ForumTitleContentMemberSexCountryDate/Time
Middle East and North Africa221g


How did I miss the whole Jennieh drama? I got the whole dayum poo-flinging thing but that was a seperate incident.


Here is the thread http://www.visajourn...topic=5470&st=0

I guess I was the vicious attacker. I have no issue with anyone venting or complaining, but I was tired of hearing her do so while lashing out at K1'ers.


Rebecca


Thanks for the link. :star:
UmmSqueaksterFemaleEgypt2006-04-21 10:08:00
Middle East and North Africa221g
How did I miss the whole Jennieh drama? I got the whole dayum poo-flinging thing but that was a seperate incident.
UmmSqueaksterFemaleEgypt2006-04-21 08:47:00
Middle East and North Africa221g

Let us ask the ladies on this board.... do your Muslim husbands express "anti-semitism," or "anti-Zionism" (or both, or neither) ?



-MK


My husband is clearly anti-zionist, but not so much anti-semetic. In fact, since he's gotten here, he's bugged me to go to a synagogue (in addition to a catholic church, etc etc etc). He's spent a lot of his free time (and oh does he have free time without a job) surfing the net, "studying" other faiths.

Living in Egypt and Saudia all his life, he never really met any jewish person and had the wounded pride many egyptians have about their losses to Israel. But, he still is interested in knowing Jewish people, and people of other faiths that he didn't have a chance to meet back home.

Now, there are certain segments of the muslim population that are both anti zionist and anti semetic. Hanging around on muslim internet message boards, I can't count the number of times that I've heard people refer to all the problems "the jews" are causing. But, I hope that this isn't the major thread running through muslim thought.

I went to a university with a fantastic jewish studies program that attracted a lot of jewish students. When we were discussing faith, we had a blast. Our faiths share a lot and I always love my fellow radical monotheists. It was only when we got into the area of Israel/Palestine (which the topic inevitably would) that things got iffy. I can't imagine what the muslim world would be like today if Israel had been put in Uganda, or even if the founding of Israel in it's current location had been gone about in a different manner. *sigh*
UmmSqueaksterFemaleEgypt2006-04-06 09:08:00
Middle East and North AfricaThe ME/NA Welcome to America Thread
Hmmm, the next time someone updates this, could she include this, with my husband's name?

Under marriages

Rahma & Tamer October 14, 2005

And under AOS

Rahma & Tamer (rahma, Egypt, K-1) Approved May 23rd!!!



Eeek, coming up on the year anniversary of Tamer's arrival and our marriage :wacko:
UmmSqueaksterFemaleEgypt2006-09-11 08:28:00
Middle East and North AfricaWhat were your SO's first thoughts of the US?
I have such a horrible memory. I can't even remember what his first impressions were. He came here kinda zombied out on Monday, watched WWE Raw and then clonked out. I do remember when he finally realized wrestling wasn't real :lol:
UmmSqueaksterFemaleEgypt2007-02-16 15:42:00
Middle East and North AfricaApproved in Amman :)
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UmmSqueaksterFemaleEgypt2007-07-20 13:53:00
Middle East and North AfricaIt's Friday!!!
Perhaps the scariest thing in the world is an old persian. One of my roomies a few years back had this oooold persian nicknamed the angry marshmellow. In addition to being crabby, she hated being shaved and would only allow my friend to shave her for 30 seconds, since she's too old for sedatives to knock her out during her hair cut. As a result, she is always covered in a variety of bald patches in various states of regrowth and long, narled, matted hair.

