MENA Men Being "Men"

[Amber & Ahmed 133]

Just thought I should add my two cents worth. My husband is here with me and next week will be our two year anniversary and i couldnt be happier. My MENA man is a well rounded man who loves my kids and my animals. He is what I need in my man and that means from doing the kitchen or cutting the grass...he tries to take care of everything he can. He stands his ground if I want to vent and is a teddy bear when I need that too. He likes to plant trees or wash and fold the clothes. I hope all of you are happy the way your MENA man is no matter which group he falls into. It should only matter that he is the MAN you want him to be and who you feel in love with. MANY BLESSINGS AND MUCH LOVE FOR ALL YOUR HOPES AND DREAMS.....EVERYTHING WORTH HAVING IS WORTH WORKING FOR AND THAT GOES BOTH WAYS.

Life here can be a hard or easy transition depending on the couple for those of you who havent had that journey yet...patience you learned during the process will come in handy later. Again each couple will handle this different.

Another awesome post... WELL SAID, WELL SAID!!!

I noticed them the first time. I have an eye for that kinda stuff- Baltimore is a major craphole and I was looking for similarities. And anyone else on here from Baltimore who wants to get on my case for saying Baltimore is a craphole can go walk down North Ave between Gay and Broadway. What's that? No takers? I thought so.

I love this post. We are the same. What matters is that we are both happy.

Thank you, and you are sooooo RIGHT, what matters over everything else... WE ARE HAPPY!!!

[Lisamarie 79]

I love to see people that are happy in their lives and know they made the right decision.

This is a great post

Just thought I should add my two cents worth. My husband is here with me and next week will be our two year anniversary and i couldnt be happier. My MENA man is a well rounded man who loves my kids and my animals. He is what I need in my man and that means from doing the kitchen or cutting the grass...he tries to take care of everything he can. He stands his ground if I want to vent and is a teddy bear when I need that too. He likes to plant trees or wash and fold the clothes. I hope all of you are happy the way your MENA man is no matter which group he falls into. It should only matter that he is the MAN you want him to be and who you feel in love with. MANY BLESSINGS AND MUCH LOVE FOR ALL YOUR HOPES AND DREAMS.....EVERYTHING WORTH HAVING IS WORTH WORKING FOR AND THAT GOES BOTH WAYS.

Life here can be a hard or easy transition depending on the couple for those of you who havent had that journey yet...patience you learned during the process will come in handy later. Again each couple will handle this different.

[Anna and Ali 13]

And, at the risk of being screamed at or accused of being angry & bitter, how many of the above posters have your manly men actually living with you? (Betsy - I'm aware yours is. Not sure of the others.)

we've lived together for six months. i was also refreshed when i finally met his family while he moved back home to wait for the visa that he is EXACTLY the same person at home that he is with me. I never expected that.

[Anna and Ali 13]

I absolutely agree with some of the posters who are saying that we shouldn't assume that there aren't men here in america who fit this profile and would be might desirable.

However, I also have to say that even back to my teen years, I didn't know I had a type, but I had imagined what a husband would be like, and I kept it to myself to not show my extremely women-are-empowered family that I had some ideals for being less than in charge.

I don't have rose-colored glasses on by far. We fight, I annoy him, he annoys me. We all do things that bug each other and we make mistakes. the most important thing is that that is not the dominant feature of our relationship.

I love the manly, take care of business, i'll fix that, i'll carry that guy that he is. Not that you have to go abroad for that, but thta's just how it worked out. I will also add, he surprised me when we first started dating, I woke up from a nap to see him with a needle and thread sewing his jacket lining. I said, "you know how to sew?" and he said, "um, of course I do, my grandfather taught me when I was little."

pure class. lol.

let's keep it light-hearted and not judgmental gals. this is a community, not a war-zone!

[Amber & Ahmed 133]

I absolutely agree with some of the posters who are saying that we shouldn't assume that there aren't men here in america who fit this profile and would be might desirable.

However, I also have to say that even back to my teen years, I didn't know I had a type, but I had imagined what a husband would be like, and I kept it to myself to not show my extremely women-are-empowered family that I had some ideals for being less than in charge.

I don't have rose-colored glasses on by far. We fight, I annoy him, he annoys me. We all do things that bug each other and we make mistakes. the most important thing is that that is not the dominant feature of our relationship.

I love the manly, take care of business, i'll fix that, i'll carry that guy that he is. Not that you have to go abroad for that, but thta's just how it worked out. I will also add, he surprised me when we first started dating, I woke up from a nap to see him with a needle and thread sewing his jacket lining. I said, "you know how to sew?" and he said, "um, of course I do, my grandfather taught me when I was little."

pure class. lol.

let's keep it light-hearted and not judgmental gals. this is a community, not a war-zone!

