I’m psyched that Madh Mama invited me to do a Q&A about my own intercultural relationship for her lovely blog!
Here’s a snippet from the full interview:
Where/how do you feel most inspired?
My husband is a huge inspiration for me in so many ways – from my writing to my blog to even my business. Some of my greatest ideas have come out of conversations with him, often while we’re walking together in the woods or the park. Plus, he has an extraordinary talent for cheering me up when I’m feeling a little down! I feel fortunate to have married someone who inspires me in some way every single day…Where/how did you meet your spouse?
We started out as an office romance, actually! Once upon a time, we were coworkers in the same company. He was a translator and I used to proofread his work. We collaborated fantastically back then, as we still do now. 😉….
Have you come across people who disapprove of your intercultural union? If so, how do you deal with them?
When I lived in America, I definitely did, but a lot of it was very subtle. Like when I would speak to my husband in Mandarin Chinese in public places, people might shoot me dirty looks. Or just the way I’d see someone staring at us in the grocery store or something. In these cases, we just had to ignore it and move on with our lives.The most blatant comments I’ve heard have been through my website, including how a racist hate group once linked to my blog as an example of the “growing threat” to whites. It made me sick to my stomach, but also a little scared to think that I was on their radar, so to speak. I remember discussing it with some of my friends, but ultimately made the decision not to post publicly about it (as I did not wish to give the group any additional attention). I just continue to blog about the AMWF community and interracial/cross-cultural couples, which I think is a great way to fight back.
Read the full interview right here at Madh Mama. And if you love it, share it!
P.S.: Don’t miss Madh Mama’s powerful guest post she did here a few weeks ago titled “I don’t look at my daughter as Indian or Canadian. I look at her soul.”
Great interview.
Your honesty on the challenges of a cross-cultural marriage are also an inspiration for “same-culture marriages” as the same issues can also be found in both: communication, negotiation, compromise and understanding.
Intercultural is defined as where you are. In the US, most white Americans wont consider a Russian-Ukrainian marriage mixed…they will simply be white. It will be a different story in Russia or Ukraine.
Beautiful interview!
Thank you!
I finally got a chance to look at the original post. A good interview. I was very intrigued by the baby mobile debacle!
As far as speaking Mandarin (and getting glared at), I think that’s a problem (in certain parts of the US, particularly) for anyone speaking a foreign language. It’s not exclusive to mixed culture/race couples. Once when I was checking in at the Milwaukee airport the elderly man in front of me went ballistic because he saw bilingual signs at check-in. Oh, no, Espanol is taking over! The horror, the horror!
Read only a snippet, but I’m shocked that a hate group targeted you and your husband! Personally, I don’t recall experiencing racism if I’m with someone, although one time I was at a Vietnamese restaurant with an ex Korean girlfriend and I remember putting my arm around her and women giving us dirty looks. (she and I are friends, nothing more than that.)