Family

As I watched My Big Fat Greek wedding in Intercultural communication class. I was stunned at how much that movie now made me think of my sister wedding.

No I'm not Greek, nor did she marry into a Greek Family. She married into a Iranian family, though her husband is only half Iranian.

It struck me as odd how in the movie the families of two separate cultures was so strenuous and odd and well a bit painful to watch at times. In the end, everything ended up being alright though. My own experience was completely different.

I had the language barrier, part of the family only spoke Iranian, and some knew a little English but not much. Many however knew English and were amazing to get to know. The same could be said for those who spoke little to no English though. They were all amazing people.

My first incounter with them was at a full on pig roast. Something I had never been to. There was a literally still a pig on a stick being roasts over coals. It was an odd vision. Everyone was amazing though. My sister's father-in-law was one of the nice men I have ever met, and the entire family was just great.

I never felt unwelcome, and I'd like to think I never made them feel unwelcome either. I didn't experience culture shock, and personally I saw them all as competent communicators.

In fact, to this day, when ever anyone says Iran or Iranian, I normally correct them, because it is not I-ran, it is E-ran... a bit of a habit I picked up.

The reason I've thought so much about this while in Scotland was simple. I was struck by oddity of not seeing very many mixed cultural marriages(beyond American-Scottish or English-Scottish) in Scotland.

I don't see many mixed couples walking around Edinburgh or anywhere really, but in the United States this is such a common thing.

Perhaps it is because Scotland doesn't receive as many immigrants as the U.S. or maybe it is because the U.S. is so huge it would be impossible for us to not see such things. Either way, I've experience my own perspective of A Big Fat Greek Wedding, and I hope it isn't my last...

I also hope that more people from Scotland experience such a thing, they are quite amazing.