mybackpages

Seriously my heart goes out to our sub-saharan vjers. One bad story taints the whole lot and puts a lot of unnecessary hurdles in the path of these filers!

These *are* fall/winter for the south!!!

Don't remind me

Like you're going to get just soooo much support on a site which is for marriaged-based immigration! OMG! That sounds like an excellent idea! Let me just cancel all my petitions right now and go another, longer, more precarious route!! Thanks for helping me see the light! At first I was dubious, but then I saw the biggest, bolded type I have seen yet in a post and I thought, well, it MUST be true! It couldn't be untrue and be that big and bold, right?

If it was just a little bit larger and more bold I might have been convinced

One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.

Here is another profile from the prespective of the Gulf news http://www.gulfnews.com/Region/Middle_East/10229078.html

Onur has a very turkish name, it is not arabic at all. Although, I googled it and it does seem to be a somewhat common Turkish name, but strictly Turkish. Anyway, he emailed the embassy and they told him that the waiting time is a minimum of 2 months. Is that really true or do they just say that to be on the safe side? This is incredibly anxiety provoking, because he has not yet served his military service as he was in school, but if he is still in Turkey after October 29th he will be enlisted and won't be able to leave the country. I am really losing my mind. I can't even begin to think that after all of this it could all be thrown out the window. I wish there was something I could do.

They all seem to have some random time they give (2 months, 30 days, 6 weeks whatever) just to give themselves a buffer. A friend of mine just went through Turkey for a K-1 for her fiance and they had the visa in hand within a week. His name fist name was Arabic, but with a Turkish surname. I know that wont be good news when you are left waiting and waiting

Everyone who goes through this period feel soooo anxious! It definately seems to be the hardest phase of the whole process. You have three months before you have to worry about the military service problem so try your best not to borrow trouble at this point. We are all rooting for you!

mybackpages - is your friend on VJ by an chance or would I be able to get in touch with them in any way? It would be nice to hear about their experience and see if it sheds any light on ours. Let me know. Thanks!

I sent a PM with some info!

You are EVIL mbp, simply EVIL. O k homework for the hubbies!!

What? It's good for his English and entertainment for me

Onur has a very turkish name, it is not arabic at all. Although, I googled it and it does seem to be a somewhat common Turkish name, but strictly Turkish. Anyway, he emailed the embassy and they told him that the waiting time is a minimum of 2 months. Is that really true or do they just say that to be on the safe side? This is incredibly anxiety provoking, because he has not yet served his military service as he was in school, but if he is still in Turkey after October 29th he will be enlisted and won't be able to leave the country. I am really losing my mind. I can't even begin to think that after all of this it could all be thrown out the window. I wish there was something I could do.

They all seem to have some random time they give (2 months, 30 days, 6 weeks whatever) just to give themselves a buffer. A friend of mine just went through Turkey for a K-1 for her fiance and they had the visa in hand within a week. His name fist name was Arabic, but with a Turkish surname. I know that wont be good news when you are left waiting and waiting

Everyone who goes through this period feel soooo anxious! It definately seems to be the hardest phase of the whole process. You have three months before you have to worry about the military service problem so try your best not to borrow trouble at this point. We are all rooting for you!

Cute shirts Bridget! Though I missed the line where you said you bought this today and for a few seconds I was wondering why you were posting this pic of this women

Here you are buying summer clothes and I so want to break out my fall clothes. (it's hitting 100 each day here with no end in sight!)

PS I love sushi and the place next door to me have half price happy hour!

Idiosyncrasies of the English language:

Can you read these right the first time?

1) The bandage was wound around the wound.

2) The farm was used to produce produce.

3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.

4) We must polish the Polish furniture.

5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.

6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.

7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present .

8) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.

9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.

10) I did not object to the object.

11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.

12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row .

13) They were too close to the door to close it.

14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.

15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.

16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.

17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail.

18) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.

19) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.

20) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

Idir is so gonna read this out loud to me when he gets home

yep same joke here each year! I still ownder what they do in a place like helsinki where it daylight until midnight or so in the summer!

I read something on a fatwa site that if you are in the far north where it stays daylight for much longer than most places then you can adjust your fasting time to what would be normal for more southern regions. They explained that fasting the right way is important but God doesn't want fasting to be such a hardship that your health is effected. Some of the northern places only have daylight for an hour or two during certain times of the year. That would hardly give you time to eat or do anything before fasting would begin again.

I have read that too and that many just follow the times in Saudi Arabia.

I know many immigrants that follow these times rather than their local times once they arrive in the US.

and do u mean "stuff with lemon etc" like put my hand inside the chickens bootie? umm no .. but it sounds lovely! Thanks for the idea though

yep same joke here each year! I still ownder what they do in a place like helsinki where it daylight until midnight or so in the summer!

Name checks can be tricky because you have to deal with transliteration due to the different alphabet. The more Arabic the name the more name hits it seems and sometimes it takes a few months to get through all the checks. If his name is more Turkish than arabic that might work in your favor for a quicker AP.

It is really hard because there doesnt seem to be any clues to help determine how long it will last. The best you can do is call the DOS operators and keep checking if the AP is still pending. Wishing you a quick AP!

chicken salad roll up with lettuce and tomato

salt and vinegar chips

2 peanut butter cookies

1 large diet mountaindew

OR

chicken quesadilla (sp?)

salt and vinegar chips

2 peanut butter cookies

1 large diet mountaindew

I'll take cheese over mayo anyday so I go for quesadilla over chicken salad!

Healthwise I wonder what's worse...the mayo in the chicken salad or the fact that the quesadilla is fried. Of course the presence of the peanut butter cookie makes that question laffable prolly. lol

Well the cheese has calcium and other nutrients, but they probably put more than an ounce of cheese so that makes it laffable too I guess. Peanut butter has heart healthy oils in it...

When I checked last I remember Maghreb was after 8. Going to look again...

This site is not correct as far as I can tell: http://www.guidedways.com/prayertimes/pray...de--71.0605.htm

Ugh! Now I'm even more confused. I'm thinking the 7p.m. times don't reflect daylight savings. We don't change the clocks back until end of October, so I think the 8p.m. times are right?

That is the July schedule. I believe Ramadan is scheduled to start maybe Sep 1. If you change the dates the times line up with what mine had I think.

No, I changed the date to September 1. I'm thinking that the thing just doesn't work. Because now I notice that it says the same time for today's date as for Sept. 1. It does update when you toggle the DST, so who knows. I'll go by your site.

I had that same problem too but I went here somehow http://www.guidedways.com/prayertimes/pray...;hijricorrect=0 and just changed the month.

Yeah, the monthly timetable seems fine. The daily one will only show the current date, I think.

Well, I feel better anyway, I had been been thinking that after 8 was going to be really tough!

either way its about 11 hours a day right? It's a long time before we are back to the winter months.

When I checked last I remember Maghreb was after 8. Going to look again...

Phew!

This site is not correct as far as I can tell: http://www.guidedways.com/prayertimes/pray...de--71.0605.htm

In Houston our first week fasting beigns about a quarter to 6am and we break fast about 7.40pm and the days getting a couple of minutes shorter each day as we go along! By the end of Ramadan we are fasting 6.10am to 7.10pm.

ETA: I can't believe there is that much difference in daylight between Houston and Boston!

