The other day I was listening to the radio channel. I rarely listen to radio, but I was driving that day, so I had the chance to turn it on.

I kinda miss Chinese songs, so I turned it to the ever faithful MY-FM 99.7. I was reaching home already, and about to step out of the car when I talked about something that caught my attention.

This is where knowing Canto comes in handy...they were speaking it, a topic on relationships, inter-cultural relationships, to be exact. When I say inter-cultural, I don't mean from another race. Rather, it's 2 people growing up in different cultures, albeit being of the same ethnicity. Let me outline the 3 kinds to you. I can safely say that although all 3 of them are categorised within the same category, the experiences are really different. I'll use myself as an example, so that it's easier to explain:

1. Knowing your partner who's from overseas in your home town
eg: Knowing a guy from China when I'm in Penang.
Hm, I don't really know what the feeling is like being in such relationships, but I guess I would have to put extra effort in to understand his thought process, the culture he's from...stuff like that. Cus I'm in my comfort zone, so there would be things that I'm used to which he's not. You'd also have to pay more attention to him, and accompany him more for lunches and dinners.

2. Knowing your partner who's local when you go overseas
eg: Knowing a Singaporean in Singapore.
I guess for this, the most important thing is for me to see where the other person is coming from. And a very important thing is for both parties to click. These are my own opinions, so if you have anymore, I'd be more than glad to know.

3. Knowing your partner when both of you are overseas
eg: Knowing a guy from China when I'm in Singapore.
I think this is the most romantic kind of inter-cultural relationship. Both of you are away from home, lonely, and want company. It doesn't matter whether the guy is from your home country or not. The thing is both of you are experiencing the same thing - adjustment to a new culture. But I think such relationships have danger, as it seems more fairy-tale like. You would have to discuss on where to settle down in the future and stuff too...more options huh, like whether it'll be in the overseas country, his country, or your country, or others.

Hm, I guess for those who are currently overseas, been overseas for a period of time or are dating someone who's not from your hometown, you'd know what I mean.

The best advice from the discussion heard over radio? Never date a girl who's from a country of higher living standards. >.<

(The lady who was talking in the discussion, is from Hong Kong. She settled down in Malaysia, and started dating a Malaysian Chinese. She's a rather independent lady, and does things herself. She has high expectations on life in general. Whenever her boyfriend asks her whether they wanna do something together, she'll say:"oh, is there a need for it?" In the end, they broke up, and her boyfriend mentioned the above statement, hah. I think it does hold some truth in a way, cus the guy would have to meet higher expections than usual. Haha.)