The East meets West Married Couple Meetup Group

I am Taiwanese, and my husband is white American.  Since we are an interracial couple, we have many friends who are also interracial couples.  I found that interracial couples over all are a very interesting combination because Eastern culture and values are very different from Westerner’s.  The one thing I found in my marriage is that we don’t make assumptions of things in life because we know we are different – language, values, mentalities, perspectives, eating hobbies, etc.  I also found that those differences gave us interesting interaction toward everyday life.  We are always learning about each other, not only as individuals but also as a country or culture. 

So I started looking around to see if there are other social groups focused on people like us.  I joined two photography groups on Meetup.com but didn’t see any Asian and White couples in the group.  So I am thinking why not starting a group myself and see how many people are interested.  2008 is a good year to start something new so I set up my first meetup group called “The East meets West Married Couple Meetup Group” which has 22 members so far. 

We had our first meetup event today at John’s XLNT Food in downtown Willow Glen for breakfast.  We had five couples show up which was very nice.  We had four American husbands, one Swedish husband with two Chinese wives, one Taiwanese, one Singaporean and one Vietnamese-American wife.  Since this is our fist meetup, we started very gently on conversations.  We start with where people live and where they work, etc.  This didn’t last long because by the end of the breakfast, we have all kinds of subjects and conversations going on, and our voice and laughter was also getting louder.  It was a great time and I am sure next time we meet would be even more fun. 

Building a strong and supportive friendship takes time and effort.  I left my long time friends in Taiwan and start over again in the States.  This is my 8th year in the States and I finally start seeing the fruit of the seeds I planted when I moved to here.  I have started having friends here that I have known for quite some time.  I start to feel belonging. 

I start to feel that here is my home.

As my husband would say, “You have come a loooooong way, baby.”

Comments

[Sabrina]

Dear Carrie,

Don't feel bad and don't stop trying. You will find your way to make this place home. It may not take you that long because I am older than you. Just make sure you do try to make yourself happy everyday by doing small things such as go to bookstore for a few hours quiet time or stay home read a book with a cup of tea and music, etc. That's what I did, do things that I enjoy to do so I will be happy everyday. Positive people attract positive people.

[Carrie]

After reading this post, I finally know why I'm still feeling unstable after living here for 4 years.

Carrie