What thing about ur SO's country surprized u the most???

[Sandrila 1]

Ahh it's all coming back to me now...FREE STUFF

He cannot even fathom the amount of times we have gotten freebies for this and that.

Whether it is free coffee and doughnuts at our local grocer on Sunday mornings

to healthy kids day fest with all kinds of lunch, samples, pens paper, face painting,helmet FREE

Free? What is that and no one in Morocco is giving you something for free. NOTHING!

Buy one get one.... FREE

Wawa and MacDonalds all have the ketchups and salt and pepper and mayo and whatever

I mean that is like a homeless person's delight. Come in and take what you want, no one will stop you.

LOL...we do live a priviledged life

even if we are poor here, we can still live good

be born poor there and well you are pretty much screwed

Annie I do have to remind my hubby time and time again THIS IS NOT MOROCCO!

I mean taking the car and driving all about here and there till the sun comes up. Cops will find it a little suspicious if you are driving with the radio blaring at 2 or 3 am on a weeknight...oh alcohol on the breath....LICENSE SUSPENSION

He still stays up all night till the birds chirp and I guess his job allows him to sleep most of the day too, like home

but yeah he wants to "Party all night long" and by 11 I am like "goodnight". Partying is saved for the weekends in the real grown up working world honey.

Edited June 10, 2009 by Sandrila

[Sandrila 1]

lastly...that huggy kissy thingy with friends..especially anyone of the male gender

NO WAY JOSE it ain't flying and you better remind them BEFORE I get there not to approach you that way

[Sandrila 1]

Awww Tasha I know its got to be so hard and I swear I wish there was some magic pill that could take the fear away from him so he could feel more comfortable here and not have such a negative feeling about being here. It's so hard for everyone and I'm sure there are tons of others out there that experience the same things, some just don't talk about it. It is not easy coming here for the first time and I can't imagine the strain on him with other children so far away too. It's a confusing time for all I'm sure. You guys are in my prayers

Thanks Annie!

I will add for him it was the winter here. He was not prepared for how cold and how much Ohio weather changes.

Like others, pumping the gas, driving, getting around on his own.

How we have to work for what we want not get it spoiledly handed on a silver platter.

He wasn't prepared for his wife to have to take care of him for this long. This has been an ego buster.

Having to take any job to have a job.

How involved we feel that father's should be with their children. In the past he had never changed a diaper.

That late at night on Cinemax there is porn!

How Ramadan didn't feel like Ramadan it was just another month. He said he didn't feel the spirit of it this past year.

How he feels that the authorities here do not let us discipline our children well enough.

What kind of jobs attract the lazy kind of workers.

He does like the peacefulness and cleanliness of our country

Honestly I could go on and on and on.

For me:

I thought that Egypt was filthy! Trash and dust everywhere.

The noise, the driving was annoying.

How the kids and people are up all hours of the night. 2am swimming in the sea.

I miss the call to prayer.

I do not miss everybody wanting to see the "American". Once it was like a freak show at my MIL's home. It made my husband very upset.

I do not miss how some think that they are owed something or deserve it. This is in both countries of course but I saw quite a bit of it while I was there.

I was also suprised about how the looters were and the tour guides at the pyramids. They were money hungry.

The people sleeping in the streets in Alex.

I miss the smell of Shisha and the relaxed feel that EG had.

Amazement and wonderment of how so many people are sitting around in these coffee shops and wondering how they earned a living.

The amount of cats all over the trash cans and the smell of their pee.

The bargaining for everything really got on my nerve.

I am not a city girl so the crowds were a little intimidating to me. I could deal with it though.

Like I said for my husband there are many many more but I don't want to write a book!

I did like the ????

I am dying to fill in this blank

Edited June 10, 2009 by Sandrila

[Henia 11]

Didn't read all the replies but for me most surprising was ...

The stupidity/stubbornnes/laziness of people here.

The amount of trash outside, ironic when you see how much work they put into their gaudy homes.

Cows and sheep eating trash in the middle of major cities.

How much importance is put into celebration

And the amount of time and money women spent on their dress up routine

How much money is spent on weddings yet after the wedding music stops the bride has several dresses but no washing machine, indoor plumbing (really what many would consider normal living)

How much food is made during Ramadan, even for people who starve during other times in the year.

How women use the excuse "cos it's haraam" for everything their husbands won't let them do LOL!

How men sit in cafes all day rather be home

People except something from doing nothing

Everyone here wants to profit off of you

And on and on ...

[Beauty for Ashes 257]

Didn't read all the replies but for me most surprising was ...

The stupidity/stubbornnes/laziness of people here.