The husband wanted a persian until he met the angry marshmellow. Now we're just going to get a random shelter kitty mutt. We've named the future cat Mishmish, arabic (egyptian dialect perhaps) for apricot, apparently a common name in egypt. inshaAllah we're going to the humane society this weekend to play with kitties, so hopefully the husband will fall in love with one and insist we get one NOW, rather than sometime in the future.
UmmSqueaksterFemaleEgypt2007-07-20 10:55:00
Middle East and North AfricaSunday Sunday Sunday
Ah, which reminds me...I can watch Ugly Betty and Grey's Anatomy online too :thumbs: Thanks for the reminder *heads over to ABC to see what she missed*
UmmSqueaksterFemaleEgypt2007-02-04 10:22:00
Middle East and North AfricaSunday Sunday Sunday
Sunday means going to the gym day. i haven't been since tuesday :crying: I'm a horrible exerciser.
UmmSqueaksterFemaleEgypt2007-02-04 09:46:00
Middle East and North AfricaI'm leavin....on a jet plane...........
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UmmSqueaksterFemaleEgypt2007-07-20 14:05:00
Middle East and North AfricaTo all US girls in the forum please read my story
My wife forgot to include the K-3 check

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(sorry, always wanted to use that smilie)
UmmSqueaksterFemaleEgypt2007-07-20 14:04:00
Middle East and North AfricaTo all US girls in the forum please read my story
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UmmSqueaksterFemaleEgypt2007-07-20 13:56:00
Middle East and North AfricaNOW THAT HE IS HERE.................
Along a similar vein, here is a thread from last year where posters shared ideas on how to help their SOs adjust.


Tamer has been here almost 2 years (ya Rabb, how time flies!), and we still are learning how to live together. I agree whole heartedly with the opinions expressed by other posters - the visa process is the easy part, once he gets here, you're in for a wild ride. My experiences can be boiled down to 4 pieces of advice:

Be patient
Don't take things personally
It may have all just been a big misunderstanding (and misunderstandings happen a lot with cultural differences and when your SO is ESL)
Don't get angry
UmmSqueaksterFemaleEgypt2007-07-23 13:47:00
Middle East and North AfricaHarry Potter spoilerage
Can I start sporting DH spoiler icons yet? Jenn? Sorry if I ruined anything earlier.

I'm on my second read through :dance:
UmmSqueaksterFemaleEgypt2007-07-26 09:45:00
Middle East and North AfricaANYONE HEAR FROM DOODLEBUG ??
Cairo strikes again! Never underestimate their ineptitutude. Just when you think you've seen it all, they will continue to astound you by sinking to new, even lower depths of stupidity.
UmmSqueaksterFemaleEgypt2007-07-23 13:51:00
Middle East and North Africaoff topic Pic on here
Upload it to a site like photobucket.com and then you can copy and paste into your signature. That way they should be automatically shrunk. Otherwise, manually shrink them in a photo or drawing application like paint.

However, I would strongly recommend against putting personal pictures on here, as there was an incident in the past where a malicious blogger took pictures from here and abused them on her website.
UmmSqueaksterFemaleEgypt2007-07-30 16:24:00
Middle East and North AfricaConcerns and Trust
McGonagall kicks behind in every book, so all is well :thumbs: I have a ton that are spoiler oriented, and I'm trying hard to restrain myself *sits on fingers*


This one should be ok

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Edited by rahma, 23 July 2007 - 04:21 PM.

UmmSqueaksterFemaleEgypt2007-07-23 16:20:00
Middle East and North AfricaConcerns and Trust
Haven't decided if this is just a brief foray or a permenant thing. But with all my other message boards down at the moment, I need a place to show off my HP DH avatars

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UmmSqueaksterFemaleEgypt2007-07-23 16:12:00
Middle East and North AfricaConcerns and Trust
I wrote a post about an intercultural marriage gone wrong that has been making news in england a while back (and no, this is not a shameless promotion of my blog :whistle: ). It may be of interest to posters here in the ME/NA subforum.
UmmSqueaksterFemaleEgypt2007-07-23 14:17:00
Middle East and North AfricaConcerns and Trust

*only a few more hours until the deathly hallows*

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OMG, I know!!! I'm gonna wait till my little sister finsihes though and steal her copy. I just can't leave the house or speak to anyone until then.


