hollyw

Second, I don't know too many husbands - foreign or domestic, who would be okay with it.

I have to disagree with that. At least among my peers that has always been common and acceptable. Mixed gender friendships are not unusual and they can remain completely platonic.

I disagree also. I have many male friends that I spend time with, with and without my husband, and he has female friends. It has never bothered either of us.

We both drink. We drank a lot more when we first met (in our early 20's), but will still have wine with dinner or go out for a few drinks on the weekends.

I don't know where I want to go but here are my requirements:

1) no cooking area where I would be expected to even prepare so much as a cup of coffee

2) no laundry facilities whatsoever so that I'm not tempted to do even a load of whites

3) 24/7 room service available

4) shady spot on both the beach and the poolside where I can sit and read my books

5) spa on site where I can go for a daily 1 hour deep tissue massage

6) sound of ocean HAS to be heard from my room

7) plenty of activities for tweens that they will actually want to go to giving hubby and me some alone time

8) no phone service so that no one can get ahold of me at all

Bitter End Yacht Club, Vigin Gorda, BVI http://www.beyc.com/

I've never actually stayed there, but when I was a kid every year my family used to charter a boat and sail around the virgin islands and we used to BEG to spend at least 2 or 3 nights moored in the harbor at Virgin Gorda.. it was so fun. Lots of stuff for kids and adults to do separately and together.

My family (now) goes to Playa del Carmen, Mexico every year for New Years... that's pretty awesome too.

What an awful experience. I'm so sorry your FIL and your family had to go through all of that. I can't imagine going to another country and being treated so horribly. When I was in Algeria I was the only foreigner (other than french/algerians) in the airport and every single customsagent/airport security person I came in contact with wished me well.

You should make as much noise as you can about this. It may not fix anything, but it will at least put it out there.

From a mans point of view don't get mad if he doesn't changeY you married him for who he is, not who you want him to be.

I think a woman would say the same.

Does anyone have recipe for somethin called Damascus Rose, it's a dessert made from eishta and puff pastry! Thanks!

This was all I could find!

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Dog ice cream?

at JP Licks. Apparently, it's peanut butter flavored. And they put mini dog bones on top.

My husband is worse than I am with the dog. They are best friends - Chili sits on the couch when they watch TV together, Medy gives him pieces of whatever he's eating and sometimes Chili even charms his way onto the bed at night. Right now they are on a walk to the ice cream place to get human ice cream AND a pint of dog ice cream....

There he is on the couch in my old apartment!

Medy didn't grow up with dogs, but his family did have rabbits and now his sister has a cat - named Holly...

We went out to eat a lot, walked along the Front de la Mer in Oran, went to some clubs (the one at the Sheraton) and some bars, went to a mall.. although there wasn't much in it, sat outside and ate ice cream, met friends in coffee shops...

PS i HATED the ice cream in Algeria. And I felt so bad because Medy's sister always got so excited. They only had four flavors: vanilla, chocolate, strawberry and lemon. The lemon was the only one I liked, it was kind of like sorbet. The rest were horrible... soupy and artificially flavored.. bleh. They MUST have other kinds of ice cream.. someplace.. Henia? Also the place that they went to get it you had to bring your own plastic container and they would put the ice cream in that.

ETA: NOT sex clubs.... dance clubs...

My husband's family's home in Algiera had two bathrooms, both american style sit-down toilets and both had toilet paper and also a faucet and bucket. NOT a very strong flusher though.... Everything needed a little help to get down, apparently what they would do is use the water an dbucket to push everythign down the pipes.. I caught on eventually...

Hi Henia!!

I'm Holly (USC) and my husband is Medy from Oran, Algeria. We met in Paris in 2005 when we were both living there and now live in the Boston area. We did DCF through Algiers in the summer of '06 and he's been here since Nov. 2006 - almost two years . We'll remove conditions towards the end of the summer. I joined VJ in June or July 2006 when I was totally clueless about immigration and pretty much stumbled through our entire visa process - I'm lucky we made it this far. I don't write on the boards much, but sometimes when work is slow I'll read.

Henia, how's life in Algeria??

It's gonna take at least 15 months to remove conditions through VSC!? Not sure why I didn't check this out before. Bummer we waited two months past the opening of our window to file then!

Oh well, at least I'll have a good excuse to still hang around VJ!

man, I am not looking forward to this fall... We're going to Mexico for New Years. Is it pretty easy to travel outside of the country while removing conditions? I hope so...

I have a question on doing a ceremony in Algeria.

I'm US citizen by birth he's Algerian citizen living temporarily in France. We want to do a K1 probably (just got engaged so we're still figuring this out) and officially get married in the US. But we would like to do a traditional Amazigh (Kabyle) ceremony in the village in Algeria so his family could be there etc. Is there any chance we can do this before coming to the US for the "real" wedding (both are real for us but I'm talking legally/officially) if we don't register a wedding in Algeria, don't get "declared man and wife" by anyone but just have the party and henna ceremony would this jeopordize our K1 petition?

Also, just to clarify that I am reading your responses right - the DCF is not longer possible in Algiers? Could we do it in Paris instead? Does that mean that the only option to bring Algerian (fiancé or spouse) is a K1 with wedding in US or a K3 with wedding in Algeria?

Thanks so much and I'm glad to see there are at least a few other Algerian-American coupels on here!!! Vive l'Algerie!

Also by the way , you cant dcf anywhere without the 6 month residency requirement. Before you could and there are alot of americans on here who dcf'd their Algerian spouse. Me and Sarahaziz are the first married people to go through the new situation with the elimination of DCF due to the adam walsh act in January 2007. You cannot compare our timelines to theirs because they did not have to wait at all. I have a long wait and so does Sarah.

you can't do a dcf anywhere anymore w/o the residency requirement? wow... i'm out of the loop.

my husband was in Paris.. he was illegal - we had to go to Algiers. I'd take the people at the Algiers consulate over the ones in Paris any day.

