Ethnic Backgrounds..

[shihtzulover]

My SO and I were both born in the US, and so were our parents. I'm not sure about which grandparents were born here.

I am 1/2 German, 1/4 Italian, and 1/4 miscellaneous - LOL. He does not know his father, so he considers himself to be 1/2 German and 1/2 Italian (based upon his mother's side of the family). I didn't date someone so similar on purpose - it just kind of worked out that way.

I usually tan easily, and I rarely burn unless I am outside for a long time and have no base tan. I'm not really sure about my SO, because he doesn't go out in the sun as long as I do, and he is also obsessed with sunscreen (I know, I know - I should be too!).

Oh, and neither of us is very religious. Most of the people around here are actually very religious, and I had trouble with dating very religious guys in the past. They always tried to change me, and also repeatedly made me feel bad for not being a 'real' Christian.

 

[FrekeChild]

ETA: freke - it's not a discussion of religion or race, it's a show and tell. I haven't seen any mention of "mine is better than yours and here's why.."

It's not my rule, Yssie.

"Discussing POLITICS, RELIGION or RACIAL/ETHNIC issues are not allowed. It includes posting links/references to other sites/sources dedicated to religion or ethnic discussions."

Sometimes these seemingly innocent topics can turn really heated. There is a reason for the rule to exist.

ETA: And while it's not a DISCUSSION, if any one person that reads it is offended..."mine is better than yours" has nothing to do with the rule.

 

[calibali]

HAHAH gotta love them pierogies and halushki! And most of all, those delicious potato pancakes and keilbasa!

Creepily enough, I read this in my mom's voice since she used to make us eat all these.

 

[DuckLovingVegan]

I'm black and a Indian (from India) and Pakistan and maybe possibly native american. My mom didn't mind if who I dated but then again why would she. She only wished that I would end up with someone who cared and loved me. My SO is Latino from Ecuador and his dad nor his mom don't have a problem with him dating me. In fact his mom considers me her third daughter she's just so amazing. My dad(not biological) didn't care but then again he married my mom and she was of a different race.

 

[Trekkie]

Wow! This is so cool! I love how openly we can chat about this without any drama.

Yssie, I love how welcoming you and your SO's respective families have been with regard to your different backgrounds. From my experience with the Brahmin caste, they're very devout people and extremely proud of their place at the top of the caste system. I'm very impressed with how accepting they have been with an outsider marrying in.

I'm a happy mixture of all things South African. My maternal grandmother is a black South African, my maternal grandfather's family were missionaries from Scotland via England. My dad is English (born in England) but he's been living in South Africa for over 40 years so he considers himself South African. My mother always used to talk about how her father's eyes would change colour depending on his surroundings. "If he looked up at the sky, his eyes would be blue. If he looked down at the grass, his eyes would be green". I used to think she was making it up, and then I met my SO...

And his eyes do exactly the same thing!

My SO is also a happy South African mix, but with different "ingredients". His maternal grandmother was born in Rotterdam, his maternal grandfather is of missionary stock whose family has been in South Africa for generations. They have a town named after them in the desert up north, quite near to where my missionary ancestors were based. My SO's paternal grandmother claimed to be the descendant of a Prussian Prince-slash-concert pianist who was shipwrecked off the coast of what was then South West Africa. Her only proof of this was her (aristocratic German) name and her musical talent... To complicate matters even further, my SO has his paternal grandfather's French Huguenot surname!

When we met, we immediately hit it off, and I invited myself as his date to his cousin's wedding due to take place 2 months later, under the pretext of shocking his conservative middle-class white family with his new brown girlfriend! No such luck. The introductions went off without any fireworks and his family and I get along quite well. My best friend thinks this is because we come from similar backgrounds - snobbish parents, private schools, international travel and "good missionary stock". I think our relationship works because my SO has a nice bum.

 

[Trekkie]

I don't burn... so I suppose you all hate me? LOL! I've never burned before and I have no idea what it's like but I hear it is painful. I think I *maybe* got a tiny burn on the bridge of my nose after being out for 6+ hours on the beach... and it sure hurt like hell. The down side to never burning is that you can get about 10 shades darker than your normal color, and your make-up isn't the right color for the next five weeks!

Oooooooh! This is so cool! I thought I was so special with my inability to burn! I live in Africa, it's HOT here, even in winter, and I never burn. I can stay in the sun for as long as I like, I just go from cream to gold, no pink, no burn, no nothing.

My SO is blond and blue eyed and sometimes burns. He's very envious of my ability to go without sunscreen and not burn. I hope that when we have kids, they inherit some of my melanin - try as I might to figure it out, I am utterly perplexed by the concept of sunscreen.

 

[yssie]

ETA: freke - it's not a discussion of religion or race, it's a show and tell. I haven't seen any mention of "mine is better than yours and here's why.."

It's not my rule, Yssie.

"Discussing POLITICS, RELIGION or RACIAL/ETHNIC issues are not allowed. It includes posting links/references to other sites/sources dedicated to religion or ethnic discussions."

Sometimes these seemingly innocent topics can turn really heated. There is a reason for the rule to exist.