The amount of trash outside, ironic when you see how much work they put into their gaudy homes.

Cows and sheep eating trash in the middle of major cities.

How much importance is put into celebration

And the amount of time and money women spent on their dress up routine

How much money is spent on weddings yet after the wedding music stops the bride has several dresses but no washing machine, indoor plumbing (really what many would consider normal living)

How much food is made during Ramadan, even for people who starve during other times in the year.

How women use the excuse "cos it's haraam" for everything their husbands won't let them do LOL!

How men sit in cafes all day rather be home

People except something from doing nothing

Everyone here wants to profit off of you

And on and on ...

Henia remember you actually LIVE there....heheheheh

Its a hell of alot different for wives who actually live in the countries and see the inside stuff

Ok I will add

Hypocrisy... Oh our culture is so much more moral... when every weekend scores of married men pile into cabarets on the outskirts of town in the major cities to get wasted, smoke pot ( zatla) and sleep with prostitutes from small villiages... Yes virginia, prostitution is alive and well in the magreb and then we get a lecture about how immoral the west is. Give me a break.

2. Absolutely no control over domestic violence...tolerated and accepted by families with very very little recourse for the men

3.No compliance whatsover with the hague convention meaning that scores of children are kept in country...by their non custodial fathers because there is no compliance with international law there and children cannot leave the countries with out their dads permission

http://moroccoboard.com/viewpoint/41-driss-tamsamani/432-abused-stripped-of-her-children-and-denied-entry-to-the-us

[Henia 11]

Yes, I agree with all your points Kat ... and true living in a place you will see sides never shown on "visits" LOL!

How are you BTW?

[Henia 11]

Sandrila and others who said living in US is priveliged ... better life LOL! Well all the time I lived there, ye sure I had alot of nice things BUT I had WORK real damn hard for every single one. Here NA people live REAL DAMN good while begging in the streets, sipping coffee in cafes doing abos 0% work in their whole life ... while others do work ... LOL working in the banana/drug maffia LOL driving Beamers (if you call that work) so ye, I guess really depends on how you look it ... For me, I cannot complain. My life is great here! Well I am not a drug lord or moucher (sp) but life's gooood! =)

And BTW yes I do realise more opps in the US, etc etc but don't anyone say ppl in MENA donnot live well!

[Jenn! 918]

What surprised me most?

Hmmm, I'd have to say the abundance of viagra commercials.

[Mommy2ZaidnSalma 11]

Surprised me...

Stray Cats, Wild Dogs, Lack of toilet paper and tampons, No public restrooms, Driving on the Eway, No one uses ice, the mosquitos, The fact that women run away to hide when a man comes over, how long women breastfeed their children, the smell of the water, the lack of money, each kid had 2 good outfits and 2 play outfits and that was about it, and soo much more

Surprised him....

How hard it was to find a job, how many monthly bills we have, accepting the fact that i make 3 times as much as him and i sit at a desk and he busts his a$$,

I would say most of the things that surprised him were related to work. He was very prepared when he came here surprisingly, we have hardly had any bumps in the road in 4 years

[ridasgirl 1]

What surprised me most?

Hmmm, I'd have to say the abundance of viagra commercials.

Oh my goodness....I missed that...maybe I need to watch more television...LOL

Surprised me...

Stray Cats, Wild Dogs, Lack of toilet paper and tampons, No public restrooms, Driving on the Eway, No one uses ice, the mosquitos, The fact that women run away to hide when a man comes over, how long women breastfeed their children, the smell of the water, the lack of money, each kid had 2 good outfits and 2 play outfits and that was about it, and soo much more

Surprised him....

How hard it was to find a job, how many monthly bills we have, accepting the fact that i make 3 times as much as him and i sit at a desk and he busts his a$$,

I would say most of the things that surprised him were related to work. He was very prepared when he came here surprisingly, we have hardly had any bumps in the road in 4 years

MASHALLAH!!!

[JeanneVictoria 55]

I was surprised that using your headlights at night is "optional"!!!!!!!!!!!! I was out of my

freakin' mind everytime I stepped foot into a taxi. Other than that I kinda knew what to

expect.

I tried briefing Wael about the states, so when he arrived it wasn't very much of a cultural

shock. But I must say he was still surprised about the "organization" of our driving. When he

called home, he went on and on about the driving and the cleanliness of America.

But my fondest memory of him is experiencing his first buffet! It was a shock that what I

actually told him was true....he could go back as much as he wanted!! He said Egypt would be

broke by the next day if they had buffets!!

[KHPerfectMatch 1]

I was surprised that using your headlights at night is "optional"!!!!!!!!!!!! I was out of my

freakin' mind everytime I stepped foot into a taxi. Other than that I kinda knew what to

expect.

