"Stuffwe love/hate in our MENA SO's country

[Henia 11]

Hey all!

More and more I come to find products that I hate here ... some make me laugh but still some that are great! (Still missing my good old Yankee "stuff" thou!)

Love:

Whole wheat couscous

Khoubz el dar hot and fresh from the koucha

Sweet and in season fruits

MIM sugar wax

Sweet grilled cervette "Royal"

[Henia 11]

oops posting before I was done!Here goes again:

Hey all!More and more I come to find products that I hate here ... some make me laugh but still some that are great! (Still missing my good old Yankee "stuff" thou!)

Love:

Whole wheat couscous

Khoubz el dar hot and fresh from the koucha

Sweet and in season fruits

MIM sugar wax

Sweet grilled cervette "Royal"

Harissa

Rouille

Kbouz el Tounis

Hate:

All drinks (fake chemical pumped juice or soft drinks)

Lebn

Couscous with lebn

Homemade mayo on pizza (which isn't that great in the first place)

Makrout

Zlabia

Toxic fly repelent my neighbours love to spray all over all day long (smells like gasoline)

Boulettes de sardine (sardine balls)

What the foooook:

Fair and Lovely creme

Selecto soda

Buying used beauty product bottles from France, filling them with fake ####### then selling them to the masses

Mold on packaged fruit tart

Pepsi tasting nothing like US Pepsi but cheap off brand drug store on-sale #######

The 2 cubes of sugar on the saucer of each coffee/tea you will ever be served when it's already about 1in or more sugar in the cup

Red brick cements in the black pepper and paprika (since they crush them with the bricks)

[Mandy P 3]

I guess I will have all the good and the bad to look forward to when I go to meet his family one day. He is from Boghni is that far from you?

[Amoon 0]

I love so many things in my husband's country like:

always fresh fruit & meat

climate

the people

all the awesome places to visit there

you can walk to the store

arabic tea with sage

falafel, mansaf, dawali, "cheese boats", fatayer, hummus, arabic ice cream--pretty much all the food over there

ugh...I could go all day...but I know you don't want to read forever!

Things I didn't like:

smell of fuel when riding in taxis

driving in Amman

the "toilets"

olives

how much all the drivers beep while driving over there!

[Mommy2ZaidnSalma 11]

LOVE:

Being close to my inlaws

The fact that alllll the family got together thursday-saturday

Fresh fruit

80cent cigarettes

The tourist attractions

Shawerma in amman, its nthing like it is in the states

Falafel is DIRT CHEAP

Shopping in Amman

Playing cards with my bro in laws til 4am

Seeds and Pepsi every night on the porch

HATE:

The smell of the polluted benzine filled air, i had headaches for weeks til i got use to it

The fact that arabs dont know how to form lines and the government offices are a joke

The rain in the winter

No public restrooms or TP if there was one

The water system, we only got to fill our tanks once a week and always ran out of water 2 days early

The taxi drivers are a$$holes and drive obnoxiously

That I had to leave the room every time a stranger came over

All the stray cats and dogs livingin the dumpsters

The scorpions trying to sneak in your front door

No matter where we walked it always seemed to be uphill

I guess i could go on and on but realistically we havent been back since 2006 and i miss iteveryday

[100% Al Ahly Fan 53]

Products?? Hmm....well I guess I like most products there. Although, I notice anything made in China is no good which is weird 'cause here in the U.S. we have lots of stuff from China and it's usually okay. Go figure?

What I love about my boo's city is.....

Cairo at night

Delicious food: molikhiyah, mish or honey with fateer, bamya...hmmm, my mouth is watering just thinking about it

Hurgada or Sharm

Basically a 24 hour city

The history

Music

CarreFour (next best thing to Walmart)

The Nile

What I hate.....

Cairo at noon

People begging for money (breaks my heart, especially the children, elderly or disabled)

Sand storms

Traffic

TV Soaps

All the stray animals

The noise

I, too, could go on....this is just a few things.