ETA: And while it's not a DISCUSSION, if any one person that reads it is offended..."mine is better than yours" has nothing to do with the rule.

you're right about not offending anyone - I nope noone reading this thread would find anything to be offended by.

I find these topics both interesting and heartwarming. Thus far I haven't met a single person IRL who is in an interracial and interfaith relationship like I am, and having threads like these where I find other people in the same circumstances to talk to, commiserate with, who understand all the various relevant issues on a personal level - is so helpful for people like me, and something I would certainly hope that our moderators support.


And I burn like crazy, dark skin and all!! Not fair.

 

[diamondbuggy]

This is a very interesting topic!

I'm Indian and my SO is half English half Afrikaans. Both families have been very accepting, with the small exception of my SO's paternal grandmother (the Afrikaans side). She basically pretends I don't exist and refuses to even greet me. My best friend always jokes that I shouldn't let it bother me because she'll probably die soon Haha, she has a very dark sense of humour.

I'm not religious at all, while my SO is Christian. It has never been an issue for us. In fact, I feel that we learn a lot from each other and are exposed to many different things, eg. different culture, food, etc.

I don't burn but I do go like 20 shades darker whenever I'm in the sun. I live in South Africa. It's hot here! My SO always tries to tan but it never works. He can be in the sun for hours and nothing happens.

 

[yssie]

Trekkie - your descriptions of happy mixes of ingredients have me laughing out loud

 

[Mashira]

ETA: freke - it's not a discussion of religion or race, it's a show and tell. I haven't seen any mention of "mine is better than yours and here's why.."

It's not my rule, Yssie.

"Discussing POLITICS, RELIGION or RACIAL/ETHNIC issues are not allowed. It includes posting links/references to other sites/sources dedicated to religion or ethnic discussions."

Sometimes these seemingly innocent topics can turn really heated. There is a reason for the rule to exist.

ETA: And while it's not a DISCUSSION, if any one person that reads it is offended..."mine is better than yours" has nothing to do with the rule.

While I agree with you Freke in that we should stick to the rules, I have to wonder if this is really breaking them.

We are not discussing religion/racial issues, we are just stating our own religious/racial backgrounds. I don't know if this counts, but that is how I have been looking at it. It's similar to saying, "I am having my wedding in a church because I am [insert religion here]" has a religious context, but is not by nature, a religious issue.

 

[Nashville]

I guess the mods will let everyone know if there are rules being broken. I hope my contribution didn't offend anyone.

ETA: (FrekeChild if you are a mod please disregard above!)

 

[Indylady]

Good topic!

I am a mix of Asian/Middle Eastern. My mother was born in Burma (Union of Myanmar) and was raised Muslim, and my father was born in Pakistan and raised Catholic. I was born in Pakistan and them came to the states when I was around 6 months old. My father passed away when I was 9. I was raised Muslim and then became Christian about four years ago.

While I was Muslim, my mother wanted me to marry, "A nice Desi boy." I started dating my ex-FI and all hell broke loose. Ex-FI was a good ole Danish Christian boy and my mother automatically hated him, based only on his religion. My mother is 61 years old and comes from a generation in which using the N-word and racial slurs were the norm. She speaks english but it's broken. The surprising thing is she is surprisingly modern, just not in her way of thinking. She has adjusted, and doesn't think poorly of any particular race though I will say she is prejudice and in no way politically correct.It's rather embarrassing sometimes.

When I became Christian all hell broke loose again. I was 'disowned' and everyone in my family hated me, I was even threatened by my family. I think most people know that Muslims can be very strict with their faith and do not agree with people leaving the faith. I know in the media they can be portrayed either very badly, or very lovingly. For my family, they are very loving towards other religions, but they were NOT okay with their baby girl becoming a Christian. I think it would be the same in any family, sans the death threats

Aaaanywho... now that I am Christian and my mother has adjusted to that fact, she is perfectly fine with me dating my white non-denominational Christian BF. She stands up for me and my religion the best she can while still objecting to my beliefs and all is as well as I think it will/can be I knew that I would never marry a Desi guy (Middle Eastern) because I just do not like the dynamic of relationships in my culture.

I hate to say this, but Pakistan is in Asia. Desi refers to South Asian culture, not Middle Eastern.

 

[Pushin40]

HAHAH gotta love them pierogies and halushki! And most of all, those delicious potato pancakes and keilbasa!

Creepily enough, I read this in my mom's voice since she used to make us eat all these.

YEAH! As a 100% Polish girl my mouth is watering!

I only get REAL pierogis on Christmas Eve - no one ever bothers to make them!

YUM-O!

So, I am Polish and Catholic, but was born it the US.
FI is Dutch, Scottish and Irish, also Catholic, but neither of us practice anymore.

My Mom became a widow when my sister and I were in HS, and our parish kicked us out because she didn't pick up her collection envelopes.

Nice.

That kind of did it for all of us.....that was our family church since the early 1900's.

 

[Ella]

While we are happy that this thread has not erupted into fighting, it does break our rules and thus it will now be closed.

Please remember that we do not allow discussion of religion,race, or ethnicity. This thread unfortunately focuses on all three.