"Put me a list with the really necessary things we need in our place."

[KHPerfectMatch 1]

Hey Guys,

I wanted to state my opinion on young egyptian men marrying older foreign women, but I know I will get totally torn apart.. so I think I just better keep my comments to myself LOL

Oh come on Jillai..... do tell......

as far as rent prices go here in ALEX ( don't know to much about Cairo Olivia) I live in a fairly decent apartment, in an ok area ( not great.. Sidi Bishr) we pay 400LE a month, which in my opinion , is dirt cheap, my apartment is furnished, came with everything you need, down to the bed sheets and dishes.

You did good! We paid 1200LE for an OK flat (think Lucy and Ricky's place in 1955....) in Cleopatra Swayar last year but it was a short term rent, so maybe that is why it was so much more...

Karmella...you asked me why I liked Cairo over Alex... oh gosh, where do I start ? ! lol

I guess I found Cairo more westernized, not so many looks, and its just alot more freedom there than Alex... IMO.for example, if I walk out of my apartment here in Alex, without my hijab on... oh boy... every single person will look at me! versus... in Cairo... I don't think ANYONE looked at me at all...

OK I get it.... no one ever looked at me either place so never noticed that aspect of it... I'm as boring in one place as the other... tehehehe

don't mean to discourage you in anyway Olivia, but I think you will understand once you have lived here for sometime... there is nothing like where u come from sweetie. and in the beginning, its fresh, and exciting, new, surreal... but as time pases , it becomes common, and life becomes more diffucult and frustrating... because that surreal feeling for u will pass... and all u will be left with pretty much is sweet memories of ur homeland.

cant speak for everyone.... that is just what has happened for me and a few other women that live here in Egypt as well, that I know.

AMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN! I can take it in short MEASURED doses.... no more rosy tinted glasses for me.... just ruby slippers and a continous belief that there is NO PLACE like HOME...

I am certainly hoping that you do enjoy your time here... and have alot of fun, I know you will be so happy to be with your husband, and love has no boundaries, this is sure.... but like I said before, sometimes, LOVE is just not enough!

What is love without nachos.... a real bed, and PEACE AND QUIET just ONCE in awhile!

[KHPerfectMatch 1]

If he could afford to, he could marry a younger firmer set of chacha's....

They do. And sneak it. You ain't never lied!!!!! And the ones who sneak it don't apologize when they get caught.... they act like victims because no one "understands them" and they can't figure out what the BIG DEAL is.... grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr If what he is doing is good and wholesome why does he need to HIDE IT! grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

What part of Alex are you in???? I've been hungry for my favorite fateer shop on Canal Suez in Moharam Bey...

Jillai are neighbors ... and buddies. COOL! Where do you like to shop? Eat?

I've had a bad case of non-stop Fatafeat (the Egyptian version of Food Network) just because there are a lot of American cooking shows with American food. I wouldn't eat fateer right now if I had to. See what being away a year will do???? Did you have a bad experience with it? Burned out? Never liked it? Or???? We just don't have anything like it, so that and a nice batch of Momma's ru'aah sounds heavenly to me.... and some Chicken panne on the side please..... And a cup of sahlab after an hour or so... I've never lost weight in Egypt....

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

Hey I was wondering how long it would take me while living there to become fluent in Arabic taking the immersion opportunity? I want to make a study guide for classical Arabic lessons so I can get an equivalent of two years of college at least. I think that intermediate level. Some doctors I know practicing in foreign countries learned the language of their country in 8-11 months. I need to be able to read it, write it, and speak it so I am planning to do independent study like the doctors who did it. I can't afford the language institute at the university even though I prefer classical structure of land classes. I know there is a street Arabic but it is the classical one I need to test out of or place in if I'm applying to graduate schools or working as a foreign correspondent reporting for television. Most require intermediate level of two years college. I would get access to materials through a library or online and practice it constantly while there with my husband and his family and friends I make. Then I can test out of it or at least see where I place when I go to take my GRE since they have the language institute there. I can transfer that with my GRE scores to the graduate schools I apply too. I would like to go for Georgetown University foreign service masters program for Fall of 2010 in D.C..

[KHPerfectMatch 1]

Hey I was wondering how long it would take me while living there to become fluent in Arabic taking the immersion opportunity? I want to make a study guide for classical Arabic lessons so I can get an equivalent of two years of college at least. I think that intermediate level. Some doctors I know practicing in foreign countries learned the language of their country in 8-11 months. I need to be able to read it, write it, and speak it so I am planning to do independent study like the doctors who did it. I can't afford the language institute at the university even though I prefer classical structure of land classes. I know there is a street Arabic but it is the classical one I need to test out of or place in if I'm applying to graduate schools or working as a foreign correspondent reporting for television. Most require intermediate level of two years college. I would get access to materials through a library or online and practice it constantly while there with my husband and his family and friends I make. Then I can test out of it or at least see where I place when I go to take my GRE since they have the language institute there. I can transfer that with my GRE scores to the graduate schools I apply too. I would like to go for Georgetown University foreign service masters program for Fall of 2010 in D.C..

