For many couples, meeting the family is one of the most exciting and nerve-wracking moments.  Throw in differences in language and customs and you have the makings for a memorable experience. Movies such as When Fools Rush In and My Big Fat Greek Wedding are examples of where different cultures collide to make for charming moments. Such was the story when Argentine native, Christina, met her husband.

Christina, 33, met her husband, Matt, while he was then working in Argentina.  They met at a pub that was frequented by Americans.  The initial introduction was made through one of her friends and so began the adventure.

“Our first date we went to Tucumán.  I took him by myself because I couldn’t speak any English and he couldn’t speak any Spanish.  I took him to a place to eat empanadas.  I was telling him, ‘These empanadas are great.  They’re the best in the world.’  The empanadas came but they weren’t cooked enough. I told him that they were the best, but the worst came,” Christina said with a chuckle.  “As we ate, we didn’t say nothing.  He’d had them before in Córdoba.  He probably thought that I was a liar!”

At that time, the difference in language presented significant obstacles.  However, both persisted in communicating with each other.  Through a combination of sign language,  basic vocabulary and sheer tenacity, both kept going.  Somehow, they made it work.

“He kept talking about [Mike] Tyson.  He ate someone’s [Evander Holyfield's] ear. He tried explaining it to me, but I didn’t understand nothing.  It was an interesting conversation.  I didn’t understand what he was talking about.  He was using a translating machine.  He was desperate to explain to me what he was talking about.  I didn’t understand anything.”

After the initial introduction, they kept seeing each other.  However, she was still keeping a secret: her age.  It took her about a month to finally reveal the truth, which provided her a tremendous sense of relief.

“After that, my friend asked, ‘How old are you?’ I said, ‘Tell him that I’m 23.’ It took about a month for me to tell him the truth.  The day that I told him the truth, he was probably wondering, ‘Are you married?’ It turned out that it was just about my age.  He was happy, when I told him, because he was probably wondering if I had a baby, was divorced or had a boyfriend,” she explained.

Things kept progressing between Christina and Matt.  A few months afterward, they traveled to Alabama, where her future brother-in-law was getting married.  This was big for two reasons.  First of all, it was her first trip to America.  Also, Christina would get to experience her first American wedding and see how different it was compared to Argentine ones.

“At a party before the wedding, we were all in a restaurant and then everybody stopped eating and went outside.  I asked Matt what was going on and he started laughing and said that everybody went outside to smoke.  That doesn’t happen in my country because we can smoke all over the place.  Nobody was inside but me and Matt.  Eventually, I told him, ‘I gotta go.’ I was outside smoking and tried to talk to somebody,” she said with a chuckle.

Following the wedding in Alabama, Christina and Matt were invited to Indianapolis to visit his mother and stepfather.  While his mother treated her well, the language barrier, as it was with Matt, continued to be a problem.  However, none of this stopped Christina from having her first experience with American-style pancakes.  They were definitely not what she expected.

“The wedding was like three or four days.  After that, his mom invited us.  The funny thing is when we went to eat breakfast.  It was the four of us: me, Matt, Matt’s mom and his step-dad.  They invited us for breakfast.  When I saw the menu, it was my first time eating pancakes.  When I saw pancakes, I thought that it was the type like we have in Argentina—almost like crêpes.  I was thinking pancakes with dulce de leche.  When they gave me the pancakes—the pile of pancakes—I gave them a look like, ‘What is this?’ I was expecting my pancakes,” she said with a laugh.  “Everybody was looking at me.  I started eating.  Put maple syrup on them.  I ate them like a piece of bread.”

From her colorful introduction to American culture to the present, Christina views marrying an American and moving to the United States as an adventure—not something to be feared, but looking forward to the next experience.

“It was different—very different.  I wasn’t nervous.  To me, it was more like an adventure,” she concluded.

Author: José A. Rodríguez