Crazy question for the MENA people

[Beauty for Ashes 257]

Every other woman on this board has gone to their SO's country just to be with their husbands, shopping, visit family not READ freaking books or study and write up reports about the country. Are you insulting the rest of the people on this board who are jordanian, egyptian, syrian , etc and don't get interested in reading about their country as you do !?

Im not insulting ANYONE on the board. I like EVERYONE here...even those I disagree with. I am just a little a different in that I knew the country BEFORE I met my husband. I met him in Algeria while I was working on something . I am not every other woman here. I m similar in that I have struggled with the visa process.... now pregnant waiting for my husband... You do not have to bring every other woman into this. You have no idea what interest other people had in their husband's culture before they met their spouse. I just asked what books you read. You responded with "freaking books" so Ill interpret that as "none" and just stop asking.

I think you are belittling the other woman by saying everyone else went to the SO 's country to just be with their spouses. As I recall, there are women who met their husbands while on trips, architectural digs, college exchanges, etc. So I guess some of them read books too. Fascinating. By the way, my husbands uncle from Bousfer dropped out of school in the 3rd grade but I never met anyone who knew more about Tlecen and Sidi Boumediene and the history of the sufis and the Moroccan Dynastic culture in western Algeria than him. He is an amazing person. He often did not have very much money but he was obsessed with history, took his children ( all 7 of them) on taxi rides to Mansoura, the ancient tower in Tlemcen and exposed them to every single cultural thing imaginable. Hes one of those villagers you mentioned. Amazing person

By the way, this is one of my favorite cities in Algeria and favorite sites TLEMCEN.. This part of Algeria has been in and out of Moroccan control. This city was also the home to Algeria's largest Jewish community before they all had to leave. The Jews used to travel from Tlemcen back and forth to fez and some elements of this community travelled into the sahara in the 15th century and founded cities in the Oasis and later converted to Islam.

Here is an account of one of my favorite cities in Algeria, Tlemcen. If you ever hear that song, SIDI BOUMEDIENE by CHEB KHALED, he is talking about Tlemcen

Tlemcen was founded by the Romans in the 4th century C.E. under the name of Pomaria as a military outpost. It was an important city in North Africa see of the Roman Catholic Church in the century in which it was built, where it was the center of a diocese. Its bishop, Victor, was a prominent representative at the Council of Carthage in 411, and its bishop Honoratus was exiled in 484 by the Vandal king Huneric for denying Arianism. It was a center of a large Christian population for many centuries after the city's Arab conquest in 708. In the later eighth century and the ninth century, the city became a center of the Kharijite sect. In 1082 the Almoravid leader Yusuf ibn Tashfin founded the city of Tagrart, which merged with the settlement and since then became known as Tlemcen (Tilimsan). Under the reign of the Almohads it rose to prominence as a major trading center in the region. It was lost by the Almohads to the Abdalwadid dynasty in 1239.

In the next period Tlemcen became the capital of the (Ziyyanid) kingdom of Tlemcen (1236 - 1554) and was ruled for centuries by successive Abdalwadid sultans. Its flag was a blue crescent pointing upwards on a white field. The city was temporarily captured by the Marinid sultan, Abu al-Hasan Ali (1337-48). The kingdom of Tlemcen had grown rapidly after its foundations in 1236 and eventually controlled most of the Atlas Mountains to Tunisia at its height in the 15th century. When the Spanish took the city of Oran from the kingdom in 1509, continuous pressure from the Berbers prompted the Spanish to attempt a counterattack against the city of Tlemcen (1543), which was deemed by the Papacy to be a crusade. The Spanish failed to take the city in the first attack, although the strategic vulnerability of Tlemcen caused the kingdom's weight to shift toward the safer and more heavily fortified corsair base at Algiers.

The ruler of Tlemcen is reported to have been advised by a Jewish viceroy named Abraham, who, in the time of the Inquisition of Torquemada, opened the gates of Tlemcen to hordes of Jews and Moors fleeing Spain. Abraham is said to have supported them with his own money and with the tolerance of the king of Tlemcen.

