All these resources have helped me at some point in my multicultural marriage. If you have questions on any of these or want to recommend your own for me to add, email me at multiculturalmarriage [at] gmail dot com and I’ll be happy to chat with you!
- Ways of life
- Premarital and marriage counseling books. We used this Preparing for Marriage course while we were engaged. It covers important areas such as finances, family, etc. – things that need to be discussed, especially in the context of a multicultural union! And this book, Your Spouse Isn’t the Person You Married, has helped us in tackling the changing nature of a marriage relationship (the title sounds creepy, but you’ll understand once you read it! 😉 ).
- Love languages. Gary Chapman’s Love Languages book showed me how to relate to my husband in his primary love languages: quality time and acts of service. Over the years I’ve thought I was expressive love to him using my primary love languages – words of affirmation, for just one example – but it doesn’t always come across because they’re not his primary love languages!
- Family matters
- Understanding different cultures. I heard about the hot and cold climate idea through Sarah Lanier’s Foreign to Familiar: A Guide to Understanding Hot – And Cold – Climate Cultures. Having experienced both sorts of cultures, I can certainly relate. This can be all head knowledge until you really get smack down in the middle of a new culture … at which point, all I can say is, let the cultural (mis)adventures begin!
Overseas travel
- No Jet Lag. This is one of the best-kept secrets of international travel! No Jet Lag is a homeopathic flight fatigue remedy that tastes good and really works, in my experience. You get some tablets to chew at regular intervals: one on take-off, every two hours after that (or up to four hours if you’re sleeping), then the last one after landing. Somehow it helps your body adjust to the different time zones, giving you hopefully enough breathing space to reset your body clock to your new place and sleep once the sun goes down!
- Kayak.com. I like this site’s ability to send you email alerts every time a special price comes up on a flight you’re considering. It’s good to try to plan flights, especially international ones, ahead of time – minimum three months away – and compare different airlines and flying times to set a baseline of how much you think it will cost.
- Food/cuisine
- Swanson Vitamins. I love this site for finding cheap prices on almost anything that’s a high-quality specialty item – including organic health foods! Don’t let the name fool you; you can find foodstuffs here as well as vitamins. Just a few examples: coconut oil, organic cocoa powder, fluoride-free toothpastes, etc. (If you follow my link, you’ll get a free $5 coupon when you register for your new account … and I’ll also get a $10 reward coupon when you make your first merchandise purchase of $20 or more. Win-win! 😉 )
- Finances
- Money-Saving Mom. So many wonderful blogs exist on saving money that you can spend all day learning new things! One of my favorites is Money-Saving Mom. I sign up for her email newsletters and download free e-books all the time.
- Swagbucks. I was skeptical of Swagbucks at first – it seemed like such a time-waster instead of a rewards program! But if you spend only enough time to make it worth your while, Swagbucks can really help you save money if you’re an avid Amazon shopper like me. I usually accrue Swagbucks through online shopping that I would have done anyway (key point right there!), taking daily polls and No Obligation Special Offers (NOSOs), and doing any surveys/brand activities/polls etc. whenever I have a few extra minutes. Then I redeem my Swagbucks points for Amazon gift cards. Over time, the savings really do add up.
Multicultural Marriage 