Tag: long distance relationship

Your Love From Afar Challenge: Week 7

Monday- Tell us about your different cultures, languages, and customs.

How do you deal with each other having different cultures, languages, and customs? (If you have the same background explain how it affects the relationship)

Do you learn more about how the other person thinks when you learn about their culture?

What are some funny, frustrating, or surprising moments you have shared because of these differences?

Cat: Whoa, these are some good questions! Okay, so, I was born in Lima, Peru. My mom is Peruvian and my dad was American. So, I was kind of brought up as a hybrid of the two cultures. So, even though I’m Peruvian, I definitely identify with certain parts of American culture because I have lived here my whole life (essentially) and because my dad was American.

I can’t speak for Richard, but I really like having a different culture, language and customs from him. I feel like I have learned a lot about both British and Welsh cultures, and I have loved it, truly. I mean, Welsh is a really cool-sounding language. I can speak for Richard when I say he will totally disagree with me on that, haha! Overall we really enjoy learning about each other’s cultures from each other. It’s been a really fun learning experience for us and our families!

I definitely have learned more about Richard’s mindset since I have learned about his culture. He really does embody the phrase, “Keep calm and carry on,” even though that phrase totally annoys him, haha! And that’s one of the many things I love about him. And it’s completely opposite to my family: We’re passionate about everything we do – It’s the Latin in our blood, haha! I love the balance he puts in my life. 🙂

From what he has told me and from what I perceive, sometimes it does bother him when my family and I lose ourselves and start talking in Spanish in front of him. Oops… Our bad… But he wants to learn more Spanish, and since I’m definitely teaching our children Spanish in the future, he either needs to hop on board or our children and I are going to have secret conversations, haha! (You all heard it here first!)

To end on a happy note:The fun moments we’ve had in regards to our different cultures has been cooking for each other. Richard loved my lomo saltado, and his mom and he loved my chile relleno. And my family can’t stop raving about Richard’s homemade focaccia and Bakewell Tart. Food ftw.

Richard: For me I enjoy us sharing different backgrounds as it means we open our minds to new ways of thinking, and collectively we make better decisions. I studied Spanish at GCSE level (14-16) but I have forgotten a lot unfortunately… Apart from enough to say silly things haha In terms of culture, we do compliment each other, as Cat gets me to dream more and be more hopeful and I keep her calm.

Yes, some times the Spanish speaking does bother me 😛 From my own background of growing up in a two lanaguage country, the social rule was essentially that if everyone speaks a shared lanaguage, then that’s the one you use apart from if you’re stuck on a word to use etc. I do feel bad getting annoyed with it but sometimes when I can’t take part in conversations that are happening by me, it does get to me. But, I do want to learn Spanish to have better conversations, teach our future children Spanish, and for business use in the states 🙂

As Cat says, food has played a very big part with our families connecting 🙂 I also made a Christmas dinner for Cat’s mum and Aunt when they were here for Christmas which went down really well! There will be competition in the future, but we actually cook our Christmas dinners on separate days (24th and 25th) so it’s all good!

Overall, any quirks have been growing pains when two cultures come together but 99% has been great and we’re in it for the long haul 🙂 She’s definitely improved my life and my outlook and I’m very thankful for having her in my life 🙂

FYI

So, you might have noticed that Richard and I skipped a few days there on the challenge. 

The thing is, to be 100% honest with you guys, things have been so cray over the past few weeks that we didn’t get to draw or write love letters to each other. We love that idea though! We will be doing it later in the year and we will snap pictures of us sending it to them. 

Also, we don’t play multiplayer games online. We’re going to figure out how to play multiplayer modes of Mario Kart on the 3DS (hopefully) soon. So, if that happens, I will snap a picture of that!

We’re just trying to catch up, and I hope you guys don’t mind. 

We’re just, in the words of the wonderful Tim Gunn, making it work. 🙂 

Your Love from Afar: Week 5

Monday- Do you both play any games together?

What games do you play? Who usually wins? Do you place any bets or rewards?

We do! Richard and I love playing games on the Wii and the 3DS. A few months before I left, I became obsessed with playing Mario 3D World and Mario 3D Land. I love playing Mario Kart 8 too. Basically, anything Mario, I will play it, and Richard will join in. Richard is way more of a gamer than I am though. He loves his new PS4, and he likes playing what I call his scary games on it. I definitely do not do scary well so that’s his time or time with his boys. Outside of game consoles, we love to play Scrabble, haha!

Hands down, Richard usually wins. He’s been a gamer all his life, and I love that about him. His hand-eye coordination is insane, and he’s so intuitive with all sorts of games. Although it means that I lose a good amount of the time, I can’t hate. I can’t! The way I see it, at the end of the day, if we get to spend time together, I’m happy. 🙂 (Cheesy, I know. Please still be my friend.)

We’ve never placed any serious bets and rewards to games… Thank God! I would be broke if we did, haha!

Your Love from Afar: Week 4

(Trying to do some major catch up here…)

Friday- What are your favorite things to talk about? Do you talk on a regular basis?

We talk everyday. 🙂 Our favorite things to talk about are how our days were and how we envision our future. Richard wakes up before me because of the five-hour time difference, and he usually texts me before he goes to work. His morning texts really start my day off on the right note! We always say good night to each other as well, even though it is totally not good night for me, haha. But from the moment we first talked to each other, we have always said good night to each other. It’s one of our golden rules. 🙂

Your Love from Afar Challenge: Week 3

(We are so off this week. Sorry, guys!)

Friday- Post your favorite quotes from your favorite movie.

Cat: “The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love and to be loved in return.” – Moulin Rouge (not my all-time favorite movie but my all-time favorite movie quote)

Richard: “Remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.” – Shawshank Redemption

Your Love from Afar Challenge: Week 3

(We are a few days behind, but better late than never, right guys?)

Monday- What do you do for date nights?

When you are together, what are your favorite date night spots?

When you are apart what do you do for dates?

When we were together, we did lots of things for date nights! We watched movies either at home or at the cinema. We played games on the Wii or our 3DS consoles. We loved to try new restaurants wherever we were and to take a nice stroll afterwards. We also loved to have day dates when we would do some sightseeing (especially in London and DC) or when we would have breakfast out during the weekend. Whatever it was, we were just happy to do it together. 🙂

Our top 3 date night spots so far are:

1. Mud Crab Cafe in Manchester, UK
2. Gourmet Burger Kitchen in Canary Wharf, London
3. Brew Dog in Manchester, UK

We haven’t totally mastered the date-while-apart thing yet, but any suggestions are welcome! 

PS Do Skype dates count?