I tried briefing Wael about the states, so when he arrived it wasn't very much of a cultural

shock. But I must say he was still surprised about the "organization" of our driving. When he

called home, he went on and on about the driving and the cleanliness of America.

But my fondest memory of him is experiencing his first buffet! It was a shock that what I

actually told him was true....he could go back as much as he wanted!! He said Egypt would be

broke by the next day if they had buffets!!

Ditto on the First Point.... The headlights being turned off still freaks me out and always will... I've gotten used to the taxi's but much prefer to ride with my husband driving and NOT my Canadian girlfriend who tries to follow Western driving habits IN EGYPT... and nearly gets us killed stopping at lights, etc.

Ditto on the buffet observation... my husband said exactly the same thing...

The other thing that I wasn't prepared for when I first started going to Egypt was the CONSTANT tipping... and how people "take charge" or things and expect to be paid for it... Paying the man who just took up "shop" in the grocery story parking lot and puts objects behind your car or wheels that has to be moved before you can back up to make sure you pay him for moving the objects he PUT THERE before you leave... And the man who "owns" the entire block and must be paid if you park on it (he'll rub the dust around on your car and scratch the paint too if you pay him extra... The lady who handed me a skirt to put on over my slacks in the masjid when I went in to pray needed to be paid... I soon realized that when there is no hope of finding a job you get creative and no one seems to get too upset about the constant "redistribution" of wealth... And of course here my husband always wants to tip the guy who pumps our gas, etc. etc.

And finally not being able to find a private place to make Wudu in masjids. I stood outside in the courtyard of Imam Shafi's Masjid (where he is buried) trying to make wudu while about 15 people stood watching me... Then they are traipsed inside to watch me pray! Only later did my driver tell me that they almost NEVER see an American woman coming to visit his tomb and pray in the masjid.. And he finally had to shoo them away from me because they kept asking me for donations for everything under the sun.... And then of course they felt a little bad and invited me to come for tea... (which I decided was not a good idea)...

[Ihavequestions 419]

My most suprised was when I saw a little tiny pick-up truck driving down the road and sitting next to the driver, in the passenger seat, was a goat.

My next most suprised was when I saw a microbus driver with a cigarette in one hand and a cup of tea in the other - and the bus was moving.

I was really suprised that I could work here and, even though there's a government official in my office all the time for one thing or another, nobody cares about whether I have a work visa.

[MouadsWife 161]

I think was amazed me most was the poverty. Ppl living in shacks, made of pieces of wood brought together, and it seemed they would scourage the trash for any useful object, whether it is food, clothing, something to cover the roof of their shack with.. anything. I thought I had seen poor in america, but it was nothing compaired that that there.

What also shocked me was the crippled in the streets. And I dont mean that as a disrespectful term. I seen a man and his legs were not functional, and he was pulling him self along the street with his arms. I seen a man sleeing in the road, his feet where the worst I ever imagine seeing, caloused, and swollen, and dirty.

We would take buses to travel to neighboring cities and once our tickets were bought, and ppl on the bus, children would come onto the bus selling things, trinkets, food... like a mini flea market. One time there was a little girl about 8 come on the bus, maybe she was older.. and she was selling chewing gum I think. I did not see her with any adults, and males for protection, and you know what her future will be.

Those were the most amazing things that stuck in my mind. But the most facinating was seeing a driver of a moped, going down the road, with a child in his map, a mother riding on the back, carrying an infant. That was something else.

But what I miss the most is hearing the azan 5 times a day. I love listening to it. I never wanted to move when I heard it, I just wanted to stand there and take it all in. Its so peaceful.

[caybee 21]

My husband was surprised at the cost of things here, especially the fresh vegetables. The cost of a haircut also surprised him, although I don't think he's actually ever paid for one here; the surprise came when he went with a friend who got one. I got him an electric trimmer before he arrived. We trimmed his hair together in the beginning, and now he does it by himself, just asking me to check the back from time to time. I know he misses the hammam and the opportunity to remove an entire layer of skin at one time, but he knew he was giving that up, so that wasn't a surprise. He has tried to haggle in places where you just can't do that, so instead, he's learned how to sniff out a good clearance sale. He traded in his cologne marinade for antiperspirant and a light body spray early on. All in all, he's never acted very surprised by much, although I'm sure he just never let on about a few things. He seems to prefer the bureaucracy here to there. He picks up slang and makes friends pretty easily, just basically rolls with whatever happens and adapts, makes it look easy. As much as I love Morocco, I wouldn't adapt nearly as easily if I moved there as he has seemed to here.