I married my teacher & people think he’s our son’s grandad but I don’t care about our 27-year age gap
A WOMAN who married her teacher doesn't care about their 27-year age gap, or the fact that he's often mistaken for their son's grandfather.
Mariam Trela, 26, explained it was a case of "love at first sight" when she first saw her now 53-year-old husband Grzegorz Trela.
He was working as a professor of philosophy at the same university in Morogoro, Tanzania, where she was studying education.
The pair went on their first date in May 2017 and the rest, as they say, is history.
They married in July 2018 and welcomed their son Ignacy, now three, later that year.
And while they aren't bothered about the comments they often receive about their age difference, Mariam said their little boy is often mistaken for Grzegorz's grandson.
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"Quite often people say to my husband, about our son: ‘what a beautiful grandson’," she said.
“Probably because of my husband's grey hair, this kind of situation happens to my husband quite often.
"So probably when people see our whole family, they think it's a mother with a son and a grandfather."
Not only that, but some people think Mariam - who is currently living in Bielsko-Biała, Poland with her husband and son - is a gold digger who is only after her spouse's fortune.
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"When they find out that I am his wife, on the one hand - especially men - envy him his young, attractive wife, and suspect that I'm just going after his money," she laughed.
“It is funny, as my husband is not even rich!"
They've also faced misconceptions about their interracial relationship.
“In Tanzania, there are some who believe the stereotype 'white is rich'," primary school teacher Mariam explained.
"In Poland, we can sometimes face prejudices because there are not many people of colour who live here.
“There are quite a few differences between us, such as gender, age, religion, culture, politics and life experiences.
“But as the years go by, we learn from each other, and this perhaps is the most fascinating thing about our relationship - we keep discovering each other."
Since sharing their relationship with their family and friends, all of whom were very accepting, they've been documenting their lives on a YouTube channel for their son.
"Memory is unreliable, children grow up fast, so we wanted to save as much as possible of our everyday life for our son," Mariam added.
“Almost all comments we get are positive reactions from people to our channel.
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"I love him, he loves me and cares for me and we both care a lot about our son.
"Our love encounters difficulties - mostly cultural differences - but we overcome them by patiently learning from each other."