Hesham says good luck! About 1% of the population in Egypt speak Classical Arabic... he said to hang out at Al Azhar... you MIGHT find someone there that speaks it, but one problem, they don't talk to women! tehehehehehehehehehe.... Oh that is unless you have a religious question... then they will speak Classical Arabic to you.

You would do much better studying and learning Fous'ha (Classical Arabic) in Saudia or the Gulf...their arabic is much closer to the Fous'ha. Egypt has it's very OWN arabic and Fous'ha isn't very popular there except in religious study.

I know I had a really hard time making myself understood when I first went there because I didn't know Egyptian dialect... they couldn't figure out just what I was saying or where I came from (likely American or European woman speaking a mix of Fertile Crescent (Shami) and Gulf/Bedouin/KSA arabic... with an foreign accent...)

I have never learned to read or write, no patience for it... but the BEST teachers are children... ones that don't speak English... I learned much of what I know from 5 year olds... :-) They are VERY persistent teachers...

[Nothing1234 2]

Hey I was wondering how long it would take me while living there to become fluent in Arabic taking the immersion opportunity? I want to make a study guide for classical Arabic lessons so I can get an equivalent of two years of college at least. I think that intermediate level. Some doctors I know practicing in foreign countries learned the language of their country in 8-11 months. I need to be able to read it, write it, and speak it so I am planning to do independent study like the doctors who did it. I can't afford the language institute at the university even though I prefer classical structure of land classes. I know there is a street Arabic but it is the classical one I need to test out of or place in if I'm applying to graduate schools or working as a foreign correspondent reporting for television. Most require intermediate level of two years college. I would get access to materials through a library or online and practice it constantly while there with my husband and his family and friends I make. Then I can test out of it or at least see where I place when I go to take my GRE since they have the language institute there. I can transfer that with my GRE scores to the graduate schools I apply too. I would like to go for Georgetown University foreign service masters program for Fall of 2010 in D.C..

Hesham says good luck! About 1% of the population in Egypt speak Classical Arabic... he said to hang out at Al Azhar... you MIGHT find someone there that speaks it, but one problem, they don't talk to women! tehehehehehehehehehe.... Oh that is unless you have a religious question... then they will speak Classical Arabic to you.

You would do much better studying and learning Fous'ha (Classical Arabic) in Saudia or the Gulf...their arabic is much closer to the Fous'ha. Egypt has it's very OWN arabic and Fous'ha isn't very popular there except in religious study.

I know I had a really hard time making myself understood when I first went there because I didn't know Egyptian dialect... they couldn't figure out just what I was saying or where I came from (likely American or European woman speaking a mix of Fertile Crescent (Shami) and Gulf/Bedouin/KSA arabic... with an foreign accent...)

I have never learned to read or write, no patience for it... but the BEST teachers are children... ones that don't speak English... I learned much of what I know from 5 year olds... :-) They are VERY persistent teachers...

Besides Egyptian Arabic is the most widely understood of all dialects Olivia. But reading and writing you should have no issues with at all. Go for it...but I would still try to learn the Egyptian Arabic if I were you. Your hubby and his friends can help you practice as you said.

Also as stated... children ARE the BEST teachers!! That is how I learned Gulf Arabic From my cousins and their friends mostly the youngest ones!

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

Ok then. I could get the exposure in Egyptian Arabic and studying to test out of French. There are loads of countries to serve in that speak french and I've already had two years of it in High School. I may be able to do it that way and then make Islamic and Arabic studies as part of my masters curriculum at Georgetown already having some exposure.

Edited March 23, 2009 by Far2Long

[Ihavequestions 419]

COOL! Where do you like to shop? Eat?

This might sound strange, but I really like to shop in my own little neighborhood. There's everything I need/want here. Everything.

We don't eat out much and cook at home, instead. Although if I knew where to find kosharee by myself that would change.

See what being away a year will do???? Did you have a bad experience with it? Burned out? Never liked it? Or???? We just don't have anything like it, so that and a nice batch of Momma's ru'aah sounds heavenly to me.... and some Chicken panne on the side please..... And a cup of sahlab after an hour or so... I've never lost weight in Egypt....

Oh, I've lost weight.

I like the food well enough, I'm just tired of the lack of choices. Has anyone ever seen an Egyptian cook book that was more than two pages of recipes? It's the same things, over and over and over.

One thing I do believe Egypt has going on is what they've managed to do with Nescafe. Who would have thought to whip it and serve it with a froth? That stuff is YUMMIE.

