Forum	Title	Content	Member	Sex	Country	Date/Time
Middle East and North Africa	MENA diet/exercise thread	QUOTE (bridget @ Jan 2 2008, 10:41 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> omg after 9 month's you're at your pre-preg weight??? After 10 1/2 years I'm still at my post pregnancy weight! Granted it is the weight after the 1st kid, not the second since they were back to back. lol. I'm going to seriously start exercising and watch what I eat. No promises but something needs to be done. Problem with going on WW or things like that for me is that my medications (prednisone, etc.) bloat me up when I'm in a flare and need to take them so when I'm bloated I get depressed and get the fk it's and eat whatever I want. If I keep the exercise up though that outta do something. Isn't there something else besides the prednisone you can take? I know it works, but that stuff is is evil, evil, evil and can cause bad long term effects. It can make you gain weight and totally mess up your adrenal glands. QUOTE (sarah and hicham @ Jan 2 2008, 10:39 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> This is a really good light recipe for waldorf chicken wraps. I made them this weekend with my Mom and they're really good. You can also just eat the salad plain, or over lettuce. Here you go! http://www.foodnetwo...6_66437,00.html Thanks Sarah! I'm definatly going to try this! Any other light recipes you have?	Aymerlu	Female	Egypt	2008-01-02 12:18:00
Middle East and North Africa	MENA diet/exercise thread	Count me in! I want to lose another 15 or so.	Aymerlu	Female	Egypt	2008-01-02 12:12:00
Middle East and North Africa	Salaam from Houston, Texas	Welcome to VJ!	Aymerlu	Female	Egypt	2007-04-03 07:15:00
Middle East and North Africa	helloooo, i am in state now yeee haaa	Welcome!	Aymerlu	Female	Egypt	2007-07-03 14:05:00
Middle East and North Africa	Hello Ladies and Gents	Yep, the look is different, but I think I will like it	Aymerlu	Female	Egypt	2006-01-28 12:41:00
Middle East and North Africa	VJ MENA FB Farm Town Players	QUOTE (just_Jackie @ Mar 1 2009, 09:03 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> ok ok ya got me. Now I also have a Farm Town. The graphics are cool once ya get used to navigating around Yeah, I'm totally digging the graphics on Farm Town!	Aymerlu	Female	Egypt	2009-03-01 10:58:00
Middle East and North Africa	VJ MENA FB Farm Town Players	Well if I had enough time to finish mah farm I could trot on over to my farm town.	Aymerlu	Female	Egypt	2009-02-28 23:49:00
Middle East and North Africa	LET'S TALK ABOUT YOUR RED FLAGS	I swear my first marriage to an american should've had a CO review. There were red flags all over that marriage! Really, sometimes I think that all of us with SO from other countries, mainly middle eastern countries....... that automatically seems to be a red flag regardless of how legit the relationship is. It's just the way things are these days. Edited by Aymerlu, 14 April 2007 - 07:29 PM.	Aymerlu	Female	Egypt	2007-04-14 19:25:00
Middle East and North Africa	LET'S TALK ABOUT YOUR RED FLAGS	But when the man does not have a job, and makes NO attempt to even look for one (ie: he is online all the day) then I feel it is major red flag. I understand the ecomonically hardships of various countries, but come on --> even a shitty little job selling tea or ice creme on the corner can make you little money (and more importantly make you humble and show you are TRYING) I think a good man with serious intentions would be out there trying his best to put a little something away for the next time he sees you or to buy that fon card to call you or for when you both are together. Amount of money he makes really is not the issue...it is that fact he is trying. I don't know, I have mixed feelings about this, really. Maybe it just didn't really apply to our situation since we were already living together and had mixed finances well before his time in Morocco. I didn't see the need for him to be selling ice cream on the corner when it was not that big of a deal just to send a bit of money. I can't imagine him making me do something like that just to prove a point about work ethic. It makes me kind of sad to think of a man who is planning his future life in America with a woman who perhaps is not all that strapped for cash selling tea on the corner. Is it just me, or does it seem a little sad? I have a hard time seeing how the need for him to get a job, any job, is much more than gender roles at work. I suppose one must just make the distinction between someone who is temporarily unemployed and one who makes a living off of mooching.... Khallid had