In 1553, the kingdom of Tlemcen came under the protection of the Ottoman Empire, which was fighting a naval war against the Spaniards across the Mediterranean, and the Kingdom of Tlemcen became another vassal of the Sultan in Constantinople. Tlemcen and the Algerian provinces gained effective independence in their own affairs in 1671 , although Tlemcen was no longer the seat of government that it once was (transferred to ?Algiers), and its grandeur was much reduced from the days of its great kings. The Spanish were evicted from Oran in 1792, but thirty years later they were replaced by the French, who seized Algiers. A French fleet bombarded Algiers in 1834, at which point the dey capitulated to French colonial rule; a broad coalition of Arabs continued to resist, coordinated loosely at Tlemcen. The great Arab Abd al-Kader, fought with incredible skill and valor, but his defeat in 1844 at Isly ended the dream of a new independent Algeria.

Tlemcen was a vacation spot and retreat for French settlers in Algeria, who found it to be far more temperate than Oran or Algiers

[chaishai 1]

So first you say "Like I said. Intelligent people dont have to resort to personal attacks. You are not well read. Not very well educated and know next to nothing about your own culture."

Then you say "while you may be Algerian, you are not well educated nor well read nor do you have even the smallest inkling about your own culture. You are an airhead. Shallow. Young. Immature with no common sense. No one to listen to or be concerned with which is why nothing you post is remotely interesting. Get a personality and read some books and I will check back with you

Does this mean you do not consider yourself intelligent with all of the personal attacks here? Give her a break - she is as you say young and getting married etc. She might read some more books as she goes through life, give her a chance to catch up.

[chaishai 1]

Every other woman on this board has gone to their SO's country just to be with their husbands, shopping, visit family not READ freaking books or study and write up reports about the country.

So true. Books are great and all but not everyone here has an obsession with MENA culture. I married a man, not a country. That's just my own personal view on it though...

I know, its so funny. I have alot of american friends also married to israelis. Lately, I have been reading lots of books around israeli history (since passover, jewish holidays get me in the mood). Anyway I can imagine how annoyed they would be if I just started spamming them in email or talking their ear off about my knowlege of israeli history! Ugh! Its like keep it to yourself and use it in conversation if it comes up dont flood people with it. Also, back in the day when I was planning my big israeli wedding and young and free and childrenless the LAST thing I was worried about was sitting around reading history books.

[Beauty for Ashes 257]

So first you say "Like I said. Intelligent people dont have to resort to personal attacks. You are not well read. Not very well educated and know next to nothing about your own culture."

Then you say "while you may be Algerian, you are not well educated nor well read nor do you have even the smallest inkling about your own culture. You are an airhead. Shallow. Young. Immature with no common sense. No one to listen to or be concerned with which is why nothing you post is remotely interesting. Get a personality and read some books and I will check back with you

Does this mean you do not consider yourself intelligent with all of the personal attacks here? Give her a break - she is as you say young and getting married etc. She might read some more books as she goes through life, give her a chance to catch up.

Ive tried really hard to be patient...but she has been pretty abusive...I was a bookworm at her age.. I cannot really relate to her very well...

[Beauty for Ashes 257]

Every other woman on this board has gone to their SO's country just to be with their husbands, shopping, visit family not READ freaking books or study and write up reports about the country.

So true. Books are great and all but not everyone here has an obsession with MENA culture. I married a man, not a country. That's just my own personal view on it though...

I know, its so funny. I have alot of american friends also married to israelis. Lately, I have been reading lots of books around israeli history (since passover, jewish holidays get me in the mood). Anyway I can imagine how annoyed they would be if I just started spamming them in email or talking their ear off about my knowlege of israeli history! Ugh! Its like keep it to yourself and use it in conversation if it comes up dont flood people with it. Also, back in the day when I was planning my big israeli wedding and young and free and childrenless the LAST thing I was worried about was sitting around reading history books.