I've got my copy reserved for pick up tomorrow morning at 7:21 am. The husband wasn't convinced that a midnight Harry Potter party would be fun :crying:

Also pissy because dhl is holding my dumbledore's army bag hostage. I have to go ransom it tonight so I can have it in time for tomorrow!
UmmSqueaksterFemaleEgypt2007-07-20 15:05:00
Middle East and North AfricaConcerns and Trust

I, and a few others, know something lots of other women here don't know and many don't want to hear. It's easy to be offended by it, call it generalizations; takes more work to deal with it, work it into your paradigm, and allow yourself out of your comfort zone when confronted with ideas that you don't want to have to consider.



Well, I can't speak for everyone else, but I don't see where no one wants to hear it. In fact, I think everyone's heard everyone else's thoughts quite a bit. It's not offensive, but I'm not quite sure what you're expecting people to do. It's not like one can become an Arab.


Arabiya Katabia, you are now an arab

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oops



*only a few more hours until the deathly hallows*

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UmmSqueaksterFemaleEgypt2007-07-20 14:57:00
Middle East and North AfricaConcerns and Trust
Perhaps a lot of this could be avoided if people really, seriously dig into their husband's family prior to tying the knot. What was his parents' relationship like? Any family members married to foreigners sucessfully? How does he treat his mom, his sisters, his female family members? How much time does he spend with friends? What are his views of spousal relations, equitable? Do learn about the culture, the good and the bad.

Ask questions. Be nosey. I have a few saved that are geared towards a muslim/muslim pairing, but they could always be tweaked.

Questions to ask a prospective marriage partner
100+ questions to ask a prospective spouse
Blissful Marriage


How can I be confident that my husband is not going to turn out to be like those described by some posters here? Because I investigated him, asked questions, was nosey, and I liked what I found out. I wouldn't have married a typical arab, and my husband wouldn't have married a typical american.

Of course, the potential husband should do the same for his wife - scary as it is, I'm turning more and more into my mother each day.
UmmSqueaksterFemaleEgypt2007-07-20 09:19:00
Middle East and North AfricaConcerns and Trust
While this may be the experience of some, I have a problem with it being portrayed as THE TRUTH. This certainly doesn't describe my husband or my experiences.
UmmSqueaksterFemaleEgypt2007-07-19 16:29:00
Middle East and North AfricaCairo Interview Survey
I don't know who my husband had. First, they told him to go away, that they didn't have his stuff and he didn't have an interview. He insisted on staying, and they finally dug around and found his stuff. The first person to look through his file started throwing papers away :blink: Then another person came and told him his file was incomplete. My husband said, umm, check the garbage can, I think he threw that paper away. The guy refused to look, but gave him another form to fill out.

I'll have to check with him about more details, as it's been sooo long (more than 2 years ago no, how time flies!)
UmmSqueaksterFemaleEgypt2007-07-30 14:32:00
Middle East and North AfricaTuesday in MENA
Oooo, I'm the next Imus. How's this for racial statements:

The first barber my husband went to was Hmong (aka asian refugee from laos). He shaved him bald because he couldn't figure out how to deal with his hair that is umm, nappy. One would assume that next he should find a barber who has experience with hair like his, and since his hair is similar to a lot of my black friends, I suggested he find a barber who had cut a lot of hair like that - thus, finding a barber with a large african american clientelle.

And to get even more racial, how about this - My husband used to chemically treat his hair so he could wear it like white people in the movie. However, after he watched the movie Malcolm X, where Malcolm decides not to conk his hair and be proud of his nappy hair and heratige, my husband also decided to be proud of his nappy hair.

There, I said it. Nappy hair. I like it. I think I'm going to go fluff it now.

Edited by rahma, 01 August 2007 - 08:10 PM.

UmmSqueaksterFemaleEgypt2007-08-01 20:09:00
Middle East and North AfricaTuesday in MENA
If your husband has "nappy" hair and there's no arab barber around, try looking for a barber with a large african american clientel.

The first time my husband got his hair cut, the poor barber couldn't make it lie flat, so he ended up almost shaving my husband bald. Needless to say, the husband wasn't happy.
UmmSqueaksterFemaleEgypt2007-07-31 12:25:00
Middle East and North AfricaWhy does it seem Egyptians/Arabs don't like dogs , and does anyone have any experience with how your SO adapted to your dog once they came.
In terms of influence, I would name Sheikh Nuh Keller as a person with more influence. The salafis on the web seem to think he's a bigger threat to them, considering how much they rail against him. Heck, I'd say quite a few of these people listed here have more influence in the muslim community than Dr. Khaled, and many advocate "traditional" islam and have spoken against wahabbism.

