Forum	Title	Content	Member	Sex	Country	Date/Time
Middle East and North Africa	Pulitzer prize winning journalist, Anthony Shadid, died in Syria	I couldn't decide which Syrian related thread to post this in but since this one is talking about food I think the latest news may be appropriate here. After the Syrian Army overwhelmed and took control of Homs they are allowing the Red Cross to bring in humanitarian aid to the people. New York Times Article From the video I've seen the place is a virtual ghost town. The Army separated the males age 12 and up from the women and children. The let the females go but reports say they killed the men. They also killed those who tried to flee. They also fired shots at Syrians crossing the border following them into Lebanon, so the battle has spilled over some of the borders. This was reported in the Senate meeting on Syria yesterday. They've been discussing the pros and cons of Congress having the authority to make a commitment to go to war in Syria and helping with a democratic transition there. At least some relief is being brought in for those who have survived the nearly year long siege. Some credit has to go the China and Russia on this as well for recently joining the international community condemning Syria for not allowing humanitarian aid to reach the people. However, that is the only part that they have softened their position on. Would be nice to meet some of you VJ girls! Hope to see you guys at the Restaurant one of these days!	sussemadel	Female	Syria	2012-03-02 16:22:00
Middle East and North Africa	Pulitzer prize winning journalist, Anthony Shadid, died in Syria	Which restaurant in stumptown? We might already have ate there. One of the drs I work with is Syrian Christian, and she's sent me to a couple good places too. :-) It's actually in Vancouver...but close enough to Portland for you to visit It's called Jerusalem Cafe and the locations are downtown on Evergreen Blvd and the other off of 205 on Mill Plain and Chkalov. Be glad to treat you and your family to a free meal when you have time!	sussemadel	Female	Syria	2012-03-01 00:28:00
Middle East and North Africa	Pulitzer prize winning journalist, Anthony Shadid, died in Syria	Some of the nicest people I have ever met have been christian syrians. There are alot of them here in Orlando and they have restaurants. If you ever come to Orlando, let me know and Ill tell you all the good restaurants Thanks so much for the offer Kat! I will take you up on that pretty soon since we're planning a trip to Orlando in the near future. I was born and raised there and would love to show my hubby Disney World. Those darn Syrians love their Restaurants don't they?? My husband owns one in the Portland, OR area He'd love to meet other Arabs that own Restaurants in that area since he's planning on expanding one of these days!	sussemadel	Female	Syria	2012-03-01 00:12:00
Middle East and North Africa	Pulitzer prize winning journalist, Anthony Shadid, died in Syria	I'm very sorry to hear it. Please extend my sympathy to him and his family. I hope they may get the help they need with a heavy weight diplomat like Kofi Annan being appointed as the UN-Arab envoy to Syria for the cease-fire negotiations with Assad's regime. Thanks so much and keep posting	sussemadel	Female	Syria	2012-02-24 16:49:00
Middle East and North Africa	Pulitzer prize winning journalist, Anthony Shadid, died in Syria	Adding one more story remembering Shadid done by NPR's "Fresh Air" discussing his coverage of the Arab Spring and the last interview he did with them on it. It's about 20 minutes of audio if you want to take a listen. Fresh Air Remembers War Reporter Anthony Shadid Thanks for the info! My husband is from a village very close to Homs. Some of his extended family have been killed or injured. They're Christian and very afraid of what's next	sussemadel	Female	Syria	2012-02-24 16:20:00
Middle East and North Africa	Think Really Hard Before Marrying Someone from MENA	Kat (Beauty for Ashes), it sounds like you're still married to this guy. Hopefully you can find a way to divorce him and get him out of you and your kids' life for good. Going back and forth with this guy for over 3 yrs now with all the stories of physical and mental abuse is almost like at this point just looking like you're a glutton for punishment. Not saying that to be mean, just hope you can get out if not for yourself since maybe you might enjoy the drama, but for your kids! Take Care	sussemadel	Female	Syria	2012-02-27 02:54:00
Middle East and North Africa	What's your opinion about Arabic??	meh. after the apple harvests there's really not all that much going on in the state. I agree! I live in the Couv and every opportunity my Husband and I get, we're driving down to Oregon for our fun!	sussemadel	Female	Syria	2012-09-16 14:41:00
Middle East and North Africa	What's your opinion about Arabic??	Oh, and you have totally better DONUTS! Yeahhhh for Voodoo Donuts	sussemadel	Female	Syria	2012-09-16 14:38:00
Middle East and North Africa	Fiance had Interview but put on AP	My husband was also put on AP at Riyadh Embassy. They kept his passport, and his AP was 2 months. From what I've seen and heard, 2 or 3 months is the standard AP at Riyadh.	sussemadel	Female	Syria	2010-02-24 12:34:00
Middle East and North Africa	Sultan's Kitchen	What is a big problem for us is I wasn't a big cook before he came here, and now that he's here he wants me cooking everyday It's a good idea though for him to get recipes from his mother...I'll try that! Any suggestions on what to do about his expectations of wanting me to cook everyday??? We had an argument about that last night! Help!	sussemadel	Female	Syria	2008-06-27 18:45:00