Most of my friends are pretty well read and I don't mind listening to them talk about history, politics or what books they are reading. She's been pretty belittling. I hardly classify her as sweet and carefree. Agressively ignorant comes alot faster to my mind

[jpaula 20]

W,

If you are as interested in Algerian culture as you claim to be you will realize that you have something to learn from Algerians who have a different experience than you do with it. For those who are Algerian, including Algerian-American, French-Algerian or Tibetan-Algerian, they know their culture because they live in it not because they read about it. Culture is not an absolute and it is not a history quiz.

I have read extensively about Algerian history. I married an Algerian. I lived there. Should I read every book ever written on the country, travel to every corner, have a child with my Algerian husband, eat nothing but cous cous, have Kateb Yacine on my bedside table, convert to Islam, mutter Camus in my sleep and bathe in olive oil I will still not be Algerian and will still have something to learn from those who are.

I know you think you sound knowledgable here and I for one think your interest and studying is admirable. I like your videos. I like you. But, berating Algerians, regardless of their age, about what their own culture is or is not is neither admirable nor knowledgeable. It is embarrassing.

Pick up a book on how culture is transmitted for your next reading binge.

[Beauty for Ashes 257]

W,

If you are as interested in Algerian culture as you claim to be you will realize that you have something to learn from Algerians who have a different experience than you do with it. For those who are Algerian, including Algerian-American, French-Algerian or Tibetan-Algerian, they know their culture because they live in it not because they read about it. Culture is not an absolute and it is not a history quiz.

I have read extensively about Algerian history. I married an Algerian. I lived there. Should I read every book ever written on the country, travel to every corner, have a child with my Algerian husband, eat nothing but cous cous, have Kateb Yacine on my bedside table, convert to Islam, mutter Camus in my sleep and bathe in olive oil I will still not be Algerian and will still have something to learn from those who are.

I know you think you sound knowledgable here and I for one think your interest and studying is admirable. I like your videos. I like you. But, berating Algerians, regardless of their age, about what their own culture is or is not is neither admirable nor knowledgeable. It is embarrassing.

Pick up a book on how culture is transmitted for your next reading binge.

I have wanted several times to stop responding to her but she keeps on picking at me... I have nothing against her personally but she has been pretty nasty JP and pretty consistantly. I havent reacted to her any differently than I would an American who acted like she does.

[~Jackie~ 30]

Is 'aggressivley ignorant' name calling? Sounds a bit harsh.

[Beauty for Ashes 257]

Is 'aggressivley ignorant' name calling? Sounds a bit harsh.

Not much harsher than calling me a blob, a horrible mother and a litany of other things...

[sara535 15]

I have wanted several times to stop responding to her but she keeps on picking at me... I have nothing against her personally but she has been pretty nasty JP and pretty consistantly. I havent reacted to her any differently than I would an American who acted like she does.

there IS something to be said for being the mature one and knowing when to call it a day and walk away. sometimes it says a lot more than ####### for tat sniping, be it with an american, an algerian, or a martian.

[Ban Hammer 13,110]

this is still going on?

can't we just have a jello wrestling match to settle things?

[SaadBell 0]

Does Algeria have any famous serial killers? Now that I find interesting, just not one of the top countries that have Sociopaths, but maybe I have missed something good. So give us some good stories of a good nut job in Algeria.

[doodlebugg 10]

Does Algeria have any famous serial killers? Now that I find interesting, just not one of the top countries that have Sociopaths, but maybe I have missed something good. So give us some good stories of a good nut job in Algeria.

GG you ROCK!!!

[LaL 418]

what the heck is all this? This is beyond ridiculous now. Stop with the personal attacks.

[Ban Hammer 13,110]

what the heck is all this? This is beyond ridiculous now. Stop with the personal attacks.

are you algerian?