The Test of International Living

Being married, Joey and I have a built in support system since we get to share our PC service together. This we knew when we left the good old USA. However, our support system had never met the test of international living. I think one of our biggest adjustments has been actually being around each other so often. Back in America, we’d go to our own separate jobs, eat lunch at said job and then come home to quickly go to our next event or activity. We’d usually have dinner together, but not always. We were busy back home in a completely different way than we are busy now AND even though we love each other dearly, we didn’t spend a whole lot of time with each other. Sounds like a normal American marriage to me, huh?! 

Since December, when we arrived in Quba, Joey and I have spent the majority of everyday together. When we were in host families, we had our own room but now that we’re in our own house, due to space and door constraints, we can literally see each other from anywhere at anytime. We do have separate jobs during the school year, but during the summer months, we have spent nearly every waking moment together. Don’t get me wrong, it’s been completely wonderful to take our relationship to a deeper level,but there are those dreadful days when I get on Joey’s nerves (perhaps the vice versa) and we have no place to go. So, we talk it out, we work it out and we try to learn from it. Also, we remind ourselves that we signed up for this voluntarily. Some days that's comforting, some days not.

I think the nearly 5 years of marriage is working to our benefit, we know each other pretty well, we knew about these personal quirks even if they’re magnified a bit more, but all in all, it seems to be making us a better team. I can’t imagine being a newlywed trying to live a PC life and learning those things about your spouse that you adjust to or learn you can’t or don’t want to adjust to. 

We’re in this to be models of what American marriage is. Yes, we’re speaking for all you married people out there… for better or worse. We let young boys and girls know that it is ok for Joey to wash dishes. One night this sent a neighbor boy giggling to tell his mom and grandma that Joey was washing dishes! People understand that I worked in an office and can drive a car back home while Joey was the teacher. Azeri’s see us together and happy! They see us as very young and are incredibly surprised when we tell them our ages and that we’ve been married for almost 5 years and do not yet have children (more on the children topic in another post). 

So to sum things up, being married is good. Joey and I are learning more about each other than we ever thought was possible but we’re able to laugh, cry and groan through it and still like each other. We are lucky, but we are having a different type of experience, simply because we are married. More to come!

July 4th - The Caspian Sea