I have a question for those who are married with a partner from different culture.

Did you embraced your partner culture? By living that way, listening music, language, culture?

Nil

Please may I ask why you ask this question?

My answer is yes we do and I love the fact that there is possiblity of this.

Because I am a very curious person and I love to hear about other's experiences.

I eat boerewors and watch Jack Parow on Youtube for a laugh if that counts.

Ok what are your experiences of this?

Yes, but there are limits.

Salad cream = .

I had no problem with frog legs but there was no way I would do snails!

Our daughter is comfortable with a Big Mac in one hand and a snail in the other..!

I am married to a German and, in terms of lifestyle (and having lived in Germany), I do not think that their lifestyle differs very much from my own (English).

I don't speak German but that wasn't necessary as he speaks perfect English and we knew that we would never settle in a German speaking country.

In terms of food and music - they do not present a problem (once I weaned him of curry-wurst!!!) as he can't stand the German music and was never that partial to typical German cuisine and actually much prefers the Mediterranean type diet that I like.

I think that any real differences are the subtle ones - value systems, traditions and sense of humour! That said, I love some of their traditions, their strong sense of family, and the way that they put so much effort into celebrating Christmas, Easter, carnival, etc ... not least the Christmas markets.

I am a Northerner, my wife the Saaf. Different cultures, needless to say. Does it count?

You don't give before to get, don't you? That's ok, I can tell you.

I am Canadian and I spend 4 years in Istanbul where I met hubby who have been there for a year or so. I learned very quickly the culture and language. So when I met him and later his family back in Europe, I was already well into his culture. When I am in his family I am like them, act like them, etc. I am confortable with it.

I speak the language, listen turkish music and some movies and I learned to cook turkish dishes.

Hubby doesn't speak french but have been many years in the US, so he knows very well the North American and the German life (where he is from).

We celebrate Ramadan, Bayrams and Christmas. We speak English and Turkish in the house. I speak french to my daughter. She learns about our traditions in our mixed family.




I did try it before, but it was drowning in the garlic sauce. Texture

Thanks so much!

My partner is German and I'm English and we've developed a private culture of our own which has bits from both worlds and also a lot of stuff that we made up ourselves and that isn't really identifibale in any meaningful category.

Actually, I would have to agree with that too!

Oh, totally. Everybody always said I had the tendency to be a bit snobbish and stuck-up. Turned out I'm just French!

Ahh, interesting thread; it's cool to hear other peoples' experiences!

I married a "Swiss" guy two years ago (we've been together for five years), and when I put that in quotations, I mean he was raised by a German and an Austrian, and doesn't really act Swiss by most standards of the word.

I think the hardest thing for each of us to get used to were the very obvious differences in humor. I can remember watching Anchorman with him before I knew we were dating (long story), and he relentlessly made fun of me and my very, very Americanness (which I can now totally understand) when it came to humor. It took me AGES to understand what the HELL was funny to Swiss/German people, and him to American people. It just didn't compute for the first year. Table manners were another big stepping stone, his family taught me that one. Now, I know I sound like such a USA basher, so sorry to any Republicans out there (are there any Republican expats? Never mind, whole different thread), but we're so weird when it comes to eating at the table. We (at least in the Midwest) habitually put one hand down on our laps and cut everything into baby pieces; now I've learned to "eat like a German", and I can't stop!

I think it's absolutely as much of a process tof really discovering (ew, excuse the phrase) your spouse/sig. other as it is figuring out what you and your culture is about. When you're in a deep relationship, you've never so attached, in every sense of the word, to another person - at least that's the way I feel we are - and there is no better way to digest something new than to be immersed in this way, I now can say I more-or-less "get" a lot of German/Swiss/Austrian-nesses. But it helped me with myself even more, I never fully recognized anything "American" before I met Mr.Semper.

Also, I trained him to love country music, so boom.

C'mon Mathnut. There are no limits to salad cream. Let me qualify that. Even I wouldn't put it on a bowl of lettuce and I love the stuff. But mixed into a potato salad; mixed up with mashed boiled egg and cress; spread on a ham, cheese, and tomato sarnie!! And don't get me started about dipping chips in it.
Nothing beats salad cream. Miles better than that frenchie mayonnaise stuff.

Yeah, Hubby is crazy about that stuff too....

From me, he loves poutine (so stereotypical), Mapple Syrup (dah!) and likes Gregory Charles.

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lest you get one of these through the post

Mixed in with stuff it's OK. Bit weird but OK. I can even imagine dipping french fries in it.
Rice Crackers à la Salad Cream though? Smoked Salmon à la Generous Slather of Salad Cream and Nothing Else?

Ewwww, Haggis!! I'm scared!

Mr Organ is Welsh does that count