At least from my own personal, limited experience, I haven't seen Dr. Khaled have a wide influence, or any influence at all, in any muslim community I've been a part of.
UmmSqueaksterFemaleEgypt2007-08-01 14:40:00
Middle East and North AfricaWhy does it seem Egyptians/Arabs don't like dogs , and does anyone have any experience with how your SO adapted to your dog once they came.
Unfortunately, it's also in some of his book bios as well (check the black flap). Not only is he one of the most influencial scholars, he's also apparently "the most critical and powerful voice against purtianical and wahhabi islam today."

Do I think he's brilliant? Yup. But all that? Nope. I'm a big fan of haya, and he seems to be lacking that, at least in his bios. Haven't ever met him in person, but it's on my list of things to do someday inshaAllah.
UmmSqueaksterFemaleEgypt2007-08-01 14:08:00
Middle East and North AfricaWhy does it seem Egyptians/Arabs don't like dogs , and does anyone have any experience with how your SO adapted to your dog once they came.

On Islam and dogs, by a professor at UCLA: http://www.scholarof...oofesfaond.html. Interesting, nuanced reading.

My (secular) Persian friends don't like dogs much, and it seems to be more a cultural thing, as Americans are dog-crazy and they're still dirty work animals to them. No doubt religion plays a part, but I'm not sure it's only an Islam thing.



WOW Thanks for the great link Caladan! I read it quickly and will go back to study it more.


I'm a big fan of Dr. Khaled, except that at times he is a wee bit pretentious. In the about section on his website, he describes himself as "the most important and influential Islamic thinker in the modern age." :unsure: While I certainly do work and approach to traditional scholarship, he may be overstating his influence just a teeny bit.

My favorite work of his (and I can't remember which book it is in) is a commentary on the popular saudi backed translation of the Qur'an by Hill and Khan. Will have to look the books over to see which one it's in.
UmmSqueaksterFemaleEgypt2007-08-01 13:43:00
Middle East and North AfricaEgypt in the Summer
I've been to egypt 3 times - once in December/January, once in June and once in August. It wasn't too bad after you get used to it. I lay under the fan at our apartment a lot and avoided going out in the middle of the day. That worked well :thumbs:
UmmSqueaksterFemaleEgypt2007-07-30 14:28:00
Middle East and North Africa7 Killed in Minneapolis Bridge Collapse
Not much mention of terrorism at all, aside from a few questions, and the police chief saying they were pretty sure it wasn't terrorism, although all options were open at the 9:00 pm briefing. The first time I actually heard terrorism mentioned was when I logged on VJ and someone had posted that Faux news national was speculating hard along that angle.

I flipped between the 4 local channels - NBC, CBS, ABC and Fox, and the basic coverage for the first 2 hours was just shock, and then some interviews with engineers.
UmmSqueaksterFemaleEgypt2007-08-02 15:47:00
Middle East and North Africa7 Killed in Minneapolis Bridge Collapse

here is the link its true...

http://www.nytimes.c...e-Collapse.html



She meant that it was not true that it was caused by an earthquake.


:thumbs:


Check out the USGS site for earthquakes this last week - none in Minnesota.
UmmSqueaksterFemaleEgypt2007-08-02 11:57:00
Middle East and North Africa7 Killed in Minneapolis Bridge Collapse
Where on earth did you hear that? Nothing about that on our local Minneapolis news. Some people in the heat of the moment screamed that it was an earthquake, but there is no report of that, and there most certainly would be from the national geologic survey if that had happened.
UmmSqueaksterFemaleEgypt2007-08-02 09:22:00
Middle East and North AfricaYo! Happy Wednesday!!!!
I suppose that my experience with the word has been colored by my roommate sophmore year who used it quite often to refer to her own (quite beautiful) fro and her struggles with finding a barber who knew how to deal with her natural hair or who wouldn't try to force chemical treatment on her. She never minded when I used it *shrugs*

No malicious intent was intended, and I apologize if some were offended. How should I refer to my husband's hair? Fluffy? Kinky?



