As was so wisely mentioned by T4E, it's high time we have a thread of reminders. What are the things you wish you had told your beloved upon settling in? Ill borrow from the EAD/SSN thread for our first tip:

There is a HUGE difference between dishWASHING soap and dishWASHER soap. Seven million bubbles huge.

Take the keys and mobile with you at all times. The door and gate is electronic and closes/locks after you. Could get locked out easily.

There is no haggling prices. The price written on the item is what it really costs.

Don't forget to mention the sales tax if it is an issue where you live since it means you actually pay more than what is written...lol

A car is a neccesity..not a luxury. It has a lot of costs to go along with it....oil changes, property taxes, inspection, gas, tires.....and NO we can NOT sell the car.....a taxi is more expensive.

This truly made me chuckle!! I had that experience hen i was a child. Damn soap bubbles all over the floor.

A falafel sandwich is $4.00 not 30 cents. LOL

and don't forget the car's insurance......especially in a state like new jersey............and what about all the parking tickets & speeding tickets & tickets for talking on a cell phone when driving & tickets for parking in a loading zone for 10 seconds.....etc............ all of the hidden costs that go along with owning a car.

Well with some things you can haggle. Like for example when you buy a car...you haggle. Plus depending on where you live you haggle for example in NYC buying from the street vendors haggling is a MUST. That's the confusing part I would think...when to haggle and when not to haggle. You haggle with contractors all the time, but not at Macys. We should make a haggle and no haggle list.

ps - the more i say haggle the more it sounds like a foreign word. where did haggle come from?

hag·gle (hăg'əl)

v.intr.

1. To bargain, as over the price of something; dicker: “He preferred to be overcharged than to haggle” (W. Somerset Maugham).
2. To argue in an attempt to come to terms.

v.tr.

1. To cut (something) in a crude, unskillful manner; hack.
2. Archaic. To harass or worry by wrangling.

n.

An instance of bargaining or arguing.

[Frequentative of dialectal hag, to chop, hack, from Middle English haggen, from Old Norse höggva.]

Crosswalks/lights are in place for a reason. Waiting your turn/standing in line is a good idea if you don't want to evoke tempers.

This might be America but money doesn't grow on trees----really it doesn't!

- The governement doesn't care if you have a job or not, and they also don't care if you use governement services you have still have to pay taxes. (Youssef thinks I should write to the governement to tell them I have a 4 yr degree and can't get a job with my degree....he doesn't understand that they really don't care and I'm not the only one in that situation)

- You can't just pick up anything in the grocery store and taste it first.

I always taste the grapes before I buy them.

My husband thinks we should crack open melons or open boxes to taste soemthing before he decides if he we should get a whole box. Maybe I should have said "MOST" things you can't taste first

I was reading this thread to my fiance and he couldn't believe it when I read this to him.
He knows things are expensive here but I guess it's hard to imagine sometimes since everything is so cheap there.

LOL in some places they are more than that! I have paid up to $6 for falafel and up to $8 for shawerma. My fiance still can't believe this, LOL.

the word "lesbian" is the same in French and English. We have to use a code word in public.

LMAO, and gay is not a proper adjective.

homosexual is the same in French too. Geez!

Very true... forgot about that one.


Also very true. My husband still cannot comprehend the distances here in the US and the lack of public transport (outside of urban settings)

we make more money here so we pay more for things....dont compare anything to syria and saudi arabia.

he drives me crazy with his...well in syria this only costs

stop being sooooo cheap and pay what they ask!!!!

cute

or Middle English, probably of Low German origin; akin to Middle Dutch hokester

That all husbands cut the grass, do all lawnwork, and wash the suvs every weekend or everyday if necessary, and most importantly pay all the bills in the household (after getting a job).

did i get the right meaning about that?

We just had little bit of this conversation about places that are close to the house here. I have places like Sears, Targets, Drug Stores etc within small driving time distance but he only wanted to know if we could walk. Yes but ..........

And another thing he wanted to know Can i walk to Mcdonalds, no for this one you would want to drive or there is Wendys close enough he could walk (and bring it back home) to eat, no just eat it there, will be cold time you get back home. Is that a rule or they give you choice? again you get choice but........

