Immigrants

The downside of sharing your life with an immigrant (which I'm lovingly reminding my Norwegian de-facto he is whenever he needs to find his footing in reality) is the fact that you on occasion get the house swarming full of family members from that other country, speaking a language you _almost_ understand and generally demanding your best behavior throughout their stay.

It is, urrm, fun. It is all about good times. But I do have issues with a few things - like the fact that with people sleeping everywhere my home looks very much like it did that first day when we moved in. But I've already seen the benefit of having a bigger place - there are actually non-occupied floor space throughout the house now, unlike how it used to be in the apartment.

Another issue is the fact that I don't know how to handle all these subtle little cultural differences in what to eat, when to eat, what to do, when to do what etc. I'm used to some form of planning, dynamic or well in advance. That's not something S' family seem to worry about. Some of them require coffee and cake, but never at a time when I'd be forewarned that it is due. Others don't like to eat much, so food need to be planned carefully or not at all (really haven't worked that one out yet). Activities are kick started by everybody getting up, putting shoes on and leaving the house in a rush, never mind where we're going or when we're coming back - just hurry up and follow.

And why on earth does these people not realise they'd get more quality time with us if they didn't all arrive at the same time?

I just have to realise I'm a boring old fart of a control freak and the man I love have a family which is put on this earth to make me become a better person.

8-)