a virar um problema nos Estados Unidos e no Canadá, mas ninguém tinha ideia do quão grave ia ser.

Então, eles marcaram o casamento pra maio.

Eles só tinham dois meses pra preparar, mas era a melhor opção pra que a família de Savannah pudesse ir.

My parents live in Spain, and they only come to Canada once a year.

My older sister was going to have her first baby in May, and our parents planned to visit then.

So instead of making them travel twice, we thought, “Let’s get married while they’re here!”

Savannah e Ryan começaram os preparativos.

No dia 12 de março, eles foram fazer compras em Bellingham pra decidir o que iriam incluir na lista de presentes.

As I was driving back to Abbotsford that day, I heard an announcement on the radio.

“Health officials are recommending that all travelers complete a 14-day quarantine after visiting the United States…”

It was recommended that all people going to Canada from the U.S.

should quarantine for 14 days.

“...to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus.”

Quer dizer, pessoas como… a Savannah!

At that time, the 14-day quarantine was only a recommendation, so I still went to work.

But my boss told me to quarantine at home.

I was so upset because I couldn’t see Ryan for 14 days! Soon after that, the borders closed.

No dia 20 de março, o Canadá e os Estados Unidos fecharam suas fronteiras pra todas as viagens não essenciais.

Ryan e Savannah estavam presos… em países diferentes!

Then I lost my job.

It was really stressful.

Ryan had to stay in the U.S., because he couldn’t leave his job.

I was in Canada and couldn’t leave my pregnant sister.

We couldn’t see each other for two and a half weeks, and it was really difficult.

Then I had an idea...

Diferente da fronteira dos Estados Unidos com o México, a maior parte da fronteira com o Canadá não tem muros ou cercas.

Então, Savannah procurou no Google Maps e achou duas estradas paralelas dos dois lados da fronteira, pra que os dois pudessem dirigir até lá.

A fronteira em si era um fosso, ou ditch.

Between the roads, there was a ditch.

It was about two meters wide.

I told Ryan we should meet there, but he wasn’t sure.

He thought it would be too difficult to see each other but not be able to touch.

Finally, I convinced him, and the next day, I drove to the border.

And Ryan was there, on the other side, with a huge smile.

I immediately started crying.

It was so good to see him! We walked side by side — as close as possible.

But I really wanted to touch him.

Depois daquele momento, eles começaram a se ver todos os dias.

Eles descobriram que em alguns pontos da divisa não tinha fosso separando os dois lados.

Mas eles precisavam ficar o tempo todo atentos à polícia de fronteira, ou border patrol.

We were so close, but we never touched each other.

We knew the Border Patrol was always watching.

We were careful because we heard stories about people being arrested for suspicious behavior.

But I still really wanted to hug him.

No começo, Savannah e Ryan acharam que o fechamento das fronteiras duraria pouco.

Mas, com a data do casamento se aproximando, eles perceberam que isso não ia acontecer.

E tiveram que cancelar a cerimônia.

Aí, semanas se passaram.

Then, one afternoon in May, I read an article about a woman who flew to the U.S.

to see her husband.

We didn’t realize that flying was still an option, even though the land borders were closed! So, we decided very quickly: I was going to fly to the U.S.

to see Ryan.

Quando os dois finalmente estavam juntos de novo nos Estados Unidos, decidiram fazer o casamento.

Tomando todas as precauções contra o coronavírus, eles se casariam na propriedade de um amigo que se estendia pros dois lados da fronteira entre Estados Unidos e Canadá.

I was so excited! We immediately started planning our wedding ceremony.

We decided to have our wedding at our friend’s property because then all our Canadian and U.S.

guests could come and stay on different sides of the border.

And it was safer to have an outdoor wedding during the pandemic!

Os dois só tinham duas semanas pra planejar tudo, porque os pais da Savannah, que estavam no Canadá visitando o novo neto, queriam voltar pra Espanha.

Mas eles não queriam voltar sem antes ver a Savannah e o Ryan casados!

We planned a small wedding — it was only for some of our family and friends.

But it was so much work because we were planning two weddings! We didn’t want people to cross the border, so we needed two of everything: two photographers, two videographers, two different people to bring dessert and coffee…

Um dia antes de se casarem, eles fizeram um ensaio, ou rehearsal, uma prévia da cerimônia no dia anterior ao casamento – como é comum entre casais norte-americanos.

While we were finishing our wedding rehearsal, I heard a truck arrive.

I looked, and it was the Border Patrol.

I was devastated.

Savannah tinha certeza que os policiais da fronteira iam cancelar a cerimônia.

The officer got out of his car and said: “Oh, you two are getting married!” I was really nervous, but when he said that, I felt so much better.

He recognized us from all of our dates at the border!

O casamento seguiu como o combinado.

Tinha uma fileira de cadeiras de cada lado da fronteira, uma pros convidados do Canadá e outra pros convidados dos Estados Unidos.

Savannah caminhou em cima da fronteira entre os países, bem no meio dos dois, pra declarar seus votos, ou vows.

While I was walking down the aisle with my dad, it started to rain.

I stood next to Ryan, and when I started saying my vows, the sun started to shine.

Then, Ryan took a ring out of his pocket.

And it was a diamond! I was shocked.

Ryan tinha comprado um anel de diamante em segredo.

E apesar de não querer no começo, Savannah adorou a surpresa.

After the ceremony, we moved the tables together, so we had one big table on the border.

Guests from Canada were on one side, and guests from the U.S.

were on the other side.

My sister came with my baby nephew.

I loved every second of it.

Savannah e Ryan Hamilton agora vivem juntos em Bellingham, nos Estados Unidos.

A história deles foi produzida por Eloise Stevens, uma produtora de rádio que vive no Reino Unido.

Nazmul Ahmed é engenheiro de qualidade e vive na Filadélfia, na Pensilvânia, pra onde ele e Sharmin se mudaram recentemente, por causa do trabalho dela como médica.

A história deles foi produzida por Stephanie Maltarich.

Eu sou Helena Fruet.

Thank you for listening!