Family welcome!

Hello everyone!

Today we're going to talk about family welcome, specifically, when you introduce your girlfriend/boyfriend to your family for the first time.

We're gonna focus on the differences between Italy and Spain about it, even though there are differences within each country as well.

Let's start with Italy, actually what I'm about to say is more common in Southern Italy since there people are more “warm-hearted”. This is a common stereotype but I can say it is true most of the time.

So, let's say you're Italian and you want your family to meet your new girlfriend, you say your mother to prepare something for lunch, but you know she is going to cook the entire world just to impress your partner (Italians! :D). When you finally show up with her at home, greetings will start normally, but your mother... she's going to get closer to your girlfriend and scream out something like: <<Welcome honey! This is your home now, my daughter!>> , I know, so awkward! I even know some mother said : <<Ohh, this one is really pretty! Not like the other ones you introduced us!>> even more embarassing! :D.

So the day is going to pass by and your girlfriend has to go through an interrogation, every kind of questions will be asked, from: <<What do you do for a living?>> to: <<How many children do you want to have with my son? And what will their names be?>> . Yes, at the first meeting! XD

Now, the day has gone, and your girlfriend passed the test, but the difficult part has yet to come, the second meeting! You remember the mother said: <<This is your home now!>>, well, she wasn't joking, cause from the second meeting she's going to see your girlfriend like this:

Yes, she will have to do all the housework: cooking, cleaning and so on. This is not, as you may think, because the mother is lazy, too busy or just evil, but is another test! Yes, she has to examine if your girlfriend is going to be a good wife for you!

But hey, if she passes all the tests, she will be really part of the family and they will going to treat her just as their own daughter.

Again, this is a pretty common stereotype for families from southern Italy, anyway, it is not always like that, and you could find families from northern Italy that do the same!

Now let's talk about Spain, first of all we have to say that it is not so different from Italian tradition, the main difference is that maybe in Spain they are just a little bit more reserved at first, but they will be as friendly as Italian families after they get to know you.

Of course you're going to recieve the same kind of interrogation as your girlfriend got, but just normal questions, like: <<Do you have a job?>> or <<How's your family?>>, so nothing embarrassing, just not try to answer something like, <<I don't wanna work>> and <<Mind your own business!>>, that would be rude and awkward and you won't see your girlfriend ever again! XD

Anyway, the funniest things i can remember about my first meeting with my girlfriend's parents are two. The face of my girlfriend while her mother was showing me photos of her as a little baby, dressed as a princess, taking a bath and stuff like that ( so cute! :D ), but I could see a mix of feelings on her face, from awkwardness to anger, all at the same time! It was so funny! The other funny thing is that I didn't know I was going to feel something too, FEAR!.

While I was watching all those old photos, her father approaches to me holding one of them, saying: <<Look at this picture, this is me when I was young, look what I used to do, I'm still pretty good at it!!!>>. I was expecting something like him swimming, or playing football, but it wasn't the case, it was a photo of him, in the army, holding a rifle!!!

I didn't know what to say in that moment, I got stuck, then I thought: "Ok, boss, i got the message!" and kept acting as it was all cool! Now when I think about it I laugh with my girlfriend, but I really had moments of fear back then!

Well this is more or less all we had to say, tell us if you had some similar experiences about it, misunderstanding or funny stuff! Byeee :)