Segwaying into a similar, less charged topic - for those of us with "white girl" hair, how does your SO react to it? The husband has made the comment that he hopes our children have hair like mine. But then again, he's never seen my hair on an increadibly humid day - it's almost as fro-ish (no offense meant with this term) as his.

Edited by rahma, 02 August 2007 - 11:58 AM.

UmmSqueaksterFemaleEgypt2007-08-02 11:55:00
Middle East and North AfricaYo! Happy Wednesday!!!!
We're going to Italy? :dance: Count me in!
UmmSqueaksterFemaleEgypt2007-08-01 14:10:00
Middle East and North AfricaSong of the day thread
My husband was telling me last night about a new song in Egypt about "I love you Donkey" :lol: I've asked him to find it so I can make it the song of the day.
UmmSqueaksterFemaleEgypt2007-01-29 09:11:00
Middle East and North AfricaDe-Nile Is More Than A River In Egypt....
Ooo, sorry I missed this. Very sorry to hear that all is not well in the visa department. inshaAllah ta'ala the unfortunate experiences some other VJ members have had will help you get this situation recified (F)
UmmSqueaksterFemaleEgypt2007-08-07 13:20:00
Middle East and North AfricaHow are you all preparing for Ramadan?

*Getting a fanoos to stick on our coffee table for decoration. Funny story actually, the husband came a few days before Ramadan 2 years ago and I asked him to bring a fanoos with him. He bought me one - a key chain :lol:



Is a fanoos a lantern? If so, will you just put the lantern on the table and light it or something?


Na'am. My mom always decorated lavishly for holidays, so I'm going to work on building up a store of Ramdan/Eid decorations. But, all I can think of right now is lanterns and "holiday" lights. Will probably pick up some balloons at the dollar store to bring to the masjid to decorate for eid and then take back to our apartment.
UmmSqueaksterFemaleEgypt2007-08-07 15:50:00
Middle East and North AfricaHow are you all preparing for Ramadan?
Also, most excellent!!!!! I've been grumbling for ages that Saudi Aramco World online didn't have up my favorite piece on Ramadan in America. Well, low and behold, there's now a pdf scan of it! Happy dance, now I can link people to it :dance:


In fact, if you go here, it looks like you can access a lot of pdfs of past magazines. One of the problems with the old archive is that there weren't all the spiffy pictures. Looks like these pdfs has lots o pics
UmmSqueaksterFemaleEgypt2007-08-07 14:46:00
Middle East and North AfricaHow are you all preparing for Ramadan?
The husband isn't really in to traditions. However, we talked about how important they are to me, so he's agreed to create some for our own little family :thumbs:

Thus far, our traditions consist soley of green "holiday" lights strung around our apartment and going to the masjid on the weekends for iftar and prayers.

However, some ideas I'm thinking about trying this year:

*Getting a fanoos to stick on our coffee table for decoration. Funny story actually, the husband came a few days before Ramadan 2 years ago and I asked him to bring a fanoos with him. He bought me one - a key chain :lol:
*Making a special "ramadan dessert" - some kind of cheesecake, me thinks. If I make 2 or 3 before Ramadan starts, I can cut them up into small pieces, freeze them, and then take out only a few so we don't stuff ourselves on it each day.
*Invite friends over once a week for iftar
*Doing more community service each week, esp. something with feeding the poor.
*Spending time together each day to read Qur'an
*Going to the MOA amusement park for eid
*Going to the masjid for fajr on eid, then going to the gas station to get cheap cappucino - we did this last year, and it was suprisingly fun, so inshaAllah going to try to make this a tradition. Yes, we're boring people :lol:

Edited by rahma, 07 August 2007 - 02:36 PM.

UmmSqueaksterFemaleEgypt2007-08-07 14:35:00