QUESTION..................I just got the email saying that on May 20 they ordered production of his EAD card!

BUT

It says allow 30 days for it to get to him................does it really take that long from the time they request it to the time you recieve it?

Congrats!!! that's just covering their butts... we received ours in 4 or 5 days. I'll bet you get it Saturday, or maybe Tuesday at the latest.

THAT's what I'm talkin' about!!!!!!

That's a relief... What kind of jobs is your husband looking for?

Nope....we don't make falafel at home. I buy them by the dozen from a local falafel shop and freeze them. They have the best falafels in my area!

Sigh. Cravings suck.

yummmmm falafel......

I miss my favorite falafel place in Paris, they had a toppings bar and you could put whatever you wanted on your falafel pita... sigh

And in Spain they have a falafel fast food place called Pita Hut... I loved that!

When you were in MENA, did you ever eat at an american style fast food place for any meals?

I couldnt find a single place like that in western algeria with take away coke in a paper cup with ice. There were plenty of cafes and or pizza or gyro places. But nothing resembling like a mcdonalds. In tunisia when I got married ( that week) I ate at one american style fast food place where they had hamburgers and fries and even something resembling a happy meal.

I could not find a single place like that in Oran although I think Algiers has some places like that and certainly never saw like paper cups with straws with ice like a big gulp..

I think morocco has mcdonalds and quik and stuff like that.. Are they in places like egypt etc?

There is American style fast food in Oran.... it's called JOCKER (I think they meant to spell it "Joker"). It's in Bel-Air.

If I remember correctly, it's like a combination of McDonalds, Taco Bell, and Arby's... except they were out of just about everything. They give you a tray and food wrapped in paper with paper cups and you go sit at a table or take it home.. just like good ole mickey D's.

wow I wanna work here!!!!

http://wbztv.com/slideshows/google.cambrid...2896.html?rid=0

I had a few interviews at Google's Cambridge office a few months ago... it would probably be a fun place to work if they didn't make you jump through so many hoops to actually get the job. I was going on my 5th interview and my 3rd assessment test (and no where near the end) when I lost interest.. I guess they can afford to be picky.

That being said.... I wish we had bean bag chairs and plasma TVs in our lounge!!!!

Oh right... we don't have a lounge...

Very interesting.... it's too bad that wasn't the case when my husband came (although we never checked... maybe it was!). He has lots of family in Paris.

Is it normally hard to get a transit visa? I think he's going to try to get one to stop over for a few days on his way to Oran..

Hi everyone. Wicked busy at work today. Weekend without the kiddos comin' up so planning some fun excursions in Boston. It's weird but I'm like, ok what should we do? I've never done touristy type things here. I don't think I've ever even been on the USS Constitution.

Gonna go try to catch up on threads before lunch is over but Nagi sending prayers your way for tomorrow

I had the same problem when Medy got here - I've lived here all my life and had no clue where to bring him. A couple places we go sometimes are the North End, Quincy Market/Fanieuil Hall, Newbury Street shopping/lunch/walking, Boston Commons and swan boat rides, Duck Tours, Downtown Crossing, dinner in the south end, walk around Beacon Hill and look at the little shops, the Aquarium, whale watches have already started they leave from the Aquarium at 10 and 2 on weekends, get some chowda or good seafood somewhere, hmmm.... Harvard Square. Copley. Blue Man Group. China Town. Has he been to a diner yet? Those are fun. Oh the Omni Theatre at the Science Museum!! That is soooo cool. You could follow the Freedom Trail, that's a good way to see some of Boston (Boston Common, Beacon Hill, Faneuil Hall, Bunker Hill, Old North Church, the house of Paul Revere, and Old Ironsides). Gardner Museum. And my husband loves Marshalls. He goes every. weekend.

My husband drinks and smokes (although... he's supposed to quit smoking ), doesn't go to the mosque or pray, and we don't eat halal meat. He fasts during Ramadan and doesn't eat pork at all.

I'll have to find some place that has good pita bread 'cause the stuff at our stop n shop isn't even comparable to what he's used to in Egypt. There is a sub shop that bakes their own daily so maybe I"ll ask if I could buy a big bag of those.

I'm not sure what the pita's like in Egypt, but my fav in the boston area is the greek pocketless pita they have at Costco (it's chewy pita). I get that and a big thing of Hannah's Hommus (also my fav hommus) and toast the pita in the toaster oven when I get home. Yummm...

I'm around every once in a while... hi!

We stayed at Medy's parents house (you actually drive past the Sheraton to get to their house), but we went a few times to use the pool

I joined a gym yesterday! But then I ate 2 chocolate chip cookies for breakfast. Baby steps

Good luck at the mall, Bridget. We were driving on 128 N yesterday around 1:30 and I couldn't figure out why there was so much traffic, I thought maybe there was an accident. Then as we passed the Northshore Mall it all made sense.

I know what you mean... I got stuck in traffic going to the Natick Mall yesterday around the same time... sooo happy all of my shopping is finally done!!!

I made my Christmas sugar cookies last night and decorated them... now I have to come up with a few other recipes, since that is my Christmas present to a few people this year (stupid idea). I also have a TON of wrapping to do. In our family we have a rule that all wrapping has to be done the night before Christmas Eve so we can all enjoy our Christmas Eve brunch! Well, that leaves this afternoon and tomorrow, because tonight we're going to a Christmas buffet... I wish there was a nail biting smiley... Christmas sneaks up so fast!