LIKE, LIKE, LIKE!

[Lisamarie 79]

I like too

LIKE, LIKE, LIKE!

[SMR 368]

He always makes sure he's walking on the oncoming traffic side of me when we're crossing the street, etc.

I can understand walking on the street side when walking on a sidewalk or the side of the road. But most streets are not one way. That means if he makes sure to be on the oncoming traffic side of the road when you are crossing the street, he switches which side of you he is walking on halfway across the street. Now, I'm all for chivalry and I treat my wife well, but I'm a little skeptical on this one. It's just an impractical gesture that serves no real purpose as far as I can tell. Also, due to the distraction that it causes halfway across the street, it probably increase the danger for everyone involved.

[Nasturtium 500]

It's just so ironic that there is an abundance of women in the MENA forum that go looking abroad for a spouse to find someone with more "traditional" values and an abundance of men in other forums that go looking abroad for the same reason. Where is the disconnect? I think people aren't entirely honest about what attracts them to a foreign spouse and IMO it goes back to the issue I mentioned in another thread regarding leveraging your strengths and weaknesses.

I totally think you're right. To be unpopularly honest, many (not most though) people who are seeking spouses overseas intentionally don't bring what would be the "whole package" to the table in the home culture for one reason or another (too old, too heavy, lower social class, etc). At the same time the foreign spouse (aka import aka MOH/MOB) often CAN have issues in the home base as well-- this may be a lack of funds to properly fulfill the cultural requirements for marriage or perhaps a desire for something more than is available locally, etc. Now, does this mean there is anything "wrong" with the people? No, I don't think so... but they may just not live up to complete cultural ideals. Cultural ideals are not always great though and can in my opinion weed out some really awesome people for pretty superficial reasons. In addition, there is always deviance of course and socially accepted deviance too. Also IMO, to each their own. If you want to intentionally seek a foreign spouse why should I care? My concern is with myself and since I am married, with my husband. Now, if he were to be seeking a foreign spouse right about now, I would really be up in his business about that.

As far as the disconnect, I am not sure other than there seems to be a disconnect in chronological and phenotypical selection of mates. The younger individuals who are USC are not interested in the older USCs, there can be religious issues, etc.

But whatever, who knows what I really know about it. I'm just old, fat, b!tchy, and bald. you forgot bald, Jenn. i adopted that one some time ago as well. I'm bald because as I grew to hundreds of pounds, I just lay in bed here eating and nagging, covered in crumbs, and have worn the hair off my head by scratching it with my unclipped horse-hoof toenails.

What I actually find more amusing though is how the stereotypes each group comes up with about the other are actually nearly identical in regards to appearances and age. They are also probably nearly just as true.

[sara535 15]

I'm bald because as I grew to hundreds of pounds, I just lay in bed here eating and nagging, covered in crumbs, and have worn the hair off my head by scratching it with my unclipped horse-hoof toenails.

Best. Post. In a long time.

On a side note, offering different opinions/perspectives does not a war zone make.....

[Crossed_fingers 128]

Best. Post. In a long time.

On a side note, offering different opinions/perspectives does not a war zone make.....

LOL SERIOUSLY!!!! I was going to respond, "Best. Post. Ever." but then I'm more of a newbie...

[Nasturtium 500]

On a side note, offering different opinions/perspectives does not a war zone make.....

Exactly.

[FormerlyKnownAs 17]

I can understand walking on the street side when walking on a sidewalk or the side of the road. But most streets are not one way. That means if he makes sure to be on the oncoming traffic side of the road when you are crossing the street, he switches which side of you he is walking on halfway across the street. Now, I'm all for chivalry and I treat my wife well, but I'm a little skeptical on this one. It's just an impractical gesture that serves no real purpose as far as I can tell. Also, due to the distraction that it causes halfway across the street, it probably increase the danger for everyone involved.

I know I stated yesterday that I was going to drop out of this thread, but I had to respond to this since it addresses me personally... You caught me red handed. I totally made this up.

We take a taxi almost everywhere we go in Cairo. When we do cross the street, it's usually a major street... In the middle of said major street there is a *gasp!* median. Thanks for the input, though. You certainly added a great amount of on topic value to this thread.

[msheesha 548]

Exactly.

Amen. Don't know why there can't be expression of different opinions without being accused of raining on people's parade.

[Nasturtium 500]

Re: street crossing-- Ammar does this if there is a large median we stop at, otherwise he just takes the side that comes closest to any vehicles of any direction. So I can say LRH's post didn't strike me as odd, just likely a cultural norm. I figured she meant her SO did what mine does.

[Nasturtium 500]

But then again, what do I know, I just burned my bra because it was irritating my armpit hair.

I LOLed for real when I read this.