been teaching in Egypt for 17 years when we applied for his visa. There in Egypt teachers have to sign a contract to teach for a year and they are not able to get out of the contract easily. Bascially if he signed a 1 year teaching contract, he worked for 6 and then received his visa and wanted to come to me, he'd have to pay the remaining 6 months of his salary to get out of the contract. And in Egypt if you are a teacher....that's really the only work you can do. Your profession is stamped on your I.D When we started the process we honestly didn't think it would take over a year for him to get his visa so we both talked and decided he wouldn't work till he received his visa. He was able to do private duty tutoring on occasion and he did look for work in cafes and such, but when they asked him "what did you do wrong to why you are not teaching now?" he know it was a lost cause. I did send him money to help him out since he did quit his job for me. Thankfully this was never brought up at his interview.	Aymerlu	Female	Egypt	2007-04-03 08:07:00
Middle East and North Africa	Egypt interview experiences?	WELCOME to VJ! I am in the same boat as you. Our interview in Cairo is on February 14th. It seems that it is taking about 2 months after the packet is sent in to get an interview date. I was constantly checking the embassy website to see if we had an interview date yet. Best of luck!!!	Aymerlu	Female	Egypt	2006-02-02 20:32:00
Middle East and North Africa	Tips to help your SO adjust	Wow! I'm ready! I've been ready! I've had one part of my cupboard full of food that I know he loves that I got from the international food store and I have the bread in the freezer. I put the bidet in a few month ago. I cleaned out my closest months ago and I have a dresser I emptied that is just for him. Of course I've bought a few things for him that I've already put in the dresser. I went crazy on buying winter clothes when they went on sale and I went a bit crazy when the spring clothes went on sale. He tells me that he won't need to bring any clothes when he comes here because I already have everything. I even got him an electric razor. He was saying how much he wanted one so that will be a little extra when he gets here. I do have a lot of pictures of Egypt up on my walls too Jean. Khallid says he does not want to remember Egypt when he is here also. The prayer rug is ordered and should be here soon. Only thing missing? My man. Edited by Aymerlu, 30 July 2006 - 12:08 PM.	Aymerlu	Female	Egypt	2006-07-30 12:03:00
Middle East and North Africa	Have you been MENA-ized by your SO?	My husband does not want me to MENAize at all. He says he fell in love with me the way I am and does not want me to change. I tell him the same thought....I don't want him to change and start acting like some of the american men.	Aymerlu	Female	Egypt	2007-01-11 08:23:00
Middle East and North Africa	Bidets	Got ours off eBay! Cost me around $20.00! The website is http://www.handyspray.com/hygene.htm	Aymerlu	Female	Egypt	2006-08-16 18:43:00
Middle East and North Africa	Bidets	I bought a cheaper bidet and installed it by myself a few months back. Seems to be working well! Still have the toliet paper though.....I'm not much into drip drying.	Aymerlu	Female	Egypt	2006-08-15 20:56:00
Middle East and North Africa	Today we lost a MENA jewel	QUOTE (Ryan Voss @ Jul 2 2008, 10:11 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> QUOTE (amal @ Jul 1 2008, 10:40 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> How's Hatem doing? Is he recovering ok? Did he have surgery? Hows mama and the rest of the family? I hope you are all taking quality time for urselves and grieving as you need to enshallah. amal I PM'd Jackie to vent a bit last night....I wont share all here, but will say that we had to move Dawn's things over the past two days. She and H lived in an apartment and their landlord was a loser with no conscience who showed our family no compassion. It was the end of the month and he wanted everything out so he could re-rent the apartment. We spent many hours with Hatem. He is doing better. Like us, he is still taking the loss hard. He will still need more surgeries, but not yet. The docs want the others to heal up a bit more. Physically, he is doing better though. Mom is still a wreck. My sister and I have our bouts of anger and rely heavily on our children to keep us sane. My sister's daughter is so adorable and she clings to Shannon whenever she is sad or starts crying. My son keeps saying don't be sad, let's play Wii football. How can you stay sad when a 2 and 5 year old remind you that they need you? They are the best medicine ever created! Well, good night everyone. Ryan	Aymerlu	Female	Egypt	2008-07-03 16:24:00
