Good morning Mena,

I needed a safe place to vent!! Ok, background....

I was told by another VJ member (love you girl!) about the amazing MagicJack It cost me 50.00 to buy the device, pay for one year of service and have it rush-delivered to my door.

You plug this little thing into the USB port on your computer and it is used to make free and unlimited calls to anywhere in the USA and Canada. Now, the good part. When you plug it in and set it up, it is assigned a local telephone number (local as in your area). You then can carry this thing with you anywhere to use to make long distance calls, even if you are traveling internationaly

Soooo, I sent this to my husband through the US postal service. It arrived in Egypt on Thursaday and Friday he got a letter from Customs telling him to bring several forms of ID and come to Cairo to get the package from Customs. He lives in Alexandria

He had to rent a car, bring a friend (he doesn't drive), pay for gas and meals, and pay for parking at the Cairo airport.

He went in to the customs office and of course, they told him that it looked like it could be illegal and they would need to contact the department of communications to make sure it was allowed, unless......can anyone guess

Soooo, he forked out the 200 LE to pay for them to sort through my package of personal pictures, hand written cards, and assorted personal items. He paid 50 LE for the unless....and left with the package.

This crap is so frustrating

It is hard enough to love from a distance, ask permission to be with your SO, wait months if not years to be with them. You have crashing internet, crapy reception on cell phones, inconsistent and unreliable shipping services, and now....you can add Customs to that list

Whew....thanks MENA, needed to get that one off my chest

Sometimes you just have to vent. I know the feeling.

Venting is part of the wait....VENT away girl! BTW---Customs and the Post Office in Egypt...all of them are thieves there! GRRR!!

Customs! I'll help ya smash things if ya like!

Your MEDS are working girl! LOL

This idea has potential.....I like the way you think

Suggestions???

WE can all go and smash things....they always charge though Linda....typically they call it "taxes" LOL Thieves!!!

we are used to paying to have things delivered, but to keep them from calling some official department?!?!? can you just picture the guy sitting in the back room rubbing his hands together and laughing evily at the potential for pocket padding

You just made me laugh out loud! LOL Because isn't that most of Egypt when they see us coming? LOL

BTW---Has he used the MajicJack yet? How does it work?

He called me as soon as he got home, and the best part....I can call him on it too

It has that local number assigned to it so if it is hooked to the computer, the phone is plugged into it (yes you use a regualar phone, not head phones and mics) and the internet is on, I can call him on the local number and the phone there rings. Did I mention it also comes with free voice mail

The reception is good if the connection is good. Like everthing else when trying to communicate there. I have been talking to him off and on all day and it is already earning the money we spent on it.

Awesome!!

We rarely rely on the postal system in Morocco to send things to my husband's family. We have several friends in the area however and between all of us there are several trips to Morocco made yearly. So if we need to get something there we do it with someone and not through the postal service - saves everyone time, money and hassle!

Rashwah ( رشوه ) sucks!

please translate

Bribery.

good to vent!!! But didn't you know that Egypt is a SPECIAL country ... You can't do anything without their permission...

Nita

Haha!

aahhhhhh.... now there is an Egyptian word I can use often

The whole postal system in Egypt sucks. The letters I sent to my husband while he was still in Cairo would arrive unopened, but any package I sent was opened by customs and each time he would also have to pay to receive the package. It got to the point where he finally told me not to send him packages because it was costing him so much to receive them.

OK, I feel much better to hear everyone agree with me.....

Let me try this, a list of what does NOT suck about Egypt...

I will go first,

1. The beaches in Marsah Matroh

(and my gorgeous husband)

Only time he didn't get charged was when I sent thru DHL....which cost me an arm and a leg! Better to send w/ people that are going to visit...but now airlines are charging for extra bags...You can NOT win!

Awww Sweet!

Family
Friends
Food
Alexandria
Sharm
Oh heck...most of the beaches!!!
and so many of the amazing people!

ok, you are fun and thanks for all your time today.... and I agree, the food the friends and so many good people to outweigh the bad...

One more weekend closer, tonight I feel like we can make it again.

I was so upset with the mail system in Egypt! I sent so many cards to him and he never got them. I had also sent him one time a ultrasound picture of Amir and he never received it ! We was so upset and his first father's day card! Thank Allah we dont have to do that anymore !!

loosing the ultrasound picture would have killed me I am happy you don't have to do that anymore too...

Inshaa alah, I won't have to do it much longer

Inshallah

AWWWWWWW, that SUCKS! I wonder what they do with the mail they get and never send? File 6?????

Cairo's filing system for everything.....

Ok, maybe they just throw it out the window? Just joking, but there is a lot of trash in Egypt!

Extremely so.

I feel your pain in many ways. I think the majority of customs workers are just looking to get greased a little. In other words ($$$$) .
The frustration is that you can not do anything but pay up.
In reference to communicating long distance my fiancee and I use video calling through MSN. In addition there is a free program called Skype. You can download it for free from the internet. You can make 'calls' from computer to computer which includes video. You'll have to get a cam and headset with microphone if you do not have one. That is basically our saviour. There are times when it is a tad slow but all in all it works very good.

Just a suggestion for those who were not aware.

You can also use skype to call a phone internationally, same price as an average phone card. I find that the call quality is really good to Egypt and the connection never gets dropped unless he goes somewhere he doesn't have signal. (my hubby doesn't have internet at home, has to go to a friends to get a really slow connection so we don't talk on the internet much)