Middle East and North Africa	Sultan's Kitchen	HI! I'm new to the forum and am married to a syrian... Just wanted to know if any of you know of any recipes that are 100% syrian or if arab food is not from any specific country??? THANKS!!	sussemadel	Female	Syria	2008-06-25 20:20:00
Middle East and North Africa	funny pictures	Those were awesome!	Michaela_Hassan	Female	Morocco	2007-01-25 23:05:00
Middle East and North Africa	Congratulations to Mybackpages	Congrats!	Michaela_Hassan	Female	Morocco	2007-01-26 00:47:00
Middle East and North Africa	VISA IN HAND	Congrats!	Michaela_Hassan	Female	Morocco	2007-01-29 22:42:00
Middle East and North Africa	Send your ME/NA MOJO to Chris4336 !!!	Best of LUck!	Michaela_Hassan	Female	Morocco	2007-01-29 03:01:00
Middle East and North Africa	Brillant News	Congrats Henia and Good Luck at the interview!!	Michaela_Hassan	Female	Morocco	2007-01-29 22:39:00
Middle East and North Africa	Who are you?	Bashar Al Assad of Syria	Michaela_Hassan	Female	Morocco	2007-02-05 15:20:00
Middle East and North Africa	Best of Luck, Tarek and Laura !!	Best of luck Good Luck!	Michaela_Hassan	Female	Morocco	2007-02-06 10:48:00
Middle East and North Africa	MAJOR MOJO--The Beginning to A Beginning for HENIA	Congrats!	Michaela_Hassan	Female	Morocco	2007-02-06 18:41:00
Middle East and North Africa	MAJOR MOJO--The Beginning to A Beginning for HENIA	So when you get through tomorrow, what will happen as far as your choice of the visa process for your husband or will you become a citizen and do it? Or when you come naturalized do you get citizenship? I am not sure of what is going on with this part of the immgration world. Well my eyes are glued to the gov www and the DCF forum here, maybe there will be some admendments to the new law. BUt if not, after I meet up with my dH (to get all the paperwork in order) we will be sending off the K-3 app, see where it takes us....right after my interview tommorrow I have an appointment with my travel agent. Got a ticket to Alger for $780 round-trip If I pass my test tomorrow, which they will tell me right then and there, they will either swear me then, or I have to wait for an oath letter for the oath ceremony. After you take the oath, you are a USC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Good Luck! Hope they swear you in the same day!!!	Michaela_Hassan	Female	Morocco	2007-02-06 11:05:00
Middle East and North Africa	Sending Major ME/NA Mojo to Becky&Sam	Congrats!	Michaela_Hassan	Female	Morocco	2007-02-06 11:02:00
Middle East and North Africa	He got THE Call!!!! I get my Valentine	Congrats!!!!	Michaela_Hassan	Female	Morocco	2007-02-06 13:08:00
Middle East and North Africa	Happy Birthday Chery!	Happy Birthday!	Michaela_Hassan	Female	Morocco	2007-02-09 00:22:00
Middle East and North Africa	need arabic help!!!!!!!	I never brought the I129 to Egypt with me because I just didn't think I had to. Wellllll....the question that asks to write your husband/fiance's address in his native language is now a problem for me. Originally I just figured I'd trace what he wrote on the I130, but the I129 is formed differently. On the I130 it's just one big line where he wrote his name and addy, but on the other form, there's a separate line for the name, address, etc. and of course not knowing a lick of arabic I have no idea where his name ends and his addy begins. The only thing I can think to do is to have him type it on yahoo chat and then I guess copy and paste that into word and print it out and trace it. Any other suggestions? I did the K1 through a lawyer and he left that blank. I asked him if we shouldn't fill it in and he said it's ok....they never questioned it and we got approved. Michaela	Michaela_Hassan	Female	Morocco	2007-02-10 16:42:00
Middle East and North Africa	Sizzlin Sunday	Yahooooooo it's up to 23 degrees here! partial list of things to do: Pick up luggage at my daughters house Buy travel makeup to take on the plane Buy travel medicine......things to make ya go, things to make ya stop going Jackie No snow here in the northwest...a nice normal 50 degrees we even have some sun breaks!!! Michaela	Michaela_Hassan	Female	Morocco	2007-02-11 15:12:00
Middle East and North Africa	your fiance/husband's first night in america...	We came back from Morocco together and arrived in Portland at like 3am, my friends picked us up and brought us to the house and talked and talked and wouldn't leave lol...so after they left we just fell into bed.	Michaela_Hassan	Female	Morocco	2007-02-06 10:45:00
Middle East and North Africa	Phone call from POE	Was your SO able to call you after they passed through immigration to let you know all was well or did you have to wait until you saw them come off of the plane to know for sure? He could call you from a pay phone Maggie, after he goes through immigration at JFK (I assume he's comming that way) he will go out to the regular terminal to catch his next flight....he can call from the pay phone there. Happy Reunion! Michaela	Michaela_Hassan	Female	Morocco	2007-02-11 23:26:00
Middle East and North Africa	fiance visa approved	Congrats!	Michaela_Hassan	Female	Morocco	2007-02-12 10:12:00
Middle East and North Africa	So What Do YOU Do????	I have a fund-raising company	Michaela_Hassan	Female	Morocco	2007-02-15 10:04:00
