Love and marriage

In so many ways Canada and Canadians are close to being Europeans, but then suddenly something comes that reminds me how far we actually are. The biggest difference I've come across is the attitude towards marriage.

It often starts with the question "Did you live together before you got married?". Once I was talking with a friend and I asked if she was planning to move together with her boyfriend of couple of years - and her answer was that she wanted at least a proposal before considering it, as otherwise if she gave in to him that easily he might never want to marry her. Apparently she had friends who moved in with her boyfriend and after that he didn't want to marry her again... It's strange, in Finland or England - can't talk for the rest of the Europe - people usually want to live together to find out if they want to get married (or spend the rest of their lives together) in the first place. It's not even a single person I've had this conversation with, but several women.

I came across it again today at yoga class. There are two new girls in the class that have been coming for couple of months ago now, I call them J-Lo and her friend because the other girl is a spitting image of Jennifer Lopez. Anyway, Jason was commenting today that Erica, one of our teachers, was going to India for few months - when J-Lo's friend immediately squealed "Oh, can be you bring me back a husband!". Now that's not the reaction that one usually gets when talking about India in an ashtanga class. The girls then started giggling and talking about how much they wanted husbands... I felt like I was in a middle of a Jane Austen novel. They are nice girls, but their priorities constantly surprise me.

A friend from work just got back from holiday in Russia and came back as a married woman - apparently she had met her old high school sweetheart and decided to get married. I guess whatever works for you.

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