Lovin the married life :)

[Leyla 0]

So it is most definately the little things about Tarik that make me smile and love him more and more The cutest thing now is that I am teaching him all about American change. He came from Atlanta with a pocket full of change. He said: "I went to bought something and they gave me this? What this is?" Haha AWW!! So today I asked him what he wanted to do and he said "Teach me the money." So I am sitting here teaching him how many dimes make a dollar how many nickles etc. It is so cute!!! Plus he was introduced to the beauty of free tea, coffee and hot chocolate at the Oil change place He got hot chocolate, cream, sugar and a little coffee, made a drink and LOVED IT. He said "If you need coffee, don't go to the cafe, go to Tuffy and ask about your car! You will get great coffee" Haha. Wow He's so innocent adorable.

Any other funny/cute stories you have?

[Henia 11]

OMG that's funny!

We: (pre-pregnancy that is)

We usually make googley eyes at each other on the bus ... or laugh alot ... just to make people stare LOL!

Or talk very late night walks (since we eat dinner later) when it is very taboo for women to be out!

We spend hours in the supermarket walking the aisles ... talking throu all the products, reading labels and hanging out ... they know us now but before the shopkeepers kept walking after us thinking we were stealing LOL! Funny since my husband hates shopping in general but loves food shopping for reason!

We would literally take buses for hours just to get a "good" ice cream or chocolate!

We climb up on the top and star gaze. Sometimes even have our meals up there!

Ye I am loving married life too!

[Tunisia216 2]

Awwhhhhhh

I am so glad to hear that it's going so well for you!!! You must be on Cloud 9!!

The money thing can definitely be confusing... Well lots of things can.. But I really recommend this book that I got for Jihed... It seems very basic, but it's an amazing life saver - It has everything in pictures and by topic "The Home" "Money" "In the Street" "shopping" just a billion things and it uses pictures.... So they can look at the picture and each thing is numbered and it gives what the English

name is.... (One large picture, that is like a scenario of an event going on and little number bubbles, and at the bottom the numbers corresponding with the word of what's in the picture...

The money part was great as it showed each piece of currency, gave it's "real name" " A one dollar bill" and next to it is a column that says "We also say : a five... ex. "Give me a five"

The series is called "Word by Word" by Steven J. Molinsky Most Borders stores carry the "English as a Second Language Edition" and the price is $18-22 but it really really helps - Not just for them to study but also if you are talking and they give you that "what? " look you can flip to the page and point to what you are talking about !!!

Also there is the exact same book but with an Arabic Edition - so same concept but things written in English and Arabic which helps even more with the 'word association of what something is called in arabic and what it's called in English .. and also a good way to pick up more arabic of your own as he identifies the English term and you learn to say the Arabic word!!

Here's a link to the standard English one (Recommend for those who have spouses/fiances speaking English well just need extra help for smaller things they find here ) http://www.borders.com/online/store/TitleD...?sku=0131916300

And to the Arabic Edition (which my local Borders did not have on hand but would have to order )

http://www.amazon.com/Word-Picture-Diction...4477&sr=8-2

[Henia 11]

That is a great suggestion Ash!

And not trying to be funny, but does your SO get alot of problems for his name being Jihed?

[Tunisia216 2]

It was an amazing help and now I'm just telling everyone about the series.... They have 2 or 3 editions for your level of comprehension and it rocks for those who are not "readers" because there's not much to read, it's mostly pictures....

And yes... he does... A lot of job applications went out and I believe the reason there weren't call backs was because of his name.. So I put it to the test.. My younger brother was looking for a job.. he's 20 and I put applications in for him at the same place... Dropped them off on the same day... One is 26 years old living next door to the job and the other is 20 living 20 +miles away... One with college, lots of experience and references, and the other with just a high school education and little experience (my bro) and guess who got called back??

You got it, my brother!

But it's okay, I've outsmarted them Using "Joe" as a first name and gotten called back that way - And they don't see green card or social until they've already hired them and they are confirming and making copies for files, so at that point if they back out, it's definite discrimination and well lawsuit time I work in HR, so I know the drill.. Just a sad world we live in ... But it's his name and I'm proud of it

That is a great suggestion Ash!

