Let me clear up some of the questions you all asked.
He is from Turkey. And no, I never really grew up poor....I've actually always been pretty fortunate. The birthday gifts he gave me were an evil eye ornament thing, a shirt, and a Turkish shawl. The evil eye and the shawl are both Turkish things, so I think they meant something to him :) Traditionally, the evil eye is given to someone who is talented, beautiful, etc. to protect them from jealously or gossip. I thought it was actually pretty sweet!
But we have known each other less than a month, and became "official" very recently. So everything seemed over the top.
However, I think he has good intentions and maybe him paying makes him feel like a man. I don't know.