Middle East and North Africa	Today we lost a MENA jewel	QUOTE (just_Jackie @ Jun 19 2008, 12:24 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I am calling the florist today. We have $186 and I want to send beautiful fragrant flowers to our special friend. I've never ordered flowers before, any suggestions from you guys? Julianna you know flowers..........what do I ask for? Jackie I'll be back in a min with the link Do you know her favorite flower? Favorite color? Or maybe even a plant for her mom or someone else in her family to bring home. Edited by Aymerlu, 19 June 2008 - 12:27 PM.	Aymerlu	Female	Egypt	2008-06-19 12:26:00
Middle East and North Africa	Today we lost a MENA jewel	QUOTE (just_Jackie @ Jun 19 2008, 11:41 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Visitation will be Saturday at Modell Funeral Home on Cass Ave in Darien Il from 3pm-7pm with a service at 7pm. Jackie Do you have a link to their site Jackie?	Aymerlu	Female	Egypt	2008-06-19 12:20:00
Middle East and North Africa	Today we lost a MENA jewel	The tears just won't stop. Dawn, you were such a wonderful and strong woman whose life was cut way too short. You will be missed greatly. Count me in on the bouquet.	Aymerlu	Female	Egypt	2008-06-17 20:46:00
Middle East and North Africa	Sultan's Kitchen	That's funny...just like the time when my husband's aunt was explaining the names of ingredients in a recipe...one of the ingredients was zebib (raisin)...so I did not think anything of it...and kept saying it... somehow the more I said, the better it sounded...faster I said it...my husband came running yelling "ssssssssssstooooooop saying that it wooooooord" I did not know... Well ok I did...who knew that I knew? does raisin (in english or arabic) mean something bad? LMAO....#######...its not bad but if you don't say it correctly it can sound like the arabic word for #######, only one letter difference. This story made my husband and I both laugh. I did the same thing when I said the would for "glass" but when I said the word, I said the word for "breasts!"	Aymerlu	Female	Egypt	2006-12-03 21:34:00
Middle East and North Africa	Returning Petitions to the United States via 221g	I 100% agree with you Kiya! Count me in!	Aymerlu	Female	Egypt	2006-02-28 19:29:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	YAYYY!!! He finally got it	CONGRATS!!!	Aymerlu	Female	Egypt	2008-09-19 10:05:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	i just want to share what i read this morning	Their "fairness" is taking forever and making everyone mental so then we won't care how long it takes! Am happy when i read this. I had a not so good experienced before with my interview before when i applied for tourist visa. I was assigned to not so good ( am sorry if i say this) consul at the manila embassy. It really made me so depressed after the interview for days , i worked so hard to get all true documents all done honestly, spent time and money just to get true papers and documents, and i have a valid reason for coming in the states. My papers were not truly examined. A nightmare. Am going to the states becasue my husband lives there. I am satisfied with my life here in the Philippines i have a nice work here, i earn little but enough to by my needs , my relatives are here my friends are here, i have a houseand i have a dog..hehehe But i have to be with my husband, and i love him so much......and we decided to start a new life together in california.......so please....hehehehe...make it fast for us... GOD BLESS all IMMIGRATION CORNER by Michael J. Gurfinkel Website: www.gurfinkel.com Four offices to serve you: Philippines: 8940258 Los Angeles (818) 5435800 San Francisco (415)5387800 New York (212)8080300 STATE DEPARTMENT PROMISES TO BE FAIR AND RESPECTFUL TO VISA APPLICANTS The US department of State, which manages the visa process (issuing visas) recently published a “CUSTOMER SERVICE STATEMENT” promising visa applicants would be treated with “dignity and respect” when applying for visas. Among the “promises” made by the State Department (to the people applying for visas at the Embassy are We promise to you, the visa applicant, that · We will treat you with dignity and respect, even if we are unable to grant you a visa · We will treat you as an individual and your case as unique. · We will remember that, to you, a visa interview maybe a new or intimidating experience and that you may be nervous. · We will use limited time available for the interview to get a full picture as possible of your travel plans and intentions. · We will use available resources to fairly assist all applicants to get appointments to allow travel in time for business, study and other important obligations. · We will explain the reason for any visa denial to you SOURCE: Philippine Star Sunday March 26, 2006 IMMIGRATION CORNER by Michael J. Gurfinkel next you will be telling me there is a Santa Claus WHAT? There is no Santa????	