And not trying to be funny, but does your SO get alot of problems for his name being Jihed?

[Staashi 371]

It was an amazing help and now I'm just telling everyone about the series.... They have 2 or 3 editions for your level of comprehension and it rocks for those who are not "readers" because there's not much to read, it's mostly pictures....

And yes... he does... A lot of job applications went out and I believe the reason there weren't call backs was because of his name.. So I put it to the test.. My younger brother was looking for a job.. he's 20 and I put applications in for him at the same place... Dropped them off on the same day... One is 26 years old living next door to the job and the other is 20 living 20 +miles away... One with college, lots of experience and references, and the other with just a high school education and little experience (my bro) and guess who got called back??

You got it, my brother!

But it's okay, I've outsmarted them Using "Joe" as a first name and gotten called back that way - And they don't see green card or social until they've already hired them and they are confirming and making copies for files, so at that point if they back out, it's definite discrimination and well lawsuit time I work in HR, so I know the drill.. Just a sad world we live in ... But it's his name and I'm proud of it

That is a great suggestion Ash!

And not trying to be funny, but does your SO get alot of problems for his name being Jihed?

I had an african-american friend in college who thought she was being cool by naming her baby Jihad. I can only imagine the hell he is paying now for a name like that, as it was 1992. I can appreciate if someone is from a MENA nation who is named that, but overall the idea of having the name - "Holy War" might be a little disconcerting for anyone.

[Tunisia216 2]

I can totally understand what you are saying - Living in a non - MENA society it can be a challenge, but it's really due to mis information and media perceptions... "Jihed/ Jihad" doesn't mean Holy War... It really means "the struggle"

( I've had to explain this to friends here too lol )

" The word "Jihad" means struggle, or to be specific, striving in the cause of God. Any struggle done in day-to-day life to please God can be considered Jihad. One of the highest levels of Jihad is to stand up to a tyrant and speak a word of truth. Control of the self from wrong doings is also a great Jihad. One of the forms of Jihad is to take up arms in defense of Islam or a Muslim country when Islam is attacked."

"Jihad literally means ‘to struggle’. In the military sense it is meant in the context, ‘to struggle against oppression’. Jihad is therefore an act to liberate people from the oppression of tyrants. Jihad is not illegal acts of terror against innocent people."

So when Muslims are refraining from drinking alcohol (for example) it's a form of self-jihad

I had an african-american friend in college who thought she was being cool by naming her baby Jihad. I can only imagine the hell he is paying now for a name like that, as it was 1992. I can appreciate if someone is from a MENA nation who is named that, but overall the idea of having the name - "Holy War" might be a little disconcerting for anyone.

Edited August 18, 2008 by Ash * Habibati

[Henia 11]

It was an amazing help and now I'm just telling everyone about the series.... They have 2 or 3 editions for your level of comprehension and it rocks for those who are not "readers" because there's not much to read, it's mostly pictures....

And yes... he does... A lot of job applications went out and I believe the reason there weren't call backs was because of his name.. So I put it to the test.. My younger brother was looking for a job.. he's 20 and I put applications in for him at the same place... Dropped them off on the same day... One is 26 years old living next door to the job and the other is 20 living 20 +miles away... One with college, lots of experience and references, and the other with just a high school education and little experience (my bro) and guess who got called back??

You got it, my brother!

But it's okay, I've outsmarted them Using "Joe" as a first name and gotten called back that way - And they don't see green card or social until they've already hired them and they are confirming and making copies for files, so at that point if they back out, it's definite discrimination and well lawsuit time I work in HR, so I know the drill.. Just a sad world we live in ... But it's his name and I'm proud of it

That is a great suggestion Ash!

And not trying to be funny, but does your SO get alot of problems for his name being Jihed?

I am sorry your husband has been having alot troubles. But with all the ill media- no wonder! I would fearful for names like Jihed, Islam, Mohamed, Osama, Ramadan etc ... that those men would get alot of troubles!

But good to know you were able to work around it! Wishing you all the best in the future!

[Tunisia216 2]

Thanks It's not too bad.. Overall the North East coast is pretty open minded... But again with the example of the job applications and my own suspicions, maybe it's not as open as I thought.. Then again it could have just as easily been that he had no US work experience where as my brother did.... I can't be 100% sure... But you just keep on moving and doing what you can. Luckily his personality is wonderful and that typically wins everyone over...

[Donna A 4]

my husband has been here 4 years and still didnt know how much a dime, nickel, quarter and penny were worth. he hates change so just throws it in the car ashtray until we use it for toll roads and im the one picking thru it getting what we need out. also sometimes he gets coffee and as usual im picking thru it looking for enough to give him. last month is when he finally realized he still didnt know what each was worth and i taught him....he still thinks its crazy for a dime to be worth more then a nickel and its smaller.

[Henia 11]

Thanks It's not too bad.. Overall the North East coast is pretty open minded... But again with the example of the job applications and my own suspicions, maybe it's not as open as I thought.. Then again it could have just as easily been that he had no US work experience where as my brother did.... I can't be 100% sure... But you just keep on moving and doing what you can. Luckily his personality is wonderful and that typically wins everyone over...

Ye I have alot of Tunezian friends! Love their personalities

[Tunisia216 2]

Hehe I can really sympathize though.. The money in Tunis confused me too - the paper isn't hard as it's labeled with a big round number, but what got me was the coins, millimes.... They come in 20, 50 and 100 but to me it seemed like there were several versions of each coin I suppose made at different times and they all mixed together .... They got me really confused! Some of them were really big compared to our change so that has to be challenging for them as well

my husband has been here 4 years and still didnt know how much a dime, nickel, quarter and penny were worth. he hates change so just throws it in the car ashtray until we use it for toll roads and im the one picking thru it getting what we need out. also sometimes he gets coffee and as usual im picking thru it looking for enough to give him. last month is when he finally realized he still didnt know what each was worth and i taught him....he still thinks its crazy for a dime to be worth more then a nickel and its smaller.

[Henia 11]

Hehe I can really sympathize though.. The money in Tunis confused me too - the paper isn't hard as it's labeled with a big round number, but what got me was the coins, millimes.... They come in 20, 50 and 100 but to me it seemed like there were several versions of each coin I suppose made at different times and they all mixed together .... They got me really confused! Some of them were really big compared to our change so that has to be challenging for them as well

my husband has been here 4 years and still didnt know how much a dime, nickel, quarter and penny were worth. he hates change so just throws it in the car ashtray until we use it for toll roads and im the one picking thru it getting what we need out. also sometimes he gets coffee and as usual im picking thru it looking for enough to give him. last month is when he finally realized he still didnt know what each was worth and i taught him....he still thinks its crazy for a dime to be worth more then a nickel and its smaller.

Here too! They count in centimes ... amoung others! s many ways to count the money as cities I think!

[doodlebugg 10]

Try having the name Usama and getting a call back!!! lol. That's why my husband had more success with the jobs that you apply in person instead of the generic apply online type, though the Hyatt did call him back after he sent his resume to them online, but he had to decline because the hours weren't good for him.

Married life....babyshell I was laughing at the free coffee thing! We shop at Market Basket here and they have free coffee. My husband doesn't even LIKE coffee but each time we go he's sure to make himself a nice cup anyways!!

We've been commented on a few times in the subway by someone saying that we look sooo much in love.

Romantic things he does:

• takes the lib out of the shells for me and transfers them to me via a kiss.
• always makes tea for us after dinner and comments, "for you my love" when he gives it to me. (hahaha meanwhile when I make dinner I just yell out "DINNER'S READYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
• always wants to pray with me instead of alone
• takes my glasses off when he sees i'm falling asleep while reading

[Tunisia216 2]

Awwwwwwww So sweet!!!!

Romantic things he does:

• takes the lib out of the shells for me and transfers them to me via a kiss.
• always makes tea for us after dinner and comments, "for you my love" when he gives it to me. (hahaha meanwhile when I make dinner I just yell out "DINNER'S READYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
• always wants to pray with me instead of alone
• takes my glasses off when he sees i'm falling asleep while reading