[Kenza 1]

Love:

lots of family

food - except khalih

shopping in the medina

ice cream!

lots of things to do/travel

couscous fridays

bakeries

Hate:

pollution

crazy drivers

homeless people and animals

trash

family drama/gossip

government and people in power

bribing

bugs!

no heater or air conditioning in houses

Edited June 5, 2009 by Kenza

[Ihavequestions 419]

Love

My big Egyptian family

The way my Egyptian friends love me

kosharee

The maid who comes and cleans once a week

Never having to iron because it's cheap to have it done outside

"Five minutes" means "sometime before 1:00 tomorrow afternoon"

Having a salon girl who comes to my flat to do my hair, nails, eyebrows so I don't have to go "outside"

Hate

The staring

Stuffed pigeon

Having to step over donkey/horse/cat $hit every time I walk out the door

The way horses and donkeys are whipped

Egyptians try so hard to be helpful and to be good hosts and they will never tell me they don't know the directions to where I want to go because if they tell me they don't know they aren't helping me and aren't being a good host

What the foooooook

Fair and Lovely - especially because Egyptian woman are so beautiful just the way God made them that they make this white girl feel totally bone ugly.

Edited June 5, 2009 by Ihavequestions

[Sandrila 1]

I love:

OLIVES

SHOPPING IN THE MEDINA

I LOVE THE SOUNDS I HEAR IN THE MORNING...THE SMELLS and THE DEEP BLUE SUNNY SKY WHEN I OPEN THE WINDOW

DRIVING AROUND

HEARING THE SOUND OF ARABIC MUSIC IN THE CAR ON THE RADIO OR IN PASSERBYS

TAMR....BIG FAT JUICY DATES

The AVACADOES there are out of this world, so big and flavorful

FISH platters you get there and they are so cheap

RIBE..not sure if I spelled this one right

OCEAN is just 10 mins from home

MOY'S homecooked meals especially COUSCOUS

CRUISING AROUND LATE LATE AT NIGHT AND GETTING CHICKEN AND FRITTES (THE BEST!)

Hate:

"THEIR" TOILETS...it's just too uncomfortable and too much work, thank god they have a western toilet now in the home

NOT BEING ABLE TO DO THINGS ALONE, NOT KNOWING MY WAY AROUND

THE AMERICAN DOLLAR ISN'T WORTH MUCH THERE AND I DON'T GET AS MUCH FOR MY DOLLAR

NOT HAVING OUR OWN CAR THERE

PEOPLE THINK CUZ I AM AMERICAN I AM RICH

LIVERS OF ANY KIND and especially when I want Herira and I get surprised with one!

WATCHING ARABIC SHOWS ON T.V., not interested and cannot understand it

(I like to see the singers and musicians though)

NOT BEING ABLE TO TAKE A NORMAL SHOWER WHERE THE WATER COMES OUT MY HEAD and HAVING TO BOIL THE WATER JUST TO TAKE A SHOWER

THERE IS NO WASHER TO CLEAN MY CLOTHES AND IF THERE IS IT IS ALWAYS NOT WORKING WHEN I AM THERE

ALWAYS FEELING SO TIRED WHEN IT IS TIME TO GET UP IN THE MORNING (Hubby says it is in the air b/c of the ocean) but it seems that I never feel so dead tired getting up, even in the afternoon as I do when I am there, almost as though I never slept. WEIRD.

Edited June 5, 2009 by Sandrila

[JeanneVictoria 55]

I love

The Egyptian family unity

Trips to Cairo

The Fortress by the sea

Koshary

Falafal

Grilled fish

Popcorn (honestly best in the world)!

The Mediterranean Sea (he is from Alexandria)

Coffee shops by the Med

The new Library (I could take up residency there)!

Olives

Red Dates

Lights and sounds of Ramadan

Funny arabic movies

Arabic music

Omar Sharif (one of Wael's uncles looks like him)!

Hanging out on the balcony talking with the neighbors

Sounds of the street vendors

Luckily we had a western bathroom and washing machine

Don't like

Trying to cross the street (I want to live another day)

Car and motorcycle horns at any hour

Interruption of cable tv

Internet interruption

SMOKING

Staring

[Krissy! 0]

Making a quick list before I get back to work.....................

Love:

Lively city life.. people walking everywhere

FOOD

Safeway (food 1st floor, clothing 2nd floor, cafe 3rd floor - SWEET!)

Kawfe/Coffee

Wow, millions of internet cafes

Seeing camels by the highway

History

Sit-down meals with the entire family sharing off a BIG plate. That's so cool.

Did not like:

Stomach bug from the FOOD..

Lack of TP

Being unsure how to "flush" the toilet

Plumbing system

Being unsure how to use their toilet... was forced to as I had to pee badly!

(Can you tell I take toilets seriously?)