Middle East and North Africa	Learning a language	I was wondering how many MENA spouses have been successful at learning their spouse's native tounge or any other language? How did you go about learning it? College courses? Language programs? If so, which ones did you use? I'm trying to learn arabic but I haven't been successful yet, I think total emersion is the best way. I pretty much learned English that way. The basics in high school and then talking to Americans and eventually moving here. I think it's a plus to take some college courses so you can learn the basics and then build on that. Michaela	Michaela_Hassan	Female	Morocco	2007-02-11 22:33:00
Middle East and North Africa	Happy Birthday Noura!	Happy Birthday!!	Michaela_Hassan	Female	Morocco	2007-02-15 09:42:00
Middle East and North Africa	Darija	khaib - bad	Michaela_Hassan	Female	Morocco	2007-02-18 13:01:00
Middle East and North Africa	Darija	ana ghadi nemchi daba - I'm gonna go now	Michaela_Hassan	Female	Morocco	2007-02-13 10:32:00
Middle East and North Africa	Darija	zhouzh - two	Michaela_Hassan	Female	Morocco	2007-02-12 22:15:00
Middle East and North Africa	Darija	tanbghik - I love you	Michaela_Hassan	Female	Morocco	2007-02-12 22:13:00
Middle East and North Africa	VISA IN HANDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!	I know I'm late but Congrats!	Michaela_Hassan	Female	Morocco	2007-02-18 17:09:00
Middle East and North Africa	Say what?	I tried Global priority once. They charged me $45 and held my documents hostage in France for a month. I couldn't even track it coz no one knew where it was, just somewhere in France. I have a comment on DHL, I think they are fine if you just mail to a big city like Rabat or Casa, but if your SO lives somewhere other than that, they use a local service like Amana (sp?) service and then you're at the mercy of them. I DHLed Hassan some papers for his interview, it took them 2 weeks!!! I could have mailed it in that time easy, and not paid the 138 dollars it cost with DHL. I ended up getting a refund, and it didn't hurt us any because we had plenty of time left, but for the ones that have to have their papers there, be careful!! Michaela	Michaela_Hassan	Female	Morocco	2007-02-18 17:14:00
Middle East and North Africa	Ok....so I need to rant a bit	OK, I don't rant here much so I'm stepping up on my soap box. My husband received his EAD in January and has been looking hard for a job. About a month ago he applied at Target, had 2 interviews and then 2 weeks ago was told to "Go buy your uniforms, you have and job and will start on Feb 20th and will be a department manager." COOL! Of course he had to go to the mandatory drug screening and such which isn't a big deal. He called them Friday to verify what time he's to start and was given the run around and went back in yesterday to ask them face to face when he is to start. I was standing a few feet behind him trying to go un-noticed and he turned to me and said "I don't understand what they are saying, do I have a job or not? So I step up and try to understand what's going on. They say now they will NOT hire him because of something that came up in his background check. HELLLLLOOOOO? We were on AR for 6 months for this B.S and NOW something comes up? I'm just pissed.....they tell him flat out to go get uniforms, have him do the state forms, etc and now this? I hate Target! Now I have a depressed husband at home wondering if anyone here will even hire him. He's always over qualified or doesn't have "enough teaching certifications here." BLAH OK.....rant off. Sorry this is happening to your husband, my husband too was under the impression that he had the job at a place, he came in to do a 2 hr orientation which went well and then they were supposed to call, but the call didn't come. So he called them, and now the lady doing the hiring was sick. Then I heard from my friend that works there that she was having second thoughts and had put an ad in the paper, but she didn't tell my husband that. She said she wasn't sure if my husband could communicate well enough, and when my friend assured her and even trained job specific things with him, she still wasn't convinced. Finally my friend and her friend there put the pressure on her to hire my husband and she relented, and he got the job, thank God. Even though our case ended up positive, I can see your frustrations with getting the run around, nobody having the decency to call, just being left in limbo. We applied at several Target like stores, and the result was zilch, they wouldn't give him the time of day. Insha Allah your husband will find something soon, someone with some kindness that's willing to give him a start. Michaela	Michaela_Hassan	Female	Morocco	2007-02-19 13:08:00
Middle East and North Africa	Finally!	My sweetheart honey bunny finally was called by the consulate last week to pick up his visa, which he did last Thursday. I wanted to thank those who'd been so helpful offering up their past experiences with this consulate, especially on that Casablanca thread. I can't help but think it made a big difference in how we prepared for the interview and how much evidence I sent to my fiance. Thanks especially to Mybackpages and Michaela_Hassan, we learned a lot of helpful things from you individually. Allah hafiz. Congrats!!! I'm really happy for you guys!!! So when is he coming?	Michaela_Hassan	Female	Morocco	2007-02-19 14:15:00
Middle East and North Africa	Monday Thread	oh boy! I hope not, our two cats are enough!!!	Michaela_Hassan	Female	Morocco	2007-02-19 13:41:00