***Entry written sometime in December:

Both of us have been busy all throughout the week so nobody went to buy groceries. Normally, that is my job but because my class is coming to an end and there are some important papers to prepare and exams to think about, Marcus didn’t complain when he couldn’t find anything in the fridge worth eating.

For two days, food came in from home delivery services of various restaurants but on Sunday, we realized that we have spent so much on home deliveries and tips therefore we decided to just cook our own food. Marcus volunteered to go buy some stuff but decided against it later that day. He was feeling lazy. I didn’t insist on him going out because I myself was also feeling lazy that day but before we even thought of succumbing to ordering another pizza, I decided to look in the kitchen for anything and there I found pasta. We were out of tomato sauce but I was lucky to find that quick carbonara fix I didn’t know we still have.

And that saved us from our lazy selves.

I was just talking about cultural differences between me and my husband in my other blog when I finally thought of something.

So anyway, we do have minor difficulties sometimes and most of them are pretty common to married couples but there is one particular thing that I think is unique to couples in an intercultural marriage and that is the problem on what food to eat. To date, most of our petty quarrels are about food. You see, I am an Asian. Three days without eating rice makes me feel like I am going to die soon and my husband feels the same if he can’t have potatoes or bread (good ones). When I can, I prepare two sets of meals (Asian and Western) but most of the time, I can’t. Now that I am attending a German class that runs every day from 1:00-5:30 pm, I don’t have the luxury of time to prepare two sets of meals so I can just prepare either Western or Asian. To make the matter worse, my husband is very choosy when it comes to food. So sometimes when I prepare Asian food and he doesn’t like it, he won’t complain but he won’t touch it either. Instead, he will find other things to eat. Sometimes, he’ll settle for chips and mini salamis for dinner! First I’d feel sad because he won’t eat what I cooked then afterwards I’d feel guilty because he doesn’t have a decent dinner when he comes home from a whole day of work.

Other than this particular cultural difference, I cannot think of anything else that gives us problems.

They are my parents-in-law and I took this picture without them knowing. They are like that…still very sweet even after 30 years of marriage.

They grew up in the same place and went to the same schools. They’ve been exclusive since they became sweethearts at age 14. At the age of 16, they became a couple and at 20, they became husband and wife. 30 years later, they still share kisses and they still hold hands.

I find it amazing.

Couples like them make me believe more in “happy ever after“  and now that I am married, I wonder how far my husband and I could go. A year of marriage is nothing compared to 30 years. We are still on the starting line. Life is still all sunshine and meadows for us. We have not exactly encountered a major problem yet and we never had a major fight. Everything is still pleasant. Not that I am waiting for bad things to happen. I am just hoping that when they do, my husband and I will also be able to surpass them.