The smell of the air from gasoline / smoking

The driving laws... some are so kooky -- (if you fall on a parked car, it's the car owner's fault! Something like that)

[caybee 21]

Products?? Hmm....well I guess I like most products there. Although, I notice anything made in China is no good which is weird 'cause here in the U.S. we have lots of stuff from China and it's usually okay. Go figure?

Don't know how accurate this is, but my husband told me very cheap products made locally in Morocco for consumption by Moroccans are often labeled "Made in China" so people will think the quality is better than the locally-made stuff.

[KHPerfectMatch 1]

LOVE:

• My Family
• Fridays with my (ex) Sister-In-Laws and (ex) Mother-In-Law...
• Tameya/Falafel at Mohammed Ahmed's or Gad
• Quorba at night
• Baladi Bread fresh in the morning (unless they cooled it on the sidewalk!)
• The Haris available anytime to run an errand for me or pick up something from the store
• Mamora
• Gold Shopping in Mansoura
• Stawberries in January
• Sahlab in the coffee shop on a cold winter night
• Hot Peanuts covered with coarse salt
• The ancient lady with the donkey cart who delivers vegetables to the houses on my MIL's block
• Azza's Kufta
• Momma's Chicken Panne
• A day at the Salon.... (THREADING!!!)
• Getting my clothes altered for almost nothing!
• The MAID!
• Physical Therapy any time from 10 am to 10 pm without an appointment... 2 hours of treatments for $5.00 (including a tip equal to the therapists daily salary!)
• Generosity of even the poorest souls
• Laughter and Joking
• the Pharmacy!
• Mango Juice!
• Bab Zuela
• Kan Khalili
• Henna!
• Food Court: Carrefour/San Stephano
• Metro Market

HATE:

99.9% of bathrooms in EgyptShowers that barely trickle and are in the middle of the tub instead of the end...(what's with that!) Shower curtains with mold, No shower curtains at all... Cotton MattressesNo dishwashersGas Ovens with doors that don't completely close, no controls.. no thermostatThe Haris knowing all your business Crossing the street and jumping up the 18" curbsThe way they driveNOISEPOLLUTIONGetting ripped off because they know I'm a foreignerBeing asked if I'm Muslim after I pray in the masjid!HEAT/HUMIDITYSTAIRS into every buildingPower Outages (when you live on the 14th floor..)Scary Elevators Trying to take all your shopping bags out of the trunk while everyone honks at you to HURRY and get out of the road!Sidewalks that are more dangerous to walk on than the streetMistreated Animals, hungry animals, children torturing animals, poor children, beggars mutilated to earn more $$ for their "bosses"POVERTYMosquitosThe smell of death on the EidFattaMolokiahKirshaEvery miserable chair in Egypt... (my back hurts thinking about them!) Leaning over the edge of a cheaply built balcony wall (probably with zero rebar!) on the 9th floor to hang out my Bertha Britches for the construction workers plastering the building across the street to see... (I should have washed some towels to hide them!)Losing my socks when they blow off the line... (use a hanger in the closet...) Drivers who ignore ambulence sirens... The cost of living (for people who live on Egyptian LE)The look of exhaustion on the faces of people trying to survive in very tough timesAmerican Fast Food joints next to the PyramidsTrying to find a parking space after 3:00 pm less than 2 miles from your flat Tipping 25 times a day

[childress_london 3]

Love

My big Egyptian family

The way my Egyptian friends love me

kosharee

The maid who comes and cleans once a week

Never having to iron because it's cheap to have it done outside

"Five minutes" means "sometime before 1:00 tomorrow afternoon"

Having a salon girl who comes to my flat to do my hair, nails, eyebrows so I don't have to go "outside"

Hate

The staring

Stuffed pigeon

Having to step over donkey/horse/cat $hit every time I walk out the door

The way horses and donkeys are whipped

Egyptians try so hard to be helpful and to be good hosts and they will never tell me they don't know the directions to where I want to go because if they tell me they don't know they aren't helping me and aren't being a good host

What the foooooook

Fair and Lovely - especially because Egyptian woman are so beautiful just the way God made them that they make this white girl feel totally bone ugly.

That's how I feel about the Persian women! LOL

[Henna Rose 0]

Love

Fair and Lovely - especially because Egyptian woman are so beautiful just the way God made them that they make this white girl feel totally bone ugly.

That's how I feel about the Persian women! LOL

Ironically , they feel the same about us. You know how a blonde women in MENA always draws so much attention? I was always being told they loved my hair and wish they had my color. They would touch it, scrutinize it, then start talking in Arabic...lol ! Back in the USA, I am just another blonde