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

Two pages really? No wonder I never found any Egyptian Cookbooks. lolz! Waleed's Mom is excited to teach me how to cook his favorite dishes because a mans got to eat when supporting his wife.

[Nothing1234 2]

Two pages really? No wonder I never found any Egyptian Cookbooks. lolz! Waleed's Mom is excited to teach me how to cook his favorite dishes because a mans got to eat when supporting his wife.

There is a famous Egyptian chef on tv...I watch him all the time He makes the best foods!! A lot of their foods I have found are combinations/variations of gulf food I have grown up eating/making. Here is his website: http://www.chefosama.com/homeEn.asp He started with Ramadan recipes and now has a daily show on Dubai TV...I call him my MIL's boyfriend Everytime he's on tv, she leaves us to watch him.

[KHPerfectMatch 1]

Two pages really? No wonder I never found any Egyptian Cookbooks. lolz! Waleed's Mom is excited to teach me how to cook his favorite dishes because a mans got to eat when supporting his wife.

There is a famous Egyptian chef on tv...I watch him all the time He makes the best foods!! A lot of their foods I have found are combinations/variations of gulf food I have grown up eating/making. Here is his website: http://www.chefosama.com/homeEn.asp He started with Ramadan recipes and now has a daily show on Dubai TV...I call him my MIL's boyfriend Everytime he's on tv, she leaves us to watch him.

OMG I had totally forgotten about Osama Bin Cookin'!!!!!! I watched him all the time!!!! Thanks for the link to his web site!

I have 2-3 Egyptian cookbooks that are each 50-100 pages long. Of course it's potatoes with onions and tomatoes, green beans with onions and tomatoes, okra with onions and tomatoes, and peas with onions and tomatoes, eggplant with onions and tomatoes, and every other ingredient with onions and tomatoes... OVER RICE.... But lots of pages!!!!

I do find standard Egyptian cuisine the most boring, heavy, starchy, greasy of all the arab world... but some how I'm at a phase in my life where if anyone else cooks something, I like it... because I did NOT cook it! And I'm really lucky to have several really awesome MIL's (current and ex) who are really fantastic cooks and spoil me rotten...

Now I could really go for some falafel... and that chicken that is cooked in the fire place while being smashed by a brick.. "frek Mashwia" GOOD STUFF MAYNARD!

[KHPerfectMatch 1]

COOL! Where do you like to shop? Eat?

This might sound strange, but I really like to shop in my own little neighborhood. There's everything I need/want here. Everything.

I remember a Metro market near Sidi Bish, but I have never gone shopping there. Many times I've stayed in Miami down the street behind Roger Sheik (Radio Shack)... I understand that there's good shopping on that street near the Corniche... I can't remember what the name is...and that it's a REALLY HOPIN' place in summer... but when living in Miami I usually went over to Fatalla across from Montazah. I really like to shop in Ibrahemia near my MIL's house... Mena Mall, etc. and a trip to Mahata Al Rahmal and on to Manchea should be a weekly trip...

We don't eat out much and cook at home, instead. Although if I knew where to find kosharee by myself that would change.

Kosharee isn't all that easy to stumble across in Alex... I've only had it once from a street vendor near Bahari and I wasn't all that impressed... (except that it saved me from eating MORE MEAT!!!) Usually when we go to Bahari Hesham sneaks me weird stuff in sandwiches... last time he got me to eat TONGUE!!!! (I admit it was good...but if I had known for a second what it was!!!! ) I think it must be a Cairo thing... Just give me a big dish of the onions!!!

Oh, I've lost weight.

I like the food well enough, I'm just tired of the lack of choices. Has anyone ever seen an Egyptian cook book that was more than two pages of recipes? It's the same things, over and over and over.

One thing I do believe Egypt has going on is what they've managed to do with Nescafe. Who would have thought to whip it and serve it with a froth? That stuff is YUMMIE.

You are right about the lack of choices... especially with my husband the biggest meat eater on the planet!!! But I must have missed the creative Nescafe places... had it many times, but never thought it was all that exciting...

[Kenza 1]

I bet you all would die for some Moroccan cuisine right now?

[KHPerfectMatch 1]

I bet you all would die for some Moroccan cuisine right now?

No thanks, I find most North African food (Morocco, Tunis, Algeria) just down right strange... I'll pass... not sure if it's their spice choices, or the couscous... just doesn't appeal to me. Don't they mix fruit and meat in stews too? Not my cup of chai..

[Kenza 1]

Really? wow! I never met someone that didn't like something out of Moroccan cuisine. Never heard of the fruit mixing...What international cuisine do you prefer most?

[Sandrila 1]

Well I love Moroccan cuisine....and what you posted is just what I need!