An uncle of mine, called Antoon, is married with a woman from the Philippines. They married 30 years ago. At that time, it was a huge change for my family (I wasn't born yet). But things worked out quite well. Things were of course complicated sometimes because the culture of the Philippines is different than ours. There are to start with, less individualistic than we are. As we bring a visit, she cooks huge amounts of food. It is even to much for an entire army. She also sends some money to her family in the Philippines (they are less fortunated than she is). The country is known for doing so. The family is very important, and even the extended family is regarded as close family. Which is a difference with the situation in Belgium.
A lot of the time, she travels to the Philippines or the US with my uncle to visit some relatives. This was a big adventure for him, being the son of farmers, he had never been anywhere than Bruges or Ghent. The fact that she wants to visit her family so often, is also a sort of pressure, she has the obligation to maintain steady relationships with her family. It also happens the other way around, some of the family members come to visit Belgium.
One of the things that was quite strange for him was the fact that in Philippinean households woman do most of the work and listen to their husband without complaining (of course, things are getting different concerning the younger generation). The Philippines is a masculine society (see Hofstede). This is a example of it.
I certainly hope that they will stay happy because in my opinion, it's a nice couple.
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