Yallah Middle East 2.0

[AInfante-Saraireh 0]

Hey Windancer, welcome home. Yes, I know how hard it is to leave your loved one. And like me, it's hard to know when you will return, you know when, but me, money is short and don't know when I will see Faisal except after his interview date, hopefully, God willing, etc.

I wanted to go to Petra, but was way too hot the first time I was there and the second time was busy meeting family I didn't get to meet the first time, plus it was so so cold.

Mount Nebo, girl you are lucky, didn't get to that either. LOL OH well, one day...I pray.

[LebaneseMama 1]

what ? Please elaborate ... who are you angry with and why ? Noone did anything to you.

In all the time I've been on this forum Jasman has always shown the utmost respect for our forum. He's probably the only non-middle easterner that even takes time to read and post here regularly. Please don't take anything he posts as an insult or be offended until he has time to explain.

I know that at the time I saw his frowns I was also frowning thinking "I see another fight brewing." We do all need to remember that our opinion is just that - an opinion. Once we express it, if it causes a ruckus, we need to sometimes just drop it. I think JP did a wonderful job of averting a fight with her "ok, whatever you think." We all need to remember that phrase more.

Yeah your right. I just did not want any more trouble starting. I saw that all of us stayed out of iceyspots and JPs debate ... so why try to make it worse ? I understand what you are saying though.

My baby is starting english classes on monday (please dont ask why it took him till now ... because i will then scream with " I TOLD HIM ") so he wants me to start speaking with him in english more. The girls on here that speak arabic might understand how weird that is. Why speak english when we can both speak arabic 100% ?? I told him " I only get to talk to you an hour a day and I want to make sure you understand every word I say" So I'm going to start emailing him in english and send letters in english for sure.

I did say somethings in english today and I will try to say more. Anyone else find themselves in the same situation ?

[iceyspots 0]

Yeah your right. I just did not want any more trouble starting. I saw that all of us stayed out of iceyspots and JPs debate ... so why try to make it worse ? I understand what you are saying though.

Hey.. now she had one opinion on it, and I had another. I've agreed to disagree. Maybe we're both right, but I doubt either one of us is going to stop our lives and consult scholars on the topic and begin a multi-million dollar investigational research project on it. It's no big deal..

BTW - Does anyone want to make any contributions to our project to prove eachother wrong? (just playing)

[iceyspots 0]

My baby is starting english classes on monday (please dont ask why it took him till now ... because i will then scream with " I TOLD HIM ") so he wants me to start speaking with him in english more. The girls on here that speak arabic might understand how weird that is. Why speak english when we can both speak arabic 100% ?? I told him " I only get to talk to you an hour a day and I want to make sure you understand every word I say" So I'm going to start emailing him in english and send letters in english for sure.

I did say somethings in english today and I will try to say more. Anyone else find themselves in the same situation ?

Masha'allah that he is taking the time to learn English. Back in the day I knew a lebanese guy who lived in the states for 10 years, and only understand "Hello, yes, and no" And he wasn't aged either! There are certain areas here where you don't have to speak english to survive. Even signs at the airport, job search help centers, and welfare offices have foreign language translators or literature on site to facilitate transition for the states. Now if someone is using these ways to help them clairify information while learning the language, that's fine.. if someone is using them in total dependence.. it's not good

Here in Michigan, you can go to driving school (regular license and CD) in arabic, get a job speaking nothing but arabic, buy your food from an arabic store, go to arabic clothing stores, arabic restaurants, arabic law offices, arabic mortgage officers, translation services, the list goes on! I have an arabic yellow pages that is about 1/3rd the thickness of our regular yellow pages! lol.. well there is no lack of facilities here.

And yes I DO find myself in the same situation! I mailed Yacine a really good language learning package. It was really hard to find. I eventually found english courses that have instruction and explanation of everything in French (the language we speak together). He tells me that I don't speak to him in English often enough on the phone, and well, I said "Dangit, at 8 or 10 cents per minute, that's a pretty expensive English lesson!" It's really imperative that I fit everything I have to say and that he understands everything in a 53 minute conversation.

[iceyspots 0]

Okay so I was wondering one thing!

Does anyone know of any good recent arab singers that make dance music? I'm trying to compile a nice CD that I can use for summer driving

I really love the Algerian singers... Cheb Mami, Cheb Faudel, Cheb Hasni, Cheb Khaled...