Also, if you break a glass cup remember you cannot place it in the sink and

turn on the garbage disposal

I told Ahmed if I catch him trying to jaywalk I will be his @$$. "Do you know what a crosswalk is? With the little sign that says walk and dont walk?", I asked him. "Oh yes", he said brightly, "I saw it in the movies". Heaven help us.

really?

Hypothetically speaking It stems from my first venture to Morocco and trying to cross the street. With cars (and children hanging on the trunk), busses, people, and animal-drawn carts all whizzing down the streets I told him the only way to get me on the other side of the street was going to be with a crane. He just darts out in traffic :::shudder:::

I sent microwave popcorn for them to try, try explaining that over computer!!!! and this to he had seen in a movie,

On the same note as the glass in the sink - Garbage does not go in the sink or on the floor it goes in the garbage can, that we line with a plastic bag and then deposit outside in the garbage can. Also the garbage man comes once a week so get the damn can out there! He also doesn't understand why we can't just put all our bags out - we can only put what fits in the can provided to us by the company because that's what we pay for. Hasn't sunk in yet.

why is this even an issue? do you say it a lot or something?

i'm wondering what the code word is

Trying to get him to understand that yardwork is a necessity is almost impossible---I finally hired somebody to do the last yardwork of the season...boy ws he upsest because we had to pay somebody to do it!....

I'm curious too.... When we want to say lesbian we say lesbian... it comes up sometimes because my sister is one. Haven't found the need for a code word.

I have a few even though my fiancee is not here yet:

That your frozen pizza will NOT cook twice as fast because you set the oven to 500 instead of 350

That an American passport is NOT as powerful as you think it is throughout the world.

That you can buy OTC medications in a Supermarket (you don't have to go to a pharmacy, which he thought was the strangest thing)

What all those magnetic ribbons on the cars mean (we saw this one in movie)

Maybe it's the area. I mean in Boston it's certainly not a taboo thing but it's pretty liberal here.

Maybe Sarah's talking about when she wants to tell Hicham somebody's a lesbian in front of them without the person knowing she's saying it? I must admit we do that sometimes.... Not necessarily on that topic but I'll talk to Maj in French or Arabic when I don't want others to understand me. It's a really bad habit

Yup, I'm pretty sure that's what she meant. There are certain words in Italian that we can't use to talk about people behind their backs either because they're close cognates.

Since my fiance worked as a translator for the U.S. Marines in Iraq he picked up a lot of their "special" lingo.....it took me two months to pound into his head that "FU*K FACE" was NOT a term of endearment used in casual conversation.

I donnot think that is a bad habit at all. I think it is rather cute and special. My husband and I do the same. We mix up languages to express what we want to say to the other. I think this is very useful when talking about sensitive topics and telling each other messages only the other is suppose to hear. But I think if you are communicating in this way in front of others, it could be rude.

That's what I mean, sometimes I let myself say stuff I wouldn't if the other person could understand. I think I need to stop doing that... but it's so easy

Oh my gosh that's so funny! When my husband would pick up slang words from movies or from listening to my sister (she has a bit of a nasty mouth) and then repeat them in casual conversation I had to remind him that not all words are good to say in public. It actually led into a long discussion in which we went through several words and their "nicer" meaning cousins!

Don't put metal in the microwave!

wow there's so much to teach.................. scary yet exciting!!!
i can't wait to introduce my fiance to new experiences, food, etc..........sigh

Huh? All husbands? You wash your car everyday?

You cannot SMS (txt message not even call but txt message) in when you donnot want to go to work.

Grocery shopping is usually a once a week thing, but whenever I crave something go down to the corner and buy it kinda thing.

Many things like traffic signals, work schedules and waiting patiently and not cutting in lines are not suggestions

People donnot "hang out" in the middle of the street at 3am (unless they are up to no good)

People donnot just walk across a busy highway, in fact people here try to avoid walking near and around highways

Not a good idea to be "nice" and pick up hitchhikers

Personal calls and chatting generally frowned upon at work

Cannot just walk up to the cashier in a shoppe and except them to cash you out, while others are waiting in line or just give them the money and walk out

LOL Im not even going to tell you how much I paid for a falafel and a shawarma in London. I nearlyhad a heart attack because I know that I did not order a gourment meal LOL My little dollars are crap to the british pound. Its just nearly 2 dollars to the pound!. =0( I wish I only had to pay 6 and 8 dollars for a shawerma and falafel!!!!