I worry about this for my husband too. His english is great, but he is a medical school graduate so he is too educated for a lot of jobs. I have been working on ideas for him, but we can't know what will happen until he gets here. The refugee place is supposed to help him, but I heard the jobs they find refugees are basically like factory work for almost no pay Iraq has been a weird exception to most refugee countries because many Iraqis are well educated and we aren't set up to deal with that. I have been considering having my husband apply at Walmart or Walgreens. Has anyone tried that for their husbands?

opefully because of the demand in the medical field it will be easier to get into. I know he will have to do the medical boards etc and that will take time. I know a Libyan doctor who is teaching biology and AP parttime at a community college while he works on all the certification and finding a residency. All he needs is 18 graduate hours in a field but an advance degree in any field.

chicken salad roll up with lettuce and tomato

salt and vinegar chips

2 peanut butter cookies

1 large diet mountaindew

OR

chicken quesadilla (sp?)

salt and vinegar chips

2 peanut butter cookies

1 large diet mountaindew

I'll take cheese over mayo anyday so I go for quesadilla over chicken salad!

umph

me too....

mean people suck giant camel-snot covered rocks.

both of you?

NOura, could u email me that fries/olives/whatever the he!! else was in that meal recipe please. I can't find it and I'm so sick of having mansaf "type" meals that I wanna puke. I bought some shish kabobs yesterday and some cubed beef to fry up with veggies but I HAVE to find something new before I go crazy. The other problem is that hubby doesn't like meals prepared in a way that he is not "used" to. For instance, he wouldn't let me dip chicken boooobies in bread crumbs and bake it coz he said "it won't work this way" (even though I knew it would work AND be very tasty) he said "there is no reason to try to create something new if u already know what you like".. I'm so tired of the same ole same ole...uggggggg. I'm not gryping about him...just want something new to eat is all...

What about a roasted chicken? Stuff it with a cutup lemon, Season it with your choice of spices all over the outside and inside? Serve with your favorite side dishes or salad and some tasty bread?

Where are the good restaurants ME in Houston??? thanks .....

can anyone help me...I am a beginner and never liked the food i saw in egypt..and so i kind of avoided the kitchen..but i want to suprise my husband when he comes home and make him something special....what is a good thing that is simple and hard to mess up that yall would recommend? I saw a few things in the middle eastern section at the store like couscous and grape leaves. I appreciate any input on a easy recipe.

Kristy

There is a restaurant called Fadi's, I LOVE it.

Fadi's is good. There is also a relatively new place that is fantastic called alladin's on the corner of Westheimer and Montrose. Order the Kababs!

So in Feb of 06 we had our interview. Mo was told 2 weeks...hahahahahahahaha yeah its been like 5 months and everytime I call DOS I hear that wonderful word....PENDING!!! I guess my fear is that after all of this waiting they will come back and say Oh we're sorry your not getting it. I know people say that they have never heard of this happening unless there was criminal stuff that came up...and we dont have to worry about that here. So am I just being paranoid?

Have you called your senators office to do an inquiry? They may have misplaced your file. You need to call your senator. ( they are the ones that deal with immigration not the house members)

Your US house rep can also do an inquiry on your behalf. When choosing from among your two US Senators adn one US House REp it is best to see which staff is most effective and helpful Not all staffers are equal.

And 5 months is not unsual for Casa. it is longer than normal, but not unusual.

In case you didn't know: most hotels will not let unmarried couples stay together in a hotel room in Morocco. I have heard that some of the nicer/more exclusive (like 5 star) hotels do not require it (we always tried to do things relatively inexpensively, so that wasn't an option for us).

A way around that is to rent an apartment (often cheaper, anyways).

Enjoy your trip--I bet October is a wonderful time to be there!

I do know that there are some hotels that will not allow unmarried couples stay together. This will be my 4th trip to Morocco. We've stayed in hotels in rabat, casa, tanger, marrakesh, and meknes all with no questions asked.

Whether or not it is a problem often depends on who owns the hotel, where you stay and how you book the room.

Good morning today my son turns 20 and it's true what they say ~ they grow up so fast ! Those of you with little ones cherish this time because it slips away so quickly. We are just having a quiet day today, and not much in the mood for celebrating.

Glad to see you posting this morning Henna Rose! Just allow yourselves time and permission to feel anything and everything. My best to you and all your family here and in Morocco