Racism is something that people can transcend through friendship – Vincent F. Rocchi

What happens when a Filipino, an Egyptian, a Jordanian and a Canadian come together?

They eat Mexican!

Let’s start at the very beginning.

When the Captain and I were still dating I suspected he had a ”boyfriend”. A deep manly voice would call him all the time asking ”where are you?” My suspicion grew stronger because the Captain would always rush to his gym saying his trainer was waiting for him there.

He spoke highly of his personal trainer. Coach Majed this, coach Majed that.

When I finally got to met this secret-caller, I was surprised at how nice he was. This was the time when the Captain felt I was getting so fat and beyond control that he dragged me to his trainer so he could assess my body fats. He hoped to find pleasure hearing a professional say I was obese.

After my BMI measurement, Coach Majed asked me if I wanted my then-boyfriend to see the results. It was very sweet and considerate of him to do that. I told him to go ahead and break the news to make my boyfriend happy.

”Your girlfriend is not fat, she’s just a little chubby,” he declared. That was good enough. Haha. I gave him a mental high-five!

Fast forward to a couple of months.

Coach Majed married his girlfriend Emily the same month the Captain and I got married. They flew to Jordan for the wedding while we tied the knot in the Philippines.

When we all settled back in the UAE, the husbands kept on planning for a double date but it became one of those tasks in our ‘to-do-list that I wasn’t too psyched to cross out. I blame that on my anti-social persona.

One day my husband shared, ”Emily is reading your blog everyday.” I was surprised. What was a Canadian doing reading my blog? She had better things to do than loiter around my daily rambles.

After months of escaping the double date, we finally met.

I know the word fun is overrated, but yes, they are the fun-nest and funniest couple in planet Abu Dhabi. Their stories and antics are so comical, they keep us entertained all the time.

I didn’t realize how faithful followers they were of this blog until they narrate stuff I wrote about days ago or weeks ago. It gives me happy-shy tingles to meet actual people who could relate to things I write about.

My favorite part of being with them is the freedom to mutually pour out rants and raves about our spouses without fear of judgment or reproach. We could go all night ranting about our Arabic husbands and abnormal perfect wives and yet at the end of the day, we know that if we had to do it all over again, we’d still marry the same person we chose today.

Fast forward times 2.

Mexican food is the glue that keeps us together.

Here’s Emily teaching me how to make chicken and beef fajitas. She calls it cheat-cooking for the kitchen-lazy wives.

Emily and I have a lot in common, predominantly because we have fitness-freaks as husbands, which in reality is beneficial to both of us who love to gorge on food.

Intercultural marriage is stressful yet fulfilling when all the different colors come together in a peaceful happy chaos. We are still in year one, a long journey to go.

I am blessed knowing that the Captain and I have friends to remind us that in marriage ”it’s not just you, it happens to us too.”

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For helpful tips and talks about health and fitness, like this certified army trainer’s page: