What is the stupidest thing you have heard because your with a MENA SO ?

[Amoon 0]

I was trying to find this topic...I read it like a week ago and was going to reply but I got distracted at work. Now here it is!!

I just wanted to post a stupid thing I got LOTS of times before I went to Jordan in Oct. 2008. I would say I was going on vacation and they would ask where. I told them Jordan. Almost every reply was, "Jordan the country?" I mean really...I wanted to say, no Jordan Illinois or something. Lol. Their follow up to that would be...oh...umm.....like they really had a bad comment but didn't want to say it. Then they would say...oh but aren't you scared to go over there?

I guess if everyone were like them it would be a seriously boring world and the airlines would go out of business because no one would travel!

Props to all the MENA ladies for thinking outside the box and visiting those "scary" countries! Seriously, what is scary about the Dead Sea, Petra and SCUBA diving in the Red Sea.....visiting Jordan should be at the top of anyone's vacation list!!

Amanda

[kenneme 2]

Yes we are off topic -and the subject of American's obsession with race merits its own longer discussion but I couldn't resist just to chime in!!! I agree with whoever said above that "races" are all arbitrary social categories in any case - imagined classifications created to have power over people (namely for "white" people to have power over "non-white"). There have been a couple of court cases in the US where Middle Easterners were classified "white" - I remember one in particular where a Persian claimed an all white jury wasn't a jury of his peers and the court ruled it was because he was " white" .

So, for those of you who's partners come from Egypt and are now US citizens why wouldn't you check "African American" as their group identity? That's what they are right? An African that is now American? That's what my partner does (he's Algerian)! And aren't Iran and Jordan in Asia? You should be checking "Asian American"... Isn't it funny when the boxes list a color, a continent, and a language group? white, African American and Latino - like that makes any kind of sense!

Lastly, from what I understand and have seen there are a lot of redheads in MENA countries (not Albinos, just people with "normal" coloring who have red hair) and that is to be explained by the massive amounts of genetic mixing over the centuries (which is true everywhere pretty much...don't fool yourself if you think you're "pure" something! lol) and notably during the Christian Crusades - when pale redheads left behind their genes through violence...

[Courtney08 0]

Alright ladies,

I have to say that I love when we go off topic . It means whatever we are talking about gets us thinking about things that make us passionate.

I have a few new things that I have been informed

1. Dont ever take your children there or you will never get to come home !!!!!!!!!!!!! (ohhh almost forgot his brothers can make you stay be careful)

2. Your not moving there are you ?

3. he will change as he gets older

(WTH we all change as we get older dont we, I still dont get that like he is all the sudden going to start wearing a beard and pushing me around)

4. Your going where ? Do you cover your head up when ur there ?

The craziness of everything is I want to live there. If i didnt have a great job, and family that just cant move now. I WOULD be there.

We have talked about it all before its a great place to live close to so much to do. granted in the states we can find something any where we go but I miss Jordan

The smells the pace, shopping and haggeling (sp).

Alright ladies and the albino thing not going there .

I always had a thing for redheads . Lol not as much as my arabians .

I hope that my next child is either red headed or has curly hair like his daddy Im getting excited just thinking about it

[childress_london 3]

Yes we are off topic -and the subject of American's obsession with race merits its own longer discussion but I couldn't resist just to chime in!!! I agree with whoever said above that "races" are all arbitrary social categories in any case - imagined classifications created to have power over people (namely for "white" people to have power over "non-white"). There have been a couple of court cases in the US where Middle Easterners were classified "white" - I remember one in particular where a Persian claimed an all white jury wasn't a jury of his peers and the court ruled it was because he was " white" .

So, for those of you who's partners come from Egypt and are now US citizens why wouldn't you check "African American" as their group identity? That's what they are right? An African that is now American? That's what my partner does (he's Algerian)! And aren't Iran and Jordan in Asia? You should be checking "Asian American"... Isn't it funny when the boxes list a color, a continent, and a language group? white, African American and Latino - like that makes any kind of sense!

Lastly, from what I understand and have seen there are a lot of redheads in MENA countries (not Albinos, just people with "normal" coloring who have red hair) and that is to be explained by the massive amounts of genetic mixing over the centuries (which is true everywhere pretty much...don't fool yourself if you think you're "pure" something! lol) and notably during the Christian Crusades - when pale redheads left behind their genes through violence...

I think they should have "blonde" on those race forms! I don't understand the purpose anyway. The way the world is going, pretty soon we are all going to be so mixed, like you say, there isn't going to be one definable race. I am a good mix myself. And anyway, who cares? I'll just check the "human" box. lol

[Aymsgirl 0]

I too was amazed at the amount of red haired people in Egypt. But what I did notice is that the red haired people didn't have as many freckles as people here do. My husband and myself have naturally almost black hair color and our son has light hair with a red tint to it. My MIL also has Auburn colored hair. His family is mainly Egyptian but there are also Jewish roots as well.

Also, regarding the race I was so confused as what to check when it came to it until it said beside Caucasian this includes people of the Middle East.

[Sandrila 1]

I was also suprised to learn, as my husband told me, that there are some Berbers who are more pale and blonde than I

Still havent seen it, but that is what he says.

I agree that if the prospect of work wasnt NIL for us in Morocco and I didnt have children here, I would have no qualms about living there.

I like it there. And it isnt just Morocco that I would prefer to live, even though I love and respect my country, there are too many places in the world to explore. We may think US is the end all be all but believe me we have alot to learn from life abroad.

[caybee 21]

I was also suprised to learn, as my husband told me, that there are some Berbers who are more pale and blonde than I

Still havent seen it, but that is what he says.

I agree that if the prospect of work wasnt NIL for us in Morocco and I didnt have children here, I would have no qualms about living there.

I like it there. And it isnt just Morocco that I would prefer to live, even though I love and respect my country, there are too many places in the world to explore. We may think US is the end all be all but believe me we have alot to learn from life abroad.

My husband's hair is almost black, but his skin is lighter than mine in the winter, and I have very light skin. But in the summer, his skin turns brown while mine burns easily.

Remember the little girl Madeleine who went missing and they thought she was spotted in Morocco? Someone saw a woman carrying a little Amazigh girl and assumed she couldn't be Moroccan because she was so blonde and fair-skinned. There's a photo of her here.

[caybee 21]

I was trying to find this topic...I read it like a week ago and was going to reply but I got distracted at work. Now here it is!!

I just wanted to post a stupid thing I got LOTS of times before I went to Jordan in Oct. 2008. I would say I was going on vacation and they would ask where. I told them Jordan. Almost every reply was, "Jordan the country?" I mean really...I wanted to say, no Jordan Illinois or something. Lol. Their follow up to that would be...oh...umm.....like they really had a bad comment but didn't want to say it. Then they would say...oh but aren't you scared to go over there?

I guess if everyone were like them it would be a seriously boring world and the airlines would go out of business because no one would travel!

Props to all the MENA ladies for thinking outside the box and visiting those "scary" countries! Seriously, what is scary about the Dead Sea, Petra and SCUBA diving in the Red Sea.....visiting Jordan should be at the top of anyone's vacation list!!

Amanda

Christians go to the "Holy Land" all the time and get all kinds of curious and sometimes envious questions from friends and family. And some Christian holy sites are smack in the middle of the political soup. Sooo what's the diff?

[al-Hubb jameel 0]

OMG, I can totally relate to so many of these posts. I got quite a chuckle. In all honesty though, I don't mind when people say things that are totally ignorant because it gives me a chance to teach, and share with them a different point of view than what they have heard on the news. Most of the time, I find that people are truly clueless, they are not trying to be mean, they are merely saying what they think to be true. When I gently correct them and tell them how it really is, 9 times out of 10 they are receptive! (as long as I stay calm and don't get defensive) So many people have told me that I've totally changed their view on the Middle East, and to me that feels really good!!!!!!!!!!!!! I even made a little movie on moviemaker with music and pictures for my extended family that shows a little how our families are alike. It was a big hit and helped alot!!

I guess I can tell you the comment that angered me the most was from the lawyer I went to visit to decide if I wanted to use him for my K1 process or not. I already had everything completed, but he gave free consultations so I thought maybe he would tell me something I didn't know. Well what he told me was that he would only charge me 2,500 to do everything over again for me with his special software and that if I married a man from Jordan, I would lose all my rights. With that stupid comment comming from a very educated man who works with people not born in USA every day, I didn't bother teaching. I didn't say a word. I just got up, walked out, and went straight to the post office to mail my k1 package.

[childress_london 3]

OMG, I can totally relate to so many of these posts. I got quite a chuckle. In all honesty though, I don't mind when people say things that are totally ignorant because it gives me a chance to teach, and share with them a different point of view than what they have heard on the news. Most of the time, I find that people are truly clueless, they are not trying to be mean, they are merely saying what they think to be true. When I gently correct them and tell them how it really is, 9 times out of 10 they are receptive! (as long as I stay calm and don't get defensive) So many people have told me that I've totally changed their view on the Middle East, and to me that feels really good!!!!!!!!!!!!! I even made a little movie on moviemaker with music and pictures for my extended family that shows a little how our families are alike. It was a big hit and helped alot!!

