"Knowledge about differences in cultural belief systems can help spouses who take each other's behavior too personally. Couples might experience great relief when they can come to see the spouse's behavior fitting into a larger ethnic context rather than as a personal attack (p.27).(McGoldrick, M., Giordano, J., & Garcia-Preto, N. (Eds.). (2005). Ethnicity and family therapy (3rd ed.). New York: Guilford Press.)"
Solution: book
More reading:
Article: It's all about being understood, Smart Marriages
http://lists101.his.com/pipermail/smartmarriages/2001-November/000857.html
Thesis: Stress and Coping Techniques for Successful Intercultural Marriages, Sarah Donovan
http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-12222004-125301/unrestricted/thesis.pdf
Article: Is my Way the right Way?, Marriage Missions International
http://www.marriagemissions.com/intercultural-marriages-assumptionsmy-way-the-right-way/
(This post has been taken from my former "Living the Cross-Cultural Life" MySpace Group)
I decided to write this blog as part of my cultural integration process. After 2 ½ years of living in California I realize more and more that cultural integration is not a one way street but requires mutual openness and willingness to dare to think outside one’s own cultural box of concepts of “right” and “wrong”, “normal” and “weird” without judging and/or ridiculing what is foreign to one’s common ways of doing life. With this blog I hope to make a contribution to the improvement of this mutual understanding and invite my family and friends both American and German to be part of this process. Please note that this blog does NOT intend to reinforce any stereotypes or make unsophisticated generalizations but only portrays the personal experience of a German girl born in the heart of Swabia and her story of immigrating to a Californian metropolis of the extra large kind namely Los Angeles (4 million). Whenever I will post general articles with general opinions I will mark the content that relates to MY personally experienced challenges, struggles, discoveries and revelations. As I am writing part of this in retrospective there is no particular order to the postings. Feel free to share comments on YOUR experience with keeping in mind that the purpose of this blog is to foster UNDERSTANDING and not to OFFEND anybody! Due to the nature of the subject offense of some kind will probably occur at some point so I apologize before hand and encourage everybody to be a constructive part of this. As a good friend of mine who lives in a inter-cultural marriage as well always says: “Remember, it’s just different.”
Friday, October 5, 2007
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