Most people aren’t ever truly ready for married life. You might have money saved, a place to stay in, and wedding preparations down to a tee. But having expectations and knowing what to expect are two very different things.
It’s one thing to know what you want for your future life. But equally important is knowing what she wants, needs, and expects.
When with Chinese women who come from Shenzhen, the ring will be a necessity for immigration purposes. But the ring, the marriage, and the immigration paperwork aren’t the only things that are needed when taking the next step in the relationship.
Those things, when taken together, are supposed to make a Chinese woman feel more at home with you if she has to leave her country-and everyone and everything that she’s familiar with-behind. She’s made quite the sacrifice to be with her partner and if you’re that partner, then there are a couple of things you can do to make the ramifications of that sacrifice a little easier on her.
Home Life
Okay, so if you marry a Chinese woman, then you’re going to want her to live with you. But what if your space hasn’t seen the touch of a woman in many moons if at all? Well, there are a few things that you can do to make that home a bit more welcoming to a feminine presence, especially one that’s from a country as foreign as China.
- Add A Bit Of Color To Your Decor
In Chinese culture, the color red has a lot of meaning behind it. The most common meaning is that of good fortune. It’s supposed to be good luck and is supposed to bring good tidings and all that.
Green should also be used. The color is supposed to represent good health in Chinese culture, so placing a few green things in and around your home should make your new bride feel a little more at ease that she’s not going to get sick with some kind of foreign germ her immune system isn’t able to defend against.
Another color that can be added in bits and pieces is yellow. Yellow represents bravery in Chinese culture and moving to a new country is a pretty brave thing.
- Grab A Feng Shui Book And Start Rearranging
You’re probably going to need to redecorate. You probably won’t have to buy new furniture, but you’re probably going to have to improve the flow of good energy in a space and make it more welcoming to your new bride.
- Get Some New Pots, Pans, And Appliances
You may have frying pans and all that at home already. You might already have a toaster, a slow cooker, and everything else you need to cook food. But you’re going to need some extra things to cook the kind of food that she’s used to.
Chief among the things that you’ll need to get is a rice cooker. Rice is a staple in China and is eaten at basically every meal so you’re going to need a rice cooker in order to make it easily and in large amounts.
- Carve Out Space
Another thing to get your home ready for your new wife is to make sure that she’s got space. Space to sleep, space to sit, and space to put her things. You don’t just have to redecorate your space, you should also rearrange your closets so that she has space for her things.
The World At Large
When you get your house in order, you’re going to have to get her ready for the outside world. You can do a few things that make interacting with things outside of your house a little easier for her.
- Get Your Friends And Family Onboard
Your friends and family are going to be in your life and if they’re going to be in your life, then they’re going to be in your new wife’s life as well. So you’re going to want to get them in line with the idea of you marrying someone from a foreign country.
Some people can be a little less than kind to people from foreign countries. They may look down on their culture or their background or their skin color. If you have people like this in your life, then you’re going to get them comfortable with you marrying someone from China.
- Get Ready To Introduce Her To Your Culture
If she’s going to be living with you in your country, she’s going to be inundated with your culture. It might be a bit of a culture shock going from the somewhat reserved and collectivist culture of China to the loud and individualistic culture of many western countries.
Part of this is getting her acclimated to the food. A meal in a country like the United States is going to be high in sugar, fat, and sodium-not to mention have larger portion sizes-when contrasted to a meal in China, where a lot of food is steamed as opposed to fried, which can be something of a shot.
- Show Her Around
An important thing that needs to get done is to show her around. Just because you know your town or city like the back of your hand doesn’t mean that that knowledge is going to transfer to your new wife by osmosis or something.
You’ll want her to be able to find her way around town at least. Plus, knowing her way around will help make her feel more at home in a new place where she may or may not speak the language.
Traveling to a new country for a vacation can be an adventure. Experiencing a new culture can be invigorating and there’s the knowledge that it’s temporary, that you can go back to what’s familiar to you in just a few days.
But what if that security isn’t there? What if going to a new country isn’t some vacation but a permanent move? Well, that can be a little harder. That’s the situation your new girl is in and there are a lot of ways that you can make it easier on her.