I guess I can tell you the comment that angered me the most was from the lawyer I went to visit to decide if I wanted to use him for my K1 process or not. I already had everything completed, but he gave free consultations so I thought maybe he would tell me something I didn't know. Well what he told me was that he would only charge me 2,500 to do everything over again for me with his special software and that if I married a man from Jordan, I would lose all my rights. With that stupid comment comming from a very educated man who works with people not born in USA every day, I didn't bother teaching. I didn't say a word. I just got up, walked out, and went straight to the post office to mail my k1 package.

You would lose all WHAT rights? As far as I know there is no law in America that says you lose any rights by marrying somebody from another country. :-P

[Aymsgirl 0]

OMG, I can totally relate to so many of these posts. I got quite a chuckle. In all honesty though, I don't mind when people say things that are totally ignorant because it gives me a chance to teach, and share with them a different point of view than what they have heard on the news. Most of the time, I find that people are truly clueless, they are not trying to be mean, they are merely saying what they think to be true. When I gently correct them and tell them how it really is, 9 times out of 10 they are receptive! (as long as I stay calm and don't get defensive) So many people have told me that I've totally changed their view on the Middle East, and to me that feels really good!!!!!!!!!!!!! I even made a little movie on moviemaker with music and pictures for my extended family that shows a little how our families are alike. It was a big hit and helped alot!!

I guess I can tell you the comment that angered me the most was from the lawyer I went to visit to decide if I wanted to use him for my K1 process or not. I already had everything completed, but he gave free consultations so I thought maybe he would tell me something I didn't know. Well what he told me was that he would only charge me 2,500 to do everything over again for me with his special software and that if I married a man from Jordan, I would lose all my rights. With that stupid comment comming from a very educated man who works with people not born in USA every day, I didn't bother teaching. I didn't say a word. I just got up, walked out, and went straight to the post office to mail my k1 package.

You would lose all WHAT rights? As far as I know there is no law in America that says you lose any rights by marrying somebody from another country. :-P

I can see where somebody would tell her that. Heck the American Embassy in Cairo lied to me about so many things just trying to scare me away. Said I could lose my kids, my job etc....Didn't work though...I didn't play into their BS.

[MrsAmera 41]

There are Berber women who are very pale! Also esp. women from Northern Morocco are also fairly light skinned. My SIL is Berber from south of Marrakech - she is whiter than me (I'm freakin pale too!) Youssef's sisters always tease him and his brother for finding the two whitest girls in the world to marry. When I'm in Morocco most people who don't know me assume that I am from Northern Morocco until they find out my Arabic is almost non-existant

[Donna A 4]

i used to get the usual he is going to leave u when he gets the green card but then he got the green card and now the story is he is waiting for citizenship. i try to explain he has a 10 year card....he can renew it and never get citenship or he can get citizenship in 5 years instead of 3. he dont need me for citizenship and in fact he dont ever have to become a citizen.

ive also heard immigrants dont have to pay taxes for 5 years.

[Aymsgirl 0]

i used to get the usual he is going to leave u when he gets the green card but then he got the green card and now the story is he is waiting for citizenship. i try to explain he has a 10 year card....he can renew it and never get citenship or he can get citizenship in 5 years instead of 3. he dont need me for citizenship and in fact he dont ever have to become a citizen.

ive also heard immigrants dont have to pay taxes for 5 years.

YESSSSSSSSSSSSS...about the taxes. Everybody asks that question!! I always say he pays just like you do so no worries.

[ya falaha! 0]

Tasha...the staff at the US embassy in Cairo actually said that stuff to you? Unbelievable. I've heard stories of them giving couples a hard time but what they said to you was horrible.

Christ my parents still believe that one about how immigrants don't pay taxes on businesses for 5 years. That's the reason why they pass the business along to newly immigrated family members once their 5 years is up.

i used to get the usual he is going to leave u when he gets the green card but then he got the green card and now the story is he is waiting for citizenship. i try to explain he has a 10 year card....he can renew it and never get citenship or he can get citizenship in 5 years instead of 3. he dont need me for citizenship and in fact he dont ever have to become a citizen.

ive also heard immigrants dont have to pay taxes for 5 years.