Aymerlu	Female	Egypt	2006-03-27 09:16:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	REQUEST FOR--- WHITEOUT	Yeah, I agree. A lot of forms are not considered "legal" if there is whiteout on it.	Aymerlu	Female	Egypt	2006-04-05 19:33:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	SUGGESTIONS FOR INTERVIEW	why are you on AR for so long already??? Because G-Dub said so I guess. Because almost everyone with a SO in the Middle East has to go through this hell . Gosh, if I had the answer to this question I'd be a millionaire.	Aymerlu	Female	Egypt	2006-07-18 21:54:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	SUGGESTIONS FOR INTERVIEW	Bring all the supporting evidence that you have....even things that might seem "silly" to have....bring it. We had brought phone records, emails, post mail, pics etc.....and what did the lady want to see????? A picture my daughter sent to him....that was it! Then there were others around him showing phone records and pics. Guess it just depends who you get. As for what to wear, there were only a few people there that were really dressed up. Jeans, short sleeve shirt and the skechers should be fine.	Aymerlu	Female	Egypt	2006-07-18 20:37:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	Horrayyyyyyyyy	Congrats!!!	Aymerlu	Female	Egypt	2006-11-04 08:52:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	Proof of ongoing relationship..	We love PINGO	Aymerlu	Female	Egypt	2006-12-30 21:42:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	DHL called me today	Hope it's your visa! Best of luck!	Aymerlu	Female	Egypt	2007-04-03 07:07:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	OMG OMG!!!!!!!	Yay! Congrats!!!	Aymerlu	Female	Egypt	2007-04-03 21:52:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	What is Administrative processing ?	Hi! I was interviewed at Islamabad, Pakistan last year in May for IR-1 visa, I was approved and congratulated by the officer. I submitted my passport and received pink visa token with the courier address for my city. I was told that I will get my passport back along with the packet within 6-8 weeks. This is April 2007 and I am still undergoing through necassry administrative processing including the name checks (petitioner, benificiary, co-sponsor) security clearances and other necassary paper work needs to be done by the embassy before they print the visa and sent out on its wayyyyyyy. It happens with 99.9% of male applicants and even if they receive the clearance from the department of state they can always request another one until they are completely satisfied. Take care and good luck. 11 months now on ADMINISTRATIVE PROCESSING. Sorry you have been on AP for so long. It sucks	Aymerlu	Female	Egypt	2007-04-06 07:59:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	Visa Egypt approved	Congrats!!!! By looking at your timeline, you actually went through Cairo pretty fast. I know it seems like forever though! Congrats to both of you!	Aymerlu	Female	Egypt	2007-04-13 07:26:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	6am leaving to cairo to pick the movement certificate	Best of luck Seka!!!	Aymerlu	Female	Egypt	2007-04-15 13:22:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	Visa on Hand! Praise God	Congrats!!!!!	Aymerlu	Female	Egypt	2007-05-02 08:16:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	Over the Moon	Great news Mary!!!! I'm so happy for the two of you!	Aymerlu	Female	Egypt	2006-05-10 21:01:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	VISA IS GRANTED :-)))))))	Congrats!!!	Aymerlu	Female	Egypt	2007-05-26 21:25:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	Notification of Interview	Congrats on your interview	Aymerlu	Female	Egypt	2007-05-21 07:27:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	NOA2 F-ing finally!	Congrats!!!	Aymerlu	Female	Egypt	2007-08-15 19:53:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	I GOT MY VISA	Congrats!!!	Aymerlu	Female	Egypt	2007-08-22 06:57:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	Interview date!!!!!!!!!!!!!	Best of luck!	Aymerlu	Female	Egypt	2007-09-12 07:27:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	MY HUSBAND IS HERE	Congrats to you both!	Aymerlu	Female	Egypt	2007-10-31 12:02:00