Re: Relatives in Pakistan!
let me share my experience.
I have cousins who I barely know, and have not seen in 15 years, we did not exchange emais or call each other. and when i got on Facebook they wanted to connect, at first I avoided it…but then said what the hell, lets just try. I think that was a good decision, because I got to know some of my kid cousins who for some reason look up to me even though we have not had a personal relationship, some are studying in my field and I am serving as a mentor to them. I had to understand that they have a different perspective on life, but then it keeps me from drinking my own koolaid and see things from a different perspective, and same goes for them.
Its not been all hunky dory and I have had run ins with one of the guys once, but once we understood each others position and respect some boundaries it was okay, some are on fb, but we dont interact much, which is okay, i dont expect them to be lil brothers in 6 months. a few and I have really hit it off and interestingly enough its the younger ones who only have memories of me when they were lil kids.
be open, set ground rules, e.g. yo have other family and friends there and you only connect with real profiles. be firm on that. try to build upon your common bonds. I dont think they want anything from you, but just to know you. You may be able to connect with some really good people.
does not hurt otherwise to just create a secondary family profile and not have them be privy to everything in your life. no issue with that either. May be a cleaner approach. the mixing of different aspects of my life has always been an issue and I can see why someone would want to keep groups separate.