And I have this song "Ya habibi" by Hakim... I really like Hakim, the Egyptian singer, does anyone know any other good dance songs he's made? I want to download some from the internet, but I dont really know which songs specifically to target as dance music.

I also have "Allah 3alik ya sidi" by Ehab Toufiq..

A couple songs I have from Amr Diab... So any suggestions are welcomed!

[cbd2cai 0]

Iceyspots,

There is a topic on dancing where song suggestions were asked for ppl to dance at a wedding . . . you might want to check that one for a start.

Dancing Shoes!

Catherine

Edited April 16, 2006 by cbarrosmostafa

[kerewin21 2]

I did say somethings in english today and I will try to say more. Anyone else find themselves in the same situation ?

Definitely we don't speak English as much as we should. It used to be that on the phone, with both of us on cell phones and using calling cards, it was hard enough to understand each other in French, let alone English. Now part of it is that I don't like it when we don't 100% understand each other, because that's important to me, but I think it's also just laziness on both of our parts. We need to start speaking more English.

Does anyone have any tips for this? Do you dedicate "English Time" or anything like that? We just keep falling back into our French rut

[honeyblonde 0]

All I can say is I really envy you guys that you speak another language. I will be taking Spanish this fall and am dreading it because I haven't used it since 1997. I took it in high school but not really enough to know much of it and besides, that was eternity ago.

I only wish I was fluent enough to speak to Abdel in another language. I was lucky that his English was already really good when we met.

For those of you wanting to help your man learn English - don't laugh - the Sesame Street website is excellent. Of course he'll probably want to wear headphones if he's at an internet cafe, but Big Bird and other characters speak on the site and it's great practice for listening to spoken English. There are even activities to do that will depend on the listener understanding what was said. Abdel also found it helpful for learning about everyday items we use here.

[MHandMB 0]

I'm afraid Amed and I are going to fall into a "french rut," too. We try to speak English here and there, but whenever we seriously have to discuss something, it's always in French. I'm hoping that will change once he is here for a while, but I have a feeling it will always be "our" language.

I reeeally want to learn Arabic, but it's sooo difficult. I love trying to learn languages, but even after hearing Amed speak to someone in Arabic almost every day for a year, I only know maybe 10 or 15 words. Has anyone else (and I'm referring to non-native speakers) been able to master Arabic? If so, do you have any tips for the rest of us?

[iceyspots 0]

Iceyspots,

There is a topic on dancing where song suggestions were asked for ppl to dance at a wedding . . . you might want to check that one for a start.

Dancing Shoes!

Catherine

Thanks! Didn't realize there was already a topic on this......

[honeyblonde 0]

If you don't mind the religious significance, Soufi music is very dancable. Abdel was playing some for me tonight and I didn't want to sit still. He found it on a link on Medi 1. It has an awesome beat to it.

[jordanianprincess 0]

If your S/O has some knowledge of english, he will pick it up in no time one he is the states. If he has no knowledge at all, it will be tough. When I went to Jordan last year, my arabic was really shaky. I could understand everything but could not put words together fast enough to speak. Within 3 days, I was speaking fluently.

Things that help, listening to english music, watching movies, reading. I know in Jordan they have an american language institute at the embassy. They may have that in other countries. My fiance is certified by the embassy in english and thats how we communicate most of the time unless i want to tell him something in arabic to make sure no one around me understands

As far as learning arabic, while i was preparing for my trip, I got a set of CD's from barnes and noble to brush up on my arabic. I did'nt use them because there was no Jordanian dialect cd, they had many other dialects. When i listened to them, they seemed like they would help alot and they were not boring. just make sure you get the right dialect!

[jordanianprincess 0]

If you don't make it to Off Topic too often..this thread is worth checking out! Some people are unbelievable...sorry you had to go through this BS Icyspots!

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=9538

[cbd2cai 0]

If you don't make it to Off Topic too often..this thread is worth checking out! Some people are unbelievable...sorry you had to go through this BS Icyspots!

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=9538

Talk about hours of "entertainment" . . . never realized how heated a topic could get! And how abusive . . . all due to a simple query for information on transferring money by icespots!

[sara535 15]

If you don't make it to Off Topic too often..this thread is worth checking out! Some people are unbelievable...sorry you had to go through this BS Icyspots!

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=9538

Talk about hours of "entertainment" . . . never realized how heated a topic could get! And how abusive . . . all due to a simple query for information on transferring money by icespots!

That thread had me sitting here laughing out loud all morning.