Tips for Adjusting to Life When You are Married to a Foreigner

Here are five tips I’ve picked up on adjusting to life when you are married to a foreigner.

1. Embrace Both Cultures
This might sound like common sense, but it is harder than you might think. I’ve found that in order for us to blend our cultures, we have to make a conscious effort to 1) learn about each other’s culture and 2) appreciate the differences. Some ideas we’ve found that help us embrace both cultures include varying our dinner recipes (for example, we had both Tex-Mex and Chinese food last week), watching both Italian and American sports (Forza Azzurri … uhm, How ’bout them Cowboys?!?) and even learning to watch and enjoy movies, shows and music from both countries.

2. Celebrate Holidays
Along those same lines, make an effort to celebrate each other’s cultural holidays. We are typically in the US for the Christmas season where La Befana has yet to travel, yet, lucky us-she stops by each year. While we don’t exchange gifts, we acknowledge the day and give La Befana gifts (that we’ve brought from Italy) to the kids in the family. Here in Italy, we celebrate, albeit without the fireworks, on July 4 and today-America’s Labor Day-we’re having burgers for lunch.

3. Learn Each Other’s Language
With the exception of #4 (see below) this might be the toughest tip of all. Yet, in the four years since I’ve lived here (and learned Italian) I can see a difference in how I relate to, and how much more I understand, my husband. There are some quirky habits in both of our languages that used to stump, confuse or even anger us. However, now that we know each language, we understand each other’s intent and that goes a long way in ensuring a happy marriage.

4. Don’t get Defensive
I think this is more of an issue for the native spouse, who’s expat partner can easily become stressed, irritated or frustrated by her new country’s nuances, but it is important not to get defensive. My husband is pretty great at this (if I can brag a bit) and lets me get away with mini rants and raves. In return, I try to keep them to a minimum and defuse my own defensive nature when he has something unflattering to say about the US.

5. Be Patient
Patience is the key to any successful marriage, but especially if you are with someone from a different culture, you should give them the benefit of the doubt (an expression I had a hell of a time explaining to my husband a few years ago) and be patient. For the native spouse, try to understand what your expat partner is going through, how she misses her family, friends and culture and be patient when she is moody or frustrated. For the expat partner, be patient with yourself and know that with time, you’ll begin to feel a real connection to your new home and those little things that once seemed oh-so important, will begin to fade.

They say marriage is never easy and I imagine a union of people from two different cultures, languages and traditions has even more obstacles to overcome. But remember what you saw in that person when you decided to move, or in some cases permanently stay, in a different country. Those are the things that are really important-the rest are just details. And remember … we’re not going to worry about those.

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Photos: Damon Green via Flickr and our personal wedding album