It's definitely getting easier. It's hard for me, I'm an introvert and so this hectic 8am - 1am schedule doesn't leave a lot of time for me to regroup. Add to that constantly being judged, trying to remember not to tell his grandparents we live together, and walking the tightrope of accepting their culture while holding my own boundaries. Oh and I'm on my own almost the entire time, because my boyfriend was in the wedding (it was for his younger brother) and they did a head table so we didn't eat together.

At weddings they say to single people j na tvoja gla - literally on your head. It means kinda your next, or we hope this for you. They have no cultural norms against pressuring people to get married, asking about marital status at length, or saying "I just want to dance at your wedding before I die". That's a lot of pressure for me :/ I want them to like me, but considering my family is Jewish there's a lot of things I can't promise them. And its hard going to these weddings wondering how my boyfriend and I will ever get married without killing a grandparent (either shocking my Jewish grandma to death or shocking his orthodox family).

I was talking with the bride. She's American, and she basically cried every day before the wedding because of all the conflict trying to manage a mixed Macedonian / American ceremony. Even at the wedding, the band cut off the DJ, so what was supposed to be a 50 / 50 music split ended up being 80 / 20 Macedonian / American music. Lots of the Americans left earlier, being kinda bored since they don't know Macedonian dance. And the Macedonian side, when they heard the bride was upset about the music, said she should be more respectful! It's hard to want to throw a party that insanely stressful, with everyone being so impossible to please.

But I've got some good stuff going for me! My boyfriend's twin brother's girlfriend and I spent most of it together, so I had a buddy to deflect the marriage questions with. I think long term I'll be close with the current generation (siblings, cousins, ect). Sorry about the rant. My Chief Complaint Friend is out of town for a funeral so you get the wall of text today.