The interview in english

For all of our english speaking friends, here is the interview in english as well.. I have Google translated it and corrected the worst grammatical errors. We all know Google translate only works in theory. 

It all started as an innocent meeting in an online game. She sat in Gothenburg and he sat in southwestern Australia. They started to like each other instantly and Mia decided to go down and visit. A meeting that was not at all as they had in mind.

Published: Fri, 2012-05-25 13:01

Updated: Fri, 2012-05-25 13:16

October 7, 2010 Jason Johnson was sitting at home in Esperance, in southwestern Australia, and played online strategy game Evony. He was a member of an alliance of over one hundred players. Suddenly he saw a neighboring town in the game with a name that really stood out. Most cities in the game was mostly a name like War, Killer or other testosterone-charged names. This town was called Dream. Its owner Mia Rehnberg sat in a rainy and grey Gothenburg on the other side of the world.

- We started talking to each other about our dreams and realized pretty quickly that we shared the same interests and values. But then we did not know the other person's age or if it was a boy or girl, says Mia.

The game Evony is a strategic war game where they have their own city, and shall then attempt to take over other cities. According to Mia and Jason reminds a lot of Age of Empires.

They began to talk more and more with each other in the game, and after two weeks they went over to Facebook and then Skype.

- Then we saw that we were the same age and could finally see what the other one looked like, and we were not exactly discouraged, says Mia, laughing. We talked all the time, like eight hours a day.

- It was all so exciting that it was hard to resist, says Jason.

In the beginning it was just Mia who had a webcam, but after a while Jasonbought his own so they could see each other simultaneously.

- It was crazy, because of the time difference, I got up around four o'clock in the morning and started talking and then we continued the rest of the day, even at work, says Jason.

Mia laughs and says that when she was working from home, they used to let his camera stay on when he would lie down so she could see him sleeping.

- It was her favorite thing, I think, to see me sleep, says Jason.

They could not get enough of each other and after three months, Mia decided to go and visit. She packed her suitcase, took leave from her doctoral studies in medicine and was then gone for three months.

The visit to Australia was not quite as they had in mind. Before the visit, Jason heard many harsh words from his friends who said they thought he was an idiot who believed that it would be a girl his own age who came down from Sweden to visit, just for him.

- They said it was probably a fat old man sitting in New York masturbating at home, says Jason.

When Mia arrived after a 72 hour trip she was not very well received by Jason's friends. Esperance is a town where the majority are strictly religious, and to move in with a woman without being married were not accepted.

This time, Jason were self-employed in the construction industry. The landlord he was staying with happened to also be his firm's biggest client and immediately stopped to give him more work when he realized that Mia and Jason wanted to live together.

- I was called a whore by Jason's friends and we were more or less thrown out of the house he lived in. We were not allowed to have separate bedrooms, I could not even sleep on the couch. They told Jason that she did not come in under this roof, because you're not married, says Mia.

This news was hard for Jason, because without work from their landlord, he would find it difficult to continue living in Esperance. Mia and Jason got tired of sneaking in and out of the house. They began living in the car, they bought a tent and camped on the beach but was soon driven away by park guards. Eventually they got enough of this and decided to move away to a house where they could rent space without being contested.

After three months it was time for Mia to travel back home. In spite of all resistance and all the hard times they did not get tired of each other, but rather the contrary. Jason had now decided to follow up to Sweden. He resigned from his job and took the flight a week after Mia. Here in Sweden they have since then been busy trying to organize all permits and visas needed to live and work. Right now Mia is unemployed and Jason get some work from different employers. 

- I hope to get some more work, it's pretty tough now financially. But in the future we are thinking about starting a business together. Preferably something where we have the opportunity to travel around without being tied to a specific location, said Jason.

They certainly seem not to have gotten enough of each other. They still look very in love with each other, and they got engaged in January.

What happened with the gaming?

- We actually have not played anything since we started talking to each other on Facebook, we lost all nterest in the game, says Mia and looks at Jason.

Filip Arvidsson