Cesar in Of Chapters and Reels, posting before me in AW Chain #7, talked about, among other things, culture shock and differences in cultures. Culture shock is something I’m familiar with.
If you know me very well, you’re not surprised. If you don’t know me very well… Well, let’s just clarify, shall we?
In a previous blog entry, I mentioned, as my number one reason for loving blogging, the fact that Blog, a program I downloaded just over three years ago, led Fahim, the programmer, and I to meet, fall in love, and marry in the span of two months.
It also caused me to leave Canada, the country I lived in my whole life, and move to Sri Lanka, a third world country.
Canada, where everyone, except the Quebecers and recent immigrants, speaks English. Sri Lanka, where what little English that is spoken is heavily accented and sometimes barely comprehensible. Canada, with clean air and nice, wide roads. Sri Lanka, with pothole roads barely wide enough for ox and wagons to pass by the cows that wander the roads like cheap…
Huge cultural differences? Oh yeah.
A few months ago, Fahim’s brother got married. It was an arranged marriage. Yep, folks, in this day and age, arranged marriages are alive and well and, by all appearances, work just as well as love matches. 
The divorce rates are no higher, and I know many people here who have loving relationships with their spouses. In their arranged marriage.
Here, people are amazed, agape at Fahim and I meeting over the internet, getting married, and having a love marriage. People in North America are amazed at arranged marriages.
And because this is a writing blog, to relate this to writing? Somewhere, sometime, there will be an arranged marriage in one of my novels. They’re far too interesting – and foreign – to the Western perspective to pass up. That, and there’s a lot that could be written about it.
Well, and then there’s the non-fiction project(s) I have planned and on the go. One is a book on life as an expat in Sri Lanka, the other is a rather involved travelogue/cookbook. 
That’s gonna be a whole lotta fun. :p
Organized Chaos is next in line, and here’s the rest of the AW Chain #7. Peruse and comment at will.
Talia Mana
Everything Indian
gillpolack’s journal
Just a Small Town Girl
Thoughts on the Road
Kappa no He
Beyond the Great Chimney Production Log
A View From the Waterfront
Fireflies in the Cloud
Curiouser and Curiouser
Of Chapters and Reels
Peregrinas
Organized Chaos
BCOM
Techtainment
awchain
Similar Posts:
- Writer Exchange – destination: Sri Lanka
- The AW Chain, start to finish
- The next round
- Top Searches For My Site
- Love in a blog
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{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m so glad you got your puter fixed
.
I love hearing about happy marriages, whether they’re arranged or for love. It’s the happiness that counts
. And you have made me all mawkish …
Great post. Good luck with those nonfiction projects.
What about the religious difference? Have you suffered from it? Well, in most large cities in South Asia, arranged marriage is decreasing among the young generation.
Very interesting post Laurie. It’s true, for the most part the divorce rate seems to be equal both for arranged and love marriages. I look forward to both future books of yours.
Laurie, you and Fahim have a fantastic 21st century love story! Just think, without the internet you would never have known your soul mate lived on the other side of the world. It made me smile just reading about it.
Oh, and I’d be very interested in a Sri Lankan cookbook written from the North American perspective, in case you need any encouragement.
Glad your chased away the gremlins and got the PC back up and running. I can admit to culture shock after visiting the Russian Far East, only a couple hours by plane from here, but definitely a world away.
Ahhh, yes, they have arranged marriages here as well. I like how you create a profile of pictures and hobbies/work/education that the agency shows around. I’ve got more than a few friends going through that now.
I never tire of this story! What a culture shock, but it makes life more interesting. Writing about arranged marriages in your book would be interesting. The bottom line in the success of marriages (barring serious character defects) is commitment so I don’t see why arranged marriages can’t work.